Each year, around this time, I enjoy taking a few moments to reflect on what transpired in social media marketing over the last 12 months — and how businesses would need to adapt to keep growing through social media.
2021 was a tumultuous year in marketing in general!
The overall volatility of the year for businesses led to a demand for greater feedback from their marketing activities. Social media marketing, as a marketing channel for businesses, was under the same pressures.
Social media continued to progress, even with the lockdown & release of the world of 2021, and it provided businesses with more opportunities to get eyeballs on their audiences.
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok were the platforms where businesses moved to emerge with video trends, especially with reels in 2021.
So, what did we learn in 2021? Let’s dive into that:
Table of Contents
What did we learn from social media marketing in 2021?
1- The user is not using social media to like, comment and share anymore
In 2021, we learned that the trend of covertly using social media is more solidified than ever. People are not using social media to comment, like and share as much as they had been doing before.
The trend continued to be in the direction of consumption of social media with sporadic engagement by the user.
2- Distinctive segmentation for each social media platform
We also saw a greater segmentation of the platforms and their fit within the social landscape.
Facebook has become a staple platform, used for genuine connection and community between people with similar interests. The active age groups on Facebook are between 29-55 years.
Instagram became the alternative for millennials and pre-boomer audiences where Instagram reels and shopping emerged as part of the super trends of 2021. E-commerce fueled Instagram and its emergence as the mature platform alternative to Snapchat and TikTok.
TikTok saw massive growth during the lockdown world of 2021. Users of younger demographics (13-25 years) were submerged in its micro-content consumption alternative option to other mediums such as Netflix, Snapchat or Youtube.
Like Snapchat in 2017-2019, TikTok offered a content consumption/procrastination tool rather than the traditional social media platforms.
LinkedIn and Twitter both consolidated their positions as foundational platforms. But, disappointingly, both platforms haven’t progressed as quickly as Facebook or TikTok.
Three trends in social media marketing to watch out for in 2022
Trend #1: Facebook / Instagram will focus on more video reels and swipe-up video format
Facebook’s platforms (Instagram, Messenger and Facebook), following the 2021 video/story trends, will concentrate on swipe video content.
Spoiler Alert: There has been a discussion of Facebook making its news feed consist of entirely swiping videos.
Facebook has made investments in building Facebook stories, Instagram stories, Instagram Reels, and its acquisition in 2018 of Facebook Watch. Indeed, it has shown a continual investment in the video format which has continued to grow.
Trend #2: E-commerce capabilities will become more functional in 2022
Last year, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok discussed their investment into direct pay functionality on their platforms for the years ahead. Teaming up with cryptocurrency projects and other payment facilitator’s globally has been a major focus from the social giants, which will eventually allow on platform purchases — a functionality that has been noticeably absent from social media platforms.
Trend #3: TikTok to mature in 2022
The emergence of TikTok has been something to behold, with high-speed growth and excellent progression as a platform.
However, we must not forget about other platforms like Snapchat, which had similar trajectories, and eventually halted in growth due to the inability to invest in outbuilding Facebook’s infrastructure.
While it is clear that TikTok is a significant player in the social media landscape, what is not clear is the opportunity for business.
Can businesses use the platform easily, is it affordable and can it attract a high disposable income market like Facebook / Instagram?
We will need to continue watching these trends and forecast how real this growth is in terms of its actual value to a business in 2022.
How businesses should prepare their social media strategy for this 2022
Here are three things businesses really need to be clear around:
- Their target demographic’s preferred platforms
- The level of investment that the business is prepared to make in content
- A good understanding of the resources needed to develop a solid social media marketing channel
How Attention Experts could help your business to prepare for a successful year
Contrary to what you might expect me to say, you do not need to use a social media agency to grow your business!
Understanding the dynamic of out-source vs in-house is vital to the emergence of the business’s social media marketing build, and developing it is an asset.
For 2022, businesses should consider defining their social media team (whether that is in-house or not) and then rolling a plan moving forward to execute a social media strategy, campaigns, and the budget to expand the skills and team.
At Attention Experts, we have proven experience helping businesses grow through high performing social media campaigns. We have a team of professionals in each field who understand and breathe social media marketing and can help you manage your social media and grow exponentially.
If you’ve read to this point, you’re likely very interested in growing your business through Social Media Marketing. If so, you should join our next FREE webinar to learn more about Social Media Marketing & ROI.
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!
And if you need help with your social media strategy. You can also give us a call for a FREE Strategy Session. Our number is (02) 8069 9796 (02) 8069 9796 if outside Australia), or message us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/attentionexperts. You can also book a meeting with us via our website.
