by Brittany McSorley
A new year is upon us, and we’re all busy making and breaking resolutions. (Have I stopped gossiping? No. But did I give it my best effort until January 7th? Also no.) In the midst of trying to keep those lofty December promises, small business marketers should also make time this January to take note of the trends we can expect to see online in the coming year. Here are a few of the social media trends we’ll be paying attention to in 2023:
Authenticity: This evergreen social media trend will be going strong throughout this year and beyond. The past few years have revealed the importance of word of mouth and social values when it comes to making purchasing decisions. With this in mind, fostering long-term trust and transparency with customers will remain vital for small businesses in 2023.
User-generated content: Another trend that shows no sign of slowing down is the increase in user-generated marketing content. Businesses should seize opportunities to use their own happy customers’ content — whether it’s text from a review, a photo of a product in a customer’s home, or something dynamic like an unboxing video — to boost their marketing efforts.
Social commerce: What professional people call “social commerce” is what I call “that suspicious Instagram ad for a dress that will probably look nothing like the one I’ll receive in nine weeks through a delivery service I’ve never heard of like DirectoShip.” My own trust issues aside, more and more customers will be making purchases directly in apps like Instagram and Facebook in 2023, so small businesses may want to become more familiar with the process.
Short-form content: Shorten those videos, people! Cut down on those captions! Kill your darlings! No one has the time! Seriously, though, short-form content is here to stay. In a way, it kind of takes the pressure off, right? To keep up with the current attention span of social media users, you only need about ten seconds of content. But in another way, the pressure is enormous, because those ten seconds need to grab your followers’ attention. Best of luck.
Gated content: Given how much is going on online (have you noticed?), gated — or paid — content will be on the rise in 2023. A valuable way to connect with your most loyal followers and customers, options include paid newsletters or the new subscription feature on Instagram. It may seem counterintuitive, since a big part of social media’s appeal is that it costs nothing (except our limited time here on this earthly plane, am I right?). But the savviest social media users are willing to pay for curated content, especially when it means spending less time wading through the crowded online landscape.
Paid advertising: Unfortunately, organic reach is getting more elusive as time goes by. Though organic reach is still a worthy goal for social media marketers, 2023 is a good time for small businesses to begin incorporating paid advertising methods, too. (No need to go overboard!)
Working with content creators: Paid advertising doesn’t necessarily mean throwing a few bucks behind the occasional Facebook post — though that does get results. In 2023, it won’t just be big brands collaborating with content creators to reach a wider audience. Smaller businesses have started experimenting with this trend as well. While the big names can reach out to YouTubers with millions of followers, small businesses owners can take the same approach on a more reasonable, local scale.
Tweaking content according to platform: More and more marketers will be adjusting their social media content in 2023 according to the specific audience present on each of their platforms: think more professional tones on LinkedIn, an emphasis on short-form video on Instagram, and uninformed political commentary on Facebook. Just kidding about that last one!
Keywords: Finally, keywords and SEO will be more important than ever in 2023, because more people are turning to apps like TikTok and Instagram over Google when they want to find out more about a topic. (I did this just the other day, and Instagram helpfully pointed me to a wealthy 23-year-old who has so much to teach me about skincare, it’s frankly overwhelming.)
Whatever 2023 has in store for social media marketing, we at KDC will be along for the ride. Happy new year!
