What Will The Top Social Media Trends Be In 2022?
The world of social media changes constantly. New platforms emerge, old ones fall out of favor, and everything in between shifts to keep up with the times. The pace of change is so rapid that it's hard to predict what will be popular a year from now. And yet, some trends keep popping up over and over again, regardless of the platform or subcategory you're talking about. Social media is dynamic and ever-changing, which makes predicting trends almost impossible. That said, we've analyzed the current state of social media to bring you the top predictions for 2022.
1. Video Will Become a Standard Social Feature
The popularity of Snapchat's Snap Ads and Instagram Stories has inspired numerous other platforms to add video features. Facebook recently rolled out ads, which enable businesses to buy sponsored videos in people's newsfeeds. In addition, YouTube can now run pre-roll ads on videos, so you can watch a video ad before it begins. The success of these advertising strategies will inspire even more platforms to add video capabilities in the coming years. We expect video ads to become standard features on every major social media platform by 2022.
2. Bots Will Become Commonplace
Chatbots are already commonplace on Facebook Messenger, so it's no surprise they're spreading to other social apps. For example, bots have appeared in Twitter's direct messages to send out shopping recommendations and Facebook's chatbot is a way to search for news content related to a person. While we don't expect all features to be automated, we expect chatbots' use cases to rise over the next few years.
3. Live Video on Social Media Networks Will Be Ubiquitous
Currently, live video streams are restricted to broadcasting on sites like Periscope or YouTube Channels but that seems poised to change in the coming years. These services will become more ubiquitous over the next year or two. Facebook and Twitter have both announced live videos on their platforms, and Instagram will introduce an unlimited number of broadcasts to users in a similar announcement. We predict that other social media platforms will follow suit over the next few years, as they're seeing the benefits of adding additional features like live video.
4. Content Curation Will Emerge as a Trend Across Social Media Platforms
Social media sites have monetized user content without much effort simply by aggregating it. For instance, Facebook has been serving content that people tag with certain keywords to its users for years. But, content curation will become a trend across all social media platforms as people begin to consume content differently on each service. Facebook has already launched a feature that helps you discover new content related to the categories of your personal and professional interests. Therefore, we expect this trend to continue and more curation features to come.
5. Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns that feature influencer marketing are expected to grow exponentially in 2022. This will be enabled by the growth of social media as a primary marketing platform, in addition to the affordability of technology and better tools for data analysis. As traditional advertising channels face declining ROI, influencer marketing campaigns have been seen as an effective route toward building brand awareness and increasing sales. Social media stars are becoming the driving force of marketing strategies, as they possess credibility that no traditional ad can ever match. With these influencers taking center stage in many business strategies, their following will only continue to grow. The biggest challenge that marketers face is figuring out how best to leverage this trend while they're in its infancy.
6. Personalized Recommendations Will Become a Trend Across Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms are already able to tailor content to users based on their behaviors and interests. For example, Facebook's social graph can recognize people who engage with certain types of content and deliver them more relevant new content. This type of personalized recommendation is game-changing for marketers who want to reach their target audiences in real-time. We predict that other social media platforms will follow suit with similar features in the coming years to further improve user experience.
7. Online Dating Will Continue to Be Popular but Remain a Niche on Social Media
Online dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid have already seen an uptick in users on social media, so it's no surprise that they're continuing to grow in popularity. In fact, we expect more online dating services to follow suit over the next year or two as they're becoming mainstream. While this is great news for those looking to find love online, we don't think that online dating will overtake offline dating anytime soon.
8. Businesses Will Treat Social Media Like a CRM
CRM (customer relationship management) tools are used by most businesses to track and engage with customers through multiple channels. However, social media channels are often overlooked while the business focus is on traditional advertising platforms. However, with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, more businesses will treat them as a CRM tool, allowing them to engage with their customers in a more meaningful way.
9. More People Will Use Social Media for Professional Purposes
Social media has grown into an essential part of many people's professional life. For instance, CEOs around the world publish company-related content regularly on LinkedIn. Additionally, companies utilize other social platforms to advertise their products to prospective employees through job postings and company profiles. Therefore, we predict that social media will become even more professionalized in the coming years as more companies take advantage of social media's reach.
10. Social Media Platforms Will Go Beyond Profile Pages
Most social media platforms have focused mostly on profile pages for users and businesses, but that seems poised to change over the next few years. For instance, LinkedIn is already working on new ways to improve the way people and companies can promote their work to a specific audience. We expect more businesses will move away from profile pages in favor of other tools that allow them to showcase their content to a specific audience instead of relying on generic newsfeed algorithms.
11. Voice Control Will Become a Trend
Voice control is one of the most useful features on smartphones, and it's now widely available with Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant. These virtual assistants help users accomplish various tasks like starting their car, setting timers, and checking the weather without ever touching their phone. Voice control will continue to become more mainstream over the next year or two as people continue to appreciate services that allow them to do more with their hands.
We expect 2022 to be a big year for social media. We believe that social media and technology will continue to converge and the Internet will become less chaotic. However, many of these trends are still in their nascent stages and it will likely be at least two or three years before they become mainstream.
