Social media marketing has grown leaps and bounds in the recent years, and there is no stopping it. Though you get #nofollow links and indirect SEO juice, social platforms help businesses in myriad ways. SMM in 2022 is trending to transformational change and everything looks positive.
Right from getting traffic, branding, customer service and one-to-one interactions with customers, social platforms also help build a sustainable audience that helps boost business. SMM in 2022 is only going to take-off owing to so many technology and AI-based innovations that have enhanced their efficaci.
2022 has a lot in store for social media marketing. Let us check out a few good reasons and some best SMM tools in 2022, in addition to what you should do, and why your business should take to social media marketing, seriously.
Customer connect is critical
If not anything, COVID-19 has taught us that guesswork will not cut it anymore. During the pandemic, we did not guess the shortage of housing, electronics or lumber, did we? And, the same pandemic has changed consumer preferences and behavior drastically. This will have a dramatic impact on the economy and ultimately on us marketer’s performance. We, as marketers, have to consider a lot of these changed parameters to assess the customer and customize our marketing strategies to avoid unintended consequences.
A tough ask, but how we market our business will matter, and as a part of it, how we leverage social media will be a game changer. Families that went weekly shopping have stopped doing that and the web-savvy members, usually teens, have taken over the mantle of online shopping. In such a scenario, impulsive buying has risen along with normal shopping. Normal shopping too has changed according to the tastes of the one ordering, and that brings a twist to brand market shares.
The pandemic has ensured that eCommerce grew big along with consumer shifts. This phenomenon will take sometime to stabilize and come to normalcy, and its impact on marketing has to be assessed internally by businesses.
After assessment, it is critical to stay connected with customers, both past and present, to understand the trends and create successful strategies. This is just the beginning of a sea of change. Stay focussed.
SMM in 2022 needs you to stick to basics
Most business will make the same the same mistakes that they have been making. Changes are necessary to gain post-pandemic customers. Businesses need to pull up their socks and pay attention to a few things that should have been. SMM in 2022 has to be pro-active, not reactive.
- Make videos a part of your strategy – Customers have been at home too long and the demand for video content has grown by leaps and bounds.
- Display and discuss product or service pricing on the website. Be transparent. The lackadaisical economy during the pandemic has made the customer more price-sensitive.
- There is a thin red line between sales and marketing. SMM in 2022 needs that line to vanish. Align them to ensure better co-ordination and conversions.
- Cut down on meeting that discuss 10 year plans of the metaverse. Plan month on month and keep tweaking the SMM strategy to stabilize your customer-base.
We should keep the foundational pillars of marketing in mind at this stage. It will only improve marketing performance.
Long form content is back
SMM in 2022 is going to see more long form content. Be prepared to plan your collaterals accordingly. Last year (2021) saw a lot of short form content and this will not work anymore. Observe the subtle changes and trends that are happening on the social video front.
YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok focused on short 15 second message and today they have upped the content length to 60 seconds or 180 seconds.
With Facebook Live Audio Rooms and YouTube supporting Podcasts and Amazon Live Video emerging, it is only clear that long-form social content is back.
Long form content is going to the center stage of SMM in 2022 because social platforms want user to spend more time on them, long form content sells better.
Facebook Ads revamped and niche Facebook experiences gain importance
Messenger ads and lead generation ads on Facebook have improved drastically after the 2021 pixel debacle. The platform is working on constructive advertising. The evolved pixel and a stabler conversation API are going to change the game.
More Facebook users are looking for niche experiences on the platforms and for businesses. It is time to deepen the bonds with customers and build trust. Using Live Audio Rooms, Facebook Groups Facebook Reels and Facebook Live are the best ways to achieve these.
Meta (Facebook) will push short form advertisements, visibility becomes the main famous. Facebook is the largest social platforms user-wise, and it is only wise to embrace the new features to build and sustain business through social commerce and branding.
LinkedIn rolls out ‘Creator Mode’
2021 saw LinkedIn launch the creator mode. If you are looking to LinkedIn as a B2V marketing platform, you just have to turn it on. It gives you myriad options to build your brand and advertise on LinkedIn using original content across the platform.
Creator mode gives you:
- Access to creator tools as they roll out
- Publishing a LinkedIn newsletter
- Access to LinkedIn live
- A ‘topics you post about’ section on your profile with hashtags
- Highlighting your posts
- Converts your account into a follow account
The creator mode is going to see more tool rollouts this year. I foresee LinkedIn provisioning more value for money with these updates.
The Instagram bandwagon
According to Mr. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, people want to see more entertaining videos going into 2022. So, video definitely needs to be a part of your marketing strategy and there are many ways in which we can leverage Instagram for better SMM in 2022.
- Instagram Reels – Short video platform that can get you the best organic reach. You can have simple videos here to drive brand messages and traffic. This is definitely a game changer going into 2022.
- Direct Messages – Creating serious conversations is easy with live video chats or video messages. Connecting with leads is very easy using direct messages on Instagram and ensures that we personalized the videos used with messaging.
- Instagram Live – Instagram Live can host with 3 guests good with the topic chosen. All audience members will get intimations when the live goes live. For 2022, the intended conversations are ‘intimate’. People are looking for such conversations on social media and taking the trend into your fold is good for business.
Instagram is continuously integrating newer features into the platform with amazing pace. With e-commerce and creator tools, Instagram will introduce ‘overwhelm’, although no more details are available at the time of writing this piece.
Instead of using Instagram as a part-time social media tool, businesses should leverage it like a sales tool to get the best out of this social media platform. Instagram is going to be the star of SMM in 2022.
Conclusion…
Social media marketing in 2022 will change rapidly because of the technology driven tools introduced on the platforms in 2021. The trend of introducing more and more features will continue. I recommend businesses to keep track of all these and leverage them as required for great SMM in 2022. We look forwards to some major revamps and birth of best SMM tools in 2022.
More Digital Marketing trends for 2022.
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