Are you in the midst of preparing your social media plan for next year? Do you want to know about the major developments that will have an impact on how potential consumers utilize social media?
Today we are going to share with you 8 Social Media Trends to keep an eye on.
Did you know that globally, there are roughly 3.78 billion social media users as of 2021? The usage of social media is expected to increase in the future years. And it will change over time to suit changing user preferences.
1. Social Media Emerges As A Shopping Platform
During the pandemic, as shopping grew more virtual, social media platforms became an increasingly popular shopping channel.
In fact, the number of Instagram purchasing searches has grown by 69% in the last five years.
By 2023, that number is expected to surpass 100 million.
2. Growth Of Short-Form Video Content
In many situations, video postings on social media outperform static photo posts. Instagram videos garnered twice as much interaction as photo postings in some situations. According to one research, by 2022, videos would account for up to 82 percent of all internet content.
TikTok is a video-sharing site that focuses on short-form content. TikTok was downloaded 315 million times throughout the world in the first three months of 2020, breaking the record for quarterly downloads by any app.
Instagram introduced Instagram Reels in 2020 to compete with TikTok. Users may record and publish videos up to 30 seconds long on Reels. This is in addition to Instagram's other two video features, IGTV and Stories.
3. Social Media Becomes Part Of Daily Life
The concepts of social media is not new. However, during the last five years, searches for the phrase have increased by 17%.
Not only is the number of people using social media increasing. In fact, the amount of time people spend on social media sites is increasing as well. Every day, users spent an average of 145 minutes on social media. This is roughly a one-hour increase over what individuals spent on social media in 2012.
During the pandemic, worldwide social media usage (including messaging applications like WhatsApp) increased by 21%.
4. Facebook Remains on Top (for now)
Facebook continues to be the world's most popular social media site. YouTube is a close second. Despite some unfavorable headlines, Facebook's growth continues unabated.
In January 2021, the platform had over 1.845 billion daily users and almost 23 billion total visits. Every day, the typical user spends around 58 minutes on Facebook.
Younger users, on the other hand, spend an average of 80 minutes each day on the app called TikTok.
Each year, there are plenty of new social networking sites being launched.
Since its introduction in 2020, Clubhouse, an invitation-only social network focused on audio conversations, has gotten a lot of attention.
Despite the success of certain new platforms, such as Clubhouse, the big players listed above are anticipated to maintain their dominance in the next years.
5. Shorter Attention Spans Results In More Bite-Sized Content
Yes, more time is being spent on social media. They are, however, spending less time responding to individual posts. According to studies, the average person's attention span nowadays is 8 seconds.
As a result, social media sites are increasingly delivering bite-size content alternatives including short-form films and ephemeral (temporary) material.
6. More Augmented Reality Options
Over the last five years, searches for "social media AR" have increased by 81 percent. The market for Augmented Reality (AR) is still in its early stages.
As mobile networks get stronger and quicker, AR and VR are likely to become more widespread. The AR market is expected to generate $70-$75 billion in yearly sales by 2023.
Early adopters of the trend are social media platforms. Since 2017, Instagram filters have included augmented reality. Instagram stepped up its AR game even further in 2019 by allowing users to design their own filters.
7. Growing Utilization Of User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is rapidly being included into social media marketing tactics.
Brands that use user-generated content (UGC) see a 20% boost in repeat visits and a 90% increase in time spent on their websites.
Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with authenticity. UGC is 2.4 times more likely than traditional branding to be perceived as real by consumers.
8. The "Unbundling" Of Reddit
Craiglist, the online classifieds service, was basically "unbundled" into hundreds of specialty verticals ten years ago. Several large firms arose, including Airbnb, Zillow, and Indeed. Reddit is going through the same thing. Discord (now worth USD3.5 billion) took off the first significant chunk of Reddit as the "Slack for Gaming." It developed out of the League of Legends gaming subreddit and responded to the community's demands.
Conclusions
Over the next 2-3 years, social media usage is projected to continue to rise.
Despite new competition, social media behemoths (such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat) are unlikely to disappear.
Users are staying connected to these major social media sites for longer amounts of time each day because to new features like ephemeral material, short-form films, and augmented reality.
Growing involvement is expected to fuel social commerce and create income for businesses in the future.
As a result, businesses should expect to find new methods to adjust their social media strategies to the changes that these platforms provide.
Hope you find this useful and let's all start cracking our brains for next year's planning!
Comments