If you spend a good portion of your day on social media, you are not alone. Over 55% of the global population uses some form of social media. In 2021 alone, the number of social media users grew by nearly 10%. That is huge! If you aren’t currently utilizing social media to market your business, it should be added to your list of New Year’s resolutions for 2022. We are going to review some statistics that may blow your mind and also look at the current social media trends that you need to know.
Tell me More About the Numbers
Before fully diving into the current social media trends, for those of you who say, “Show me the numbers”, that is what we are going to do. So let’s get right down to it.
- Number of Global Users: Over 55% of the world’s population currently uses social media. That number fluctuates here and there as users come and go. These numbers indicate that 9 out of 10 Internet users get online to get “social”.
- Time Spent on Social: The average amount of time in a day that users spend on social media is about 2 1/2 hours. People generally sleep around 8 hours a day, so these figures suggest that people spend roughly 15% of their time awake using social media.
- Age Range: Social media is no longer just a thing for college students, as it once was. People of all age ranges are getting social. While social media usage and demographics vary by the social platform, the most active age range of users are 20 and 30 year olds, but people under 18 and over 65 are also active.
- Most Used Social Platform: While this number can change by the day, the most widely adapted social media platforms are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram. LinkedIn doesn’t publish monthly active user data, so we can’t include them, but we are guessing they are right there towards the top.
Let’s get into the Current Social Media Trends That you Need to Know
As the word trend indicates, social media behavior is always changing, so things can transform in the blink of the eye. With that in mind, we are going to review some trends that we believe to be solid, based on our experience.
- TikTok will Continue to Grow: It seems like I can’t go a day without someone sending me a TikTok video of some sort. TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users, and you can expect to see that number keep growing. TikTok is engaging and people love watching other people, even those they don’t know, create unique content.
- Ephemeral Content is here to Stay: Ephemeral content is rich media, primarily images and videos, which are only accessible for a brief period (think about Snapchat, Instagram Stories, etc). In today’s world, people have short attention spans, so this content is a way to quickly and effectively engage people and give them a case of FOMO.
- Traditional Social Platforms aren’t Going Away: While they may change their names and rebrand, what we consider the traditional and OG social platforms, continue to maintain their user bank and remain popular. That will likely not change due to the number of current active users on them. People want to be where other people are.
- Social Commerce will Increase: Social commerce gives brands a new retail avenue and creates seamless buying experiences directly within popular social channels. People like to buy where they are spending a lot of their time, on social.
- Video Content is a Must: We have said time and time again that you should invest in online video for your business. According to a Cisco study, in 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content. Videos are a quick, easy, and entertaining way for you to reach viewers who may not be captivated with other forms of online or offline engagements.
- Livestreaming is a Thing: Now, more than ever, live streaming has become a norm. The COVID-19 Pandemic forced people to use live streaming to communicate and now that people are comfortable with it, livestreaming will continue to grow. People want to interact with others online and now they want to do it live with video.
While we have only reviewed a few of the current social media trends that we believe you need to know, the social media horizon continues to grow and change daily, and as a brand, it is something you need to adopt and embrace.
There are many ways to connect with your ideal audience via social: have a conversation and ask for reviews, post relevant content and blogs, share videos, utilize social advertisements, etc. With social, the possibilities seem to be endless.
At Water Bear Marketing, we focus on surpassing our customers’ lead goals by Advertising With Intelligence®, instead of fixating on click costs, a click-through rate, or other industry jargon. We can help you with your social media strategy in multiple ways.
One of our most popular social media marketing products is SocialAds. SocialAds allows you to directly connect to your current and potential customers. You can engage with customers through sites that are part of their everyday lives.
Social media is today’s word of mouth. Social advertisements are designed to build and engage your community, grow your online brand, increase customer loyalty and help build your distribution list. We build fully customized programs to help you ensure you are communicating effectively and we report the results with 24/7 access to our reporting dashboard.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
