Social Media Marketing Trends

Introduction

• What's trending in social media marketing?
• The value of micro vs. macro social media trends

1. Format- and Feature-Related Social Media Trends

• Incorporating music on social media
• Creating original GIFs
• Advertising with existing organic content
• Adding a social layer to product
• Video content continues to be a key investment
• Visual search becomes more prominent
• Developing sub-brands with collab features
• Hosting podcasts on social media
• Experimenting with augmented reality on social media
• Original social media content gets priority
• Adding sonic branding to social media content
• Text-heavy content still a social media must-have
• Releasing an educational series on social media
• Improving the speed of the social media approval process
• Bypass the algorithm with broadcast channels
• Stand out with mixed-reality CGI social ads
• Zero-click content has become the norm
• Choosing the ideal social video length

2. Channel-Specific Trends in Social Media Marketing

• Revisiting niche networks
• Advertising on social media adjacent services
• Unbundling of Reddit into other services
• Fostering superfans on Discord
• Brand activations on Roblox
• The ongoing cultural impact of TikTok
• Superapps dominate the market
• Embracing the Reddit community
• Optimize for TikTok SEO
• Sponsoring TikTok livestreams
• Revisiting the value of Facebook
• Connecting with Pinterest's audience
• Threads has long-term viability
• Boosting search visibility with Google forums
• Improving the longevity and visibility of your LinkedIn content
• Reconsidering the benefits of Snapchat
• Maximizing the four surfaces of Instagram
• Opportunities for businesses on Bluesky
• Navigating the next TikTok era
• Maximizing Apple Business Connect

3. Influencer Marketing Trends in Social Media

• Repositioning products for influencer collaborations
• Pros and cons of influencer marketplaces
• Out-of-the-box sponsorships
• Sponsoring up-and-coming creators
• Working with Amazon influencers
• Micro-influencers come out on top
• Collaborating with influencers as a nonprofit
• Creators as brand consultants
• Live streaming in China evolves
• Hiring creators as social media managers
• Partner with LinkedIn creators
• Working with creators of viral sounds
• Building your own creator program
• Leveraging the relationships between creators
• Extend your events impact by inviting creators
• Spur engagement by creating an ongoing creator dialogue
• Partnering with YouTube creators on TV programming
• Sponsoring Substack authors
• Embracing B2B influencers

4. Trending Engagement Strategies in Social Media

• Audience building with shows and series
• Launching reimagined social media contests
• The opportunity of localized social media marketing
• Integrating social media in other forms of advertising
• Reframing the narrative in your favor
• Partnerships thrive on social media
• Reconsidering shock value
• First-mover advantage
• Humanizing your messaging
• Cultivating shared social experiences in the metaverse
• Leaders develop a social media strategy
• Social customer care increases in value
• Revisiting humor on social media
• Revisiting hashtag usage for discovery
• How to develop a social strategy for Web3
• Prioritize authenticity on social media
• Tighter social media budgets for brands
• Prioritize storytelling instead of viral trends
• Benefiting from TikTok-esque video feeds
• Thoughtfully taking a social media break as a brand
• Focusing your social strategy on depth and width
• Refining your social media mix as the referral model falters
• Treating social media like TV by committing to entertainment
• Creatively commenting on social posts from third parties
• Leveraging anti-trends as a competitive advantage
• Encouraging employee advocacy for your brand

5. Social Causes and Demographic Trends on Social Media

• Encouraging healthier social media usage
• Addressing systemic racism
• Counteracting misinformation on social media
• Navigating change and uncertainty
• Connecting with LGBTQ+ customers year-round
• Portraying women in ads accurately
• Gen Z impacts the industry
• Adapting to generational preferences
• Improving the accessibility of marketing
• Prioritizing future job skills in social media
• Build a positive platform with community moderation
• Video dubbing and audio captioning support accessibility
• Strategizing in a fragmented social media landscape
• Engaging Generation Alpha across social media
• Focusing on regional and topic-specific communities
• Push entertainment on social media as sharing declines

6. Social Media Ecommerce Trends

• China leads next ecommerce wave
• Product drops become the norm
• One-click social commerce reaches an inflection point
• Why social commerce for brands has stalled
• First-party data improves social media attribution
• Assessing the viability of TikTok Shop
• Capitalizing on social commerce in China, India, and Brazil
• Leverage Amazon's cross-platform social shopping ads
• Boost sales with livestream shopping

7. Privacy, Safety, and Regulatory Trends in Social Media

• The impact of regulatory scrutiny
• Navigating encryption across private social media
• Government regulations due to anticompetitive behaviors
• The aftermath of privacy changes at Apple
• Addressing structural and acute harms on social media
• Adapt to shifts in digital trust
• Reducing the risks of social media on youth mental health
• Adapting to the FTC creator sponsorship guidelines
• Integrate TikTok content practices elsewhere post-ban
• Brand safety strategies evolve
• Addressing misinformation directly

8. AI Trends in Social Media Marketing

• AI social media tools drive content creation
• Conversational AI on social media
• Mitigating risk when using generative AI for social media
• Aligning your social strategy with reasoning engines
• Crafting a point of view to offset the impact of AI
• Protect against disinformation with watermarked social posts
• Producing creative briefs to inform your social strategy
• Identifying effective generative AI tools for social media
• Adapt your social strategy to AI-powered search engines
• Improving social media content accessibility with AI
• Maximizing AI-automated direct messaging
• Gaining exposure with AI social search