The current global social media boom is showing no sign of slowing down. But it's no longer just about established social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Take the rise of TikTok, a relatively recent player that continues to explode in popularity, or YouTube, a go-to channel for video-lovers, or Instagram which has refined its formats to focus on video content in 2022. Then there’s a shift in social media demographics as platforms begin to attract bigger audiences and offer more potential to advertise.
By the end of 2022, Statista predicts the number of social media users will top 3.9 billion and grow to a whopping 4.4 billion in 2025. That’s a lot of eyes to get your content and brand in front of and creates huge opportunities for organic search and paid search advertising.
So, what are the most important B2C and B2B social media trends for 2022? Keep on reading to find out!
According to Apple’s App Store Awards 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded free app, followed by YouTube and Instagram. But people aren’t just downloading the app, they’re also spending money on it.
The attraction of TikTok to brands and creators is its algorithm and the potential to go viral. Videos on TikTok are put into the algorithm in a very fair way, compared to other platforms like Instagram. TikTok doesn't look at how many followers you have, or how long your account has been established, it simply looks at the quality of your content. So, if your video is something that's engaging people, it can perform incredibly well and go viral.
There’s also room for experimentation on TikTok. Typically businesses create videos of exclusive behind-the-scenes content or fun content that doesn't take a lot of planning.
This year, social media platforms are seeing the results of big changes to enable customers to purchase on their networks. TikTok has partnered with Shopify, Instagram is making developments with their shopping area, YouTube is enhancing shoppable tags in videos, and you can even shop on Pinterest.
With this type of capability now available on social media networks, it's the brands that think smarter about how they present their shop windows that will succeed.
As the role of influencer marketing continues to become more mainstream, brands who haven't used it to date will need to look at using it on an increasing basis. Particularly, how influencers intersect with video content and B2B and B2C.
The key is to choose an influencer that will not only help drive brand awareness, but has an alignment with your product or service. It doesn’t have to involve huge budgets and well-known names, micro-influencers (with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers) can also create a stir.
Since Instagram noticed that their audience responded better to video content, they moved away from being known as a photo-sharing app, to a big entertainment app. Instagram is also acutely aware of the growing popularity of TikTok and is evolving to compete with the video-sharing app.
So, if you’re thinking about your Instagram strategy for 2023, it has to lead with video content. You need to think about how you can integrate more video, more Reels and more stories into your Instagram feed.
YouTube used to be about branding or brand awareness, but Google has invested heavily in helping people use it to drive action, so there's now YouTube traction. A lot of retailers have had enormous success using YouTube to drive sales, and it’s still relatively cheap to advertise on YouTube compared to other social channels. So, create a YouTube marketing strategy, grow your channel and get advertising!
Content marketing can feel overwhelming, and in order to succeed, you have to be strategic. That’s where we come in! Partner with Prism Digital, and we’ll guide you through the ongoing process of translating your business objectives and goals into a plan that uses social media content as a primary means of achieving those goals.