Social Media Marketing or SMM is a term that appeared at the end of the last century and was defined as an activity aimed at the social behavior of people, the purpose of which is promotion. The very concept of marketing has not lost its relevance to this day, and with the advent of the Internet, it has only transformed and makes it possible to use its advantages not only for online stores and commercial sites, but also for the media. To make things a little easier for SMM professionals, as well as for brands and companies that promote their products and services online, we have compiled the key trends that will reign in social networks in 2022.
- Thoroughness in work on visual content
It is no secret to anyone that social networks are exactly the same sales tool as an online store or a landing page. There is a huge amount of content online, and the competition for user attention is also high. If you fail to hook the user in the first 5 seconds of “touching” with your visual content, then the chances of a targeted action on their part are greatly reduced. Today it is no longer enough just to take a photo and put it in the profile feed. Creators and SMM specialists need to do a lot of work on the image: remove background with Retoucher, for example, apply various effects, customize saved styles, remove unwanted objects, add text and frames, crop images, adjust exposure and color, enlarge the image, and more.
- Focus on video content.
We officially declare: the future belongs to video content! You can prove this with just three key arguments from different online platforms:
- Firstly, YouTube has a new video format Shorts (videos up to a minute long with a separate tape in the mobile application);
- Secondly, TikTok “allowed” users to shoot videos up to 3 minutes long – previously only 15 sec and 60 sec formats were available (and the long-awaited Spark Ads feature appeared in the application: the ability to promote videos of creators and bloggers directly from the feed);
- Thirdly, Instagram presented Reels.
In the wake of the popularity of the TikTok application, video content has become more in demand and relevant. In a 2021 survey, 86% of businesses said video content is an important marketing tool. And 94% of respondents agreed that it is the video format that helps the audience to better understand and evaluate the product or service. We recommend not to ignore new opportunities and allocate human and financial resources to create videos. But we remind you that the trend is sincerity and simplicity (post-production should not take you too far from raw content).
- Gamification
The integration of games into social networks has been observed over the past few years, and during the pandemic, Facebook and YouTube have actually merged together with gaming services, so the trend of integrating games into social platforms will continue. Gamification has several advantages at once: game content attracts attention and creates more interactions, thanks to which it organically gets into the recommendations of platforms. Key metrics are also growing — audience engagement and loyalty. In fact, gamification will enter new niches, game mechanics will be used to solve business problems and even organize business processes. In addition, it will help engage users in advertising campaigns using interactive formats. Even influencers are increasingly turning to games (including contests, quizzes, and quests) to produce ads.
4.Social Commerce
Young people are becoming more frugal and strive for reasonable consumption. At the same time, one in four is ready to make purchases directly from the tape and in the application. Instagram has several useful features for this. Brands that have online stores should definitely use Instagram Shopping as more consumers now want to shop without leaving social media. With the help of shopping tags, you can mark products in posts and Stories and transfer users to the card of this product on the site. In Instagram targeting, it became possible to attract a user to the sales funnel using bots. When you click on an advertising post, the user immediately goes to direct, where the message options “How much does it cost?” / “Is there delivery?” are already formulated for him.
- Automation
The trend for automation in the field of SMM in 2022 will only intensify. The use of artificial intelligence in the field of sales analytics and user behavior is gaining momentum, and in the near future, neural networks and quantum technologies will join this tool. Facebook, Amazon, Google use the mentioned technologies with might and main to develop their products. But the use of tools based on artificial intelligence is already available to ordinary SMM managers. For example, many sites offer their own analytical tools to analyze the expectations, habits and actions of marketplace users. Artificial intelligence allows you to automate the decision-making process in areas such as keyword selection, advertising mailing, product recommendations and others. Also, automated social media analytics allows you to determine ways to increase brand attractiveness and better target ads.
SMM trends, of course, are not a vital necessity: some of the new trends may simply not fit into the brand philosophy. But it’s still worth a try – this way you won’t let your current audience get bored and attract a new one.
