Social media platforms constantly change their algorithms and features to align with the latest engagement behavior. Like any good marketing strategy, keeping up with shifting trends maximizes usage, improves audience retention, and maintains relevance. However, constant change can frustrate influencers, marketers, sellers, and others who rely on these platforms for their business.
Facebook’s frequent seismic shifts come to mind, from introducing the News Feed algorithm to its pivots to video to re-focusing friends and family content, Stories, Reels, etc. It’s enough to make marketers lose their minds trying to keep up. But at the same time, Facebook is also trying to appease users who get bored with one thing and shift their attention to another. Because if Facebook can’t keep pace, it’ll go the way of MySpace.
In other words, change is inevitable, and your social media strategy must keep up.
So, what does the state of social media marketing look like in 2024? What are some of the major changes we anticipate seeing? Here are some key considerations for your social media strategy this year.
Despite losing some relevance recently, Facebook remains the biggest social media platform globally with over 3 billion monthly users. That means it should still be a key part of your social media marketing strategy.
So, what does Facebook have in store for us this year? Here are Meta’s predictions and trends for digital advertising performance in 2024:
- Messaging platforms will become even more popular — Over time, more people have opted to share updates within private groups in messaging apps instead of posting updates to their social feeds. The reasons behind this are varied, but given the trend, it makes sense for businesses to connect with consumers via messaging platforms where they can. Facebook is developing several options on this front, with its Click to Message ads, particularly, seeing significant growth. Marketers should consider how they can tap into this shift.
- Native content built for Reels will help campaigns perform better — Yes, Meta is still keen on Reels, and with over 200 billion Reels playing in its apps every day, that makes a lot of sense. Marketers should focus on creating short-form videos that are built specifically for Reels, as Facebook is likely to continue prioritizing Reels display and new Reels ad products.
- Generative AI will proliferate across Meta’s apps — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly enamored with AI. As such, you can expect to see Meta invest in AI technology across its apps. Facebook already has a range of AI ad tools available, and it may be worth exploring these functions to understand better how they can support your marketing activity. Learning the foundations of AI will put you in good stead to maximize your marketing outputs.
Meta’s other social app also remains a key marketing platform, with Meta taking Instagram from a basic image-sharing app to an all-media powerhouse since it purchased the platform in 2012.
Meta is working on using Instagram to maintain a connection with young users, both as an immediate usage focus and a future link to its next-level projects.
Here’s what Instagram is focused on in 2024:
- Reels – Like Facebook, Instagram gleans engagement benefits from pushing more Reels content. As such, you should consider what short-form videos your business can make to maximize your IG presence.
- Inbox Notes — It doesn’t resonate with all users, but Instagram’s inbox Notes feature has been a big winner, especially with younger users in the app. From an immediate standpoint, it’s worth considering how you can use Notes to connect with younger audiences. At the same time, from a broader perspective, this also points to the increasing value of more intimate groups and discussions, which are key trends to consider for social media marketing.
- Threads – I’m including Threads within Instagram for now, but it’s getting close to being its own thing. With Threads, Meta tapped into a new vein of opportunity, given the migration of users away from X/Twitter, so you can expect to see Zuck and Co. put a more significant focus on Threads this year. That could present new outreach and connection opportunities, and it’s worth exploring the app before the ads come (Meta says it will introduce Threads ads once it reaches a billion users).
X/Twitter
Likely the most unpredictable of the major social apps, Elon Musk’s “everything app” experiment with X (formerly Twitter) remains a hot mess of conversation.
Will X establish its footing in separation from the former Twitter app in 2024? Here’s how it might prevail:
- Premium boost — It’s no secret that Elon and Co. want you to sign up for a Premium subscription and pay them directly to use the app. You can’t advertise on X without a Premium account, so it goes without saying that if you want to make the most of X for marketing, you’ll need to get an X Premium subscription. There’s also now a lower-cost version of its gold check mark for brands, which could be worth considering if you want to reach people on X.
- Reduced competition — With many major advertisers pulling out of X, there could be an opportunity for increased reach due to reduced competition in the app. X still has 619 million monthly users globally as of January 2024, and with fewer big brands filling out all the ad space, maybe that means more exposure potential for your campaigns.
- Video focus — X now calls itself a “video-first platform” and is looking to focus on new, exclusive video content to drive more engagement. As such, it could be worth exploring the opportunities of X video ads and posting video content to the app. X also claims that 100 million people tap through to its full-screen vertical video feed daily, which could be another consideration for your X content push.
TikTok
The trending app of the moment for the past two years, TikTok’s momentum looks to be slowing, which means that it’ll need to re-focus its efforts on the audience it has to maximize its revenue potential.
Here’s where TikTok is looking to grow this year:
- In-stream sales — Given the rising value of transactions in the app and the success that it’s seen with in-app commerce in China, TikTok will keep pushing its in-app sales projects in 2024. TikToks that include items for sale get more exposure, and with TikTok looking to shift user behaviors towards shopping, it’s worth considering how you can incorporate this into your approach.
- Live-streaming — Along the same lines, TikTok also loves live-streaming, and as such, it’s worth considering if there are any creative, exciting ways to utilize live streams in your promotional efforts.
- Creator partnerships — TikTok wants more brands to work with creators to improve the quality of branded content while also giving creators more monetization opportunities, further aligning them to the app. It could be worth considering, though you can also learn from what creators are doing in your niche to help guide your creative direction.
The professional social network has been a quiet beneficiary of the chaos at X, with many business conversations switching to LinkedIn instead.
And while LinkedIn will not drive massive engagement for all brands, it remains a crucial consideration for B2B social media marketing.
Here’s what to expect from LinkedIn in 2024:
- Newsletters — LinkedIn’s in-app newsletter option continues to grow, with newsletter readership tripling over the past year. That could present a critical opportunity for brands’ LinkedIn content strategy, enabling you to provide significant business and product updates via this option.
- Collaborative articles — LinkedIn’s AI-powered collaborative articles are now the fastest-growing traffic driver for the app, so expect to see LinkedIn continue to emphasize them in 2024. Getting your top staff to contribute to collaborative articles and gain in-app expert badges could be an excellent way to help build brand awareness.
- Video and events – LinkedIn continues to host more video content and more events. I expect the app will make both of these more accessible to find at some stage. This could present new opportunities for brands to boost their exposure.
Snapchat
Despite its struggles to maximize ad revenue, Snapchat remains the leader in youth engagement and should be a key consideration for brands trying to reach young audiences.
Here are some of the key Snap opportunities in 2024:
- AR development — Snapchat remains a leader in augmented reality, including Snapchat AR ads. Learning about AR via Snap could be a pivotal opportunity to get ahead of the following digital shift. Snap also continues to add new virtual experience tools, and the more you know and understand about these, the better you’ll be placed for the AR and metaverse future.
- Creator collaborations — Like TikTok, Snap also wants more brands to partner with creators, and it’s adding new tools to facilitate such. That could provide a valuable, engaging opportunity for your Snap content.
Pinterest is the quiet achiever of social media, as it closes in on 500 million monthly shopping-focused users.
And if you’re a retailer, that should pique your interest. Here’s what to keep an eye on in the months ahead:
- Catalog ingestion — Pinterest continues to improve its catalog ingestion process, making it easier than ever to link your products into the Pin discovery stream. Pinterest is also looking to facilitate broader discovery via tools like body type matching, which could provide new opportunities to showcase your products to more targeted audiences.
- New ad types — Although video content remains popular, Pinterest is rolling out some new ad types worthy of consideration. Showcase and Quiz ads provide new opportunities to drive engagement, which could help grab attention in Pin feeds.
- Creative collages — Pinterest’s separate Shuffles app gained significant traction over the past couple of years, providing users with a way to create collages of products in a creative display. This could also be an excellent way to showcase your products in line with this trend, with its in-app Collage option now being rolled out.
Keep Up with Social Media Trends to Maximize Your Success
As noted, social media is constantly changing, and the better you can keep up with the latest usage behavior and shifts, the better you’ll be able to capitalize on relevant opportunities in social media marketing trends. We hope you’ll use the recommendations in this blog post to guide your social media strategy in the year ahead.
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