If there is one thing we are sure about in 2023, it is this: social media will become more critical to businesses of all sizes and industries. Based on 14,850 respondents surveyed by Hootsuite in 2022, about 70% of businesses intend to either increase or maintain their investment in social media in 2023.
As more businesses invest in their social media marketing strategy, many are asking about social media trends and how they can make or break their social media ROI (return on investment). Here at Attention Experts, clients often enquire about topics such as Facebook trends, recent marketing trends, and even Instagram trends and hashtags.
But before we jump to social media trends for 2023, let’s first wrap up some marketing trends that we saw emerge in 2022.
Table of Contents
Social media trends 2022
Video marketing – In 2022, we saw a rush to use video in every stage of their marketing funnel, from building a marketing database to conversions. Video is excellent for attracting audiences, retaining interest and collecting marketing databases for remarketing in the future, but it doesn’t perform as well for bottom-of-funnel conversions (We will elaborate on this and how you can optimise your funnel with different media formats.)
Shorts – Everyone is TikToking or talking about TikTok. Instagram and Youtube are promoting their short videos with trending hashtags and music in 2022. As a result, 38% of surveyed businesses want to increase their investment in TikTok in 2023, a big jump from 13% last year. However, before you make any hasty decisions, you can learn more about TikTok in this all-you-need-to-know blog.
Overt engagement on social media is getting covert – The average social media user in Australia is engaging 40% less in the forms of likes and comments but spending 106 minutes a day on social media in 2022, with a 20-minute jump from 2019. People now consume more content on social media and expect brands to produce more valuable content.
Social media trends 2023
To help businesses better incorporate social media trends into their marketing in 2023, we have identified six social media marketing trends that will significantly contribute to your social campaign success. We will also reveal some of our best social media campaign practices here at Attention Experts, the most 5-star rated social media agency in Australia. Make sure you get to the end!
Social media trend number 1: Attribution modelling
We can’t overstress the importance of attribution modelling. Attribution modelling is Facebook’s system of measuring touchpoints along the customer journey. It was phased out by Facebook in 2019 but is making a comeback in 2023. You are probably aware that consumers don’t make a purchase as soon as they see your brand. Based on our calculations, it would take 25 touchpoints before they do. Facebook understands this, too. The attribution model will help Facebook and advertisers better understand customer journeys for greater customer insights.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
Well, if you work to create more touchpoints with your target audiences, you have a better chance of converting them. Social media algorithms track and measure these touchpoints to decide which brand is more relevant to which audience. Therefore, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram can create smarter remarketing strategies and quicker conversions, which equals more ad revenues.
Social media trend number 2 – Video Marketing
Hands up if you had created more videos hoping to get better social media ROI. 86% of social media marketers used video marketing in 2022. We have been doing that as well at Attention Experts. However, the strategic difference is that videos work better for the top of the marketing funnel, but single images and carousels deliver better results for bottom-of-funnel conversion.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
Don’t use a blanket tactic in your social media marketing campaigns. Test different formats and evaluate their performance on social media. To increase your social media ROI, you should optimise your marketing funnel by mapping out the customer journey and understanding the attribution model (We will share some practical tips with you later).
Social media trend number 3 – Hang time
This is not new. But it is one of the constants in social media marketing. No matter the social media platforms, the algorithm will favour you if you can keep your audience’s attention longer with quality content. At the end of the day, social media platforms want to make money from advertisers. You shall be rewarded if you can help social platforms keep more users and make them stay longer.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
Businesses need to create better quality content that their audience cares about. Stop the cold call to action and hard selling. Start creating valuable content for people to consume first and build up from there. You need to leverage social media analytics to know what your audiences want to see and stay ahead of social media trends to grab attention.
Social media trend number 4 – Social Commerce
Social commerce refers to eCommerce taking place on social media. It has gained more popularity during COVID and will mature further in 2023. It is a natural step for social media platforms to develop social commerce. Millions of people spend more than an hour on average on social media, and 92% of users say that they’ve acted in the moment after seeing a product on Instagram. According to Forbes, social commerce is a $1.2 trillion opportunity.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
You might be wondering how businesses can invest in this social media trend. Rather than treating it as an isolated marketing tool, you can integrate social media marketing into your overall business strategy. If your products have the potential to sell on social media, then build social commerce into your social media marketing in 2023. Even if your offers aren’t compatible with social media, fret not. You can always use social media to showcase your unique customer experiences and, most importantly, use it for customer service. Brands using social media for better customer service will have a higher customer retention rate. For instance, one of our new clients joined Attention Experts within a week of her first visit to our website because she liked businesses with prompt responses.
Social media trend number 5 – Organic reach and paid ads
It is an observed trend that organic content performance has declined in 2022. This is bad news for brands yet to use paid ads in their social media campaigns. Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s plan to allow AI to recommend 40% of posts outside of your network in your social media feed. Coupled with more ads in your social media feeds, this will decrease organic reach.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
Businesses must consider social ads and crunch on key metrics and ROI. Social media advertising can be as cheap as $15 per day. We have done it for many of our clients, and some social media campaign budget is as low as $5 per day with multiple leads coming in daily (cheaper than Macca’s happy meal, by the way). The key is to develop a clear social media strategy addressing your social campaign goals. Once your social media ad is up and running, someone will need to monitor performance and keep optimising until it works to your satisfaction.
Social media trend number 6 – Social media outsourcing to an agency
With more businesses going digital, social media’s value is increasingly appreciated. After some hit-and-miss, many brands realise the benefits of hiring a social media agency. For instance, you get six highly trained specialists working on your social media campaigns at Attention Experts. Best practices and timely services are within a phone call and at a fraction of the cost of having an in-house team.
It is really simple math here. Hiring an in-house social media manager costs $77,500 to $120,000, excluding superannuation and benefits. By comparison, full agency fees, including GST and ads expenses are well below half of that. Not to mention that you can choose your service packages based on your specific needs.
What does that mean for businesses and their social media campaigns?
Social media agency is worth your exploration. It is crucial to talk to different social media agencies and examine compatibility. After all, you have worked hard for your business and should only partner with someone who truly understands your goals. Many agencies offer FREE consultation sessions, so please take advantage of that.
If you need a detailed guide on what to look out for in a social media agency, please download our FREE PDF on the Pros & Cons of Hiring An Internal Team VS. Hiring An Agency.
Social Media Tips 2023
- Test which format works best for which stage of your funnel. At Attention Experts, we have found that videos work best for collecting databases on social media, while single images and carousels outperform videos for bottom-of-funnel conversion. Make sure you optimise your marketing funnel and experiment with different formats.
- Create bite-sized content. Shorter attention expansion and the rising popularity of shorts make social media users favour clear, easy to consume and fun content.
- Track the correct engagement metrics! We have seen many brands track metrics such as followers and likes, but they are NOT actionable. Meaning they aren’t likely to lead to leads or sales. The more effective social media metrics to track are views, clicks, visits, CPM, CTR and leads.
- Understand the attribution model. Make sure your website has Google Analytics set up and Facebook pixels built in. These will help you track your visitors and their touchpoints with your brand. Integrate your marketing channels to collect databases and remarket to increase touchpoints.
- Warm up your audiences with valuable content. Hard selling and cold call to action are ineffective. As people engage more covertly on social media, businesses need to create content that showcases their business-to-customer journey, such as the team, the behind-the-scenes, customer experiences, etc.
- Turbocharge your social media organic reach with paid ads. Businesses will see their organic reach drop over time without paid ads as social media platforms continue to monetise. Paid ads can actually boost your overall organic reach. Besides, the social media ad budget can be as low as $15 per day, which is lower than the minimum hourly wage in Australia.
- Think social media plus. Social media is such a fundamental part of our life now. We use it for staying connected with friends across the globe and researching a brand. Don’t see it as an isolated app to post beautiful pictures. It is a business channel that can incorporate different functions of your business, from marketing, sales, and customer service to community building. Make social media the centerpiece of your success!
- Flexibility and transparency. If you are contemplating hiring a social media agency, here are some questions to ask. Does this agency require locked-in contracts? Does it tailor service packages to my business’s specific needs? What are their customers saying? What social media campaigns have they worked on, and what are the results? Do they have a strategic formula for building social media success, and what is it?
How Can We Help You?
We know it can be a lot to take in, especially if you are busy and haven’t had time to think about Black Friday. That is OK, and we are here for you to consult and help you ace your Black Friday success this year.
Attention Experts is a data-driven social media marketing agency specialising in social media management, social media advertising, content creation management, social media consulting services and email marketing optimisation. We create and manage social media campaigns tailored to your business’s specific needs.
If you are interested in integrating your social media and email marketing to maximise your marketing outcomes, take advantage of our FREE 30-minute consultation session and book NOW.
30-minute webinars
Each month our Growth Director, George Hawwa, presents a 30-minutes webinar to cover a new topic in the social media space. You will have the opportunity to learn, ask questions live and grow your business.
Wondering what our current topic is? Check out the upcoming webinar HERE.
George is in charge of Attention Experts’ overall growth and best practices. George shares some accolades: being named in the ‘Top 30 leaders under 30’ in 2007 by Entrepreneur Australia Magazine and having won ‘Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ for 2018 at the NSW Business Chamber Regional awards.
He also currently lectures at Sydney University on social media strategy to Postgraduate students at the Centre for Continuing Education. In addition, George is a sought-after speaker and educator on social media strategy and business.
Make sure to REGISTER NOW!
