Top 10 Social Media Marketing Trends to Try in 2023
By Natasha Gayle | SEO Specialist, BGD Digital Marketing
November 8, 2022
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Social media is constantly changing - kind of like your kids’ taste buds… “What do you mean you don’t like carrots anymore? You ate them yesterday!” - which means it can be challenging as a business owner to keep up with the latest social trends, or know what to feed your kids when they start boycotting their favorite healthy food.
As 2022 comes to a close (we have less than two months until the start of 2023!), let’s take a look at some of the social media trends we saw in 2022 and what it means for your business heading into a new year.
How Has Social Media Marketing Changed for Businesses in 2022?
1. Brand Activism
Companies sought to use their voice for good in 2022. This isn’t a trend that is likely to disappear. It has become a way for businesses to show their strengths and be more relatable.
Brand activism shows off the heart and soul of your business and what’s most important to you! As you head into 2023, what issues are you passionate about? What issues are your customers passionate about? How can you step in and use your brand for good?
Hot BGD Tip: Make sure your message is genuine by including employee, owner, or consumer stories who have first-hand experiences with what you’re talking about.
2. Rise of TikTok
TikTok has 1 billion active monthly users worldwide, and users in the U.S. spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the platform. Use of TikTok has only grown in 2022. If you haven’t yet jumped onto TikTok, it’s time to spread your Brand Voice on this hyper-trending app.
There have also been a lot of trends within TikTok in 2022 that you can try out for yourself. Here are a few we highlighted this year in our monthly Trend Watch emails:
1. “Sorry, we messed up!”
This funny TikTok trend allows brands to say, “Sorry, we messed up” in a light-hearted way:
2. Office LIfe
Check out this fun TikTok showing Office Life. From reactions to annoying co-workers to how to dress in the office, this is taking a sarcastic but humorous approach to dealing with workplace dilemmas.
3. Before & After Transitions
This social media editing trend is perfect for showing off progress. Film your “Before” right before you start creating and add the “After” when you’re ready to show off the goods!
4. Make It Fun!
In an oversaturated market, stand out by entertaining your customer. A laugh is your first yes!
5. “Che La Luna” & Snap!
TikTok users use this viral sound, along with snapping their fingers, to show items in their business that are useful.
6. Connect with Consumers
Use this audio to call out who can feel “safe” within your brand!
Hot BGD Tip about TikTok: Using trending sounds garners the highest reach! Research also indicates that honesty is the number one quality consumers want from brands. Use a viral sound and create this video trend to show humanity in your business/brand.
3. Short-Form Video Content
Why is short-form video content so popular? There is so much out there for users to consume that we have developed shorter attention spans! If you want to catch your audience’s attention, you need to do so fast!
According to Code Design, in 2022, online videos were expected to make up 82% of all consumer-driven Internet traffic. The short video is becoming one of the most popular forms of content online.
And TikTok isn’t the only one cashing in on short-form videos. You may have noticed a certain competitor finding ways to increase the use of Stories and Reels on their platform to compete this year…
4. Sustainable Products
Another social media trend we saw in 2022 is a shift toward sustainability. Consumers are interested in products and services that offer sustainability as climate change becomes a bigger influence in purchasing decisions. Companies have been working to deliver on that demand.
In 2022, we saw a major shift in how some companies have talked about, produced and marketed their products to address sustainability concerns for their customers.
5. Social Commerce
See it, click it, buy it! In 2022, the priority has become and will continue to be removing friction from the consumer journey and letting them purchase directly through social media. This makes it even easier to follow customers from discovery to purchase.
Not only can you shop directly from social media, but there has also been an increase in Livestream shopping in 2022, which has transformed ecommerce. This form of shopping has become appealing to consumers because they’re able to feel a personalized atmosphere from the comfort of their own home.
6. Influencer Marketing
While this isn’t a new trend for 2022, it is one that has continued this year. Gen-Z’s are the most skeptical generation when it comes to buying products online. It doesn’t matter what a brand may have to say about a product, they have been - or have heard stories from family members - scammed by companies too many times before.
So, how did businesses respond to growing skepticism about their brand and products? They found influencers - real people with friends and followers - to promote them.
Influencer Marketing has taken effect a couple of different ways:
1. Paid Influencers Who Share Products with Their Followers
One strategy is to find a few people interested in your product who have large social media followings and pay them to promote your product on their social pages.
Instead of taking the company’s word for how good the product is, consumers can take the word of someone they know and trust.
2. Free Creator-Led Content for Businesses
Another way influencer marketing can take shape is through customer reviews of products on their social media pages. This is known as creator-led content vs. product-led content. This type of marketing strategy humanizes brands and convinces viewers a company’s products actually work!
It usually has higher engagement than branded content because users are getting to see products in action and hear other people vouching for them.
7. DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)
If you’re a business owner, you probably spent a lot of money getting to know your audiences to make sure your marketing is on target, am I right? What many businesses have learned in 2022 is that their target audience feels underrepresented or misunderstood by the company’s advertising efforts.
As a result, businesses are starting to dedicate more attention to improving DEI in their business practices and marketing strategies.
Brands need to know how to include their audience in their marketing so it speaks to them and understand which social issues mean the most to their target audience so they can be on the same page with them.
8. Increase in Advertising Dollars
Advertising dollars have gone up in 2022 as social networks make it harder and harder to reach audiences organically. According to an article by Influencer Marketing Hub, the average organic reach for a Facebook post is slightly over 5 percent.
9. Need for Transparency
As we mentioned before, there has been growing skepticism among audiences, particularly more educated millennials and Gen-Z’s, when it comes to brands and where they should spend their money. Businesses have started to focus more on transparency in 2022 to help increase sales and help their customers “buy-in” to who they are as a business and the products they’re selling.
10. Use of Modern Designs
Trends change, and those trends can apply to your brand designs, too. In 2022, we saw a shift in brand designs that are now simple, modern, luxurious and bring natural elements onto a digital platform.
We’ll go into more detail in another post about this one, but here is a quick summary of some of the modern design trends we’ve seen businesses adopt in their branding designs that have a direct impact on their social media presence and messaging.
You saw many of these in our Trend Watch emails throughout the year.
Modernizing Natural Textures in Business Designs
Hot Tip: Modernizing elements often makes them simpler and simple designs are perfect for small assets.
Gold Business Logos
Hot Tip: BGD Client, Iana Beauty, is a skincare brand that uses gold in their branding. It’s a simple way to say their products are top-tier and luxury.
Radical Contrast
Hot Tip: Think of colors on the opposite ends of the color wheel: purple and yellow, green and pink, etc.
Monograms for Personal Brands
Hot Tip: Unite 2 or more of the company initials to create one single symbol.
What Does This Mean for Your Business Going into 2023?
As you can see, a lot happened in 2022 on social media. Trends changed and staying on top of everything was challenging.
We compiled most of this list from our Trend Watch emails that we sent out to our subscribers this year. Looking ahead to 2023, we’d love to get you on our email list so you can continue to learn more about the latest social media and branding trends to look out for for your business.
