3 Social Media Trends Happening Now
Written by Lora Reuther, Social Media Manager
Let’s take a stroll down social media lane, shall we? Most likely you’ve made a stop at TikTok in 2022 – it’s everything anyone is talking about! With it’s short-form videos finding their way on Instagram reels and landing in people’s text boxes, if I was going to choose one major trend in 2022 it would be TikTok. But that’s a little too surface level with everything this popular app is doing this year. Let’s dive a little bit deeper into the TikTok phenomenon and find out what other social media trends happening now are catching the eyes of influencers and brands in 2022.
Social Live Shopping
If you Google live shopping, you’ll see that everyone is jumping on the trend of selling products via livestream. eBay recently announced it will be launching live shopping following in the footsteps of YouTube, Etsy, and Amazon. But where did it all start? In 2016 live shopping started in China with social retail giant Taobao. The trend gained in popularity and later expanded to the US, featuring on Facebook and Instagram in 2020 and TikTok in 2021.
The live shopping market is expected to grow to $25 billion by 2023. If you haven’t caught a live shopping stream it is similar to existing channels like QVC and the Home Shopping Network. Go to the live video feed on TikTok you’ll find a lot of live shopping posts happening all around the world. If it ships to your country, you can add products as they are shown to your cart and checkout. Many live shopping events are in the apparel and fashion industry, but you can also find skincare, household goods, knickknacks, and more being sold on social media.
Brands will want to take notice as this is one of the social media trends happening now. Start testing out live shopping to see if it can improve sales. Live Shopping gives you the opportunity to reach more people and audiences. The live, unpredictable nature of the event is exciting for shoppers. It has a higher potential to lead to a purchase.
Influencer Marketing Factory conducted a survey of 350 Gen Z and millennial consumers. It found that 40% purchased an item during a shopping livestream. The unique live format can help your goal of spreading brand awareness. The format allows you to demonstrate, test out and communicate directly with consumers. Brands should checkout these videos out to get a feel of how the products are showcased. Then, find your brand’s angle for the best results.
User Generated Content
Looking to influencers for help generating social media content has been popular for awhile and it’s not going anywhere. Influencer agreements may change though with Instagram’s recent update favoring original content. Brands will require a larger volume of user-generated content only available on the original feed to avoid posting a lot of less impactful reposted pics and videos. The current recommendation is to post around 3 times a day on TikTok for the best reach. This is the quickest way to build a following. It can, however, be tough for small businesses with limited budgets. So, we will see more brands working with nano and micro influencers for original video content.
User generated content is also more authentic than traditional advertising and professional photoshoots. TikTok loves the unique personal updates that influencers can deliver. You can seek out influencers in your niche who have trusting communities. Many influencers protect these communities and will only partner with brands they love. This results in an authentic partnership that your audience will trust.
Brands will reach out to influencers for paid partnerships, but we are also seeing a lot of customer participation. Brands can encourage people who are already fans of their business to share videos using hashtags or promotional giveaways. At Orca we have helped brands arrange influencer giveaways that invite interested customers to submit content for a chance to win a prize. Get creative and find unique ways to encourage participation that results in organic content that doesn’t feel scripted. And of course, always accompany your posts with the familiar #ad and #sponsored hashtags.
Avoiding Bad Trends
Sure, I could list out all of the cool trends happening on TikTok at the moment, but the internet is already on the job reporting the latest Gym Lips trend, and the ‘My money don’t jiggle jiggle’ song that you’ve been hearing in every video on TikTok. The real social media trend happening now that brands ned to know is the importance of identifying the good trends and staying clear of the bad ones. It’s trends like recent “Internal Shower” and the mocking videos of Amber Heard’s testimony in the Johnny Depp trial that you will want to avoid.
Brands will want to do their research before jumping on the bandwagon of a TikTok trend. Trends come and go quickly like the “Love Grows” videos earlier in the year, so you’ll want to participate daily on the app and browse videos to find new trends. How do you know if a trend is bad? Obviously, you’ll want to use your best judgment and gut feeling and avoid anything that is hateful or harmful. You’ll also want to do some research. If its health related, you’ll want to double check with the experts to avoid encouraging something that could be in fact bad for your health. Trends that comment on a current event will be picked up quickly by the media so you can wait to see what the response is before sharing your post.
Check with social media experts by joining watercooler groups where professionals share content ideas and trends. If you want to learn where a trend came from you can also follow rezporter on TikTok. He dives into trends and shares the source of the music, dance or trend that you’ve seen reposted over and over again. If a trend doesn’t feel right, avoid it and try creating your own trends that encourage honesty and kindness.