Social media trends you need to know for 2022

As the year draws to a close, blog writers all over the world are working on their predictions for the coming year. How do you sum up 2021? Well, for one thing, we’re going to refrain from writing the sentence “if the past 12 months have taught us anything” or even mentioning the pandemic. Instead, we are going to look optimistically to the future. 

What will the world of social media look like in 2022? You’ll hear from our experts on what they’re excited for and what their predictions are for the coming year. So here are Mighty Social’s top trends to look out for in the next 12 months.

1) Increase Paid Media Spend and the further demise of organic content 

Most budgets have been hit hard in recent months, however indications show (thanks to a survey conducted by Hootsuite) that 51% of marketeers said they’re planning on increasing their paid social ad spend. This is thanks to increased confidence in quantifying ROI on this year’s efforts, particularly on channels such as TikTok, Pinterest and Snapchat, all of which have increased in perceived effectiveness (particularly TikTok which went from 3% last year to 24% this year).

Anna Bakalarczyk, Paid Media Manager at Mighty Social says she’s looking forward to seeing “how TikTok will develop their paid advertising to compete with Instagram Reels.” With TikTok now boasting 2.6 billion downloads world-wide, it’s easy to see why Anna is excited. The potential to reach new audiences through a channel that has previously only really been accessible to brands from a paid point of view through Influencers, could be a real game changer in 2022.

We also predict that organic content is set to take a big hit in 2022. For years it’s become obvious that paid media support for a brand’s page content is essential to reaching  existing audiences and attracting new ones. With Meta’s (previously Facebook) ever-changing algorithms on Instagram and Facebook focusing on content that generates conversation (in an effort to keep content that appears in people’s News Feeds relevant), paying to reach them has to be considered the norm. 

Relying on organic reach and engagement just won’t give you the boardroom worthy numbers you’re looking for from your social strategy. It’s also important to consider that with paid media support you can tailor your content for specific audiences with specific messaging. This means that media is not wasted and the efforts in creating your content is not wasted. From conversations with our clients, it’s obvious that marketing managers on the brand side are setting aside paid media budgets not just for off the page ads, but also to support organic content. We urge all those reading this to do the same.

2) AR and VR to become part of our REALITY

We don’t think 2021 will be spoken about without the mention of Meta and the proposed Metaverse, put forward by Mark Zuckerburg. Part of the blurring of the lines between the virtual and the real is undoubtedly AR (augmented Reality) and VR (virtual reality). With new technologies more accessible than ever before, more and more brands have turned to AR and VR over 2021 to amplify their messages, using these virtual worlds as a substitute to visiting real world stores. 

But what do AR, VR and the Metaverse mean for social commerce and paid social advertising? Victoria Jenkins, Director at Mighty Social says “I'm excited to see the rise of virtual online worlds with the Metaverse and the blurring between the physical and digital interactions. Social storefronts will become more important than ever as social commerce becomes the predominant way for consumers to shop.”

Sami Jackman, Paid Social Media Executive, is also intrigued as to how AR and VR will develop. She says: “From a paid advertising perspective I am looking forward to seeing new ways in which AR can be applied to ads to allow people to interact with brands in a more engaging way. I think virtual try-ons and the ability to place objects in your own environment will become more popular beyond the traditional filters, which I believe will be a game changer for paid ads.”

The technology to create engaging AR and VR environments is more accessible and advanced than it’s ever been; brands all over the world in every industry are jumping on the craze in an effort to lead the way towards swapping the real for the virtual, and carve out their own slice of the metaverse. Now is the time to assess how your brand can work virtually. Feel free to drop us a line and chat to our designers with a free consultation.

3) The demise of long-form video (except on YouTube)

 Earlier this year, Instagram announced that they would be scrapping IGTV as they realised that Instagram is not the place where users want to consume long form content. Despite Facebook still favouring videos that are 3+ minutes long, it is our prediction that with people’s dwindling attention spans, short form video is what brands should be focusing on for Facebook and Instagram in 2022. 

The rise of TikTok and the Instagram equivalent Reels prove that people want bite-size entertainment that can be consumed in a matter of seconds, not minutes. Dareon Hanlon, Motion Graphics Designer at Mighty Social says “I'm looking forward to seeing how TikTok can continue to grow and improve over the next year. It already boasts a scarily impressive algorithm which puts together a FYP tailored for you, shifting with the trends.”

4) Shopping just became social

Social commerce was talked about a lot at the end of 2020, and rightly so. Many brands experimented with this new world shopping experience due to them not being able to welcome customers into their bricks and mortar stores. Now in 2021, brands have been utilising the new and accessible technologies available to them (like VR and AR) to showcase their products in new and exciting ways.

The quest to shorten the path to purchase goes on, and in 2022 we predict social commerce to become even more mainstream. One of our Account Directors at Mighty Social, Gemma Daydy, said: “AR can combine the convenience of shopping online with the confidence that comes from trying products in shops.”

We predict that in 2022, things will take a huge leap forward towards viewing items, trying on items and purchasing items, all without leaving the social channel you’re on. An exciting time for retailers and advertisers alike as we all try to establish how to reach, engage and convert new and tech savvy audiences.

5) Nearly all brands will look to influencers or creators for their content 

Influencers are not a new phenomenon; in fact, letting someone else advertise your product or service in the form of believable and trustworthy content, free of the shackles of the brand has been an incredibly effective marketing tool for brands for years now, with some influencers making incredibly lucrative livings from the content they produce. With the rise of short form, bitesize content, we predict that brands, in an effort to remain relevant to younger generations, will turn to creators or influencers to help produce believable and engaging content for their TikTok channels.

There is nothing more “cringe” than a brand attempting to appear relevant by embracing a new channel and missing the mark by a mile, but it’s clear that channels like TikTok and Reels are where you need to be if your objective is to reach a younger demographic. It makes sense that brands will outsource their content production to the people who actually know what they’re doing. Previously Influencers have predominantly been used to showcase a product or service, in 2022 we believe there will be a shift towards them being used in collaboration to create short form, but long-lasting engaging brand content.

So there we have it. 2021 has been a year of ups and downs and whilst we’re all well versed in pivoting our strategies now, social has remained THE megaphone for brands to reach their audience and this will not change. What do you think? Have we missed anything? Please jump over to our Instagram and LinkedIn pages to let us know what your predictions for 2022 are.

All that remains is for us to wish you a very Happy Holiday season and we’ll see you in 2022!

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