How to grow your business with The top Social Media Trends of 2023
As you may have seen on Your AJency’s social media accounts, I had the privilege of talking at Top Drawer this month. At the design-led trade show, I discussed the social media trends you need to embrace if you’re a small business as well as the opportunities social media can give you when it comes to building your audience and potential client base. Now I want to share the advice with you - the readers of the Your AJency blog! So what exactly are the social media trends you need to know to grow your business in 2023?
Show up for your business
That’s right, the first one is as simple as showing up as the face of your business. In practice, I know it may not be actually quite as simple as that, but one thing is for sure - people LOVE to buy from people so don’t be afraid to humanise your business. Whether you’re showing your face in stories, or giving your audience a “behind-the-scenes” glance at what it’s like to be a business owner, content that demonstrates your authenticity is a winner with potential clients. In a recent study by Talkwalker, a consumer has 306% higher lifetime value to you as a business if they have an emotional connection with you. What that means is that they are more likely to purchase or use your services time and time again if they believe in you and what you are doing. The best way for them to know who you are and what you’re doing? Be sure to tell them - whether that’s on your website, in your social media posts or in your email marketing.
Don't Underestimate Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has become an integral part of many business marketing budgets over the last few years and in 2023, influencer marketing is set to drive even more revenue. In fact, many platforms are encouraging the growth of influencer marketing and content creation as they see it as beneficial for their social networks too. Instagram has even pledged that they will make it easier for creators to monetise their content by allowing them to add a “shop” feature to their profiles and by facilitating subscription-based content. Interestingly, more than 60% of consumers trust the fidelity of influencer reviews, nearly twice the number of people who trust branded content according to a report in 2022 by Shopify. Last year Natalie Williams, founder of Medium Room, talked to us about how influencers helped grow her business exponentially and you can read her story here. Our best advice for implementing influencer marketing in your business strategy is to do your research on which influencers and content creators would make the best collaborators for your business as these are often the most successful partnerships. For more advice and tips on how to approach influencers, read our blog with influencer Jess Roe, @TheWindyCityMama.
Understand How Social Media is Evolving
Social media is now no longer just about the communities you create - although finding your audience is still essential for success! Being sociable on social networks and engaging with your community is one of the best things you can do to develop a warm audience for your business. Whether you have a following on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok or elsewhere, your social posts and content have become so much more than just the content itself. “Social SEO” - aka being able to search something on social media - is just one of the ways that people are now using social media as well as connecting with people. Hootsuite recently confirmed that social networks are starting to be visited by more people than search engines each month and forty percent of 18-24 year olds now use social media as their primary search engine. Whilst this is difficult news for Google, it is great news for small businesses because it means we have another way to be found by a potential client. Simple ways to ensure that your social accounts are optimised for “Social SEO” are by including keywords in your bio describing who you are and the pain points you are solving for your clients; including relevant and appropriate hashtags with each post; adding closed captions on any video content (as most people watch video content on mute); and by geo-tagging your location (tagging where you are based) so that you come up on any kind of local area search.
In addition to being used as a search engine, more and more people are also using social media platforms to do their online shopping. Global social commerce market size was valued at USD 727.63 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a annual growth rate of 31.6% from 2023 to 2030. So this is a huge opportunity for those of you selling anything on socials. In 2022, Instagram and TikTok both increased the ways you could shop directly through their platforms - videos on both now have clickable links to buy through and there is even an option to shop through TikTok bios too. We will continue to see further growth in social ads and easier ways to buy in 2023. Interestingly Instagram will remove the “Shop” tab in February so perhaps this means that more content will become shoppable through the newsfeed and reels - watch this space to find out! One thing is for sure that ultimately, all platforms want their consumers to spend more time on them and this is a clear way to get you to do that. The key thing to remember if you’re a retailer - make it as simple as possible for your customers to shop and limit the amount of hurdles to purchase, by either having a shop on your social media platform or by including regular links to your online shop in your content and posts.
Remember the power of video
We wrote about the power of storytelling and video when we first launched the Your AJency blog. And guess what, short-form video content isn’t going anywhere. Whether you’re using Instagram Stories, Reels, TikTok or Youtube Shorts, video can be key to your business social media growth.
The fastest growing platform remains TikTok, a video based platform, which just shows the strength of this trend. Educational videos have also seen massive growth over the viral lip synching and dance videos you may have seen in the past. In fact #learnwithtiktok has over 7billion views and is even a key feature in the latest TikTok ad campaigns. However you will notice that even the so-called “traditional platforms” such as LinkedIn have been putting more and more focus on video content. Depending on your target audience, each platform can have a different format so do make sure you research what is working on each of the platforms. One thing that is true across all platforms is that they are all favouring more informal “real” content over perfectly styled and shot content.
If you’re not sure where to start with videos and you use Instagram, we recommend using Stories to begin with. Because of their nature and that they only last 24 hours, Instagram Stories are a great way to start getting used to being in front of the camera and playing with your video style. Once you’re feeling more advanced, and if you want to learn more about Reels and how they can help your business growth, Your AJency recommends Reel Rockstars - the brainchild of Kirsty Raper (@rebuildagram) and Andie McDowell (@dahliabeach).
Whichever platform you’re using, videos don’t seem to be going anywhere.
Ensure an Excellent Customer Experience
One of the key things that we always remind our clients is that social media is there to be exactly as it name suggests: to be social. For many businesses, social media has become the easiest point of access for the majority of their customers and this has led to an increase in automated replies in DMs, the need for hiring specific staff to work on social media strategy and engage with comments etc, and of course the ability to tag and share a brand’s products and content.
It has become more important than ever to ensure that even before your customers have chosen to shop/spend/work with you, they are receiving the highest level of customer service. In a climate where people are being more careful about what they buy, they want to know that who they buy from shares their values and cares about them as customers.
Use your social media following as a warm audience. Learn about who they’re following, see what content they’re enjoying, and most importantly listen to how they’re spending their money. It will give you a good indication of where to take your marketing strategy and how to personalise your customer experience, be that by including a handwritten note with a purchase or by doing a roundup of your favourite customer product photos. Once someone has started following you, or used you as a business, be sure to do what you can to retain their custom. Brand loyalty is something that is more apparent than ever, with most people choosing to favour brands they love over and over again rather than going elsewhere. Social customer care, plus nurturing and building a community are going to help you stand out from the crowd and help drive growth for your business.
What now?
As always social is an ever-evolving area of marketing but a vital one for success and growth. Not all of these trends will be relevant for you but showing up authentically as human wherever and however you choose is vital to build the connections and relationships needed to build a business.
Technology has changed how we do things but hasn’t changed the things that matter most to us as humans - we seek out genuine people who care about us even when doing business or purchasing from anyone. That will always be the same. If you approach your 2023 social media activity with this in mind, you can’t far go wrong.
Our top tips to implement the social media trends of 2023 are:
Do what is right for you in the time you have
Try not to be daunted by social media. You don’t have to do everything, everywhere, all at once.
When it comes to time, social media is not a “nice to-do”, but rather an essential part of growing your business.
Most importantly, if you’re feeling the pressure, all you have to do is start. Just do something. Take small steps and don’t be afraid to make a mistake.
By showing up and engaging with your audience, things will happen and if you need some help, you know where we are! Contact us through our Instagram, LinkedIn or book a call to see how Your AJency can help you.