The world of social media changes rapidly, as even just a few recent developments have attested. The struggles at Twitter are well-documented, while WhatsApp recently axed support for dozens of smartphones, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and Samsung Galaxy S2.
Still, social media will remain pivotal on the 2023 marketing scene, with the worldwide tally of social media users expected to approach six billion by 2027. How exactly is social media likely to change as a marketing tool this year?
The continued rise of TikTok
With social media having increasingly incorporated elements of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), it stands to reason that TikTok — a pioneer in introducing these particular technologies to social media — will continue to reach new growth milestones.
While brands have long had many digital marketing platforms from which to choose, we at Webahead can particularly help you to capitalise on TikTok-based advertising as 2023 unfolds. The number of active users on TikTok is expected to exceed 834 million this year.
Short-form video content
This is another form of content which TikTok has helped to make fashionable on social media. However, while TikTok blazed a trail here, Instagram and YouTube followed in its wake as the features of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts broke cover.
We can thus realistically anticipate short video clips (lasting, say, fewer than 15 seconds each) continuing to rise in popularity over the course of 2023 — and perhaps making their way to social media sites where you would not have previously expected to see them.
A renewed focus on fast-growing economies
Alas, those won’t include the UK — which, like Italy, Germany and (not too surprisingly) Russia, will be in recession during 2023. Therefore, even as a UK-based business, you could benefit from making sure you are capable of effectively serving overseas customers or clients.
Naturally, though, before you can start serving them, you will need to familiarise them with your existence — and that’s where social media marketing can especially help. Egypt. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are good examples of countries that, economically, will be really going places in 2023.
An expansion in social media shopping
You might not be too familiar with the phenomenon of social media shopping right now, but it is basically just a form of online shopping where the entire buying process takes place on a social networking platform.
Social media commerce is expected to grow at a 28.4% annual pace over the next few years — meaning that you can benefit from taking advantage of this social shopping trend right now, before it starts to boom.
Diversification in social media marketing strategies
Angie Nikoleychuk, Content Marketing Manager at Search Engine Journal, recently explained: “Up until now, brands focused on a small handful of text-focused networks. Twitter’s instability is proving why this is such a bad idea.”
We have already pointed out other examples of social media content with which you could experiment in 2023. You need to be wary of placing too many of your social media marketing eggs in one basket.
