In May 2022, Statista released a data chart showing the marketers’ responses to a questionnaire. The question of that questionnaire is – how will you be using these 7 social media platforms in the future?
The online questionnaire recorded the answers of 2,897 marketers (online survey) from January 2022, and I’m here to present it to you. Take a look below:
| % of Responders | YouTube | TikTok | Snapchat | ||||
| Increase Usage | 41% | 61% | 57% | 54% | 28% | 37% | 7% |
| Decrease Usage | 13% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 7% | 3% | 4% |
| Usage Stays the Same | 41% | 25% | 23% | 25% | 33% | 8% | 9% |
| No usage at All | 5% | 9% | 17% | 18% | 32% | 52% | 80% |
It seems that over half of the respondents will want to increase their ad spending on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. That’s to be expected since both Instagram and YouTube are excellent for promotional purposes.
As for LinkedIn, it’s a very niche platform, but business-related marketing feels right at home on this platform, and past marketing results have produced excellent ROIs.
It’s also interesting to see that 41% of respondents wanted to increase ad spending on Facebook, and another 41% wanted to change nothing. The marketing community seems to be split between Facebook’s future potential, and I can guess why.
Facebook, or rather Meta, has been recently riding on the coattails of Zuckerberg’s Metaverse and VR obsessions, and investors haven’t been too happy, especially since Meta’s Meta division is a money sinkhole.
This would have naturally put some marketers on the fence about increasing their ad spending on Facebook because the future seems to be uncertain. Will Facebook make drastic changes to the platform, and will it lose popularity if the Metaverse becomes a thing? Some may choose to wait and see.
On the other hand, others appear to be more determined than ever to bet on Facebook’s continued success and renewed identity.
Lastly, it also seems that more than half of the responders don’t want anything to do with TikTok and Snapchat. Especially Snapchat.
52% of marketers said they don’t plan on using TikTok at all, and 80% said they wouldn’t spend any money on Snapchat advertising. TikTok seems to be the black sheep of social media, and it’s clear why the platform has a bad political and privacy-oriented reputation.
Its alleged ties to the CCP, multiple nationwide bans, and government employee bans have worried many marketers.
Will the platform be banned altogether in some countries, and will they lose their target audience? It’s just not a risk many are willing to take.
As for Snapchat, the fact that 80% of marketers are avoiding it like the black plague is not a surprise. The platform has never been that good for marketing. That’s mostly because Snapchat’s niche audience that makes marketing tough.
What’s New in Social Media Marketing in 2023?
I’ve combed the web and gathered some of the most interesting (and potentially useful) marketing trends happening on social media.
See below:
- Community-based brands will get the biggest slice of the pie. My research shows that more and more social media users are joining online communities that are brand-related. Moreover, they’re particularly attracted to brands who engage with their community and celebrate brand milestones with their community. This phenomenon will only get larger over time, and it seems social media marketing is here to stay;
- Social media eCommerce is the future of online marketing. That’s never been clearer than it is now with social media implementing accessible in-app purchases and product discovery. Gen Z, the Millennials, and Gen X are buying more and more products using social media, and over 47% of worldwide social media marketers have noticed an uptick in in-app sales;
- Social media online buyers are more concerned than ever before about three things when shopping online: the quality of the product, the legitimacy of the brand, and the ability to get a refund. Online marketers will have to address these three issues with priority if they want users to shop with them. As it stands now, Instagram seems to be the best social media platform for online shopping, both from the consumers’ and marketers’ perspectives;
- The bigger brands are forced to cut on creator spending. Worries of an impending recession have led many big brands to cut their budgets, and ad spending for content creators was one of the first to take a hit. This may not be such a bad thing, though, as the smaller businesses will be quick to use this opportunity to hire top content creators at more affordable rates;
- Most small businesses (approximately 72%, according to Hootsuite) aren’t currently working with creators. The reason for that is the instability in creator fees because there are no standard principles when it comes to hiring influencers, so negotiation is in order. Small businesses lack the finances to back up high-scale negotiations, so many are simply put off from working with creators;
- Social media consumers will be using DMs for customer service. Marketers are estimating that Direct Messaging will become the main form of customer service on social media, rather than email or contact forms. Many are already allocating resources to this sector by offering real-time customer support through DMs;
- More and more people are using social media search rather than search engines. According to HubSpot, around 24% of consumers aged 18-54 are using social media to search for brands more so than search engines. And 87% of social media marketers believe this trend will only get stronger in the future. It may seem strange to you and me, but the younger generation is using TikTok or Instagram to look for a place for lunch;
- Most marketers are working with small-time creators (from 1k followers to 99,999 followers) instead of celebrities. HubSpot’s study (linked above) shows that around 80% of all social media marketers prefer working with small creators below 1 million followers because it’s more affordable, and usually, these creators have more engaging communities;
- Short videos have the highest ROI and will become the most popular form of content in the future. You should have seen this one coming – Both Gen Z and Millennials prefer the short-video format when researching products to buy (about 57% Gen Z and 42% Millennials). Moreover, 33% of social media marketers are planning to expand to the short video format because it’s also the most effective form of promotion on social media;
- Funny and relatable content is the most engaging form of content on social media, so marketers may do well to use this. Around 66% of all marketers say that relatable and funny content brings the highest ROI, and it’s what they use for marketing for the most part. More advertisers will focus on this type of content, and those who already do will increase their investments in it;
- Re-sharing identical content on multiple platforms will have less of an impact on consumers. Already, marketers have begun making slight changes to the content they re-share from one platform to the other in order to cater to different audiences and engage more with their consumers. Around 34% of marketers never re-share content and instead create new posts for every platform;
It seems the entire social media marketing landscape is going through a transformation, and there’s no stopping it. Those marketers who adapt will thrive in the new world, and those who don’t will be forced to change their ways if they want to maintain their competitive edge.
I think that among the most important thing you should remember is the emergence of the short-video format. With the internet came the lowering of people’s attention spans, and the short videos capitalize on that perfectly.
Ads focused on that format will have the most success, as already shown above. One other important aspect is that the idea of the community will become the norm when it comes to the users’ relatability to a product.
Brands that don’t engage with their communities and don’t exercise their social acumen will be left behind.
Make no mistake, these changes have already started, and 2023 is just a continuation to a new era of online marketing. Stay tuned to Whizcase’s social media analyses to keep up-to-date with what’s happening!
