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If you're a marketer, social media manager, or content creator — it's crucial to know what's trending in the online world. Knowing what content to create and how to engage your audience on social media requires flexibility and an eye for what's hot and new. Check out the Rose & Salt Social social media content trend predictions for 2023 according to current trends and observations. The main takeaway? Treat your audience like your best friend.
Mini Series Videos The mini series is not a new concept. Creators and influencers leveraged this strategy in 2022 and you can expect to see it continue in 2023. The mini series video works well because it satisfies customers similarly to McDonalds and Starbucks. It’s Fast - Attention spans are short. And while some platforms, creators, and audiences thrive on long-form content, shorter content builds views quicker. It’s Familiar - When an audience is building connection to a brand or a creator, they continue to expect a certain standard of content or value. Brands and creators will provide a sense of comfort and satisfaction to their audience by creating a fan base for their main pillars and staple content vs. trying to invent something new every day. It Leaves More to be Desired - Just like a tall Oat Vanilla latte or an a la carte cheeseburger, a series leaves more to be desired. By not releasing all of the content in a single post, the audience becomes hooked. It also serves the audience in smaller, more digestible bites instead of overwhelming them with too much to take in which often results in scrolling away. So as you may have noticed, many creators and brands will continue to tell you “head to part 2 to see what happens next” and “we’re back with this week’s edition of…”. And in 2023, you can expect to see the videos continue to get even shorter.
Passive Ads and Product Placement There are many reasons why creators like Alix Earle have taken social media by storm. Just one of those reasons is that she is able to influence without feeling pushy. Many of her brand videos (especially earlier ones) are simply featuring the product as part of her routine. Times where Alix does suggest that her audience should buy a product feel like a genuine recommendation from a friend, even when she profits off of it. By decentering products from the majority of her videos, it feels refreshing and vastly different from influencers creating lengthy posts talking your ear off about a single lipstick. So in 2023, you can expect to see more and more subtle brand partnerships. It may even begin to feel more like product placement. Traditionally, product placement was designed for television and movies. Viewers would see a huge Pepsi cup on the characters desk or a McDonald's bag in the scene background. Now, we are beginning to see creators showcase a product or brand in similar fashion, almost in passing as a quick mention or subtle preview. More creators are sharing compensated collaboration posts that do not take the traditional ad form. You won't see “#ad" on the post or read traditional ad copy. Many creators are retaining more power of creative direction, tone, and copy, while receiving compensation just for featuring the brand on their platform. You will see more User Generated Content (UGC) than ever, as well as reviews, storytelling, and point of view themes. And if you ask us, this is the way to go! It feels way more genuine and trustworthy to receive the restaurant promotion from the food blogger’s tone of voice and personal point of view than to see a copy and paste ad campaign on their account.
Collage Videos In 2021 and 2022, Instagram saw the rise of the carousel post and carousel photo collages. More recently, there has been a trend of funky video collages. With tools like PicsArt, CapCut, InShot, Canva and Splice, creators are able to create dynamic visuals that appear as a digital scrapbook or mood board. This brings a fresh creative spark to their stories, Reels, and TikToks. In celebration of the New Year, many users took to social media to share a vision board for 2023. The vision board and mood board aesthetic is very on trend, but the intrigue of the collage video is similar to that of the mini series video: Viewers are hooked to see what the next image reveal will be, unable to just scroll through still photos. The images are also often quick changing, so even if the duration of the video itself is not quick, it feels quick to the viewer, keeping them engaged and interested. This style of media is less commonly seen compared to still photos and single videos. Collage videos stand out in contrast to these more common media posts on the average Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok feed.
Advertising on Profiles Over Feeds You may have begun to notice that some of your favorite social media accounts are reposting budding creators or creating content for completely different brands. For example, TikTok Comedy Creator Isabel Galvin, who currently has an Instagram following of 265k, is featured several times on the meme Instagram page @Vodkalana, which has 1.9 million followers. It is unclear if these specific posts were paid promos, but paid promo is a service that the meme account offers. Zodiac meme account @glossy_zodiac , a page of 4.7 million followers, has a partnership with fast fashion brand, Fashion Nova. Fashion Nova is repeatedly tagged and mentioned throughout their zodiac related posts. The trendy Instagram famous clothing brand holds an impressive 21.4million followers themselves, and yet, they continue to expand into other accounts and audiences. While Fashion Nova, like many clothing brands, has various partnerships with lifestyle and fashion influencers, it is interesting to see that they have partnerships with Instagram accounts that have nothing to do with clothes, style, or even lifestyle. Yet, they saw the opportunity and connection between the two brands. They know that their customers, past, present, and future, follow this astrology meme account. Again, paid promotion on other accounts for exposure is not a new idea. However, you can expect to see this more and more from larger brands and creators. Why? Because instead of a paid ad randomly placed in the social feed or between stories, audiences are served what appears to be organic content from a similar brand or creator they already like and trust. It feels more like a suggestion from a friend and less like a sales advertisement from an unknown brand.
These content styles are subtle and probably don’t feel like anything groundbreaking. But these small strategies combined and implemented consistently could be the difference between 10k views or 100k views, 5 link clicks or 50 link clicks, and 2 purchases or 20 purchases. If you’re a small business, here’s what you should focus on to implement these same strategies in your own brand.
Focus on connection over selling
Break down your content into digestible chunks
Speak to your audience like they’re your best friend
Get creative and have fun with your content
Leverage partnerships and extend to other platforms. Team up with similar businesses in your area or niche.
For more help with any of these tips, check out the Rose & Salt Social service menu or book a consultation.
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