Social media trends are born out of the need for change or as a progression of an existing one. Trends tend to mirror the global cultural climate, and reflect what's going on in the world at a specific moment in time — this goes as much for fashion and beauty trends as for food, entertainment, business, politics, tech, and so on.
Social marketers are constantly trying to stay on top of the latest trends and forecast what will be popular in the future — so we’ve taken some of the guesswork out with 10 social media trends savvy marketers need to know, regardless of their industry.
1. Short Form Content
Short form content is the social trend that has social marketers buzzing this year. For brands, this is a great opportunity to maximize the amount of content they produce by moving away from hi-fi, professionally-shot content that can be time-consuming and expensive to develop and produce.
Short form content tends to see higher engagement rate and Effectiveness Rates.
2. Authenticity on Social
With the rise of short form content on social, it’s natural that brand authenticity also takes center stage. Short form content performs best when it appears authentic and organic. With the rise of apps like BeReal, and the informal and entertaining nature of platforms like Reels and TikTok, users more than ever are seeking out entertaining — and relatable content.
3. Micro Trends
Micro trends have been around for awhile, but they’re also a focal point for social media trends in 2023. With the rise of short form content like Reels and TikToks, trends — whether that’s a particular backing audio, or an audio trend (think trending Instagram Reels songs or trending audio on TikTok).
4. SEO Optimization
Think SEO optimization is only for webpages? Think again. More people than ever are flocking to social media to search for answers and information over traditional channels like Google or Bing. Social media SEO will help your account appear in both social media search results, and also on traditional social channels.
Why does Google matter to your social account? Just as folks are using search functions on social channels to surface information, they also use Google to search for results on social. With more people than ever searching for things like ‘best tiktok recipes’, which means marketers can miss big opportunities to diversify their traffic if they ignore SEO optimization for their social profiles and posts.
5. Personality
Personality is becoming even more of a force for brands on social media. Yes, influencers and brand ambassadors will always have their place in a social marketing strategy, but brand’s themselves are allowing personalities within their company to shine.
Think of brands like Tarte — their founder has recently been posting from their personal account about the beauty brand, but also from the brand’s own TikTok account. This includes content like behind-the-scenes glimpses at brand trips, stories about the history of the company and product information.
6. Social Commerce Continues to Thrive
One of the biggest 2023 social media trends continues to be social commerce, and delivering an even more streamlined checkout process. While creating content surrounding current social media trends is important, it’s important to create content and landing pages with specific calls to action that are also seamlessly integrated with your social commerce solution.
Brands should be mindful to implement link in bio solutions like LikeShop to ensure customers have a smooth purchasing journey.
7. Nano-Influencer Popularity Rising
Influencers don’t need millions of followers to make an impact anymore. Follower count matters less and less in 2023’s social atmosphere. Dash Hudson’s Global Digital Insights Report Social Entertainment in a Cross-Channel Landscape discovered nano-influencers (1-10K followers) receive 192% higher average Effectiveness Rates on Instagram and Facebook, and a 213% higher average engagement rate. These creators are able to form intimate, meaningful connections with their audience, especially helpful for brands trying to reach niche groups.
8. Customer Service on Social
While brands shouldn’t necessarily center their whole strategy on customer service (although some brands have separate profiles for this purpose, like @hayuhelps on Twitter) social software that integrates with CRM tools like Zendesk or Salesforce will become more important to marketers tech stack.
Customers will likely turn to social at some point in their journey to seek answers, so having these proactive features incorporated in your strategy helps your brand not miss any important questions or comments.
9. Conversion-driving UGC
User-generated content or UGC is another trend that continues to thrive into 2023. Brands should look to their most engaged influencers and creators to engage and share their UGC, plus, find opportunities to partner with creators who can help you reach your target demographic and goals overall.
10. AI Solutions
AI-powered solutions for brands on social are also trending in 2023, in a variety of ways. From AI-powered social listening for brands to monitor what users say and perform sentiment analysis, to AI-powered caption generation and tools like Vision that predict which visual content from your library will perform best, the right AI-powered tools can streamline your social strategy and overall workflow.
Stay On Top of Social Trends With Dash Hudson
Dash Hudson knows how important social media trends are to marketers — and how time-consuming it can be to stay on top of them. TikTok Trending Sounds help busy social marketers save time navigating the native app with one central location to schedule TikTok content.
What’s more, Dash Hudson helps you stay on top of the trends most relevant to your brand and their social accounts — Vision helps predict which visual content from your library has the best chance to perform, while Social Media Insights give brands personalized insights and data on the content — and trends that work best on social. For a broader and more comprehensive source of information and guidance, please consult our Social Media Trends Report.
FAQs
How to find trending topics on social media?
Brands can find trends on social media in a number of ways. Other than scrolling through social channels yourself, here are a few ways you can trending topics on social media:
- Use the ‘Reels Trends’ feature in Instagram’s Professional Dashboard to discover current Reels Trends or visit TikTok’s Creative Center to discover what’s new.
- Check out blogs about TikTok trends and Instagram Reels trending sounds.
- Discover what stories are in the online lexicon with Google Trends or Instagram accounts like @whatstrending.
- Follow social accounts like @wavewyld on TikTok who report on the latest TikTok trends or @reelstrendsapp for Instagram trends.
How long do social media trends last?
Social media trends can last a variety of time — some trends hold court for days or weeks (think ‘it’s corn!’), while some trends like the ‘I’m not your bro, bro’ trend on TikTok can still be found on FYP’s months after they initially become viral. However, brands should leave room in their social strategy to be agile and create content around emerging social trends, and pre-plan and schedule campaign-specific posts — think product launches, campaigns centred around brand goals and more.
