The beginning of the brand new 12 months is an thrilling time for entrepreneurs to re-evaluate their social media advertising and marketing methods and benefit from new alternatives as social platforms evolve.

From new options to algorithm updates and disruptive social apps, maintaining with these modifications could be difficult, but in addition means that you can faucet into thrilling new prospects to assist your organization develop higher in 2022.

That will help you get probably the most of your social media technique within the new 12 months, I lately revealed findings from the HubSpot Weblog’s Social Media Developments Survey, the place I collected information from greater than 300 B2B and B2C entrepreneurs to reply questions like:

• Which social media platforms are entrepreneurs presently leveraging?
• What kind of content material are entrepreneurs posting and which codecs do they use most?
• Which platforms, content material sorts, and codecs have the very best ROI?
• When is the very best time and day of the week to publish on social media?
• What challenges do social media entrepreneurs anticipate in 2022?
• What are entrepreneurs’ plans and expectations going into 2022?”

I’ve taken a deep dive by means of our survey information and made a listing of a number of the key suggestions social media entrepreneurs ought to think about in 2022. Listed here are just some strategies, based mostly on our information.

8 Knowledge-Backed Social Media Advertising Suggestions for 2022

1. Champion your organization values.

Content material that displays your model’s values is the preferred kind of content material amongst social media entrepreneurs proper now and has the third highest ROI of any content material kind.

This may proceed rising in 2022 as 95% of those that leverage such a content material plan on growing or sustaining their funding, and 21% plan to make use of it for the primary time.

This aligns with our earlier advertising and marketing developments survey, the place we discovered that social accountability shall be a high pattern in 2022.

Moreover, we discovered that social media entrepreneurs who say their social media technique has been efficient in 2021 are 21% extra prone to leverage content material that displays their model’s values than those that reported an ineffective social media technique final 12 months.

2. Embrace humorous, interactive, and relatable content material.

Humorous content material has the best ROI of any content material kind and can also be rated the best by social media entrepreneurs. The usage of humorous content material will proceed to develop in 2022, with 33% planning to take a position extra in humorous content material than some other format.

Moreover, 56% of those that don’t use humorous content material plan to leverage it for the primary time in 2022, whereas 95% of those that already use it is going to improve or keep their funding this 12 months.

Interactive content material is No. 2 in terms of utilization, ROI, and effectiveness, and also will develop considerably in 2022.

49% of those that don’t leverage interactive content material plan to make use of it for the primary time in 2022, whereas 97% of those that already use it plan to take a position extra or keep their funding this 12 months.

On high of all that, we discovered that social media entrepreneurs who say their social media technique has been efficient in 2021 are 25% extra prone to leverage interactive content material than those that reported an ineffective social media technique final 12 months.

Relatable content material will see elevated funding amongst present customers in addition to first-time customers.

54% of social media entrepreneurs who don’t leverage relatable content material are planning to for the primary time this 12 months, whereas 93% of entrepreneurs who already leverage it plan to extend their funding or proceed investing the identical quantity in 2022.

3. Don’t select influencers based mostly on follower rely.

Followers aren’t every thing. Influencer entrepreneurs are putting an emphasis on high quality of content material first, then engagement charges, alignment with values, and aesthetic, adopted by follower rely at #5 on that record.

Social media entrepreneurs who say their social media technique has been efficient in 2021 are 26% extra prone to think about the standard of influencers’ content material when figuring out which influencers to companion with on social media than those that reported an ineffective social media technique final 12 months.

Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) are the preferred kind of influencer entrepreneurs work with, but it surely isn’t essentially as a result of they’re cheaper. The graph beneath reveals that the quantity firms pay influencers can fluctuate drastically, even after we account for the dimensions of their following. This helps our discovering that follower rely will not be what entrepreneurs are prioritizing when trying to companion with influencers.

The standard of the influencer’s content material, the speed at which their followers have interaction, and their alignment along with your model could be way more impactful metrics of how a lot an influencer partnership is price.

Instagram, Fb, and Twitter are the preferred platforms entrepreneurs leverage when working with influencers.

Fb has the very best ROI for influencer advertising and marketing, adopted by Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok.

4. Discover new or rising social media platforms and options.

Social media entrepreneurs seek for new or rising social platforms to leverage typically, with 86% looking out not less than as soon as 1 / 4 and plenty of looking out month-to-month (29%), weekly (22%) and 20% looking out a number of instances every week. Simply 1% say they by no means seek for new platforms.

The highest new or rising platforms social media entrepreneurs are investing in are Twitter Areas, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Retailers.

On the similar time, they’re pulling their funding in lesser-known dwell audio platforms (Spoon, Riffr, Discord Stage Channels, Spotify Inexperienced Room) as extra established ones like Twitter start to include dwell audio options.

5. Put money into constructing social media communities.

64% of entrepreneurs are leveraging social media communities, and this quantity will solely continue to grow, as 30% of those that don’t use social media communities plan to begin in 2022.

Moreover, 96% of those that already leverage social media communities plan to take a position extra or proceed investing the identical quantity this 12 months.

Fb, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr are the platforms entrepreneurs construct communities on most.

6. Leverage analysis and information to succeed in their audience.

In our survey, we requested entrepreneurs how efficient or ineffective their social media technique has been this 12 months. I then examined our information by means of these two separate teams, the primary being those that stated their social media technique was efficient, in comparison with the second which rated their social media technique as ineffective.

When looking for their viewers on social media, the efficient group is:

• 21% extra possible to make use of social listening
• 17% extra prone to analysis the demographics of social media platforms
• 17% extra prone to analysis related on-line communities
• 14% extra prone to analyze demographic information their firm already has

7. To succeed in youthful audiences, create short-form video content material that is humorous, stylish, and displays your model’s values.

Youthful audiences like Gen Z (6-24) and Millennials (25-40) favor shorter video content material that’s humorous, stylish, and displays a model’s values, making platforms with short-form video options like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram excellent for reaching them.

8. To succeed in older audiences, leverage interactive/academic content material on Fb.

Gen X (41-56) and Child Boomers (57-75) favor interactive/academic content material, resembling interviews/podcasts/knowledgeable discussions and dwell movies, and Fb is their platform of alternative.

Extra Knowledge-Backed Advertising Insights

Need much more advertising and marketing and social media information? Most of the outcomes from the Social Media Developments survey overlapped with the Weblog’s latest Advertising Developments survey, together with the dominance of short-form video, the facility of influencer advertising and marketing, the chance introduced in “Stay” video and audio chat rooms, and the highest social media platforms.

Try our detailed Social Media Advertising Report right here or our Advertising Developments suggestions publish here for extra suggestions on these matters.