5 Social Media Trends to Watch Out for in 2022

Remember the Dalgona Coffee trend back in 2020? Back during the first lockdown, we found ourselves taking to social media like never before. If you have noticed yourselves spending more time on Social Media since the Dalgona Coffee Days, you are not alone. In fact,

What does this mean for your business? It means more people will be turning to social media instead of search engines to look up your brand. Social media is an inseparable part of your overall brand experience. Whether you are a small business, an online startup or own a brick and mortar business, in order to succeed in 2022, you must have a strong up to date social media strategy that is well integrated with your brand strategy.

Here are 5 social media trend predictions from Purple Filter to help you get a headstart on your policy.

Creators drive online communities, and the smartest brands around the world are partnering with them to connect with their audience instead of building a community from scratch. Social media sites such as Instagram and YouTube have already recognised the worth of creators in India and have started supporting them with new tools, partnerships and ways to monetize their content.

Twitter has announced that it will launch Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces to allow creators to monetise the platform better.LinkedIn rolled out its creator mode last year. In 2022, The platform will become more video-based with a new generation of LinkedIn creators and influencers leading the way, making it an invaluable platform for branding and marketing.

Live is Going to Be Big This Year

Lives streaming allows your followers to see a more authentic version of you. In 2022, live streaming is going to become an essential part of every marketer’s social media policy across social media platforms. Instagram is set to launch a bunch of stickers to help creators monetise lives. Twitter too realized the appeal of live streaming and is working on improving its interface to prioritize live streams based on a user’s interest and history.

China has developed a unique live commerce market, where influencers sell products on live stream. China’s live-commerce is expected to become a $423 billion market by the end of next year. We predict that live commerce might make its way to India by 2022 and set a new trend for small business owners and retail brands alike.

Trend Hopping will be the fastest way to increase your reach

Jumping into a trend is the fastest way to be noticed on social media. This presents a challenge for traditional branding companies who were used to posting the same ads across platforms. In 2022, social media ads will be more customized to suit the platform it is on. A video with a trending song from insta wont work on LinkedIn or Twitter. Ads also need to be more fun and engaging to not take away from the user’s social media experience. All this, while being true to the brand’s identity, tone and expression.

We suggest you master the art of trend hopping, stay up to date, think fast and act fast. But before you jump into a trend as yourself, ask yourself these questions- Is the trend relevant to your brand? Is the trend relevant to your message? How can you tweak a trend to fit into your brand image and story?

Audio Content will become more important

Clubhouse introduced audio streaming amidst the pandemic. While its invite only access created a buzz in its initial days, the craze around it seems to be dying. Twitter Spaces however continues to thrive. Podcasts too have grown in popularity during the pandemic. Spotify had 2 million users in India as of February 2021 and the numbers have grown since then making it the modern-day equivalent of the radio for a large number of people. Audio content is here to stay.

Brands might have to think of smart ways of including audio content into their social media strategy to deliver to their already existing clientele and also attract new ones.

In-App Shopping

Meta has started focusing on In-App shopping on Facebook in 2021 itself, but it has big plans for the future. Instagram will make almost all posts shoppable and AR will play a big part in giving the customers a feel of the product before they make the purchase. Twitter too is developing e-commerce options and testing out instream buying on its professional pages. Once launched this will allow users to buy products directly from tweets. As the year progresses lookout for progress on Facebook smart glasses and wearables that will take instream shopping to the next level.

Over all we predict that 2022 will be an exciting time for social media platforms roll out more features and become more creator friendly. Are there any upcoming social media features you are looking forward to? Comment to start a conversation about social media features that you would find useful in 2022.

“Plan for what it is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.” – Sun Tzu

“Luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity”. — Earl Nightingale.