10 Things That Will Shift Social Media Marketing in 2023

The most important social media trends for marketers in 2023 range from social search to the rise of niche creators, and from predictive analytics to virtual influencers. B2B companies will also make good use of social: especially by humanizing their communications and leveraging influencers. These and other key insights are found in a new report by the world’s leading independent agency network thenetworkone and its member Kurio, an award-winning social media agency.

The Social Media Marketing Trends 2023 report is compiled from interviews made with agencies of the network. All the answers were distilled into ten main predictions for 2023:

1. Search is going social. “Google recently found that nearly half of young people turn to social platforms like TikTok or Instagram for answers instead of searching. - - The younger audience's purchase journey starts from curiosity and it's down to brands and marketers to guide them along a path of inspo and ideas rather than brands and products”, says Aryana Noorbakhsh, senior digital marketing executive, Osaka Labs

2. Creator culture is flourishing. With the barriers to entry becoming lower and the monetary incentives higher, there are more creators than ever. And thus, a wider spectrum of creativity.

3. The return of social to social media. “Gen Z feels unequivocally that content needs to be believable and “authentic”, and should remind people online that they are not alone. Authentic content doesn’t sell or preach – it is the type of video or static post your friend would make and send you to make you laugh or cry”, comments the team from Adolescent Content/Youthtellers.

4. Humanising B2B with social. “A trend I’ve begun to see in B2B marketing, and one I’m particularly excited about, is the idea of flipping B2B on it’s head and approaching it as you would B2C when it comes to humanity and personalisation. - Due in part to the rise of B2B2C, and the generational change in B2B buyer committees, I anticipate we’ll start seeing less hyper-targeting and more human/personalised content as we head into 2023”, states Natalie Chaney, social strategist, Barrett

5. Niche influencers will become mainstream. “Influencer marketing next year I believe will be rooted in the relatable, more accessible creators. Niche community pioneers, niche micro-influencers, niche thought leaders – that’s where the trust lies”, says Seyi Alawode, founder and head of strategy, CHL

6. Metaverse to grow via social. If 2022 saw the rise and fall in the interest towards the Metaverse, now we’ll see it coming to life. Slowly. Via social.

7. Prolonging the success of short-form video. Like it or not, everyone’s attention spans keep on diminishing. Brands need to master the art of snackable video in order to get their message through.

8. Influencer marketing big in B2B. “More and more, marketers are partnering with industry experts and analysts, internal executives and niche experts to bolster organisational trust and credibility. And, it's working. 86% of B2B brands attributed improved brand performance to influencer marketing. 72% reported improved brand reputation, while 56% said influencer marketing helped to generate new leads. What’s more, 33% said influencers were a direct revenue generator”, says Olivia Hussey, junior planner, The Hallway

9. Refreshing the engagement metrics. Likes are out. Conversations are in. New channels and new ways of using social have changed the users – and this should change the way how brands measure themselves. 

10. Predictive analytics to help goal-setting. Instead of asking 'what happened', we’ll ask 'what is likely to happen'. And for this, we will need data. Loads of data.

The insights were gathered by interviewing 40 social media marketing experts from 25 award-winning independent agencies. The respondents are from countries as diverse as China, USA, India, UK, Nigeria, Germany, Japan, Chile, South Africa, Mexico, and Romania. The interviews were conducted in December 2022.

All the respondents are using social media to help their clients do better communications, marketing, and eventually, business. They don’t work with any particular social media platform, thus their insights come from an objective point-of-view. Coming from not only different countries, but also different types of agencies, their answers offer a 360 view of social media marketing for the upcoming year.

Read the report here.