The year 2023 was a blooming year when looking at social media trends. But just like the lyrics “summer has come and passed”, trends did the same.
And it’s time to foresee social media trends for 2024. This way, you’ll be able to plan ahead your social media strategy and maybe relax a bit towards the end of the year.
Let’s find out together what are the predictions for social media trends in 2024.
Social media trends for 2024
- What is a social media trend
- Why do you need to implement social media trends in your strategy
- Latest social media trends for 2024
3.1. TikTok will grow even more popular
3.2. Reels will continue to rule on Instagram
3.3. LinkedIn will no longer be just about jobs and professional content
3.4. User-generated content created by Gen Z will increase
3.5. SEO on social media will be even more powerful than hashtags
3.6. Video captions are paramount
3.7. Social commerce will increase - Examples of social media trends that rock the last quarter of 2023
- How to use Socialinsider to keep up with social media trends
1. What is a social media trend
A social media trend is a change occurring in popular topics and also in the behaviour of social media users.
Staying on top of social media trends means staying ahead of the curve, always being aware of the latest topics and behaviours that go viral.
Viral is a state that every marketing manager dreams of attaining. It’s like viral is the Nirvana-level of social media.
Learning what’s determining and changing the social media audience behavioural patterns is important to build an efficient social media strategy that works its magic.
2. Why do you need to implement social media trends in your strategy
The main reasons why you should be aware of social media trends and implement them in your strategy is to capture your audience’s attention, generate more buzz around your content and boost interactions.
Every brand that builds a social media present wants to keep up with the emerging social media trends.
The higher the number of users that are exposed to a trend, the more popular it grows.
Following and implementing social media trends in your marketing strategy can bring benefits like:
-boosting brand visibility
-developing a loyal community around your brand
-increasing engagement
3. Latest social media trends for 2024
Thinking about what the future may hold in the world of social media may be scary. But it can’t be scarier than having no clue when it comes to social media trends.
Here are a few of the predictions for social media trends for 2024 that you can rely on when adjusting your social media strategy.
3.1. TikTok will grow even more popular
We already sensed this. TikTok is here to stay. Some may even bet on BeReal, but I’m not so sure.
TikTok has grown in popularity in 2023 and it will continue to grow, as more and more users lock their eyes to their screens for even more hours.
You’d be so lucky if your videos appear in the “discover” section. Virality would be your best mate.
A lot of marketing managers dream about virality, especially because it appears to have no pattern when you try to accomplish it.
The current number of TikTok users is 1.677 billion. This may slowly transform into billions.
3.2. Reels will continue to rule on Instagram
Since short-form video content rulz, on Instagram Reels will continue to be the most engaging type of content. However, its success does not overcome the one of TikTok videos.
Instagram will remain one of the top social media platforms used by brands, increasing in popularity.
This social platform has over 2.35 billion monthly active users while the number of daily active users is estimated at 500 million.
About 62% of Instagram active users use the app to research for products and brands. The app’s algorithm favours Reels, heavily prioritising this type of content.
The important thing about making Reels is using viral audios to increase the video’s chances for virality. That’s the main secret.
Find out which are the latest Instagram Reels trends here 👈
3.3. LinkedIn will no longer be just about jobs and professional content
LinkedIn has gradually grown out of its black suits and it’s now a rebellious Millennial. Just kidding.
This platform is no longer only about posting jobs, finding jobs, or complaining about jobs. Users started posting more raw content inspired from their experiences.
And that’s the quality content everyone was looking for. Everyone on LinkedIn is now showing their true colours about juggling with tasks, taking mental health time and finding it difficult to get inspired.
This social media platform is growing into a more personal one, with posts where you can find advice about, well, almost anything.
The take on more personal posts on LinkedIn started during the pandemic and it will keep on going. However, it’s not yet clear whether the algorithm favours this type of posts than the professional ones.
How personal can you be when writing a post in such a way that you also keep your distance and remain professional?
That’s still a topic to be debated.
3.4. User-generated content created by Gen Z will increase
Oh, Gen Z, the generation that uses social media to document their lives, journal and post about everything.
They are the heavy users of short-form video content and the ones that post more about the brands they use or fancy.
That’s why, user-generated content created by Gen Z will surely be more popular in 2024.
Instagram and TikTok users who are ready to share their opinion after trying out a service or a product are brands’ favourite people.
Via their user-generated content, brands get to grow their follower count, community, brand awareness and engagement rate.
3.5. SEO on social media will be even more powerful than hashtags
Search Engine Optimization is like the Holy Grail when you want Google to love your content. This research shows that 40% of young adults (18 - 24 year-olds) are using social media like a search engine.
This led to the growing importance of social media SEO. Most likely you have also used TikTok as a search engine, “abusing” the power of that little search button.
SEO will continue to play a big part in the virality recipe of posts compared to hashtags.
The next post you’ll see in your “For you” tab will not be there because of hashtags, but because of the right keywords.
A research from Hootsuite showed that the social media posts which relied heavily on great SEO manage to have a higher engagement rate (30% increase).
This social media trend will continue to make a difference in 2024 and map out those brands who really put their sweat into their copy.
Social SEO practices will set the distinction between brands that put in extra effort when it comes to their posts on social.
That’s why your social media strategy for next year should also feature “keyword research”.
3.6. Video captions are paramount
In today’s social media, posting videos without captions is like trying to eat without a fork: not that comfortable.
The number of social media users who watch videos without sound is bound to increase in 2024. Hence, a persisting social media trend would be to add captions to ALL your videos, no matter the platform.
We are all busy and in a hurry. When we’re on the commute or in public places, we surely watch videos without sound if we cannot find those earbuds in the purse.
So being able to get the same infos from the captions just like you get from listening to it, it is definitely a great opportunity to increase engagement, interactions and follower count.
Moreover, captions will increase your content’s chance to be discovered since people may use the keywords from your captions when searching.
That’s why you have to make sure you use the appropriate keywords for your video post.
Another benefit is that video captions also allow and facilitate those who suffer from hearing impairments.
3.7. Social commerce will increase
Social media commerce will play an important role in the world of social commerce in 2024.
This is another social media trend that is bound to rise, thinking consumers have already got used to social platforms’ shopping features.
There are a lot of social media users who are still sceptical when it comes to making purchases via social platforms.
For 2024, marketing managers need to adapt their social strategies to thrive. To attract more buyers, you can offer them discounts, easy refunds and returns, showing them reviews from other buyers.
This will encourage them to buy as well, increasing sales and revenue for your brand. Also you should try to invest in shoppable ads on Instagram and Facebook to get them going.
On TikTok you should also consider the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt to encourage more users to purchase your products.
4. Examples of social media trends that rock the last quarter of 2023
TikTok will grow in popularity - Dunkin Donut
Dunkin' Donut is a well-known brand when it comes to coffee selections and sweets. Some may even say it's Starbucks' greatest competitor.
They have a tremendous amount of success on TikTok, with a lot of comments, shares, likes and saves to their videos.
They know how to build stories and how to attract their customers through visuals. Hence, the results, if we were to look at numbers.
Find out which are the latest TikTok trends here 👈
User-generated content - Sephora
When it comes to user-generated content, beauty brands are the best example for this. A lot of women are recording unboxings and they make videos when they test beauty and makeup products only because they really like the brands.
Brands can take advantage of this and use UGC as testimonials, since they are clients' feedback.
Here is an example of user-generated content on Sephora's Instagram account.
Captions on videos - Rare Beauty
Videos are useful for everyone as long as they also include captions. Captions on videos are more important than you think.
We have underlined the importance of captions in Rare Beauty's YouTube Shorts. Rare Beauty marketings strategy also includes captions, since a lot of people watch videos without the sound.
LinkedIn is no longer only about professional - Jack Appleby's post
On LinkedIn, a lot of people have started merging their professional advice with personal life stories. We all know that stories sell.
Jack Appleby decided to share a personal story on LinkedIn to connect more with his followers and make others want to tell stories, too.
Reels will grow in popularity - Hauslabs
Hauslabs is another beauty brand that proves how powerful videos are. Reels are very popular on their Instagram account, especially the ones where Lady Gaga shares makeup tutorials.
This post is a giveaway planned with Sephora, attracting Hauslabs' audience with makeup products that are so inviting, that people cannot resist to comment.
5. How to use Socialinsider to keep up with social media trends
Socialinsider is a complex tool, split between analytics and benchmarking and AI Instagram listening.
This tool provides you with campaign reporting, premium social media analytics, competitive analysis and Instagram listening.
To keep up with social media trends, you can turn to social istening to find out about the latest trends. Let me give you an example of how to do so.
Let’s take a look at #WorthIt, one of L’Oreal’s hashtag campaign for their beauty products. In the last 6 months, there were 7542 Instagram posts using this hashtag.
Only 243 of these posts are posted by business accounts on the topic Beauty. I applied these 2 filters in Socialinsider’s dashboard to see the posts.
In the Posts section you can see all the posts using the hashtag #worthit and key metrics for every post, like reach , impressions, sentiment, emotion, language, engagement, engagement rate, engagement evolution, likes and comments.
But what if you want to check the posts using #worthit that are not related to beauty, to see what trends can emerge from that same hashtag?
I looked into it, and while scrolling through all the posts, I noticed some influencers used the hashtag #worthit in posts about their families, about success and other areas of their lives related to personal and emotional experiences.
L'Oreal's campaign #worthit has created buzz around the whole idea of empowering women and the sentiment recieved from the audience is a positive one.
To go even deeper, I used filters again and selected non-business accounts and the topic family.
And this is how I found posts from people who used to hashtag #worthit to talk about quality time spent with family, anniversaries, small success and time spent in nature.
There are 34 posts where the hashtag was used differently than the intention with which L’Oreal created it. However, the topic is related to the initial intent.
It is about what’s worth it for each of us. And the values of the beauty brand L’Oreal stand for that, since they promote their campaign to make women feel good in their own skin.
Here is an example of how people use the hashtag #worthit to post about their loved ones.
With these social listening insights, you get to see what kind of connotation and turn a hashtag campaign may have, depending on how people use it.
This can set new social media trends and maybe even help brands post more on a certain topic, change the topic or be more vigilant when it comes to the feedback they get on social media.
Final thoughts
Keeping up with all the emerging social media trends can be easy if you use the right tools. Using social listening and social media analytics tools can ease your work, helping you discover emerging trends.
Make sure you plan your social media strategy ahead, but be flexible when it comes to rethinking or introducing the latest trends into your calendar.
Your audience will be ready to engage more and turn into a loyal community.
Frequently Asked Questions
1.What social media is becoming popular?
TikTok. As mentioned, short-form video is one of the most popular, top-performing, and highest ROI trends. Given this, it's no surprise that TikTok usage has increased YoY as it caters to short-form videos. Marketers reported that TikTok offers the second-highest potential to grow audiences in 2023.
2.What trends are currently in social media?
- Short-form video is still the king.
- YouTube is alive and kicking.
- Social commerce will continue to rise.
- The content creators hold the power.
- Community over followers.
- Narrow-targeted social media ads.
- Digital trust is crumbling and reshaping LinkedIn.
3.What are the social media visual trends in 2023?
In 2023, expect to see less white space and more vibrant colors, bold color combos, contrasting patterns, rich textures, quirky fonts, and layered images. There might be a lot of different elements, but everything is intentional.
4.What is the future of social media 2030?
"The term social media will fade out and become a mass media form in 25 years. By then, there will be three significant trends: There will be more personal ownership of data. Individuals will be able to manage data across platforms in a more centralized way.
