Social Media Trends For 2022

The popularity of social media is gaining exposure and growing each day. The social media networking site are becoming larger in terms of user base and revenue whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube all of them are growing at a rapid rate. Considering the wide and huge audience, social media networking site is a great and attractive marketplace for businesses and marketers.

Social Media Trends keep on changing not rapidly, but it does undoubtedly hence, to make the best out of the latest trends you need to hire social media experts because they will keep you updated with the latest social media trends, and they will frame customized strategies and suggestions that are going to accelerate your social media business.

Let’s talk about the social media trends for 2022:

1. Social Media will continue to be a hotspot for shopping

Online businesses kept on growing even during the pandemic and social sites have delivered great shopping experiences to many users. Shopping trend in social media is more likely to grow in the coming year.

Recently, Instagram has introduced the “Shops on Instagram” feature which looks quite captivating and has seen a great response from the marketers and the audience as well. Undoubtedly, Facebook has done it too they also have introduced the “Online Store” feature, where users can purchase personalized products based on their interests and needs.

2. Escalation of Video Content with a shorter duration

The power and popularity of short-form video content have been witnessed by most of us in the lockdown period. This social media trend will keep on booming in the upcoming years because the video content has attracted a lot of audience attention. Tik Tok was ruling a shorter video content format before its ban in India.

After this incident, Instagram saw the attractive opportunity of short video content feature on their platform and launched the Reels, which became a huge hit within some time, and it is still growing and roaring on social media.

Following the same trend, YouTube has also launched the ‘YouTube Shorts' feature to compete with Instagram Reels and other platforms. Several other entertainment apps such as Josh, Moj, MX TakaTak, and so on were also launched recently considering the huge popularity of shorter video content.

3. The connection of the audience with social media is getting stronger

It is not just the popularity of social media across the globe, but also the active engagements on social media networking sites as well. According to the latest data, an average of 145 minutes is spent by users worldwide. Social media users are likely to grow rapidly in 2022 and beyond.

Considering these facts, social media marketers and businesses are promoting their products & services on social media platforms and trying to connect with them directly for brand awareness and sales drive.

4. The impacts of Augmented Reality (AR) on social media will increase

Augmented Reality is one of the emerging technologies in the world of social media and it has a huge influence across social media platforms. Either it's Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook, they have introduced new features and updates with help of AR to provide users a variety of experiences and entertainment.

According to social media experts, Augmented Reality technology is going to be the next big thing in the times to come. AR market has great scope and potential, it's more likely to grow in 2022 and upcoming years. Augmented Reality is an impressive technology that exists in the middle of the real & virtual world.

5. Influencer Marketing is expected to expand & grow

The arena of influencer marketing was limited to the big celebrities and sports personalities only if we talk about a decade ago scenario, but the time has changed now. This market is growing at a good rate and is expected to get stronger with time.

Brands hire or create a paid partnership with celebrities, social media influencers, sports stars, vloggers & YouTubers to promote their products and services, create brand awareness, drive sales.

People are also taking interest and a lot of them are trying to become social media influencers and some are considering it as a full-time career. Staying updated with the latest trends on social media, influencers with lots of followers receive partnership labels from brands.

6. Video content production is also likely to increase

When it comes to content popularity, video content has occupied the top spot right now and is also expected to rule in next year as well. People love to watch video content on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,and on some other platforms as well.

During the lockdown, live video streaming on social media channels has also increased with a great percentage. Hence video content production will also increase and it is going to be one of the major social media trends in the next year as well.

7. Micro-Influencers will become more popular

Micro-Influencers are getting popular these days and it is because brands need to pay a lesser amount of money to the micro-influencers or nano-influencers for promoting their products or services on their social media handles.

Advertisers are making more partnerships with digital creators and influencers because it is cost-effective for them, and they can partner with a few influencers rather than just promoting their brands with one or two big celebrities.

8. The trend of Social Media ‘Stories’

Story feature was started by Snapchat and later story trends were adopted by Instagram, Facebook & YouTube after getting audience interests and engagements. Brands & businesses are utilizing the stories to promote their products and services with the option of swipe up they send the audience directly to their website.

9. Trends of Virtual Reality are booming on social media

Virtual Reality is also taking over the social media trend with advanced technology that lets users have an outstanding experience. According to the digital experts, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality will bring more advancements and innovation to the world of social media. Both concepts of VR & AR are currently being adopted by marketers and advertisers.

10. Using social media as a tool for customer service inquiry

The active presence of brands over social media is a must because they can connect with a lot of customers in order to create brand awareness and sales drive. A lot of brands use their business page on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms to deal with customer service inquiries and for other related purposes and it is likely to increase next year as well.

11. Social Commerce is likely to grow more

Social Commerce provides the feature of purchasing the product or service on the popular social media platform without leaving the social media sites. The introduction of social commerce is a great move by the social media networking sites when it comes to adapting & evolves according to audience interests and preferences, social media is outstanding in this context. This trend will also be there on top in the year 2022.

12. Involvement of User-Generated Content (UGC) will increase

User-generated contents are the form of content, either its video, audio, text, or images that are created and posted by social media users. A lot of brands have initiated the action of leveraging user-generated content as a means of social proof of the fact that they are focused on providing quality products and services.

UGC is the most accurate information that someone could receive from any brand or business. User-generated content will also be in trend next year and brands will concentrate on UGC, and they will also encourage social media users for UGC so may that it helps them in boosting the engagement rate.