Social media not only allows people across the globe to communicate with one another freely but also provides a plethora of ways for marketers to reach and interact with customers. Currently, it is impeccably affecting individuals and businesses, but is this trend going to last forever? Well, through this article, let’s find out about the future of social media marketing in 2023.
You will be surprised to know that according to Statistics, about 2.9 billion people use Facebook and 2.5 billion people use YouTube globally.
From the above graph, we can figure out that social media platforms are emerging at an alarming rate. And, if that is the case, your social media marketing plan must also be future-proof. The strategy needs to be evaluated to determine which social media channels are producing the desired results. Correspondingly, you can enhance the performance of your social media posts across all platforms.
In that case, how might current social media trends impact the future of social media marketing?
How will social media impact the future?
Undoubtedly, social media has become a powerful trend. It is utilized by billions of people across the world and has turned into the defining technology of the present time. Facebook, for example, had over 4.55 billion active users globally through January 2022, which was 4% higher than last year.
Given that a massive audience is spending many hours of the day on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., it’s quite unsurprising that digital marketers have adopted social media as a marketing channel.
Despite what marketers and practitioners have analyzed and recorded over the past few years on this subject, because of the rapidly changing nature of social media, it is quite difficult to understand how consumers are going to use it- maybe the coming days of social media will be different from its present use.
Hence, it is important to ask, “What does the future of social media marketing hold?”
By looking at the current scenario, marketers and analysts have brought forth the following framework for social media:
| Future trends of Social Media | |||
| PERIOD | INDIVIDUALS | FIRMS | PUBLIC POLICY |
| Coming year or two | Omni-social presence | Rise of influencers | Privacy concerning social media |
| After 10 years | Dealing with stress, isolation, and loneliness | Unified client care | Social media as a “Political Tool” |
| After 20 years | Increased sensory richness | Online or offline client service | Social media by Robots or Artificial Intelligence (AI) |
Just like other forms of marketing, the future of Social Media Marketing is changing at a quicker pace. Change brings new things—new trends.
So, if you wish to adjust to the upcoming online marketing trends, make sure you are aware of future social media trends. These trends will change the way users presently interact on digital platforms.
9 Newest Trends in Social Media You Should Know in 2023
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- Influencer Marketing
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- Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence
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- Stories
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- Transparency
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- AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality)
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- Live Videos
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- Content is King
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- The Rise of Groups
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- Growth of Messaging Apps
Let’s briefly explain each one of them!
Influencer Marketing 
While Influencing Marketing is already being used by a great number of companies, its importance will only grow in the years to come.
Do you know influencer marketing has even crossed print marketing in terms of popularity in Google Trends?
Image via Google Trends
According to a report, google searches for “influencer marketing” have increased by over 1500% in the last few years. What does influencer marketing require? Just a thousand followers and an appealing voice!
The process of influencer marketing is straightforward to understand. Big and small brands look for popular people who can influence potential customers regarding their products.
On the other hand, influencers get paid by the brands for the promotion of their services or products. Coca-Cola is just one company that has recently begun using influencer marketing to spread the word about its product.
However, it’s not just the influencers with a “huge” fan following who can harvest the advantages of influencer marketing. This has led to the rise of the so-called “micro-influencer,” as the traditional “big influencers” are prohibitively expensive.
Micro-influencers are those who have a relatively small but highly engaged fan base on social media or other online platforms. Along with the rise of micro-influencers, the prevailing fashion has also inspired the emergence of nano-influencers. In-house marketing programs, and even CGI influencers.
Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence 
Chatbots are the future of social media marketing. They have streamlined and accelerated the process of contacting different brands.
Both of these things are the most prominent applications of AI technology today. Whether you’re asking Siri to make a phone call or Alexa to play a song, chatbots are acting in the role of a virtual assistant to the customer.
Many big giants of industries- for example, Mastercard, Amazon, IBM, Apple, Microsoft, etc. have already taken a step ahead and are using this technology. Here’s a picture illustration of Florence Chat-
Several chatbot programs such as Lobster, Botsify, Flow XO, etc. not only allow boost conversion but also help you efficiently engage with clients. These chatbots can be implemented on websites, text messages, apps, and even emails.
The future of social media marketing offers customers the fastest way to reach out to brands and ask doubts or queries. You can rest assured that they will have all of the most frequently asked questions about your service, product, or brand answered immediately. Besides this, future Chatbots will collect leads from potential customers while you’re away or asleep.
What else?
AI or Artificial Intelligence is going to change the future of social media in marketing. Some AI-powered Chatbots will schedule your meetings, handle your daily tasks, sort your financial expenditures, automate tasks, and will do much more.
Stories 
In 2013, stories began on Snapchat.
Just after a while, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp embraced this feature as well. These principally upward Stories generally last for 24 hours and offer individuals huge chances to make various kinds of content.
Stories are an ideal illustration of how social media and the method by which we consume content are evolving. At the point when Instagram initially acquainted Stories with the application in 2016, 150 million users utilized the feature.
Presently, over 500 million users use stories every day- and each significant social media platform has some type of stories-like component.
They are extremely interesting and unique among the most recent generation of millennials because of their interactivity. Approximately 60% of them watch Instagram Stories, 53% watch Snapchat, and 48% watch Facebook.
Because of this degree of commitment, they have turned into a well-known marketing tool for brands. Also, they are not difficult to make and don’t need a great deal of post-handling.
However, the fact that they aren’t too long to even consider watching may be the primary reason for their popularity. Due to this, it is extremely helpful for people to be able to quickly watch them.
What’s more?
Currently, even LinkedIn has joined the Stories feature. This goes to show their success. It is hence protected to say that Stories is a strong pattern coming down the line for the future of social media marketing.
Transparency 
2021 was a year loaded up with security issues on major social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. GDPR additionally happened to protect the information that websites took from clients.
As per a record, just 55% of users felt that brands were transparent to some degree or quite a bit on social media platforms. Then again, just 15% of them felt that they were exceptionally transparent.
This strong figure shows that there’s a ton that brands need to do to develop their transparency via social media platforms. What’s more?
The millennials anticipate that brands should be more transparent on the major social media platforms. This implies that you want to raise the stakes by eliminating your errors or possibly giving honest reactions to them.
Furthermore, you ask?
A similar survey also observed that the top desire of customers is to avail transparency from brands. That includes strategic policies, the organization’s policies, and services or product changes. This implies that you should share the latest changes related to your products and give an in-the-background look at your organization as well. You can do such with picture posts, video content, and live Question and Answer (Q&A) meetings.
The greater your transparency on social media, the more purchasers trust you. As a result, trust can convert into more attractive deals. All things considered, transparency is certainly the future of social media in marketing.
AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) 
One eminent technology that has proactively begun in social media marketing is AR or Augmented Reality. Perhaps the most noticeable instances of this are filters available on Snapchat, which utilize a gadget’s camera to superimpose continuous visual as well as video overlays on individuals’ appearances (including highlights like makeup, animal ears, and so on).
Snapchat has even added some advanced filters, especially for cats, which means you can now add glasses, hats, and even makeup to your cat. The platform was well-received by users immediately following its debut. The response is encouraging, but what’s even more encouraging is how actively involved they are becoming.
In response, competitors in the social media space, such as Instagram and Apple, quickly adopted AR features. This probably addresses just a hint of something larger, especially given that Facebook, one of the industry’s biggest financial backers in AR innovation, has affirmed it is working on AR glasses.
While Augmented Reality permits clients to connect within their present surroundings, VR or Virtual Reality drenches the customers in different spots, and this innovation is additionally liable to progressively spread social media interactions.
While the Oculus VR (Facebook-owned organization) has generally been concentrating on the areas of vivid gaming and film. Recently, the firm announced the launching of Oculus Rooms where clients can interact with different people in a virtual world (messing around together, watching media together, or simply talking, etc.).
Simultaneously, Facebook Spaces permits peers/friends to meet online in augmented simulation and correspondingly draw in with each other, with the additional capability to share content, such as pictures, videos, etc. from their Facebook profiles.
In the two cases, avatars are customized to address clients within the Virtual Reality-made space. As VR innovation is turning out to be more reasonable and standard, it is accepted that social media will unavoidably assume a part in the technology’s rising utilization.
While AR and VR technologies bring visual lavishness, other improvements propose that the future of social media in marketing could likewise be more perceptible. Recently, another player in the social media space, HearMeOut, presented a platform that empowers clients to share and listen to 42-s sound posts.
Making it possible for users to interact with online media without using their hands or looking at their screens benefits them in several ways. For one, they can safely communicate with the virtual world while juggling multiple responsibilities (especially while driving).
For another, the addition of sound lends an air of veracity and authenticity to the content that is often lacking in simple text-based posts.
Live Videos 
Live video content is one more famous trend that will continue to stay in the future of social media marketing. Live recordings were launched first on YouTube in 2008 and afterward on Facebook in 2016. Indeed, even Instagram added this highlight later on.
What else, you ask?
A review directed by Brandlive noticed that around 95% of marketers were interested in adding live recordings to their social media marketing strategies.
Perhaps, there are a ton of things you can do through live videos like showcasing your product, how-to-use video, backstage process, customer testimonial, etc. This will assist your target audience with getting to know the brand much better as well.
Tastemade, for instance, uses Facebook Live to make a how-to video for its products. A live video offers your crowd the chance to collaborate with you gradually and clear their questions. This can also help to generate additional commitment and make the collaboration more energizing for them.
You might give your image a more human touch by making Q&A live video meetings. This adds a human component and permits the shoppers to get their questions settled during the actual video by conversing with you.
Many brands such as Sephora, habitually do Q&A live recordings on Facebook to create commitment and resolve their clients’ questions.
The rising popularity of video marketing can’t be disregarded and is certainly a pattern that will characterize the future of social media in marketing.
Content is King 
The next trend that will be taking a spot in the future of social media marketing is Content Marketing. Businesses will get smarter about how they use social media.
There will no longer be shouting about their greatness; they will develop strong content development strategies and have unique strategies for each social media channel, and they will only operate on the channels that are relevant or required.
Content development has generally made a difference on social media platforms. In any case, with the upgrades to Facebook’s algorithms that underline significant connections, it has become considerably more significant. This implies that content that begins authentic discussions has become preferred.
As a result, it is critical to creating engaging content to increase traffic and engagement; consider Samsung!
All in all, how would it be advisable for you to respond?
To improve your organic reach and engagement, your content should be exceptionally interactive. That implies it ought to be intriguing and interesting to your interest group as well. It’s not to the point of simply requesting individuals to like, share or comment on your posts uploaded on social media platforms.
Perhaps, it’s quite important to change your methodology and create some engagement-attracting strategies. Authentic content is the way to progress in the future of social media in marketing.
Here are some of the statistical figures that will give a clear picture of the social media marketing future:
According to Aberdeen, companies that have blog or article pages will receive 434 percent higher indexed pages than those that don’t have such pages. Analysts with such blog pages have seen more traffic, and content marketers have seen 7.8 times higher Y-O-Y development in the site traffic.
It is found that content marketing accumulates 3 times the number of leads than paid search marketing. Furthermore, it costs 62 percent less to execute content marketing versus campaigns. (Source: Demand Metric)
Companies that utilize genuine content strategy can expect multiple times higher change rates. (Source: Aberdeen)
It is expected that with relevant content right audience views the post. Over 47 percent of web clients find blogs interesting and read them daily. (Source: Statista)
80 percent of entrepreneurs and leaders like to find out about brands through articles instead of promotions. (Source: Aberdeen)
41 percent of B2B customers read around three to five bits of content before making a sale or buying a product. (Source: Demand Gen Report)
Hence, keeping all the statistics in mind, it can be clearly said that the content in the future of social media in marketing is ever-lasting.
The Rise of Groups 
A few of the new features available to Facebook groups include the ability to stream live videos, share stories, and set up a business page. Groups have emerged as the social media platform of choice for connecting with your target audience in light of Facebook’s recent algorithm updates.
Through Groups, you can get criticism about your products or services as well as enhance engagement.
What else?
A similar impact has been seen on Instagram where all kinds of influencers (micro and nano) have begun making their profiles private. The purpose of this is to avoid Instagram’s algorithm and its effects.
Here’s an example- An influencer named Sonny, turned all of his accounts private and observed that the development rate was better than when he kept them open.
Surprisingly, Instagram stories have a “Close Friends” feature too. Brands can use this to showcase their Stories to a select audience and provide them with an exclusive glimpse of their operations. This could give individuals a more restrictive feel and they’d feel special to have the option to see these stories as well.
Such segmentation patterns or trends can be anticipated to develop and shape the future of social media in marketing.
Growth of Marketing Apps
Messaging applications have begun giving genuine rivalry to traditional social media platforms. Individuals want to move past commenting on posts and want to communicate with their nearby circles personally.
This makes messaging truly great for them! WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat have gathered over 1 billion dynamic clients over several months.
Brands need to see how users use messaging applications to get their ideal reach, traffic, and engagement. Many of them are already communicating with customers on WhatsApp to forge more personal relationships with those who become clients.
This even includes Absolut Vodka, which launched a mission for an exclusive party. To enter the party, individuals needed to message a nonexistent bouncer and persuade him to give them access. This prompted more than 1,000 exceptional pictures, videos, and audio toward persuading the bouncer.
Because of its convenience and ease of use, messaging will continue to be widely used for communicating with loved ones. Perhaps there are many uncharted promotional territories!
WhatsApp Business is just the start and this pattern should turn into the upcoming future of social media marketing.
What Is The Future Of Social Media?
Everything changes with time and so will social media. Traditional methods such as print media will have a lesser impact on individuals than digital marketing.
No doubt, social media is evolving significantly and with its new launches, new trends will follow the future of social media marketing. It is observed by the experts that the coming years will bring a new change in the marketing style.
Trends such as live videos, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Virtual and Augmented Reality will change the way customers and business owners buy or sell products or services. Yet all social media marketing strategies must be transparent so that customers can trust your products.
If you also wish to keep up with future social media trends and never miss an opportunity then make sure you follow these trends on your platforms!
