Social Media Trends – Post-Pandemic

• Social Media has a priming effect on a business’ marketing campaign 
• It can help gain more valuable consumer insights, especially with social listening 
• It is the most powerful when paid and organic are combined 

The Creator Economy & Brand Strategy Trend 

As socials move away from mega influencers and gear towards smaller, niche influencers and communities – brands that partner with the right creators are making more authentic connections and gaining the trust of their audience, and are growing more engaged communities.  

With the boom in digital creators, online communities have become richer, more vibrant, and more impactful than ever. Major social media platforms have jumped aboard the creator train and have introduced features to help them monetize their creations. Jamie Byrne, Senior Director of creator partnerships at (previously at) Youtube highlighted that “creators have risen to a new level of influence and power in the media ecosystem.” 

Creativity & the Short-form Vertical Video Trend 

These short-form vertical videos are here to stay! With TikTok paving the way for attention-grabbing full-screen focused videos, brands are strongly encouraged to create content that organically fits into the different social platforms. They are being held to a higher standard when it comes to creativity, and they will have to work harder to create ads that reflect and enrich the unique experience offered by each social network.  

The Social Commerce Trend 

The new rising subset of the e-commerce shopping experience – ‘Social Commerce’ is becoming the heart of post-pandemic shopping. Social platforms have become virtual malls – revolutionizing the way we shop. Consumers are using social media throughout every stage of their purchase journey, from product discovery to purchase support. It just goes to show how much trust and impact socials have on consumers. Younger Millennials and Gen Zers are turning to socials to research brands more than search engines.  

Social Media to Customer Care Rescue! 

With social media being a convenient way to communicate with brands (especially smaller businesses), it has become increasingly demanding for social media to also be a voice for customer service. Social media managers can help organisations speed up the recovery process and add value to negative customer experiences.  

Social Media the new Currency 

No money, no problem! The latest trend – pay for your product by posting on social media a.k.a post-to-pay. With organic content being the gold mine, the newest campaign trend for brands to create user-generated content and gain brand awareness is kicking off. The result: long lines and sold-out products. Take Bun Burgers, for example, letting customers pay for their food with TikTok posts. One user-generated content post got over 6 million views! 

With social media ever-evolving, let’s continue to experiment and keep a watch on these trends and the impact they will have on our daily lives. 

Sources: 

https://hootsuite.postclickmarketing.com/research/social-trends/brand-strategy-20VI-292M6.html?_ion_target=embed-1.0

https://later.com/blog/social-media-trends/