22 Dec 2023 Social Media Trends you need to follow now
It’s no news: social media has seen a rise like never before since the pandemic. Spending (valuable) time at home has triggered consumers to seek solutions and satisfy their necessities through their phones: information, education and entertainment – at any time, without limits.
This non-stop demand for content has nourished a procession of social media platforms, tools and trends that never seem to cease and always seem to change. TikToks, influencers, creators, REELS, polls, challenges, and so on. Whether you’re marketing an event, throwing a unique party or launching a new cultural experience – you can’t avoid using social media.
And that’s not all. As if it wasn’t hard enough to keep your comms aligned across all relevant networks, your content may not even be seen unless you follow the latest 2023 social media trends. Don’t panic, we’ve done the research and rounded up the five biggest trends you need to know and implement to drive successful social media channels in 2023.
1. The Authentic Social Shift
Social media is over-saturated with inspirational and almost unreal content. Perfect moments, perfect families, perfect outfits, perfect skin – and the list goes on.
In 2022, Gen Z (the trending leading generation) expressed the desire for a more honest portrait of life away from filters, super-edited photos and ideal experiences. And BeReal – App of the Year on both Apple and Google (‘Users Choice’ category) stores for 2022 – has listened.
This rule-breaking app claims to be “not another social network”. With more than 53M downloads (October 22), BeReal is a “social media app that asks users to post unfiltered photos […] once a day. It’s meant to encourage people to be more authentic, instead of trying to present their best selves”.
The outstanding success of this social media platform is proof that consumers are tired of the perfect-built storytelling that other channels provide. They seek authenticity and value the organic feel in everything they consume.
That’s why Instagram, TikTok and even Snapchat have already incorporated (or are working on) their own features to encourage users to be more authentic.
Instagram is developing similar tools such as ‘Roll Call’ (encouraging private groups to share a photo in real-time at a random call) and ‘Candid’ stories (stories that work precisely like BeReal). TikTok has introduced ‘TikTok Now’ under the same concept but incorporating 10-sec video, and Snapchat has enabled the ‘dual’ front and back camera option.
The social media giants are leaving behind their perfect-life standards to be organic social sharing spaces.
Authenticity is the future, and the future is here.
2. "Entertain me"
Short-form video content is leading the scene. According to Wyzowl’s 2022 Video Marketing Statistics, people spend an average of 19 hours per week watching videos on social media.
The same report states that marketers feel more positive about the return on investment offered by video, as it continues to strongly influence traffic, leads, sales, and audience understanding. In fact, 81% of marketers feel that video has direct, positive impact on sales.
Video content is the best way to tell a story (especially a complex one) and can engage audiences for a longer time. It’s the most effective tool to address a brand’s audience more personally.
However, its production is expensive in time and resources vs static images. Despite having more tools to create and edit at home (or in-house), a good video with an engaging beginning (within the first 2 seconds!) might take more effort and dedication.
So whether it’s to raise brand awareness for your event or drive traffic to your ticketing platform, bite-sized video content is key. It has the potential to engage faster, improve brand recall and reach millions by going viral.
It’s already the focus area for the largest social networks today: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. YouTube, Pinterest and even Twitter.
3. Building trust through UGC
Authenticity will be 2023’s key value across every social network. UGC (User Generated Content) is the ultimate authentic marketing resource in this scenario as it is used across all customer journey stages to help influence engagement and increase conversions. Think of a modern-day #WordOfMouth.
According to a Stackla Survey, consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view UGC as more authentic than branded content. There are three ways to implement this trend on social media:
Brand Advocates: encourage and reshare customers’ UGC on social media to achieve a more organic feel and earn your follower’s trust.
Employees: incentivise your work team to promote and organically share content about the event. According to TintUp, employee-generated content is more important than ever because it sees 10x more followers than brand accounts and 8x more engagement.
Content Creators: partner with creators and give them the freedom to create content as if they were natural consumers. This could be posted on their social media or saved to the event’s channels.
How to articulate this IRL: If you’re running a festival, you can encourage attendees to post their experiences on social media using a specific hashtag. If you’re launching a one-time-only event, you can do a ticket giveaway between followers who mention the brand on their accounts (and repost them!).
UGC will help you take authenticity to the next level.
4. Going niche
Social media itself will not boost your ticket sales unless partnering with the right Key Opinion Leaders (and running ads, of course). Influencer Marketing is not a new practice, but it has been changing throughout the years.
Choosing the right influencers to represent and promote your event is vital. Today’s consumers gravitate toward more authentic experiences, and they can feel fakeness. Partner wisely with influencers that align with your brand’s values and can communicate in the most organic way possible.
Brief them thoroughly and then let them create with freedom. They know their audience and know what works. Make them feel part of the campaign and engaged with the event’s purpose. They will deliver their very best.
In 2023 nano (1000-10000 followers) and micro-influencers (10000-50000) will continue to help brands build authenticity and credibility. Despite their relatively smaller following, these tiers often have higher engagement and can deliver higher conversion rates than bigger accounts. This is due to the tendency of brands to opt for a more ‘community-led approach’ and consumers choosing only what feels true.
5. One for All
People seek more fair and accessible opportunities for all. That is equal opportunities in the professional industry, social aspects of life, sports, arts, and many other spheres. Oh yes, and on social media. Ensuring information on your social media networks is accessible and inclusive of all users (regardless of their ability and environment) will be vital in 2023.
Considering every platform has its own accessibility ‘tools’, this is one of the easiest 2023 Social Media Trends to implement right away. Think of adding titles and captions to your video content, for example. Adding text to your Instagram Reels makes your content accessible to hard-of-hearing and deaf communities. It’s also important for the 20% of Reels views that happen with the sound turned off.
You can also ensure that images are available to everyone by adding ‘Alt Text’ (alternative text) where possible. If you don’t find a specific place to insert the image description, you can directly do so on the post caption.
Lastly, while creating social tiles to promote your event, colours should always be strong and contrasting. Never use them alone to convey meaning.
Keeping up to date with the 2023 Social Media Trends is a must-do while promoting your next event. It might seem a lot to cope with, but it can be summarised in three words: authenticity, entertainment and accessibility.
At Milestone Creative, we have a multidisciplinary team that can help you promote your event and boost your ticket sales with a holistic Marketing Strategy. If you would like more information or Milestone to support you with your 2023 campaigns, contact our team at info@milestonecreative.com.au