Click here for the social media trend article 2022

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What lofty goals the industry had. Last year, we predicted in our article on the Social Media Trends 2020 "Building digital trust and more purpose in social media activities" and the combination of "brand and performance marketing". And then came corona. The most annoying trend of 2020. Nobody wanted it and the impact on people and the economy is serious. We have no choice but to discipline ourselves, stay positive and make the best of this stressful situation. Corona is a globally shared experience and therefore also has a unifying effect. The environment is getting an important breather. Corona acts as a fire accelerator for digitalization as well as online and social media marketing:

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Companies initiated more digital transformation processes and developed more social media strategies than ever before. One reason: unusual trade fairs and other marketing events. Another: the "target group" has more time to spend on social media (Trend #1 - Corona and social media), to "create" their own content (Trend #3 - Influencer & Creator Economy) and shop online. The biggest beneficiary from a platform perspective was TikTok (Trend #2 - TikTok: the next stage of social media evolution?). But TikTok was not the only one to benefit. Social media in general has grown enormously (Trend #6 - "Niche" networks/ heterogenization) and the platforms have evolved (Trend #4 - Social media commerce, events & live shopping and Trend #5 - And the "story" continues). However, despite all the trends, one thing should not be forgotten: many companies are still at the very beginning of their social media marketing journey and should first consider the basics (Trend #0 - Trend bashing a.k.a. pay more attention to the basics!). In the chapter "Social media platforms 2021" we have researched not only the trends but also the latest figures for the most relevant social media platforms and categorized them in the Social DNA channel matrix.

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Of course, there were also other relevant social media topics in 2020, such as attempts at regulation by politicians and efforts to combat hate speech. In this article, however, we will focus on the topics that can currently be planned and on which marketers can have an influence. In addition to the analyses and assessments of the entire Social DNA team, we have collected and processed the statements of over 30 of the best-known German social media experts for this article. Click here for the exciting discussion among the contributions:

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• Facebook Social Media 2021 trend survey
• LinkedIn Social Media 2021 trend survey

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Strategic influencing factors in social media 2021

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Trend #0 - Trend bashing a.k.a. take care of the basics!

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In the online and social media marketing expert bubble, there are currently an increasing number of posts and articles with the tenor: "Trend articles are out, focus more on the basics." Where does this opinion come from and is it justified?

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What speaks against trend bashing?

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• A blanket rejection of trend analyses prevents an examination of the current trends and subtleties of social media marketing.
• Trend bashing is negative and detracts from reality. Unfortunately, this is a tendency that can be observed more and more frequently on social media in general.

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What are the arguments in favor of trend bashing?

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• There are a lot of poorly researched, loveless trend articles that use the high interest in trends for fast traffic.
• Social media has become so heterogeneous and is sometimes developing in contradictory directions that it has become almost impossible to recognize overarching trends (we tried here anyway 😉).

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Most importantly, too many players are chasing the next trend and don't even manage to get the basics right:

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• Which textual content provides added value?
• How can I prepare my graphics and videos for social media?
• How do I adapt to the respective platforms and their formats?
• How do I run effective social advertising?
• How do corporate influencer programs and social selling on business networks work without being perceived as an intrusive advertising slingshot?

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Trend #1 - Corona and social media

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This year has been extraordinary in many respects with regard to the coronavirus pandemic. In times of social distancing, the various social media platforms became increasingly important for interpersonal interactions.

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Compared to the previous year, the number of users on social media platforms has risen sharply (all figures in the section "Social media platforms 2021"). The number of people using social media worldwide grew to 4.14 billion at the end of 2020. In the last 12 months, more than 450 million people have started using social media for the first time. In Q3 2020, Hubspot and "We are Social" measured the largest increase in users compared to a previous quarter since their survey began in 2011(source).

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This development has presented many companies with challenges, but has also unleashed untapped potential. We have seen a significant increase in social media inquiries and projects this year. Those who could afford it made use of freed-up resources and invested in the further further development of their own social media strategyor trained their sales staff in the use of LinkedIn or even dared to completely new entry into social mediato name just three of our "corona-induced" cases in 2020.

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Trend #2 - TikTok: the next stage of social media evolution?

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We already identified TikTok as a future key social media platform in our 2020 Social Media Trends article. No social media platform has ever been able to acquire so many users in such a short time. It is still mainly a very young target group, but the older generation is following suit and also flocking to the platform. But what makes TikTok so successful? The algorithm, the newsfeed with its creator tool and, of course, the creators themselves! The standards for a TikTok post are much higher than for a Facebook post, for example. While Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and the like still very often use pure links, photos and text, TikTok relies 99% on user-created video content. The preference of users for moving image content, which has been preached for years, benefits TikTok greatly.

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Instagram is following this trend. It was the first social media platform to copy Snapchat's story function. Since then, almost all other platforms have followed suit (see Trend #5 - And the "story" continues). In 2020, Instagram cloned the TikTok Creator Tool and the resulting newsfeed with the new "Reels" function.

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TikTok has also pushed ahead with monetization this year and launched its Ad Manager in additional countries, including Germany. We are seeing very favorable CPM prices and more and more successful conversion campaigns. In addition to the possibility of running social advertising, it is particularly useful for companies to work with creator/influencer cooperations.

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For an insight into the collaboration between companies and Creatorn, here is a guest article by our cooperation partner Adils Sbaiwho manages some of the most successful German TikTokers, including Younes Zarou with over 20 million followers worldwide and Mr. Lawyer with almost 3 million followers from German-speaking countries, who built one of the first TikTok influencer databases with Influ Data and the TikTok consulting agency "weCreate" operates.

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"Inevitably, small, young companies are more agile than established players. It's not the big ones that eat the small ones, but the fast ones that overtake the slow ones. This also applies to brands: while many big players are still wondering whether and how they can use TikTok (and the first attempts at "advertising" often fail due to the specific challenge of GenZ marketing), many start-ups have taken TikTok by storm - with Cookie Bros. as a prime example. The TikTok creators themselves have also come out of nowhere to become global players. Before TikTok, there had never been a creator with over 20 million followers, a mark that Germany's biggest TikToker, Younes Zarou, has just broken for the first time. TikTok is disruptive in many ways: poor creator activations are hardly ever played out because the algorithm gives each content piece more or less reach depending on the reaction of the target group. The most popular comment under advertising videos in 2020? "We say no to advertising on TikTok". Creators like Mr. Lawyer, on the other hand, manage to generate 2.5 million organic views with an advertising video - without any negative feedback. The wheat will be separated from the chaff among creators and agencies in 2021. There were dozens of companies that launched a hashtag challenge on TikTok in 2020, but they still don't know HOW to use the channel in the long term. The result: little to no content, but five-digit follower numbers. This doesn't have to be wrong or bad per se, but can be the first step towards gaining feedback from the audience. However, I'm curious to see what answers result from this and how it will all develop organically in 2021. After all, there is no way around always-on content on a platform with such viral potential. The fact that even companies like Mercedes-Benz were among the "fast movers" is surprising. Not only were they one of the first brands with a hashtag challenge, but in 2020 and despite coronavirus, high-performance events and collaborations were implemented and the first influencer activations also took place. Ahoj-Brause also attracted attention with a hybrid of a hashtag challenge and campaigns. They will all follow suit in 2021: Not just the other car brands, but also insurance companies, banks and, at some point, tourism companies. Because TikTok and TikTok marketing are here to stay."

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Trend #3 - Influencer & Creator Economy

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Influencer marketing has asserted and established itself as a discipline - social distancing caused social media to explode and also gave influencer marketing a further boost. The influence of influencers on consumer purchasing behavior is growing significantly and the coronavirus pandemic has once again helped to focus people's attention on social networks. Some companies have already recognized this trend. Even more investment is to be made in this area in 2021. According to a study by consultants Duff & Phelps, almost half of FCMG companies expect to invest between 31 and 50 percent of their marketing budget in influencer marketing(source). So there is a lot of movement in the industry and influencers will play an even greater role for companies.

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Influencers are becoming more present and independent beyond the usual social media channels such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Platforms such as "OnlyFans", for example, give influencers the opportunity to benefit directly from their reach financially by charging money for content and interaction with their followers. In contrast to collaborations with companies, for example, they are not measured against contractually agreed performance indicators or have to submit their creativity to the brand guidelines of major brands. In many ways, this gives them more freedom to monetize their value as influencers more directly. Now, OnlyFans, with its adult-only content, is not the platform of choice for every influencer, but companies should be aware that more and more platforms are turning to influencers and working to make content creation on their respective platforms as lucrative as possible for influencers, making them direct competitors for collaboration with companies.

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Content creation in cooperation with influencers will become increasingly important for companies in 2021, as the complexity and scope of creative possibilities increase in parallel with users' demands for high-quality content. The end-to-end creation of content in the latest formats is already presenting many companies with major challenges, especially in the B2B environment. In some cases, the content creation tools of the individual platforms and the trends there are so individual that it is hardly possible for a company's marketing to keep up. This is where collaboration with influencers and creators can help. It also makes more and more sense for companies to train their own influencers. The keywords here are employee advocacy, personal brands and corporate influencers. The first initiatives and programs in this area have already been implemented in various industries. However, at least in the B2B environment, these have largely been limited to established business channels such as Twitter, XING or LinkedIn.

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Trend #4 - Social media commerce, events & live shopping

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"Social commerce will continue to grow in importance in the coming year and change the way brands and customers interact with each other. This new type of online commerce is ahead of conventional commerce precisely because of the "social" aspect. Activating the broad target group as micro-influencers will be a key aspect of shopping in the future, going beyond the traditional catalog view of products and becoming an experience. It will be exciting to see what innovations the platforms develop and which companies are already positioning themselves as first movers."

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- Jason ModemannFounder & CEO Mawave

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Experts agree: strong growth is foreseeable for the future of social commerce. One of the main reasons for this strong growth is the COVID-19 pandemic. People are spending more time at home and online. Local stores are having to cut back or even close temporarily. A special situation that creates promising conditions for social media and shopping - whether as inspiration or direct shopping via social networks.

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The social networks are focusing on this new framework and are busy developing e-commerce functions to make it easier for users to make purchases. From Pinterest catalogs to Facebook and Instagram stores to TikTok, which works directly with Shopify to enable online sales. Facebook in particular is making huge strides towards social commerce. Facebook Shops allows retailers to set up full-fledged storefronts on their Facebook and Instagram pages. It offers its users more ways to connect with and store from retailers via messaging and livestream shopping. Facebook stores will get a messaging button that allows consumers to communicate with sellers via Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. The company is testing functions that allow retailers to offer products and sell them via livestreams. These tools offer consumers new ways to connect with sellers, potentially making Facebook/Instagram the most attractive places to shop on social media.

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In this context, video will play a central role in the presentation of products. TikTok, a platform with moving image content in its DNA, also wants to be at the forefront. Many online retailers are already using TikTok to sell their goods. Interactive videos in which the products used are presented will attract the attention of users on the platform. Similarly, some retailers are already setting up storefronts on Snapchat and using Instagram Reels or Guides to market their products.

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Another video format that will gain in importance is live streaming. Brands that present their products via a livestream can connect with their target group immediately. Teleshopping, but with a 21st century twist.  

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Two big players looking for livestreaming buyers are Facebook and TikTok. While this concept is already very popular in China, the trend is still developing in the rest of the world(source).

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Trend #5 - And the "story" continues...

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In last year's Trends article, we already highlighted stories as one of 8 strategic influencing factors in social media for 2020. The success story of the story format has proven to be true and will continue in 2021. The format, which is characterized among other things by the disappearance of published content after 24 hours, has not only been further developed with additional usage functions, but has also made an impressively clear conquest of the social media landscape.

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A lot has happened around stories in social media since the end of 2019. In our last Trends article, for example, we reported on filters & GIFs that will continue to successfully find their way into the functional world of Stories. These are now standard when using Stories. Today, we are looking at an even broader portfolio of options for users to creatively design Stories. It feels like new functions and sub-functions such as layout (multiple images in a grid) or the option of integrating appeals for donations and supporting local businesses / organizations are being added on a monthly basis.

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In addition to these technical gimmicks, which will continue to evolve in 2021, the strategic view of stories should not be overlooked, especially from a marketer's perspective. The importance of this format in its role as a means of communication in social networks is shown, for example, by the fact that almost all major players among the social networks have now introduced this format. What began with Snapchat and was adopted by Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp has now also been found on the business network LinkedIn as well as YouTube and, most recently, Twitter (with much criticism for its own name and, as the latest latecomer, "Fleets") since 2020. This shows that "Stories are here to stay" and are a logical consequence of the continued desire of social media users to live out their need to share in less public and time-limited content. From a marketer's point of view: "Stories are the (new) newsfeed". That's where users spend their time.

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For marketers, this means that in 2021, they should no longer treat the story format as a side-show to their organic posts and advertising activities on social media. In the B2B sector in particular, we have observed over the past year that this field has been neglected far too often in terms of creation and concept in communication on social networks (keyword: vertical video). Companies, brands and marketers should integrate the use of the story format into their fixed repertoire of social media activities on their channels in 2021.

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Image: Stories format, © socialbakers

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Trend #6 - "Niche" networks/ heterogenization

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As described in Trend 1, there have never been so many (new) users of social networks. Over 4 billion people are looking for a wide variety of digital homes and so, alongside the top dogs Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and the like, "smaller" social media platforms are also becoming increasingly relevant. Whereby small is the understatement of the year:

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• Reddit - Internet forum 2.0.
  • Reddit does not consist of one large community, but of many small ones: These are called subreddits. User contributions can be upvoted or downvoted, depending on how the content is liked. The discussion below the posts then mainly takes place in the comments
  • Reddit has around 430 million monthly active usersin 2020(source) and 2 billion comments - up 18.6% YoY(source).
  • Reddit has expanded its advertising options this year so that it is now also possible to advertise in trending topics. In addition, advertisers can now choose which topics their ads are placed next to.
  • Reddit was bought by Condé Nast in 2011 and is now in various hands (including Peter Thiel and Tencent) following several rounds of financing and is valued at 3 billion dollars.
• Twitch - THE streaming portal
  • Twitch is a livestreaming video portal that is primarily used to broadcast video games and is now increasingly being used for music, sport and other events. The Horrorcamp with Sido, Knossi and other actors caused a particular stir in 2020, at times attracting over 325,000 viewers in front of their screens at the same time and thus setting a new Twitch record(source).
  • 3.8 million streamers broadcast on Twitch in February 2020. The average number of concurrent viewers in February 2020 was 1.4 million. This puts Twitch ahead of traditional media such as MNSBC and CNN(source).
  • Creators can integrate advertising from partners into their streams. Twitch will play a particularly important role in the future of influencer marketing with streamers as testimonials or brand ambassadors(source, source).
  • In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch for 970 million dollars.
• Giphy - The meme platform
  • Giphy is a platform for GIFs. The files are provided with hashtags and can therefore be found via the Giphy search engine. The link to social media platforms as well as a dedicated app and the heavily used website can result in immensely high numbers of views on individual GIFs.
  • Due to Giphy's integration into platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, it is difficult to give specific figures. Allegedly, 10 billion GIFs are distributed through Giphy every day(source).
  • Companies can create their own Giphy account and thus generate views on company-owned GIFs and appear with their GIFs in Instagram Stories, Facebook and LinkedIn Messenger, etc. Appear.
  • In 2020, Facebook bought Giphy for 400 million dollars.

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These "niche" networks have developed out of their specific application niche, implemented additional social media functionalities and are now serious platforms with a potentially powerful impact for companies. Of particular relevance in this context are specialist communities such as Research Gate or regional social media platforms such as Vkontakte, the Russian Facebook.

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Trend #7 - Things to watch

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• Social advertising: Authentic content that fits the platforms (aka user-generated content) in short-form video format (driven by TikTok/Reels), the ever-increasing shift of the customer journey to the platforms (keyword: shopping) and further development of tracking (server-side tracking) - the last two points in particular for a "cookieless" world (sorry, so much buzzword bingo here). From a buying perspective: further advancing automation, which in the coming years will not only enable campaign optimization, but also the creation (and in particular situational adaptation) of advertising media (example: women click on variant X, men on Y - Creative automatically adapts to this) . Florian LitterstFounder & CEO Adsventure
• Augmented Reality/ Face Filter: Augmented Reality/ Face Filter: In my social media expert survey by Social Media Strategist Peter Mestel referred to as the "avatarization of users". "Not overdrawn like with Bitmoji avatars, but as an interaction layer - in stories, online calls or videos". We already referred to Spark AR and Instagram filters in our 2020 trend article. This trend will intensify further in 2021 and will be seen productively in Facebook Ads, among other things, but will also find its way into companies' collaboration tools.
• Virtual reality: Facebook bought the virtual reality glasses manufacturer Occolus Rift for 2.3 billion dollars back in 2014. Since then, marketers have been waiting for the final breakthrough of this technology. With "Horizon", Facebook wants to lift the social web into virtual reality. The new platform should enable users to meet in virtual reality. A kind of Second Life 2.0 or Metaverse, which has been in beta since Q3 2021 and is being tested by the first users(source)

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Social media platforms 2021

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Social DNA channel matrix

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The Social DNA Channel Matrix is inspired by the BCG Matrix / BCG Portfolio, a tool for strategic analysis, evaluation and planning of business units, such as business units, products or services. We categorize Germany's most important social media channels into four areas: Specialists, Rising Stars, Cash Cows and Heroes, depending on global user numbers and user growth.

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Channel matrix:

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User numbers, growth and facts

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