20/12/2022
Social media is ever-changing. And whether you have a business with an online presence or work in social media, falling behind on trends will cost you.
You need to stay at the forefront, be ahead of the game.
But to do this you need to keep on top of new features, updates, and trends, which isn’t the easiest thing to balance with a full-time job.
Let’s save you some of that time. With thanks to HubSpot, we’ve collated some of the most noteworthy features creeping up on socials to keep you up to speed in just 9 minutes.
On top of that, we’ve done a summary of the top social media trends of the year and what we predict for the new year. You’re welcome!
Let’s start with the new features, shall we? There are lots of exciting additions making their way to pretty much every platform. From helpful features like scheduling in the Instagram app itself to more editing features on Facebook Reels, socials just got a whole lot easier.
Instagram has been busy testing a variety of brand-new features. Although none of them are available to us yet, they’re something to keep in mind for the future. Here are some of our favourites…
So, what’s new in the world of TikTok?
Twitter is going through some big changes right now, with Elon Musk buying the platform. With that said, there are some other new features to be aware of.
Facebook reels first launched in 2021 shortly after Instagram in 2020, and they’re still playing catch-up. But these new features may improve the popularity of video on the platform.
Instagram and YouTube have continued to follow the path of TikTok with short, easy-to-digest video content. The global launch of YouTube Shorts and the push of Reels on Instagram and Facebook make it clear that snappy video content will continue to be a focus in the new year.
TikTok Shop is following Meta’s digital footprints. This feature means brands and creators can feature and sell products through their videos, live broadcasts, and the showcase tab. Additional paid social campaigns will be available through this new feature, and we predict more to come in the next year.
Celebrities and high-profile influencers have been using their personal brand and status to sell products for decades now. Think Molly-Mae Hague, Mrs Hinch, Joe Wicks, the Kardashians.
But the public has become conscious of it, they know they’re being sold to. It’s less effective than it used to be.
In comes micro-influencers with loyal followers who trust their opinion… they can offer smaller brands with smaller budgets cost-effective content which drives genuine interest from their audiences. And that’s exactly what they’ve been doing.
It gives smaller brands the chance to collaborate with micro-influencers who have an engaged following, creating high-quality, usable content on top of sharing your brand with their audience. We don’t see this popular advertising technique going anywhere, anytime soon.
With the rise of subscription content in recent years, we’ve seen influencers capitalise on their personal brand by creating a community paywall behind platforms such as Patreon, Fanvue, Tribe and Kickstarter.
On top of this, we’ve seen the gaming-centric platform Discord become an avenue for community engagement for content creators. It gives their audience a space for a one-to-one engagement and allows followers to engage with other fans. Discord has also started to work with musicians by giving them a platform to share new releases, unreleased tracks, and content updates with their fans.
