Social media plays an essential part in our daily lives - especially post-pandemic. For marketers and business owners, you know that social media is one of your most powerful tools.

In 2023, the social media landscape will be very different from what it is today. Staying up to date on trends and taking proactive measures can help you stay ahead of the competition.

In this article, we'll be looking at some social media trends from 2020, 2021 and 2022 that are expected to have a significant impact on how we use social media in the future.

Social Media Trends in 2023

1. Social Commerce

Pre-pandemic, online shopping was just another cool innovation that provided added convenience for the modern-day customer - but given the circumstances, it has evolved into much more.

In the United States, the number of social commerce buyers has increased by 25.2%, reaching more than 80 million. According to eMarketer, the social commerce industry will be worth $80 billion by 2025 - 😱. And, the younger generations are far more likely to shop on social media platforms than older generations.

Many social media platforms have added a suite of shopping tools. For example, in 2020 facebook launched Facebook Marketplace and shoppable ads to its design.

Instagram has also followed suit by introducing Instagram Checkout - which allows users to shop directly from the platform rather than visiting a third-party website. Other social media platforms are expected to enter the playing field.

2. The Rise of Short-Form Video

It really is no surprise that short-form content has made it to the list. Instagram has recently been pushing for users to post and engage in Reels - where users can record up to 60 seconds and publish via the Reels page.

TikTok has taken the social media world by storm with 315 million people downloading the app in the first three months of 2020. This is an all-time high for any app. In order to compete with TikTok, YouTube has added a new feature called “YouTube Shorts”

Although there are more ways to watch and engage in short-form videos, longer videos are also here to stay. The live-streaming industry grew by 99% in 2020, and this trend is expected to continue through late 2022 and beyond.

Did you know that users spend approximately 1.645 billion hours each month watching long and short-form videos?

3. Brand Engagement

More than 60% of consumers will spend and engage more with a brand if they believe that they will be cared for throughout their user journey. Implementing brand engagement strategies necessitates increasing your awareness of your customers’ opinions and preferences, allowing you to provide a better customer experience.

Learn how to implement and measure brand engagement in order to make a significant impact on your business. In 2023 we can expect to see a multitude of brands amping up their brand engagement strategy, simply because, brand awareness and loyalty will increase as brand engagement improves.

4. The Human Touch

Every successful brand now has an online presence, and if it doesn’t, its days are definitely numbered. Many face-to-face interaction opportunities have been limited as the industry moves online. This means that your online presence needs to have that human touch. Authenticity has been increasingly prevalent within the digital marketing space and will only continue to grow alongside the digital world.

The tone of your brand should be unique to your company and reflect your personality, values and culture. Elephant In The Boardroom has four champion teams across our global agency, and that is reflected through small actions of diversity, inclusion and giving back to all of our communities, In 2023 we can expect to see more brands embracing their individuality and integrating a human touch to their content (if they haven’t already).

UGC (user-generated content) combined with a humanised take on-brand content will aid in the deployment of a seamless combination of the casual, conversational environment that social media users prefer.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, we don’t know what the future holds exactly for social media platforms - but we do know one thing change is inevitable, and every new change brings along new trends. Whether these trends will take the form of updates, new features, or trends, we are super excited to see what 2023 has in store for social media platforms.

Are you planning to expand your social media presence in 2023?

Let Elephant in the Boardroom help you out!