A new year calls for new social media trends. We see so many trends come and go and these are the four trends we think will be prominent this year.

Personalization 

We live in an era of information overload. Let’s be honest: if content isn’t personalized to us, we are likely scrolling to the next best thing. Keep your content easy to consume this year by ramping up the personalization. 

How many Spotify Wrapped stories did you see last year? Spotify’s attempt at wrapping up consumers’ music-listening activity proved successful as people took to sharing their personalized results. While we are not all Spotify, small businesses can implement this as well.

Start by personalizing your messaging to your audience to form a connection. After figuring out who your audience is, cater your messaging to them.

Create content that puts your audience at the center.

This can look like creating videos that acknowledge or thank valuable customers or implementing social media polls to get your audience involved.

Personalization can be as simple as keeping up with your followers! Be sure to reply to comments, direct messages, and tags. Have a conversation with your audience and watch your brand loyalty and engagement increase.

Authentic Content

Out with staged content and in with authenticity. We’ve already seen the rise of user-generated content from Glossier to Pantone, which leads to less staged content across social channels. Brands are looking for real-life content to share with audiences that gives them a more authentic feel. 

The rise of TikTok has given brands a huge collection of real people sharing real content about their product or service. With 92% of consumers believing suggestions from friends and family more than advertising, implementing more authentic forms of marketing is a huge benefit to businesses.  

Not sure how to implement that? If you sell a product or service, start by re-sharing the photos customers take of your product. If you teach a workout class, look out for Instagram stories that people tag you in and re-share!

Sometimes, we need to encourage our audience to post content about us. Start a personalized hashtag that relates to your brand and encourage followers to share relevant content using that hashtag.

Social commerce 

Do you sell a product? Keep an eye on the social commerce trends across platforms. Last year’s Instagram update brought us Instagram Shop (with its own tab).

This feature allows businesses to set up shops for their products connected directly to their Instagram profile. The rise of social commerce makes it that much easier for brands to sell products. We are going to see more Instagram Shops and more brands and personalities transition into selling products through social media alone.

The Shop tab on Instagram puts a world of online shopping at your fingertips. It also gives a platform for small businesses and more opportunities to sell products. Two great examples of how different types of shops can use this feature are Revolve and O’Leary Designs. The search engine allows anyone to stumble upon your shop and make a purchase.

If you sell any products, it’s worth your time to give the Shop feature a shot!

TikTok

Okay, so an entire platform might not be considered a “trend,” but we think it’s worth including here. TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. Many platforms have already made changes to adapt to TikTok’s domination (for example: Instagram Reels).

Is it mostly for younger audiences? Yes, absolutely. But TikTok builds on the idea that just about anyone can go viral. This makes it very enticing — but not every small biz needs a TikTok. So before you jump on the TikTok train, be sure you think strategically about if it’s worth the investment.

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