The thing most obvious attribute of the digital technology revolution and its presence in social media channels is that it never ceases to reach a state of pause or even a brief plateau. Change is inevitable and often challenges us to evolve, but technology thrives in an environment of constant change. As practitioners of marketing, we must be vigilant and ready to discover new opportunities in communication advances and beware of the fast-paced evolution of social media users and platforms of choice.
The most important advance in modern marketing is how social media users make connections and interact with brands when making a purchasing decision. Technology is creating audiences that are evolutionary. Consumers are increasingly dynamic when it comes to how and where they listen, making it imperative that brands remain sensitive to how consumers are using social media and avoid getting caught speaking the wrong language in an empty arena.
Over 4.74 billion people across the world use social media every day, and more than 93% of internet users are social media users. Worldwide, people spend an average of 2 hours and 28 minutes per day conversing on social media platforms. If our job as marketers is to construct messages and connect with an audience, the numbers demand we pay attention to the shifts in the way each segment of the audience prefers to receive the messaging and how they use various channels of conveyance. Today’s audiences are evolutionary and increasingly dynamic when it comes to how and where they listen. What are a few leading trends in social media in 2023?
The transition of ownership of Twitter in 2022 and the subsequent changes in its fundamental operations has resulted in a significant migration of users from Twitter to Linkedin. The move to Linkedin may see the veteran B2B channel become more diverse and adaptive to a new audience segment. More Private Networks and AI-enabled content creation will advance, and fewer brands will rely on the major platforms for paid ads. “Smaller platforms will allow for greater targeting and a better connection with the audience. Plus, the spending will really offer us bang for our buck,” says Alexia Bregman, The Bureau of Small Projects.
Open-source platforms will continue to advance in 2023. “I see a very rapid growth of open-source AI platforms, which marketers will need to quickly get into. Consumers are looking for structured information in these emerging platforms and are also providing material data. Moreover, for repetitive marketing tasks (SEO optimization, for example), AI provides a better cost-benefit ratio to clients than agencies can—it’s not as good, but it’s cheaper and faster” says Roy Hutchinson, Squnq Capital LLC.
Disruption and significant changes in social media are on the horizon in the coming year as geopolitical events and regulatory actions are certain to impact the social media space. In the past year, more brands have inched towards entering the TikTok arena. Faith in the social media platform has increased by 700 percent since the beginning of 2021. With nearly one billion monthly users, the TikTok app cannot be ignored as a viable tool to reach a targeted audience, but recent threats by the US Congress to ban the platform’s use in the United States is upping the risk factor for brands venturing too far and too quickly into the space. The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) went into effect on January 1, 2023. As major platforms like Google and Facebook continue to move towards compliance, the Act is certain to affect how marketers utilize social media and the internet. Brands need to be prepared to shift commitments if one or more of the key platforms is negatively impacted.
Informal and personalized content will establish itself as essential, alongside short videos, for dominance in social media marketing this year. As consumers continue to favor shorter communications, getting to the point with the message will become more important. The best content is original, conversational in tone, and authentic. Well-written content can elevate a brand to an informed, capable, and even expert status among a targeted audience. The approach will need to be just long enough to tell the story effectively, but short enough not to bore the reader into abandoning the message. The focus should be on creating platform-specific content. Few marketers will find optimized social media utilization in 2023 by generating the same content for use across multiple social media sites.
At Junction Creative Solutions (Junction), we use powerful short and long-form storytelling to drive discovery and increase conversions for our clients. Specializing in social media management, content generation, PPC management, and on-page SEO optimization, we strive to stay current on social media marketing trends to increase sales, visibility, and engagement for our clients. For more information call 678-686-1125 today.