The state of social in 2023
With last year showing us that paid content is on its way out, and a more organic version of social is making a comeback, Christina Miller, Head of Social at VMLY&R, says brands will need to shift their social strategies to stay relevant. But how can they offer consumers the authentic experience they crave? And what are the costs of social platforms trying to imitate their more successful competitors?
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2022 was another powerful year for social, seeing an unprecedented level of change.
TikTok especially proved its position of influence, particularly with a Gen Z audience, with almost 40% favouring TikTok and Instagram as a search engine over Google, and 25%of people between the ages of 18 and 34 using the app as a news source.
In addition, the platform has shaken up the world of e-commerce thanks to its Shopify integration, which allows users to purchase off the app in a marketplace fashion.
Social media continues to develop and diversify at breakneck speed and it can often be hard for brands to keep up. With so much shifting, the time is now for brands to take a step back, look at the landscape and focus on the opportunities they can see in order to succeed in social in the eyes of their consumer this year.
The power of conversation, connecting with your audience through one-to-one and beyond is not dead. If anything, it’s growing in importance.
Above: TikTok has shaken up the world of e-commerce thanks to its Shopify integration.
Cross-posting content comes at a price
To combat the TikTok powerhouse, we’ll see other platforms getting more creative, including brands who don’t traditionally offer social media as a service. For example, we’ve recently seen Amazon launch its ‘Inspire’ platform, which champions short-form video geared towards product discovery.
But, as platforms continue to steal features from competitors, we’ve seen users get increasingly frustrated with the changing experience across their feeds. Fast changing landscapes, and brands trying to make the best use of their content resources, have often led to mass repurposing across platforms.
Consumers come to these platforms with different expectations and to meet different needs, so when everything starts to look the same, it can be incredibly off-putting. In 2023, we’ll see a desire for brands to shift back to experiences uniquely designed for each platform - fewer, more impactful pieces of content that serve the user and platform specific needs.
Organic’s role in social is making a comeback, and brands who lean into that will be more connected to their community.
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Above: Users get increasingly frustrated with the changing experience across their feeds.
Organic social isn’t dead
Organic has been the dirty word in social for the past couple of years; it’s had a bad rap while paid social has been treated as the golden child.
However, with 78% of Gen Z using social media to discover new brands, it’s vital to know what they want to see and how they want to see it. Paid social might still be the most powerful tool in the shed to achieve your business goals, but the power of organic need not be forgotten. Gen Z feeds off of authenticity, with 24% saying that they no longer want filtered images or content on social media.
Organic’s role in social is making a comeback, and brands who lean into that will be more connected to their community, more authentic and more well-rounded in their social presence. The power of conversation, connecting with your audience through one-to-one and beyond is not dead. If anything, it’s growing in importance.
Just take the example of Gen Z using TikTok and Instagram as search engines. They desire authentic reviews and takes, rather than the paid promotional reviews that Google will push to the top of the page. Organic has always resonated best with the younger generation and brands who recognise this can benefit from the powerful community-building that social allows you to create.
Brands who lean into the power of what those in-person experiences mean will better capture conversion in the social space moving forward.
Above: Gen-Zers desire authentic reviews, rather than the paid promotional reviews.
One-to-one will help brands grow
During the pandemic, customers flooded to social edia to do their shopping. Brands quickly adapted to make effective shopping experiences and service their customers online. Yet, as our post-Covid lifestyles emerged, most people started craving those in-person experiences again, shopping included.
Brands who lean into the power of what those in-person experiences mean (one-to-one conversations, personal customer service and sales reps to help you with your purchase or support with issues) will better capture conversion in the social space moving forward.
Brands that can understand the sheer potential of social in 2023 will reap the rewards of having a connected, engaged and excited audience.
Trust is one of the biggest barriers for social commerce conversions, so creating an experience and an environment that helps people trust and feel connected to the brand will help consumers overcome that. This can often be achieved via better, more personal communication through community management or specialised bots.
Brands that can understand the sheer potential of social in 2023 will reap the rewards of having a connected, engaged and excited audience - made up of old customers and new. Building experiences on social media that favour authenticity and trust can help bolster engagement and ultimately see social as a key marketing tool for years to come.
