The 6th edition of the Social Trends report has just been released by Hootsuite. The study is based on a global survey of 18,100 marketers, observers, and businesses conducted by the platform in Q3 2021. A lot of data is shared, and 5 social media trends are identified: branding, social media advertising, ROI, social commerce, and customer care. The objective of the report is to discover or explore in more depth the emerging behaviors and the must-have social platforms in 2022 in order to help digital marketing professionals rethink their social media strategy.
Top 10 social media metrics to remember for 2022
We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 must-know data from Hootsuite’s Social Trends 2022 report:
- Facebook represents the most effective social platform for achieving business goals, according to 62% of marketing professionals, ahead of Instagram (49%) and LinkedIn (40%). TikTok makes a 700% jump from 3% in 2020 to 24% in 2021, reaching 6th place.
- Instagram embodies the social network that respondents plan to invest in the most in 2022 (48%), ahead of Facebook (47%) and YouTube (44%). 36% plan to increase their budgets on TikTok and 38% plan to maintain their current investments on this network.
- For 47%, budgets for Snapchat and Clubhouse are expected to remain the same, as well as for WhatsApp (46%) and Pinterest (44%).
- Only 10% of respondents said they do not use paid ads (compared to 29% last year). This is especially true for small businesses (75%).
- Almost 1 in 2 marketers (48%) believe that their social advertising strategy is rather integrated with other marketing activities, such as TV commercials, print, Google Ads and/or press relations.
- Among the experts surveyed, 83% are confident in their ability to measure the ROI of their actions on social networks (compared to 68% a year earlier). 14% are even very confident in this regard (versus 7% in 2020).
- 46% of marketers use native social network platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) to collect and integrate their data. This number is down sharply over the past 12 months (vs. 62% in 2020). Conversely, 36% are using third-party tools, a trend that is up sharply year over year (vs. 21% in 2020).
- Brand awareness remains the main objective of marketers on social media (53%), ahead of acquisition (47%) and conversion (46%).
- Producing original and creative content on social networks is the main challenge in 2022 for more than 1 in 2 respondents (51%), ahead of organic reach decline (43%) and data integration (34%).
- Experimenting with new content and original ad formats is the opportunity that most excites industry experts (14%). Behind that, using social media design services to drive conversions (e-commerce, social shopping) and expanding the impact of social media on other business departments (commerce, HR, product development) are tied (12%).
Creating connected and sustainable online communities
On the branding side of social media, Hootsuite predicts that companies will notably strengthen their online community development later this year. Platforms are currently launching new tools, such as the “Communities” feature being developed by WhatsApp or the recent Twitter Communities created on the model of Facebook groups.
Digital communities are expected to grow in 2022 because of their multiple advantages. They allow brands to connect to new audiences by offering them exclusive access to their products or services. The goal is to gain their trust and thus improve their reputation. Regardless of their typology, content creators are the key to helping brands access these online communities. Their role is essential to better identify their target, simplify content creation, and create affinity with the brand.
Other social media trends for 2022 according to Hootsuite
The Social Trends report published by Hootsuite reveals 4 other trends for social media in 2022:
Social media advertising
As marketers plan to spend more advertising budgets on social platforms, consumers expect them to be more creative, offering content that reflects and enhances the brand experience.
ROI
Social is growing more and more until it goes beyond the sphere of marketing teams. In order to achieve the same impact as in other areas of the business, marketers will be able to, for example, strengthen their employee advocacy program, master social listening, or collect more data of their customers.
Social commerce
As the number of sales made on social media explodes, this trend will become the core of the post-pandemic shopping experience. While large companies will test the limits of social commerce, smaller organizations will redouble their efforts to increase conversions directly on social platforms.
Customer care
To respond to the influx of requests to satisfy their customers, social media managers, who are on the front line, have the opportunity to play a major role in solving problems. They will be guiding organizations to ease tensions by improving their customer service.