2023 Social Media Industry Updates: What You Need To Know
Welcome to 2023! We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it (a thousand more times) again… social media is an ever-changing and rapidly-evolving landscape. Between updates and trends, it’s no small feat to learn about and practice the latest and greatest features that social media platforms have to offer. Let’s start the new year fresh with an industry update!
Know Your Platform
In 2022, Instagram was all about Reels, and this trend will continue into 2023. Reels are the best pieces of content to use for increasing Engagement and Impression metrics because they will appear in both the Reels Tab and the Explore Tab which attracts new and more viewers, which would lead to new followers. Video content is more favorable with Instagram’s algorithm than static feed posts, so be sure to use video when you can.
Instagram’s Collaborator Feature is also still going strong. Create content that gets shared to two accounts, which will offer your post to more accounts than just your own followers.
Instagram has rolled out a feature that allows you to choose a song to pair with a static feed post. Note that this feature is not yet available with carousel posts. Regarding carousel posts, implementing seamless carousel posts has been one of the newest emerging trends, and we show you how to do it in another blog!
We often see accounts publishing posts without hashtags. Hashtags are alive and well! When a social platform offers a feature, it’s best to make use of it and maximize the potential of your social marketing. Utilize all its features—the more you use, the better off you'll be in terms of algorithm optimization. Best practices with hashtags include using broad keywords all the way down to specific keywords such as your location or products you offer.
Like Instagram, video content also prevails on Facebook. If you're looking to make a bigger splash on Facebook, consider posting some video content and Reels - it'll boost your Engagement numbers and give those Impression metrics an impressive lift.
If you’re feeling especially bold, try “Going Live” on Facebook! Maybe you’re launching a new product or service, want to host a Q&A session for your business, have an office event, or are engaging in a community event, which leads us to our next Facebook trend.
Community outreach is an extremely impactful method to position your business in your community. We talk about getting started with community outreach, specifically on Facebook, in a previous blog. Connecting with your community, answering community questions, and providing community recommendations are great ways to marry social media marketing with word-of-mouth marketing.
Don’t forget about LinkedIn! From a professional standpoint, utilizing your linked in for personal branding purposes is one of the best ways to connect with other professionals and show customers and clients who you truly are. People connect with people before they connect with businesses. To start the year off, make sure your LinkedIn is up to date with your current job title, a recent headshot for your cover photo, and publish a post that relates to your profession.
Know Your Audience
It’s vital to know specifically who your audience is and cater your content accordingly. Gen Z followers will respond much differently to content than Gen X followers will. Each generation tends to have different values when it comes to social media, and therefore interact very differently.
We continue to see shifts with each platform. Younger people aren’t using Facebook as often, and they’re starting to view Instagram as the next Facebook with the emergence of TikTok. Some statistics about generational usage include:
- Gen Z has the least amount of weekly Facebook users compared to the older generations, where Baby Boomers have the most.
- Gen Z and Millennials are the generations who use Instagram the most, followed by Gen X.
- Gen Z spends the longest amount of time on Social Media reading reviews and researching products or services before purchasing, whereas Baby Boomers spend the least.
Each generation also has different goals with social media. For example, Millennials favor a brand community, such as community outreach practices, whereas Gen X favors direct contact with companies via social media, such as direct messaging.
Narrowing in on your target audience will be the driving factor for deciding which platforms your company should be on, and what type of content to post.
Sounds great, but…
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