There is a global social media boom right now that shows no sign of slowing down. It’s no longer just about established social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, there’s a raft of networks gaining traction in the space and causing waves amongst marketers and brands.
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.
During 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.
1. Marketers Can No Longer Ignore TikTok
Whether you’re a B2C or B2B marketer, you’ll have heard of TikTok. So, are you using it in your marketing activities or have you experimented with content on the platform? If your answer is no, ignoring TikTok could be a huge mistake in 2022.
According to Apple’s App Store Awards 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded free app followed by YouTube and Instagram. And people aren’t just downloading the app, they’re also spending money on TikTok, resulting in the network’s revenue jumping to $535 million in Q2 2021.
DMI expert Alison Battisby, Social Media Consultant at Avocado Social, believes that advertising potential on the app is just going to grow in 2022. “TikTok has been on the waiting line for a while to become one of the biggest used apps in the world.
It’s not just a passing trend or fad to do a quick dance routine or a challenge, it’s become a really interesting way of reaching a young audience very quickly, with a minimal budget.”
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 on the platform,” says Battisby.
There’s also room for experimentation on TikTok. Restaurant chain Chipotle focuses on content created by its employees, while the ever innovative brand, Disney highlights Disneyland with videos of its tours and exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
There are also niche businesses that create a lot of fun content that doesn’t take a lot of planning.
Battisby thinks that it’s time brands sat up and took notice, especially with TikTok Shopping coming online properly with Shopify in 2022. “Marketers are beginning to see they can reach a lot more people on TikTok than on Instagram or Facebook. So, it’s driving results for brands as well.”
2. Social Commerce is About to Become Seamless
With such a captive audience on social media, it’s been a limitation for many marketers that customers can’t purchase in-app. Until now consumers clicked on a tag or photo and were sent to a website or landing page to purchase. That’s now starting to change!
This year, social media platforms will see the results of big changes they’ve made 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 shop on Pinterest,” states Battisby.
With this type of capability now available on social media networks, Battisby believes that it’s the brands that think smarter about how they present their shop windows that will succeed. According to eMarketer data, social commerce in the US will reach nearly $80 billion by 2025.
So what can you do as a marketer to create a frictionless customer experience and ensure your products or services stand out on social media networks?
Battisby advises: “It’s not just relying on one photo, for example. It’s about having three, four, five different images per product or adding keyword-rich descriptions in your Instagram shop. There’s also the ability to create Instagram collections and put together gift suggestions, or summer/autumn collections.”
Other tips to fully exploit the power of social commerce in 2022 are:
- Be ‘human’ when responding to queries by offering recommendations, links or a discount code
- Think about collaborating with influencers to promote products using shoppable tags
- Consult your analytics to determine performance and gaps in customer experience
- Experiment with content formats and messaging to determine and engage your audience
3. Influencer Marketing Will Help Build Authenticity
In the 4 years since 2016, the influencer marketing sector has grown from $1.7 billion to $13.8 billion. In 2022, that figure is projected to rise by 19 percent to $16.4 billion according to The State of Influencer Marketing 2022 report.
The Digital Marketing Institute’s CEO, Ken Fitzpatrick believes that the role of influencer marketing will become more mainstream.
“It’s something that brands who haven’t used it to date will look to use on an increasing basis. Particularly, how influencers intersect with video content and B2B and B2C. I think it will be a more regular part of the marketing mix for brands than it has been in the past.”
Influencer marketing can be very powerful for a brand. 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.
Take the modern beauty brand, Glossier as an example. Through an army of 500 brand ambassadors, the brand saw users share images of their beauty routines and favorite products.
This lends authenticity to the brand and focuses on wellbeing, two things that are more important to people in a post-pandemic world.
A great way to tap into social media influencers is to align with a 2022 social media calendar. This will show you trending and relevant events that you could promote alongside an influencer such as Earth Day, International Cat Day, or Halloween.
Ultimately influencer marketing will only be successful if you do your research and find influencers that bring authenticity and ‘realness’ to your brand.
4. YouTube is Alive and Kicking
While the short-form vertical video dominates, the world’s second most visited website, YouTube, is vying for that number one spot.
When we are talking about demographics, TikTok and vertical video lean towards a younger and more tech-savvy demographic. On the other hand, YouTube draws all demographics, including one in three baby boomers.
YouTube has numerous benefits:
- It allows brands to plan a long-form video strategy that has longevity.
- You can create search-based content that is evergreen. This means rather than relying on individual algorithms to put your content in front of a viewer, commonly known as FYP or “For You Page”, you can use Google to drive your traffic.
- Great repurposing possibilities. You can cut it into smaller videos and use them on social media, repost them as IGTV, or embed them in your blog (which is an excellent SEO hack).
The best way to start is to have your clients answer their most frequently asked questions. Chances are, if their customers are asking them, others are probably busy Googling them.
You want to ensure each video provides value, is accessible (uses subtitles, captions, and descriptions), has a powerful keyword-driven title, and eye-catching thumbnail. Use a tool like VidIQ to figure out how people search for answers on YouTube and then study thumbnails that immediately grab your attention.
5. The Content Creators Hold the Power
- 87% of consumers still trust reviews and recommendations from family and friends who received a free brand experience, and 71% still trust bloggers, vloggers or social media stars who have gotten the same treatment
- Customer reviews are trusted 12 times more than marketing coming directly from the organization.
- Two-thirds of consumers say they trust the opinions of other customers posted online.
- Consumers find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content when making a purchasing decision.
Social media marketers spend so much time curating beautiful content and messaging; most likely, potential clients scroll right past it. Because it is the brand talking about their product or service, and brands are biased.
But someone who has used their product or service is going to be more trusted because they are unbiased. Or they at least appear impartial since it’s not the obvious case of paid partnerships and sponsorships.
But how do you go about this?
We suggest you start with these three steps:
- Look at the existing user-generated content. Make sure to review tagged photos, posts or reviews. You can use these as posts for the client’s social media quoting their customers.
- Work with the client to find happy and satisfied customers. Once you’ve made a list, simply coordinate with them to share their experience on their social media.
- Research nano and micro-influencers in your client’s niche. Having massive followings is a thing of the past. Having a strong community is the future. So make sure to start nurturing collaborations with relevant nano and micro-influencers.
It is important to remember that while necessary, partnership and influencer marketing don’t need to be complicated. Find a way to add a couple of posts per month to your content calendar to highlight user-generated content.
This will provide you with additional resources, help you build trust with your existing audience, and attract new ones.
6. Community Over Followers
One of the ongoing messages we see on social media is that you need to build a community.
This might sound vague or idealistic, but the fact is that 66% of branded communities say that the community has had an impact on customer retention. And according to the Global Web Index, 76% of internet users are participants of online communities.
The amazing thing about a focused and mighty community is that this is where the brands’ most loyal and dedicated customers are. These are those ride-or-dies, forever customers, first to purchase and support.
With all this in mind, it’s no wonder that some social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram (Reels), now have handy features that allow you to respond to comments with videos and provide even more value.
Here are some tips to get you started with building a strong community:
- Reply to comments
- Encourage users to tag you in other creators’ videos if they want to hear your opinion
- Address the negative feedback
- Create relationships with influential content creators by showing them some love
7. Narrow-Targeted Social Media Ads
Social media advertising was always a challenge on its own. But with so many restrictions and changes, it is going to be harder to develop a good paid advertising strategy in 2023.
This is important because 54% of customers get annoyed when targeted with an ad for something they’ve already bought.
And while broad targeting is good for brand awareness, you need to be wary of your client’s budget, oversaturated market, and current economic situation. This is why a good start would be to focus your efforts on retargeting prospects and uncovering a lookalike audience.
While social media advertising may be difficult, it still plays a big role in your clients’ online sales success.
As of January 2019, roughly 80% of online consumers have made a purchase from social media ads, and the latest research shows that 84% of consumers purchased a product because they watched a marketing video.
Make sure to cover these questions with your client:
- What is their core, crème de la crème audience?
- What are their most important KPIs?
- Is there a possibility to create new (or repurpose old) engaging videos?
- How do they feel about using user-generated content in social ads?
Once you’ve ensured you’re on the same page with your client’s and audience’s needs, you can proceed to the finer details. And these have everything to do with the fact that the consumers’ mindset has changed drastically in the past two years.
PWC did extensive research on the permanent change that occurred in consumers’ habits and values and found that these five things have a direct impact on their purchase decision:
- Excellent omnichannel experience
- Commitment to ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance)
- Online security and privacy protection
- Local supply chains
- Pricing considerations
While them becoming more digital makes your life somewhat easier, it also means you need to perfect the overall user experience. And ensure you’re considerate of the current climate.
