Top 10 social media trends to watch for in 2022

Last Updated 10 months by Emily Standley-Allard

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Over 72% of Americans actively use different social media platforms on a daily basis, with an increase of above 10 million social media users. Social media users spend about 2 hours and seven minutes on average on social media platforms daily. If you’re not using social media to grow your business, you are definitely missing out on revenue and more ways to stay in touch with your audience. In this post we’ll go over the top 10 Social Media trends to watch for to stay ahead of the competition!

Social media is always changing. New features and platforms are continuously emerging on the scene. It means more people will be checking their social channels to see if a business has a viable presence on social. Social media is not an option any longer – it has become critical for businesses to know top social media trends happening now.

Top 10 social media trends to watch for to stay ahead of your competition

Most of the social media trends you expect to see are here already.

However, here we have enlisted some of the most important social media trends to know for business and marketers. Continue to adopt them so your business can flourish online!

Let’s go!

1. TikTok marketing exploded in 2022

Instagram has been the heart of social media marketing for the past few years. With over 1.074 billion active monthly users on Instagram in 2021 it was growing at the fastest rate. Also, the return-on-investment rate here for brands was the highest.

However, things are changing now in this regard. TikTok jumped from seventh most popular site a year ago to the top spot in 2021, according to new research.

TikTok audiences have grown to over 1 billion in Sept. 2021 and their marketing expansion is set to explode in 2022. It took Facebook 3x as long to build to that level of growth.

TikTok has surpassed the mark of 1 billion users in September of 2021. This has made TikTok the 7th most popular social media platform worldwide.

45% of its users have increased within one year only.

Not only did TikTok surpass Instagram as teens’ favorite app last year, but recent data from Forrester found that TikTok has also eclipsed Instagram in terms of weekly reach among teens ages 12-17.

As the demand for TikTok has grown tremendously within the last year they have also partnered with Shopify to make the shopping experience available on TikTok.

@cybermom24 #contentcreator #contentcreators #onlinebusiness #womeninbusiness #socialmediainfluencer @cybermom24 ♬ She Share Story (for Vlog) – 山口夕依

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2. Reels will contribute to Instagram marketing success

Remember when Instagram feeds were filled with only gorgeous images? According to the head of Instagram, users are asking for more engaging and entertaining video content.

So, it has become critical for businesses to shift to creating reels soon as possible. Reels and stories will contribute heavily into businesses marketing success in 2022.

How to Use Instagram Reels to Promote Your Blog

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3. Social e-commerce trends will boom in 2022

Even though online shopping through social media channels has been here for years, the pandemic has brought much growth to this trend. So, in 2022, the social e-commerce trend will be the heart of consumers’ shopping experience.

Social platforms like Instagram and Facebook have added the shop feature for business accounts to grow their revenue and user experience.

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4. Social advertisements will also develop

With the onslaught over privacy concerns Google decided that cookies will be dying off in the near future.

Google’s answer to the end of third-party cookies is the Privacy Sandbox, which will anonymize data to help increase privacy and limit spam and fraud.

Social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram, however, are using a slightly different approach. Understanding what these changes mean and how to navigate the future of paid ads without cookies is crucial to long-term social media success.

Social ads will morph to help brands offer more personalized services continuously while remaining compliant.

How will they you get information without cookies?

With the use of first-party data. This is information you collect yourself about your prospects, customers, and social media followers. This data is not going away. In fact, it’s becoming more important than ever.

I strongly recommend you start gathering first-party data about your audience now so you can test new strategies and see what works.

How do you gather first-party data? Here are a few ways:

Build your email list.
Use lead generation ads like Facebook’s lead generation ads.
Create a Facebook group so you can interact with users directly.
Encourage direct messages on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. (Instagram Stories are a great way to do this.)
Use social media to poll your audience.

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5. People will start spending more on small networks

Out of all the social media trends to know in 2022, this will surely be the most surprising one.

However, new research revealed that consumers are more receptive to advertising on smaller networks. These include TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.

There has been an increase in search demand for ads on these networks over the previous two years.

6. More focus will be on micro-influencers

Even though this trend isn’t new anymore, micro-influencers will remain an important marketing tactic on social media platforms.

Therefore, brands have to recognize the massive power behind smaller followings instead of big celebrities.

It’s unnecessary to spend a lot on bringing the hottest model or celebrity to carry your message.

The trend of micro-influencers in 2022 is based on authenticity, being real and raw. This establishes trust. People prefer to respond to those to whom they can relate with the most.

Cracking the Code for Authentic Influencer Marketing Strategies

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7. Message communication will be preferred by prospects over the phone

During the covid-19 pandemic, a halt in global supply chains brought more urgent questions by consumers than ever. And most of them have discovered that social media is a more convenient way to get answered.

According to a survey, about 64% of people said they would prefer to communicate via social media messages and NOT calling a company directly.

To meet this demand you must be ready to provide effective customer support through your social media platforms with a chat representative or live chatbot.

Check out Mobile Monkey’s Chatbot Software

8. Long videos are no more

About 60% of overall videos published on the internet the most popular videos were less than a 2-minutes in length according to Vidyard.

With the arrival of TikTok, long video content isn’t appreciable anymore. The success of reels and stories ensured that long video content on social media platforms didn’t garner as much engagement or attention.

Creators and businesses have to remember that reels and shorts must be engaging and entertaining to reach out to new businesses. Story telling in short reels is the way to do this.

UPDATE!!! Life moves fast in social and TikTok as it turns out is rolling out 10-minute options for videos!

9. The content creator economy will boom

These days, working with brands and sponsored campaigns is not the only way you can get paid for creating and sharing content. Some social media platforms will also reward content creators for their hard work with financial incentives.

Even though the content creator economy has been around for years, it grew exponentially during the pandemic.

People started looking for ways to diversify their income from home in a variety of ways. Not only by creating YouTube channels, but developing ecommerce shops, social media content and video and web content for brands and businesses, along with blogs, visuals, guides, courses, eLearning content for academies and more.

In 2021, about 50 million people considered themselves creators on social networks.

@cybermom24 TikTok Pulse! #contentcreator #content #bloggers #blogtips #buildyouronlinebusiness @cybermom24 ♬ Lovely Day – Bill Withers

Fortunately, social media channels are driving and responding to this trend as well.

Facebook set up a 1-billion-dollar budget to pay content creators, along with TikTok and Instagram gifting options, sponsorship opportunities with brands and more.

So, whichever your business niche is, you can easily outsource content creation to a creator with an established fanbase already.

But which companies pay for content, and how can you earn money from these platforms?

Here are nine social media platforms that will pay you to create content.

9 Social Media Platforms that Pay Creators

10. Learning paid advertisement is critical

Social ads are still worthwhile for businesses of all sizes. You have to learn how to run paid social ads, even if you never have previously.

According to the social media trends, 2022 survey of Hootsuite; about 43% of respondents said their organic reach has declined. Traffic is intense online and among social platforms.

Therefore, it will only benefit your business to increase your social ads budget and run more social ad campaigns so you can level up your branding and target your specific audience.

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Conclusion

As more and more people are using social media platforms in 2022, social media marketing has become absolutely critical for businesses to grow.

Follow the top social media trends for marketers and businesses by signing up for our newsletter and help you stay afloat to successfully carry out your goals and objectives and keep on top of your competitors online!

About socialbuzzhive

Emily Standley-Allard is a nationally published author, content creator, social media and SEO professional. She is a digital content strategist who has helped companies and individuals improve their online presence since 2014.