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What is the Social Trend in 2022?
Trends have this annoying tendency to change with every new day. But as much as we may hate it, it has become crucial to keep a tab on them for more than one reason. In a vastly digitized world, where people are eating, sleeping, breathing social media, brands and businesses need to be pro social trends to be able to stay relevant. Social media is one of the most powerful mediums of connecting with consumers and marketing your services. From customer servicing to engagement and conversions, social media is rapidly becoming the master key to all.
In 2020, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. Everyone is on social media – the target audience, potential customers, existing customers. Therefore businesses need to be too and constantly on their toes while at it.
The amount of content generated on social media platforms every day though is overwhelmingly huge. So to be able to grab the attention of your audience like a pro, you need to stay updated with the latest trends and make yourself stand out from the crowd and market yourself. You’ve gotta flow in the river of trends to be able to do all this effectively.
As we turn the calendar and move into the new year, let’s look at some of the social media trends that are expected to grow this year so that you can chart out your strategies and stay a step ahead of the crowd.
The Rise of Video Content
2021 has been the year of reels. Since Instagram introduced reels in August of 2020, video format content has really picked up including stories that now have 500 million everyday users on just Instagram. A Cisco study says that by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content. Marketers all over the world have noticed this trend and are already preparing for it. According to E marketer, 70% of marketers are looking to increase ad spending in video ads in order to leverage their reach.
This really tells you as clear as day that the future is video content. The video format has got everybody hooked, it’s engaging and people are spending more time viewing this type of content over any other. Which makes it a must-add to content marketing strategies for 2022.
Move towards Interactive Content
With rising competition and reducing attention spans, interactive content has become important. Video format is great to give masses what they want – sharable, entertaining content they enjoy at the swipe of these fingers. But if you need to really grab their attention, make them pause for a while and think, Interactive content is what is needed. This type of content includes quizzes, contests and giveaways, surveys and Q/As that allows brands to engage with consumers on a deeper level. And consumers love it!
Interactive content that engages consumers also increases brand loyalty and boosts brand recall. Two things businesses need in this fiercely competitive social media space.
Have you begun to notice how social media is becoming more business-centric? Shopping via social media websites has been around for a while, but the past 2 years have witnessed a massive rise in social commerce and the evolution of social networking sites in new retail platforms for brands.
There was a time when e-commerce was a big thing. Now it’s social commerce, expanding its footprint by each day. Social commerce as of 2020 was 475 billion U.S. dollars worth and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.4% from 2021 to 2028 Expanding social commerce was one of the strongest trends of 2021 and is likely to grow exponentially in this new year.
Selling directly via social media is a great avenue for all big or small businesses. For small businesses, it obliterates the need for a separate e-commerce website. For big businesses, it is another platform for sales. For customers, it’s smooth, fast and convenient. With its growing preference among customers, it is definitely something to capitalize on for in the year 2022.
Going beyond your comfort zone with a multi-channel approach
Usually, brands and businesses like to stick to different social media platforms depending on the user base, target audience and what seems to work best for them. But sticking to one or two platforms is not enough.
Trends keep changing, some of which can draw audiences towards a social media platform. You don’t know when your target audience would be found fleeing to another platform. Hence, you can’t really rely on one!
Going multi-platform is a wise approach that not only allows you to expose yourself to a diverse user base and audience but also increases your engagement. Statistics are on the bright side for those who are active on over 3 platforms, with an 18.96% engagement rate almost 3.5 times compared to a single-channel presence.
One thing that the past two years have taught us is that nothing is uncertain and that we need to prepare ourselves for uncertain challenges that can be thrown at us anytime, and that we need to keep adapting ourselves to the new reality. It also taught us to break out of our comfort zones. How many of us non-tech-savvy people learned to use technology because everything had to go online during the pandemic? How many businesses – big as well as small, who had no presence online had to make their debut in the digital space during the time! Maybe it’s time for businesses to break out of their comfort zones and take the multi-channel approach.
It’s definitely the time to get onto the trends bandwagon to gear up for the year.
