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Recently, overseasMartech marketing technology service provider HubSpotandSocial media analytics platform Talkwalkerjointly released the "2022 Social Media Trends" report.
The report uses data and examples from major social media platforms, forums and blogs from January to August 2021, and adopts the insights of more than 70 overseas marketing experts and Internet celebrities. The report has 68 pages and ten chapters, coveringTik Tok short video marketing, user journey simplification under the trend of social e-commerce, content characteristics in the post-epidemic era, user omni-channel participation, influencer marketing, social decentralization, metaverse, brand inclusivity, social groupsThe current trend of hot overseas social highlights has great reference value for cross-border sales and the future customer acquisition methods and ideas of the cross-border e-commerce crowd. SocialEpoch has also made a comprehensive compilation and interpretation. Without further ado, let’s go straight down.
01 Trend 1: Tik Tok is about to enter social media dominance
Today's Tik Tok is growing rapidly and is loved by all. It has become the second social application in the world after Facebook to have more than 3 billion users. It can be said to be a slap in the face to overseas social giants such as Facebook and Instagram.
With the explosive growth in the number of users, Tik Tok's social monetization pace has begun, and various monetization forms such as live streaming and small yellow carts have continued to expand. To further establish direct contact with consumers, brand merchants need to enter and play Tik Tok.
For example: #Tik Tok Resumes (TiK Tok resume topic)
In July, Tik Tok officially released this section, through#Tik Tok Resumes, users can post resumes and search for jobs. This section is very attractive to young users who need to find jobs. The recruitment form is more free and active, and it can better demonstrate personal creativity. It has reached 3.4W conversations and more than 300 million views.
When UGC (user-generated content) in Tik Tok becomes a powerful trend that cannot be ignored, the traditional marketing methods of enterprises are bound to change.
The rise of Tik Tok can be said to have created a new dividend point for cross-border sales and cross-border e-commerce. Firstly, the number of users is increasing, and secondly, we are well aware of its monetization methods. Tik Tok is the overseas version of Douyin. It can be said that everyone in China knows Tik Tok. In the same way, we are also familiar with Tik Tok’s interface, gameplay, and algorithm mechanism. Taking the mature gameplay of domestic Douyin to overseas Tik Tok, we can say that we have an absolute advantage.
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02 Trend 2: With the elimination of cookies, social advertising will further develop
As Google will eliminate cookie tracking by 2023, social platforms will be an extremely important advertising window. Advertising has come a long way since the Internet became popular. Now, social media will revolutionize the advertising industry. Through a more personalized, direct and effective form, it can help brands reach huge user assets. The trend and importance of social advertising cannot be ignored.
“Killing the Cookie is a power play from one of the most important and influential tech giants but also the greatest opportunity for marketers to abandon lazy tactics and develop a more direct relationship with prospective and existing customers. Paid social and email marketing will become increasingly important, but the winners coming out of this will be the brands who understand the power of the customer relationship.”
——Toby Daniels
Founder, Social Media Week,
Chief Innovation Officer, Adweek
*Quoted from the original report
Toby believes that canceling the cookie tracking function is a power game for Google, the industry's technology giant, but it also gives marketers an opportunity. An opportunity to move away from lazy tactics and create a more direct bond with current and potential customers. In the future, paid social advertising and email marketing will become increasingly important, and those businesses that value customer relationships and bonds will ultimately be successful.
Extended thinking: Overseas, Google has canceled cookie tracking, and domestically, the "Personal Information Protection Law" has been promulgated. Both of these are almost telling us that precise push based entirely on user privacy and thousands of people are a thing of the past. This also shows that, whether domestic or overseas, building an owned audience pool for in-depth user operations will become a standard for brand building and a rigid need for corporate marketing.
03 Trend 3: Social trading will simplify the user journey
In the past, the focus of corporate operations on social platforms was advertising and promotion. Now, social platforms are beginning to focus on new methods of monetizing transactions, thereby focusing on providing consumers with a simpler and more convenient purchase journey. For example, Ins has launched a new purchase section, and Tik Tok has launched a small yellow car. These changes allow consumers to complete the entire transaction journey without leaving the APP, greatly simplifying the consumer purchase journey.
With the popularity of social e-commerce, influencer marketing will also become a major trend, which will be discussed in detail later.
“Social selling will continue to gain in importance in 2022. On the one hand, influencers who have been promoting products via their channels with vouchers will increasingly launch their own creations. Capital Bra with its iced tea or CrispyRob’s chips are good examples. On the other hand, companies will develop new formats such as product livestreams with direct customer feedback.”
——Thilo Wessel
Head of Social Media International, Kaufland
*Quoted from the original report
In 2022, social e-commerce will continue to grow. On the one hand, Internet celebrities will significantly increase product sales through coupons and other forms; on the other hand, companies will continue to expand promotional forms such as live broadcasts that can provide real-time customer feedback.
04 Trend 4: In the post-epidemic era, content will gradually synchronize with consumer needs
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers have had to adapt to content consumption trends in this new situation, which also poses challenges to marketers' existing user relationships and brand building. Social media is now an integral part of our lives, and the pandemic has greatly increased its use. Compared with the same period last year, the number of global social media users increased by more than 500 million, a year-on-year increase of nearly 14%.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of reaching potential consumers, brands must communicate in a more localized and detailed manner and push content that consumers care about more. this also meansTo do good marketing, brands must create customized content for consumers based on various circle dimensions such as age, region, gender, hobbies, etc.
This change in content consumption,Not only in the information itself, but also in the form of content push. Short video live broadcasts are known for being "short and fast" and enhance the sense of interaction and participation. I believe this is one of the reasons why short video content has become so popular in the post-epidemic era. Under this trend, every brand merchant will need to establish its own content strategy in 2022 to further match the information and its delivery form that consumers are more concerned about.
05 Trend 5: Omni-channel social networking will change the form of social interaction
Now is an era where everyone is social. 64.5% of foreign users obtain information from social media such as Facebook/Twitter/YouTube. But at the same time, there is a potential problem. The information on the Internet is mixed, and there are countless false information. This kind of false information can easily mislead consumers.
For brand merchants, if the public opinion discussion is positive, it is fine, but if it is negative, it will be very troublesome. Netizens' emotions are easily incited, and the damage to brand business is also immeasurable.
It is naturally important to create a brand's special page/official account on social media to guide positive public opinion and help consumers directly establish official connections.If you don’t do this, your competitors will; losing a customer on social media is equivalent to losing performance to your competitors.
Here again I recommend a marketing artifact:Facebook Pinxuanbao. Through batch account operation, post and repost, group marketing, Page marketing, etc., we promote public opinion for brand merchants and achieve screen-dominating marketing.
06 Trend 6: Internet celebrity marketing will become more and more mature
Internet celebrity marketing and industry KOL endorsement have become an inescapable part of current corporate marketing. The results of a 2021 survey by a foreign research organization (The Influencer Marketing Hub) showed that 67% of the respondents conducted influencer marketing on Instagram. As the boundaries between social media and social e-commerce become increasingly blurred, influencer marketing can allow brands to flourish and achieve immediate results by reaching users.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic, many people have been isolated at home. People are spending more and more time online, and as a result, more and more people have become Internet celebrities. It should be noted that when conducting influencer marketing, brands need to pay attention to, in addition to the basic number of fans, user participation, exposure, customer loyalty, and whether the cooperation is to increase sales or increase return on investment. These are all things that need to be paid attention to to ensure that the celebrities intending to cooperate are consistent with the company's goals and requirements.
07 Trend 7: Brand marketing will promote the trend of social decentralization
In the future of social networking, everything must be social. In addition to national-level applications such as Facebook/WhatsApp, which can be used for social networking, brand merchants can also use their own forums, apps, websites, etc. to develop social functions and create more concrete and direct social opportunities in consumption scenarios. Just like our domestic users, inAre you hungry?After ordering food, you can directly contact the merchant and delivery person within this app.
Starting from the decentralized social form, what consumers feel is no longer just a product, but more of a kind of connection and care, a way of interactive communication. In such a scenario, it is easier for consumers to output valuable data and insights and build a true brand value community.
Extended thinking: Everything can be social. Merchants can use this method to establish different levels of owned audience pools. For example, if the APP itself is the first owned channel user pool of the enterprise, then WhatsApp can accumulate the second traffic pool of the enterprise. You can advance, attack or retreat, and establish different types of operation methods at different levels to achieve twice the result with half the effort in user operations.
08 Trend 8: Metaverse will become the next generation of consumer connection method
This is well known because Zuckerberg changed Facebook's name to Meta (the full spelling of the metaverse: Metaverse). The connotation of "Metaverse" absorbs the results of the information revolution (5G/6G), Internet revolution (web3.0), artificial intelligence, and technologies such as VR, AR, and MR, especially the virtual reality technology revolution including game engines.
Now, many companies are beginning to realize the huge potential of the Metaverse and VR technology. If used properly, these technologies will help companies establish deeper connections with users. In 2021, the term Metaverse was cited more than 60,000 times; in 2022, we will see countless brands show deeper interest and value investment in it.
Many Generation Z consumer brands will integrate into the metaverse in social spaces and gaming communities. This space will be more creative, collaborative and competitive, allowing brands to always be at the forefront of technology.
However, it was also mentioned at the end of the report: Although it has attracted countless attention now, it will take some time for consumers to fully accept the Metaverse. Regardless of the extent of the metaverse's application, it is clear that experimentation and observation of its key contributors are critical. (In other words, let the bullets of the Metaverse fly a little longer.)
09 Trend 9: Brand value and attitude are crucial
Today, every enterprise is no longer just a profit-oriented entity, but a social organization with multiple roles and responsibilities. In 2022, companies need to listen to and pay attention to the content that is most important to users, pay attention to the environmental and social responsibility issues of the entire macro world, assume corporate social responsibilities, elaborate on corporate attitudes and values, and need to be highly inclusive.
Let’s take a relatively clear example from this year in China: In July, after Hongxing Erke donated 50 million yuan during the Henan disaster, it was snapped up by the public, which shows the importance of corporate attitude in user perception. In matters like this, facts speak louder than words.
10 Trend 10: Social groups will further develop and dominate
Social groups (online communities) are more like an enterprise's owned audience pool/star support club/fan group, which has an important influence on brand public opinion and successful operations. Here, a group of people with similar values or common demands gather together. Through continuous discussions and interactions, a large number of user fans, data and public opinion discussions are accumulated for the brand, thereby increasing brand exposure and participation.
Here again I recommend an artifact operated by overseas users:WhatsApp SCRMowned-channel operations treasure. Help enterprises achieve direct access and batch management of users in the owned audience pool, and empower both internal and external parties.
11 Finally, it’s time to conclude: Seize the moment of consumers
Winning consumers means attracting consumers; attracting consumers means contacting consumers. In this current moment, consumer demand is high, but opportunity and demand also exist. It is crucial to seize social media, seize smart marketing, and seize every moment of consumers.
For more details of the original report, please communicate directly via private message @SocialEpoch 。
