Social Media Marketing Predictions 2023

As 2023 begins, social media continues to thrive. Data collected by Hootsuite in mid 2022 suggested that 4.70 billion users, or 59% of the global population are active on social media. That’s a massive audience of people, and a lot of speculation about what social media trends will be in 2023 as marketers’ clamour to grab user attention. 

We’ve digested down what we think will be the key social media trends of 2023 – new things to try and changes to consider – see if you think any could work for your business.  

A move away from Facebook and Twitter 

For quite a while now, two constants in social media marketing have been Facebook and Twitter. Both have their USPs and are still very relevant platforms (Facebook continues to be the world’s most used social media platform) but, depending on your target market, you might be able to reach your market more effectively on another platform.  

Projections from eMarketer suggest that by 2026 only 13% of Under 25s will be on Facebook, as they increasingly turn to other platforms for their social media fix (see prediction two for where they’ll be instead).   

Instagram continues to be popular, with 18-35 year olds being the most engaged user group. If businesses see great engagement on Instagram through reels, stories, and regular posts with their target age groups, they may not feel the need to post elsewhere. Focusing all their attention on creative marketing content for Instagram.   

LinkedIn seems to have experienced a renaissance in recent years. The professional social networking site has been around since 2003 – older than competitor Facebook and a few months older than Myspace – but a rejuvenation of content and engagement in recent years makes it feel much more exciting. 2023 will see the rise in LinkedIn through the development of the LinkedIn Influencer, and more businesses designing content specifically for this platform.   

Any moves away from Facebook and Twitter will ultimately come because businesses realise their customers are engaging elsewhere. Hootsuite believes that ‘people go to different networks for different reasons’ and that’s completely correct. Understanding why people are on that social network and what they expect to see there is critical to any marketing strategy.

The rise of Tik Tok 

TikTok is leading the way as a go-to social media platform for users and advertisers and this will only accelerate in 2023. 2022 saw the rise of brands advertising there, TikTok for Business accounts and it’s now the prime channel to engage with a Gen Z audience (that’s people born from 1997, who are currently 25 and younger) who are exiting other social media sites. 

More and more businesses and big brands began dipping their toes into TikTok throughout 2022 and there was also a continued rise in Tik Tok advertising and we can expect more of the same in 2023.   

TikTok has evolved from an entertainment platform to a valuable learning source for some. Instead of turning to search engines like Google to ask a question, Gen Z users are typing those questions directly into the TikTok search bar. So businesses who answer those questions should see engagement.  

There are ever changing video trends to get on board with, but there’s also space for creators to make new and exciting videos in different ways and brands can do the same.  

Most video being vertical  

Because of the growth of Tik Tok, expect more vertical video in your social media feeds in 2023.  

On Instagram, vertical video comes in the form of Instagram Reels which are currently generating more engagements than traditional Instagram video (this may also be because the Instagram algorithm really loves them!). Despite being around since late 2020, there can be some hesitancy around what to post on Reels, so check out our ‘Quick 5 Reels ideas to get you started’ blog.  

We can also expect videos to continue to be short – between 15 and 30 seconds – to capture attention and convey messages quickly.  

YouTube is also in on the vertical short video action, with YouTube Shorts. When creating a YouTube short there are built in tools with endless possibilities for editing and content creation and it could be a natural extension for your business if you’re already producing content for an audience on YouTube. Forbes is also predicting that it might ‘be a Brand’s best friend in 2023’.  

A less is more approach to content creation 

This prediction comes in a couple of strands. 

Firstly, as capturing content on your phone is now so convenient to capture and edit, we’re predicting this authentic feeling content to continue being made in 2023. Whether that’s a snippet of a day spliced together with video, or photos with a testimonial overlaid on Instagram stories, users really like to see authentic and real content from brands. They aren’t expecting every piece of output to involve fancy lighting or staging.  

Secondly as part of a wider mindfulness trends, setting a screentime limit is on the increase. This might mean users are limiting all time on social media to 20 mins per day. So instead of panicking about that decrease, we predict businesses pivoting to make more meaningful content, but less often. Content that truly engages, and uses great ideas. Meaning that when those users return for their small timeslot, that great content will be pushed at them and make a lasting impression.