The impact of social media on brand success is undeniable, and it has been consistently growing year on year. When you look back on 2021, think about what went well for your business on social media. Consider all of the changes and trends we experienced, and imagine what 2022 might hold. To help you do this, we’ve come up with a list of predictions for the new year…
1. Repurposing
There are so many touch points between your brand and your consumer – are you harnessing all of them? If you’ve created long form content such as a video or blog post, it’s always a good idea to cross promote them by cutting them into micro-content. For example, with our client Perium we create content, chop it up and repurpose it to distribute across multiple channels. We even apply this method to blog posts, by pulling out quotes or small extracts of text and pushing them out via different media. This maximises exposure and reduces waste.
2. Spinning
Putting your spin on viral trends is a fun and pretty easy way to interact with followers and is bound to generate some engagement. 2021 saw many brand adaptations of viral trends, from small businesses on Tiktok utilising the latest sounds and dances to promote their products to bigger businesses hopping on the Certified Lover Boy train by customising Drake’s album cover art, and we can’t forget Spotify’s annually wrapped campaign. These are all fairly low maintenance ways of producing content that will resonate with consumers.
3. Teaching
A marketer used to be someone who sold products. Now, it’s much more than that. In 2022, we’re expecting to see the role of social media marketing to switch from selling products and services to educating and leading on topics about which the brand is concerned. We’ve already been doing this religiously for clients such as Bad Handwriting where the posts really drive home the persona, values and passion of the brand.
4. Influencing
A survey found that 96% of people in the UK do not trust influencers. We recommend being more tactful with your PR campaign rather than throwing money at macro influencers and celebrities. Far more traction and long-term success can be found by engaging with influencers who truly align with your brand’s mission and values. The content they put out on your behalf becomes more believable. This requires research, planning and an initial testing phase in which you gauge the viability of several influencers over a month or two. It’s something we’ve become quite proud to have nailed down, so do get in touch if you feel like you need some advice on this.
5. Responding
Social media is great for reaching consumers but you have to make sure you’re also operating a reliable customer service account as well as posting content. What are customer pain points? How can you address their questions and use that as content? In 2022, brands will continue using stories or lives to answer followers’ questions about upcoming drops and product releases. Fashion brands have done this especially well, opening up a forum where they can answer questions regarding pricing, fit and even styling options. This illustrates that they are listening to the pain points of consumers and seeking to elevate them, this is particularly important with online retailing as the option to try on clothes before you buy is no longer there.
There you have it, our roundup of the top 5 social media trends to adopt in 2022!
As always, if you feel like you could use a pair of expert eyes and ears to help you along your marketing journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Simply email [email protected] and we’ll get back to you pretty quickly.