In a fast-forward era, the social algorithms work in mysterious ways, and there’s no certainty that what’s a killer piece of content today may still work tomorrow. However, overseeing social media trends, and adapting to them as quickly as possible is the one thing that can get a boost to your social media strategy, and help you gain competitive advantage.

So, without further ado, let’s take a quick look at the most important five social media marketing trends according to data to skyrocket your brand on social in the year to come.

The supremacy of video content

TikTok must certainly be given some credit for the propulsion of video content among all social media networks. As Instagram’s many new video features have proven, there is no greater push toward innovation than the pressure of overcoming your competitors.Today, most anything related to trends on social media is about videos. And truth be told, for generating higher engagement levels on all social platforms, we must recognize its supremacy.

Indeed, posting more videos can be great for your social media engagement. But posting short-form videos can be your ticket to having an awesome social presence, as social media video trends indicate. And speaking of shortness, social media managers should keep in mind the user’s attention span is slightly declining. So besides choosing short video lengths, the captions used are also better to be under 10 words for maximum of engagement.

With the popularity of video Stories, the launch of Reels, and now with the update that has removed IGTV, Instagram as well seems to be headed in a direction where short-form videos are pushed more upfront. According to our Instagram Stories Study, video stories are more successful in retaining an Instagram user to watch more of a brand’s story, having a tap-forward rate of 0,80% lower than image stories.

With the lockdowns worldwide caused by the COVID19 pandemic, live streaming sessions on social have become the next big thing. And since this tactic has known increasing popularity, it is most expected to have a continuous growing consumption in the future. According to our Facebook videos study, live videos are on the rise, having a 55% usage increase in 2021. Also, as the same study has shown, live videos generate double the engagement compared to pre-recorded ones.

When analyzing the most recent social media trends, we also discovered that live videos that last over one hour increase engagement from 0.26% to 0.46%. Therefore, consider creating longer webinars if you want to introduce live streaming in your social media strategy for 2022.

Growing ads budgets

Social media grows day by day in its importance for the marketing field. Especially now, when most brands were forced to cut down on marketing activations due to the COVID19 pandemic and redirected some of their marketing budgets into social media paid advertising. Which is no surprise, given its ability to reach the most targeted audiences.

As the latest trends in social media advertising have shown, as a results, in 2021 worldwide brands have doubled their paid advertising budgets, both for Facebook and Instagram. This is expected to happen again in 2022, as the amount of money invested into paid advertising increases year after year.

For now, Instagram ads have proven to be more suited for increasing brand awareness, while Facebook ads for conversion purposes. However, the growing interest in Instagram advertising may be a strong sign of where the future of social media paid advertising lies.

The expansion of social selling

With the on and off lockdowns caused by the COVID19 pandemic, people turned even more to social media for being a way to stay connected with their loved ones. And with social media’s usage increasing, online shopping also exploded. Make no mistake; we’re here referring to both the classical e-commerce realm, where the user manually goes to a website and orders something as well as to social selling.

In 2021 all the major social media platforms have found a way to facilitate the customer’s journey and incorporated shopping features. Just look at Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram, which besides opening the “Shop” feature, has also introduced Shoppable Stories, which allows tapping on a product sticker and buying a certain product without leaving the app.

The great advantage of introducing in-app purchases is that it reduces the churn rate. By facilitating the buying process, you reduce the risk of losing your prospects along the way until they reach the end of the marketing funnel and order something.

As this has proven to be a quicker way for customers to shop their desired items and a more profitable technique of an e-commerce brand of reaching their potential buyers, social selling is expected to develop in many ways in the years to come. According to eMarketer’s predictions, by 2025 social selling may become a $80 billion industry.

With many new features, not to mention new platforms that enter the market once in a while, social media platforms are expanding more than ever. The social network’s updates for 2022 are pretty hard to predict. But there’s one thing we can be certain of: social media will continue to be a powerhouse in the marketing industry. As social media platforms grow, it’s paramount to be aware of consumer social media trends if you want to maximize your social media success.