Posted on February 15, 2022
MediaOne has its eye on the future with information harvested from the recent past. We have discovered emerging social commerce trends that our Partners need to know about as the world continues to change in remarkable ways.
Benjamin Disraeli was the politician, novelist and twice British Prime Minister in the 19th Century who coined the phrase: “Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” The past few years have clearly proved him right.
Hootsuite recently completed its 6th annual report on Global Social Media trends which reveals important insights that will affect Brands, big and small, in 2022. Here’s a look at information in the report that we feel is important for your digital marketing strategy.
Brands are moving away from Mega Influencers on social media and engaging smaller, on-line communities that provide a more authentic and intimate connection to their target audiences. As a result, they are finding new audiences, gaining trust and cultural forward equity.
The creators of these smaller digital communities are developing more vibrant and impactful platforms reflecting and enhancing daily life experiences.
50 Million People around the world consider themselves to be “creators”*
Source: SignalFire
“Thriving communities on social media present a big opportunity, especially for smaller brands. You no longer have to create a niche community from the ground up—you can find a community that you fit into and if you show up for them, they’ll do the same for you.”
Maggie Lower CMO, Hootsuite
That makes creators the gateway to these digital communities regardless of how large or small the business is.
Business will spend more on social platforms in 2022 but not where you might expect. Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn continue to be ranked as the most effective and get the lion’s share of the overall budget but TikTok, Pinterest and Snapchat are seeing the largest increases year over year in perceived effectiveness and budget allocation.
These up-and-coming social networks are growing (TikTok now has over 1 Billion users) and research is indicating that their users are also more receptive to advertising.
In addition, this trend is fueled by the fact that marketers perceive Facebook and Instagram to be over saturated with conventional advertising while TikTok, Pinterest & Snapchat are inviting advertisers to create content that fits into their platforms organically.
They are viewing user engagement in a new way.
83% of marketers in the survey expressed confidence in measuring their social program ROI compared with 68% the previous year. A big part of that growing confidence was a result of their increased reliance on social platforms during the pandemic. Marketers discovered the benefits of using social not only to make sales but to also understand customers and their customer service needs. (Source: Hootsuite Social Trends 2022 Survey)
14% of those respondents were extremely confident in measuring ROI for 3 reasons.
These extremely confident organizations will also be expanding social beyond marketing to protect brands, limit risk and improve employee experience.
The Pandemic created an online shopping frenzy. People in lockdown started buying everything under the sun from home. In 2022 that trend is moving into the social commerce world where discovery and action are becoming more and more popular.
“Social used to be just a satellite of the business, an extension of the brand’s voice,” according to Étienne Mérineau, cofounder of the AI platform Heyday. “Now it is the brand’s voice. It is its core platform to engage with, sell to, and service customers.”
In 2022, social commerce will be an opportunity no business can afford to miss
More and more consumers are now using social media from the beginning to the end of their purchase journey in almost every category. It has become the second most important online research tool after search and for the 16-to-24-year old’s it ranks even higher.
Percentage of global internet users aged 16-24 who use each channel as a primary source of information when researching brands.
Source: Hootsuite and We Are Social, Digital 2021 report
Moving forward Social Commerce will need to be in every Brands marketing toolbox.
2022 brings with it staffing shortages and a global supply chain meltdown. For many Brands that means unhappy customers are on the rise looking for customer service. Those not-so-happy customers are increasingly turning to social channels to provide immediate, convenient, and effective service. Now 64% of the people surveyed by Nielson would prefer messaging a business over making a phone call.
59% of marketers agree that social customer care has increased in value for their organization over the past 12 months (Source: Hootsuite Social Trends 2022 Survey)
“When you bundle social marketing and social care, you’re actually covering the core outcomes that have a huge impact on customers’ buying experience and your company’s bottom line. That’s the big picture many businesses still aren’t seeing.”
Christoph Neut, VP Sales, Sparkcentral by Hootsuite
Social Marketers are in the best position to help Brands provide the care customers are demanding. They know what channels their customers are using and better understand the issues the customers are facing.
If you’re thinking “oh my, even more hurdles I have to jump to get our message out”, have no fear. MediaOne has Social Commerce experts who can make sure your Digital Marketing is on the cutting edge in 2022.