In just a few short years, the world has witnessed an explosion in the number of social media users. In fact, recent reports show that over 3.6 billion people worldwide are now active on social platforms. Social media marketing has become increasingly important for businesses to reach their target audience. 85% of consumers trust brand recommendations from individuals they know over branded content. And 73% of people have purchased something directly as a result of seeing it on social media.
With so many opportunities for your business to grow and succeed, now is the time to start planning your social media marketing strategy for 2023. Social media marketing involves using networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to drive traffic to your website or blog and increase your visibility online. It's essential that you have an effective strategy in place if you want to see results from all your time and effort. Let's take a look at some trends you should be keeping an eye on - and how they might affect your company in the coming year.
Video Content Will Be King
Video is effective at engaging and converting audiences, and it's also a logical next step for social media marketing, which has been driven heavily by visual content. Visual communication channels are projected to account for 80% of all internet traffic by 2022. Video is a great way to showcase your product, communicate a message, and build trust with potential customers. And the good news is that everyone is using it. Facebook has grown its daily video views by 80% since 2016 - and you can expect that trend to continue. Video content has a much higher retention rate than ordinary posts - 91% versus just 4%. And it also has a higher rate of engagement, with users clicking, sharing, and commenting on videos with three times the frequency that they do on text posts.
And of course, you shouldn't forget about the quality of photos on your social media account. Modern users are too demanding and they prefer following accounts that have fantastic photos and useful content. This is where you can use an array of post-processing tools like Photoshop, Lightroom or a background remover by Vista Create to create engaging content and outstanding photos.
Voice-Based Interactions Will Grow
Interactive voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home are growing in popularity, and they will have a major impact on social media marketing in the future. E-commerce has become a huge part of social media, and voice-based shopping will only add to the numbers. According to a survey, about 40% of people have already purchased something using an interactive voice assistant.
Social media monitoring and engagement tools will become even more advanced and integrated with other marketing efforts. Expect to see greater collaboration between artificial intelligence and social media managers. Social listening will become more important than ever, and listening tools will get better at analyzing and interpreting data. Businesses need to be aware of what people are saying about them online, and they need to be able to respond quickly and accurately.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Are Coming
VR and AR are likely to expand in popularity and gain more traction as social media marketing channels. VR allows users to experience a virtual environment through their computer or smartphone - they can explore new places or attend events like sports games as if they were really there. AR lets you add digital content to your real-life environment. You can hold up your smartphone to see information overlaid on your view of the world or even play games with virtual characters.
These types of technologies make social media even more immersive, allowing people to connect and interact in new ways - and businesses can embrace this shift and incorporate these platforms into their marketing strategies.
Virtual assistants are already being used to help businesses extend their marketing efforts. In the future, more businesses will use virtual assistants to make content and build relationships with their customers.
Artificial Intelligence Will Advance
Artificial intelligence has been a key component of social media marketing for years - but it will become even more important going forward. AI is already being used for monitoring, engagement, and content creation. AI-generated content is already showing up in marketing materials, and you can expect to see more of it as time goes on. After all, AI is hands-off and can generate content quickly and efficiently without requiring additional resources.
However, businesses need to ensure the content they're generating is high-quality and aligns with their brand voice. AI is also being used to detect and remove inappropriate or malicious content from social media platforms. In the future, AI could be used to create personalized content for specific audiences based on their profile and past engagement.
Bottom line
Any social media marketing strategy needs to be well-thought-out, have a solid foundation, and be flexible enough to adapt to change. If you're not sure where to start, don't worry - this is a process that you can work on continuously and adapt as needed. By keeping an eye on social media trends and incorporating them into your strategy, you can expect to grow your audience and reach while also strengthening your brand presence.