The 10 Most Important Social Media Trends for 2022

Staying up to date with the latest social media trends can be difficult in an industry that changes so quickly. If you’re unsure of what is popular, what is not, and how you can integrate social media trends into your strategy, you’re not the only one. But don’t worry, we can help.

Here are 9 social media trends that will dominate the industry in 2022, according to Hootsuite’s global Social Trends 2022 report and data from a survey of over 18,000 marketers. These trends might even change the way you do your job.

Social Media Trends in 2022

1. TikTok will become the most important social network for marketing (??!)

Instagram has been the favorite social media platform for marketers for a few years now. It was growing the fastest and had the highest returns on investment, which made it great to use. However, that is no longer the case.

TikTok has more than one billion users as of September 2021, making it the seventh most popular social networking site in the world.

TikTok ranks 4th in popularity as a social media network, after Instagram if you don’t count messaging networks.

This is a big deal because in January 2021 it only had 689 million users and now it has increased by 45% in less than a year.

During 2018-2020, the global user base increased by 1,157%.

In 2020, Instagram’s monthly active users increased by 6%.

TikTok is far more popular than Instagram when it comes to short-form videos.

In 2020 and 2021 TikTok introduced several tools to help businesses including business profiles, ads, and a creator marketplace. Businesses are more optimistic about TikTok this year because of this.

If brands haven’t started using TikTok yet, they will soon. It’s better to be ahead of the trend than behind it.

• Grab an account handle for your brand
• Explore TikTok so you can start feeling fluent on the platform and find some ideas
• Sketch out the basics of your TikTok marketing strategy
• Use a social media management tool like Hootsuite to easily schedule your TikToks, moderate comments, and measure your success on the platform from one handy dashboard.

2. You will start spending big ad dollars on smaller networks

One of the most surprising social media trends is that people are using it less.

The new research indicates that consumers may be more responsive to advertising on smaller social media platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest, than on the larger networks.

• A study by Kantar, commissioned by TikTok, found that consumers ranked TikTok ads as more inspiring and enjoyable than ads on other platforms.
• A Nielson study commissioned by Snapchat found that ads on Snapchat had more reach than TV ads and led to greater awareness and purchase intent.
• A Pinterest Business study showed that ads on Pinterest had higher ROI and cheaper conversion rates than ads on other social networks.

Google Search Trends indicate that there has been an increase in the demand for ads on social media networks over the past two years, with TikTok being the most popular.

The chart below indicates that people are becoming increasingly aware of the positive outcomes of advertising on small networks. Furthermore, people are not just relying on case studies to gain this knowledge, but are actively seeking it out of curiosity.

We think that the smaller networks don’t have as many ads as Facebook and Instagram, so users might not get as tired of seeing ads.

Many social media professionals had to change their advertising strategy in early 2021 in response to Apple’s iOS 14 update. This is when Apple announced that all users could “opt in to ads tracking,” which would block Facebook’s ability to target a large portion of its audience.

TikTok, Pinterest and Snapchat all encourage advertisers to create ads that fit in with the organic content that regular users are posting.

The goal is to create ads that are more enjoyable to watch and less disruptive, which will lead to more sales and a better overall experience for businesses.

French beauty brand MAKE UP FOREVER ran an in-feed ad on TikTok as part of a brand awareness campaign. The ad featured a creator testing and reviewing a new foundation, as they would on their own channel.

This campaign was seen and heard by over 11 million people in France, with 10 million of those being video views.

To-Do List:

• Take a closer look at your engagement across all platforms. Have you been underestimating Pinterest users? Neglecting the potential of your Snapchat audience?
• Study the content people post on that network. See if you can improve your brand’s tone to fit in with the vibe there.
• Experiment with creating ads on that network. Or test a new network, especially if you’ve discounted it as too much effort for organic content in the past.

3. Shoppers will want expect to buy your products directly on social media

Before the pandemic, social commerce was a flashy opportunity for the most innovative businesses, such as mattress and eyeglass companies. These businesses called themselves “disruptors” before letting their customers shop on social media.

The combination of increased social media consumption and stay-at-home mandates has created the perfect conditions for a social shopping explosion. This is not going away.

By 2025, social commerce is expected to be a $80 billion industry, following the Trend of e-commerce growth (an increase of 18% in 2020 alone).

81% of shoppers say they have used social media to discover new brands and do research on products before the pandemic. Many businesses have realized that it makes sense to let these users check out in the same app.

Since it requires an additional step, navigating to a website can act as a barrier that obstructs conversions. This is especially true for mobile devices where cart abandonment rates are already high.

The most popular social media networks now have in-app shopping solutions that include live video, and are working to provide even more features to meet rising demand. TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube are not far behind the leaders in this area.

4. Augmented Reality will become consumers’ preferred way to try-on products and interact with brands.

While augmented reality has been around for a few years, it is only recently that brands have started using it to allow consumers to test products before purchase.

AR has a positive effect on a business’ profit margin. In fact, AR can increase the rates of people clicking on a purchase by up to 33%.

Navas believes that people will prefer to use augmented reality to try on products rather than the traditional method by 2022.

In other words, AR is a more efficient way for brands to advertise and market to people than any other method.

Navas said that the interest and engagement in augmented reality has exploded in the last two years and that over 200 million people use it on Snapchat every day. He believes that the trend is here to stay and will continue to grow.

If Snapchat’s large audience sounds like a good fit for your brand, testing AR on the platform could be effective. In the U.S., it reaches over 90% of 13-24 year olds and over 75% of 13-34 year olds, including nearly half of all smartphone users.

5. Businesses in the B2B space will increase their investments in Instagram and Twitter.

Both Instagram and Twitter have been around for a while in the social scene, but marketers are still seeing increases in ROI (return on investment) from using both platforms.

Twitter reached almost 200 million users in Q3 of 2020 who could be shown ads, an increase of 29% from the previous year.

The average time users spent on Instagram increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020, to 30 minutes per day. This was higher than the engagement growth on any other social platform.

HubSpot’s Blog reports that 70% of marketing professionals plan to invest more heavily in Twitter in 2022, and 63% plan to invest more heavily in Instagram. This is likely due to the continued success of both platforms.

In 2022, you should consider increasing your investment in the platform(s) that are already serving your audiences in order to get more ROI.

6. Influencer marketing will mature in 2022.

The pandemic clearly caused a increase in popularity of content that is “unfiltered” (or less scripted) as well as everyday influencers like micro-influencers and nano-influencers.

Many people trusted influencers more than brands during the pandemic, which is why influencer marketing is a strong avenue to explore in 2022.

When asked which trend she’s watching in 2022, Kelly Hendrickson told me that she is watching the increased and adapting use of influencers. She said that the continued rise of influencers in spaces like TikTok, where brands have had a harder time establishing themselves, are ripe for content partnerships.

As the relationship between social media and e-commerce becomes stronger, we will see more influencer partnerships being used to increase sales for businesses.

7. You need to learn paid advertising (even if you don’t do ads yet)

Hootsuite’s 2022 Social Media Trends survey found that this social media trend has been around for a few years and is still worth mentioning.

Nearly half of those surveyed said that the biggest challenge they face on social media is the decline of organic reach, with the second biggest challenge being coming up with ideas for content.

To-Do List:

• Keep using organic social media content to increase brand awareness, deliver customer service, and encourage audience engagement, charming people along the buying journey. Refer to the handy Venn diagram below for more information.
• Experiment with promoting your top posts to reach new potential customers.
• If you’re ready to level up your ads game, consider investing in a solution like Hootsuite Social Advertising. It allows you to publish ads to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and track their performance in the same dashboard.

8. You won’t post anything without a social listening strategy

Many businesses used social listening for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic because they liked being able to respond quickly to questions and conversations with their customers during a health crisis.

As the pandemic progressed, more and more businesses realized that social listening could help them understand their customers’ changing preferences and avoid PR mishaps.

To-Do List

• Set up three search streams in your preferred social media management tool (if you don’t have one yet, try Hootsuite for free for 30 days) for the following:
  • • Your brand mentions, branded hashtags, products, and spokespeople
    • Your competitors’ brand mentions, branded hashtags, products, and spokespeople
    • Keywords and hashtags important to your industry as a whole

9. Social selling demands will grow.

Social platforms have been working hard over the past few years to create native shopping experiences so users can purchase products without having to leave the site.

Instagram’s Shoppable Stories allows users to purchase products without leaving the app by tapping on a product sticker.

Other platforms have invested in native advertising to create a more seamless experience for users. For example, TikTok created an advertising format called Spark Ads, which allows brands to boost the profile of existing organic content.

As we move into 2022, we will see more and more brands using social selling to reach users at any time, and in any place, that they are ready to purchase. If your users prefer to buy your products through Instagram, why not let them?

10. Consumers will crave snackable content.

We saw a lot of brands creating short videos to educate consumers about their products in 2020. This trend was fueled by the popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels, as well as the continued engagement on Stories content from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

While people are scrolling through social media feeds mindlessly, expecting content to be quick and easy to consume will continue.

This helpful post covers four types of snackable content your brand should use next year.

Which Trends are Losing Steam?

Here are a few trends that seem to be losing steam:

1. Ephemeral Content

According to HubSpot Blog Research, 67% of B2B and 41% of B2C marketers plan to stop using ephemeral content (i.e. content that disappears, such as Instagram Stories) in 2022.

Some marketers might find that it is not worth the effort to create content that will only last for 24 hours because it is difficult to create high-quality content that is engaging. If you find that your return on investment is not high enough for ephemeral content, you may want to try creating longer-term content, such as videos or posts.

2. Interviews and Expert Discussions

By the end of 2020, nearly half of all B2B and more than half of all B2C marketers say they will no longer be conducting interviews, podcasts, or expert discussions.

While interviews, podcasts, and expert discussions can be effective in terms of increasing brand awareness or reaching new audiences, they can also be time-consuming. Additionally, it can be difficult to track metrics related to sales for these types of marketing campaigns.

Marketers who are not willing to produce long-form audio content may have decided that it is not worth the cost.

Podcasts can be a great marketing strategy for some brands, but others might get more ROI from strategies such as video or email marketing. You should do whatever will work best for your audience.

How to Capitalize on 2022 Social Media Marketing Trends

Now that we’ve covered some of the most popular social media trends you’ll see in 2022, here are some steps you can take to leverage these trends to boost your social activity:

Here are a few steps your social team can take to leverage these trends, attract new audiences, and build a larger following:

• Leverage video whenever possible. People love video right now, especially live video content, which feels especially authentic. Test out live video channels like IGTV or Facebook Live to see how they perform.
• Create relatable content. Don’t be afraid to show a different side to your brand. Highlight customer stories; talk about your company’s larger mission or purpose; give us a ‘day in the life’ of one of your employees. Go beyond your product or service to create a deeper connection with your audience.
• Use a conversational tone. Create social media captions like you’re speaking to a friend. Of course, you’ll want to stick to your brand’s voice, but play around with how you might converse with your audience through social channels. Consider asking your followers questions or telling stories to increase engagement levels.
• Use design elements for snackable content. Test out memes, gifs, short videos, quick quizzes, fun infographics, etc. to figure out how you might attract, and hold, an audience’s attention even when they’re scrolling quickly through their feeds.
• Quality over quantity. No need to post once a day. Audiences appreciate quality over quantity — consider how you might set up a schedule so you’re regularly posting content but not overposting. Use analytics to determine the right cadence for your own brand.

Think about using different or unexpected social media platforms to reach new people.

According to HubSpot’s Senior Manager of Brand Social Kelly Hendrickson, “it is expected that brands will further explore channels outside of Facebook and Instagram, which require payment for advertisement. With continuous public critique, a lengthy outage, and increased wariness around data privacy concerning Facebook, brands may turn to channels where their audience feels more trusting— like Reddit, Pinterest, and Discord.”