Social media has become a staple of most of our lives for quite some time now, but what many don’t realise is that it can be used for more than just staying connected with old school friends. It can be a powerful marketing tool if used correctly – let’s take a look at five of the trends to be aware of going into 2022.
- Diversifying Your Social Channels & Campaigns
It is essential that you target more platforms than just Facebook for your marketing, Facebook marketing’s average reach isn’t fantastic – and engagement rates aren’t fantastic either.
TikTok would be the recommended alternative, it now dominates social media with over one billion active monthly users worldwide, which now trumps Instagram. The most successful videos on the platform include footage of campaign shoots, the unboxing of products by influencers, and employees having fun on the job.
TikTok is entirely video content based, users come to the platform for light-hearted entertainment that is meant to be the best quality, arguably this is what makes the platform a great marketing tool – consumers aren’t expecting a professionally produced video. Videos are easy to produce on your phone.
- Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Grow
Influencer marketing will continue to grow in popularity – this will start to include influencers will smaller followings, marketing teams have realized that this reduced audience are usually far more engaged than some larger ones. Some influencers also specialize in more niche topics that make the most sense for your brand.
The rising stars will be the influencers with less followers – the amount brands invest in influencer marketing is only expected to grow, especially in niche markets. You must always track your data, with no verifiable evidence as to whether your efforts are benefiting your agenda you won’t know when changes need to be made.
- “Reels” are For Real
Reels on Instagram has been compared to TikTok, some even think that Instagram’s latest upgrade aims to compete with the growth of the popular video-sharing network. Throughout 2022 they should play a crucial role in your business’ marketing strategy. Instagram is used by an astounding number of people worldwide – and the majority have embraced Reels.
- Mobile Audiences Are Your Primary Target
Smartphone audiences are integral to modern day marketing – we spend most of our day looking at our phones, in fact I would hazard a guess that you have looked at yours within the last 10 minutes or so. Mobile-First Marketing is breaking down the barriers of anything that is desktop-related, the vast majority of video views are on mobile devices now. What would have previously been a packed shopping mall bursting with shoppers, has changed to click shopping from the comfort of your home sofa – why wouldn’t you? You can order groceries, pay a bill, and watch a funny video, all at the same time!
You must cater your brand and marketing strategies with this fact in mind – your audience are constantly on the go, whatever your marketing activity it must capture attention immediately to avoided being ‘swiped’ on.
- Build a Community Around Your Brand
Whatever platform that you are using to market, it is essential that your community is built around your brand. Social media works as a place for consumers to decide which brand is relevant to them, many make a judgment call according to their friend’s reaction to a brand – you cannot make mistakes, cancel culture is often now – if you don’t appeal to the right community in your brand, you won’t be able to compete.
Focusing business and marketing movements to resonate with the brand and its core community will empower the value of the brand throughout different social media channels. In the simplest terms possible, your key objective should always be to optimize your brands presence on the most popular and effective channels on the market.
We hope that having a knowledge of the latest trends and changes to social media marketing in 2022 will help you to build a closer relationship with your target audience, and in turn build trust to grow your client base.
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