Slate's Social Media Predictions for 2023

As another crazy year of platform updates, algorithm changes, and trends at every corner draws to a close, it’s a time for social media managers to take five and reflect on what’s been an exhausting - sorry, we mean exciting - period. As we all know, the world of social never stops spinning - so naturally, we're already pondering what the new year has in store for us in terms of marketing strategy.While working on your 2023 campaigns, it’s essential to consider which industry and platform trends are expected to rise in order to help ensure your content gets the best chance at success. Keep reading for Slate’s top social media predictions for 2023.

👑 Short form video clings to the crown👑

Today’s consumers simply cannot get enough of short-form video since the resurrection of this content format after the death of Vine (RIP). Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock, you’ll be familiar with the immense popularity of TikTok and Reels in recent years. As such, creators and brands, both in the B2C and B2B space are switching up their social strategies in order to create shorter-form content that caters to this growing user preference.With it now being clear that short-form content is staying around for a while at least, for 2023, it’s time to really knuckle down on a strategy that will get your brand good ROI. We’re not just talking about posting the odd TikTok dance every now and then and hoping for the best. Get clear on a conducive short-form video strategy that maps out your goals and objectives, content pillars, posting frequency, paid ads, and more. It’s time to get serious with short-form content!

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🤝Engagements must be a two way affair🤝

As the algorithms get smarter, brands are having to adjust their strategies to boost their organic engagement efforts. In recent months, it seems that platforms are favoring posts that resonate most with audiences - based on things like user comments, shares, and conversations. Also playing a critical role in helping to boost the number of eyes on brand content is partaking in two-way engagement. To increase engagement, you can no longer afford to just post content, wish it well, and then never look back at it again. In 2023, social media managers should look to sparking up conversations on their content by replying to comments and establishing relationships. Will it be more work to add to the never-ending to-list? Yes. But will it be worth it? Absolutely.

🫶The era of community building🫶

Following on from the above, next year will require brands to truly hone in on their community-building strategy. Social media marketing has become so much more than just promoting your products and services to consumers via pushy content. If you are trying to build your business on social media, you must create connections and experiences to build long-term brand loyalty. More and more brands are realizing the power of building communities of people who feel more connected to their brand, eventually leading them to become credible brand advocates. And it’s paying off. According to HubSpot, 80 percent of brands say that their community-building efforts have resulted in increased traffic. Community building is all about instilling human communication and making it easy for your audience to interact with you. Some community-building tips for your brand to consider in its 2023 social media marketing strategy include:

Showing more of the faces behind the brand
More BTS content
Actively engaging with your audience on social
Creating a Facebook group
Giving your community a name
Launching a branded hashtag challenge to get consumers involved
Using Instagram Stories and interactive poll and question stickers to engage with your community

📈The rise of authentic moments📈

If this year has taught us anything, it’s that social media users crave more real, unfiltered, and authentic moments. In fact, one study has revealed that 88 percent of consumers identify authenticity and relatability as key decision drivers when it comes to making in-app purchases and engaging with brands. The rise in popularity of the new kid on the block, BeReal, further demonstrates this consumer preference. The French app was built to encourage the capturing of life’s most authentic moments, prompting users to document a slice of their day within the app’s designated time frame. With this preference for more genuine content, we should expect user-generated content (UGC) to take the stage, front and center next year. What does this mean for your 2023 social media strategy? Brands should work on a content plan that involves more authentic involvement from consumers, including unboxing videos, product reviews, and tutorials.

⚡️More AI recommended content⚡️

If you’re a user of TikTok, then you’ll be all too familiar with the enigma that is the For You feed. We all have TikTok’s AI recommendation system to blame for how darn right addictive the app is. The platform has done an incredible job at keeping users on the app. It works by leveraging machine learning to analyze users’ interests and preferences through their interactions and then based on this, displays a personalized feed. It’s likely how the app now has managed to work up a whopping 30.8 million daily active usersNext year we expect that other platforms will attempt to follow in the footsteps of TikTok’s For You feed, providing users with more AI-recommended content based on their viewing and engagement history. Meta has already been working on this area. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg officially announced that Facebook’s main feed would no longer be a place to connect with friends and family. Instead, Facebook would be launching a tab called “Feeds” where users can check in on friends and family. What this means for the main feed is that users will now be presented with more recommended content, often Reels and Stories, selected by the algorithm.

💥The boom of branded content💥

As brands battle against each other to grab a slice of consumer attention, the importance of creating high-quality content will be at an all-time high. Modern-day social media users are no longer accepting of bland posts that have just been posted for posting’s sake. Today, the brands that are reaping the greatest rewards through social are those that are putting in the effort to create engaging content that evokes emotion and forms connections. A major part of this comes down to high-quality branded content.The great news is that ensuring your social content is on brand with flame emojis has never been easier. Social media managers no longer have to rely on the ever-busy design team to produce branded content. With social media marketing having to be so reactive these days, more continent solutions are needed. That’s when Slate’s content creation platform comes in especially handy. In just a few clicks, social media marketers can produce highly-impressive branded content such as Reels, graphics, and GIFs to whatever dimensions are required. Users simply upload their brand assets to the Slate content management platform, use the creative tools available to produce real-time content whenever from wherever via the Slate mobile app and then share directly to the social channel of choice.

🫣An unpredictable time for Twitter🫣

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the future of the platform has been up in the air. Every day it feels like there is something new thrown into the mix that takes us all by surprise. The billionaire app owner is truly causing chaos at Twitter HQ. Initially, some of the visions Musk shared regarding the future of Twitter included:

To tackle the spambots (he has promised to “authenticate” all humans on the platform)
To protect free speech (Musk calls himself a "free speech absolutist," and has expressed worries about the platform's algorithms that select which posts a user sees)
To raise revenue (charging verified accounts a monthly fee)
To build an “everything app” (much like China’s WeChat app)

But since then, Musk has temporarily closed its offices to staff and shown many employees the back door, with a large number of the remaining staff choosing to walk and exit the chaos themselves.Now there are concerns that if the app should break, there is no one left to fix it. With uncertainty up in the air, official government accounts have begun providing means of being found elsewhere. For brands, it’s a good idea to consider doing the same whilst considering a post-Twitter era for your marketing.

Find us #France in #Fiji 🇫🇷🤝🇫🇯 on:

📍Facebook: https://t.co/Z4u3ssv1NJ📍Twitter: https://t.co/Z66Iyhd7AI📍Youtube: https://t.co/hsuDRNiaD0📍Instagram: https://t.co/z27xXsOUtw📍LinkedIn: https://t.co/t3iJuC0DWR📍Website: https://t.co/DzdW0PNAK8 pic.twitter.com/AnLq1CkqQW— France in Fiji (@ambafrancefj) November 18, 2022As ever, it’s a crazy time in the world of social media. Ensuring you are on top of current and predicted trends will help you get started on creating a winning 2023 social media marketing strategy. Do you have a predicted trend you think will take off? Let us know via social - don’t forget to tag us!