Social marketers are experiencing a defining moment in history for the industry.
“Social media has never played a more central role to businesses. As businesses continue to look for ways to future-proof operations and connect with todayʼs tech-savvy customers, social media and digital marketing will inevitably play a part in nearly every business strategy,”said Maggie Lower, CMO, Hootsuite
“In 2023, businesses that take a social-first approach to their brand and customer care strategy will be the ones to reap the benefits. Stronger brand reputation, greater customer interaction, trust and loyalty – now and in the future – depends on it.”
The 2023 Social Trends Report from Hootsuite, based on a survey of 10,643 marketers conducted in July 2022, has revealed key trends:
All eyes turn to social search as it emerges as a make-or-break skill for marketers.
"For most of the current millennium, Google’s been an unbeatable cultural force. But today, Google faces new and maybe not-so-unlikely competition from social media platforms. Younger generations in particular, are going to platforms like TikTok and Instagram to do things like figure out where to go for dinner, buy some new clothes, and where to spend their holidays."
As big brands stop competing for creators, they are leaving the door wide open for small businesses to cosy up to creators.
"While financial pressures have led to larger businesses to rethink their spending with marketing budgets often on the chopping block, budget for creator partnerships has been one of the first things to take a hit. This is leaving the door open for small businesses to compete for top creators at lower price points. As creators can help small businesses with their most acute marketing challenges, more SMBs should take advantage of this opportunity."
Budgets on the line as bosses demand social receipts.
"Marketers confidence in the value of social media marketing is at an all-time high with 83% of marketers surveyed reported having some level of confidence in the ROI, up from 68% last year. However, social media has spent over a decade fighting to prove its place in the marketing mix and the recent growing investment in social is now exposing it to new levels of scrutiny."
Social innovators crack the cross-posting code as marketers stop chasing new features and start getting more strategic instead.
"From Stories to Reels to Twitter’s ill-fated Fleets, social media companies have spent much of the past decade tripping over themselves to copy their competitors’ most successful features. People who are on one social platform, are often on several others as well, and these users explicitly use different social networks for different purposes."
Social commerce hits the trust gap as networks pull back on plans.
"Last year, social commerce seemed destined to be the next big thing in ecommerce however marketers scrambled to position themselves to take advantage of a new way to make money directly from social beyond advertising. Since then, social commerce has arrived with less of a bang and more of a yawn. However as the barrier to social commerce is prevalent it is set to be a competitive advantage for marketers who break through it."
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