SMM Trends We’ll See in 2022

You might have already noticed how internet trends come and go – remember that app, Musical.ly, the TikTok ancestor that took the world by storm a couple of years ago? Yeah well, they’ve had their heyday. Here’s what you should be investing in instead.

Social media has become the new “place to be” since the pandemic limited us to the safety of our homes. Datareportal’s 2020 to 2021 surveys showed that all aspects of digital use increased during the onset of the pandemic:

The rise in internet use has led to the bloom of Social Media Marketing (SMM). As of June 2021, email marketing was still the most automated means of marketing, according to Statistica, used by 65% of respondents, while 47% of respondents used social media management.

88% of industry professionals claimed that SMM increased exposure to their businesses, and increased traffic by 79%. You might think that SMM will more likely be obviously effective if your target audience are Gen Z and Millenials, who have a higher rate of subscribing to either brands or individual marketers on social media. However, more than 50% of users of TikTok are over 30 years old.

If I’ve convinced you that SMM is worth the hype, you might be curious to know how to get it right. In 2021, 54% of global marketers used Facebook for marketing, with 22% on Instagram coming in second. These figures are likely to change.

Facebook might still be the most popular social media network with 2,895 users, but Instagram, Youtube and TikTok are all catching up. Facebook is seen as more ‘outdated’ by the youngest two generations, and may be on its way out. Instead, focusing on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok would be hugely beneficial to your outreach.

So, what might we see in 2022? Here are the top 5 possibilities:

1. AR experiences

Augmented realities are on the up and up, since many people are spending more time at home. There’s a chance that Metaverse pop-up stores could be the next big thing in SMM.

2. Shorter videos.

TikTok means there’s competition for shorter ads, and more exposure when you can fit your message into such a small time frame. YouTube shorts are now a thing too, as well as Instagram and Facebook adopting options for shorter video content.

It’s not just videos. TikTok has had 17.01 million downloads so far, with 0% of US trends using TikTok in the Spring 2019, only to see 29% percent of teens using it by Fall of 2020.

There has been a decline of Facebook users from 86% in the UK to 57%. In the US, the number of TikTok users will go from 66.5% in 2020 to a predicted 89.7% by 2023.

Why is TikTok so popular? It’s basically a melting pot of all the other social media platforms. You get a full, endless feed before you “follow”, or in Facebook terms, “friend” anyone, you can engage in challenges with no other aim but to take part in a social convention, like on YouTube. There is the aesthetic element of Instagram with the brevity of Snapchat and Twitter.

3. Micro-influencers.

Less is more. These are Instagrammers who have 1,000 - 100,000 followers. They usually have a more uniform audience, and a closer relationship with them. This kind of personal touch and creative freedom has become more appealing.

Influencers are simply people who help you spread the word about your brand. In 2021, the global influencer marketing value was estimated at $13.8 billion USD, and Instagram was the most popular platform for it. 52% of businesses use 0-10 influencers, and the higher the number gets, the smaller the proportion of businesses which can afford it.

What do these influencers sell best? Beauty and personal care products, apparently, then clothing or accessories. Basically, e-commerce businesses are the most suited for influencer marketing, although for individual brands, music personalities are doing the best on Instagram and TikTok (bellapoarch).

4. Subtlety.

With EVERYONE banging on social media doors for your attention, companies will now instead have to find the most palatable way to promote their brand. I personally have definitely watched ads that I didn’t realise were ads until the end. Ryanair, for example, has 1.5 million followers on TikTok and another 794,000 on Instagram.

How do they appeal to us? Humour. Their content often features jokes and light-hearted comments made at their own and rival airlines’ expense. This minimalist take of making your videos less extravagant, closer to those of individual users, makes your brand approachable and unintrusive, both of which are important to avoid deterring your audience.

5. Customer relationships.

People are craving connection right now. They want you to build a good relationship with them before they know to trust you.

In the UK, there is a keen sense of the COVID-card being overplayed. A recent survey done by Moneypenny shows that 85% of respondents think businesses are using COVID as an excuse for long wait times when trying to get in touch by phone. 48% of callers either wait more than 5 minutes for their calls to be answered or give up altogether.

You might be surprised to find out: 76% of consumers still prefer reaching out for customer service by phone call.

Having good customer service means a lot for your ROI: 93% of customers are likely to make a repeat purchase after a good customer service experience, with 86% more likely to go from being one-time consumers to long-term advocates.

On the flip side, 78% of customers would back out of a purchase after a bad service experience.

So, how can customer service improve? 90% of people think that an immediate response (under 10 minutes) is crucial to building a good experience. Issue resolution is also considered by 90% of customers to be the most significant service concern. 70% of consumers think that companies should collaborate on their behalf to make their experience smoother. Don’t redirect them to another team, help them walk through the issue yourself.

Privacy is also important. 92% of consumers appreciate having control over what information they share with the company, while 90% of customers are more likely to trust your brand if you have an airtight privacy policy.

It’s important, of course, to look at what platforms consumers prefer. Salesforce points out the gap in supply and demand of some of the following support channels:

The takeaway? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Use “omnichannel” SMM and support in order to make sure your business and brand have the furthest reach and most reliable consumer experience.