Qwick Takes: Social media trends to watch for in 2022

This week on TalkingBizNews.com, Deputy Editor Erica Thompson reached out to Qwoted’s community of experts to ask them about why TikTok dethroned Google as the most visited online destination and what social media trends to watch in 2022?

Check out some of the top commentary:

Steven Petruk, President Global Outsourcing at CGS:

In the New Year, consumers will look to social media, not brand websites, for their needs. In lieu of connecting with customer service via phone, email or chatbot, I envision consumers bypassing traditional methods; instead looking to Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. Here, they will take on the role of assisting consumers in deciphering the issue at hand, like repairing a device or fielding a request to the right department, to provide deeper understanding in a peer-to-peer support environment. This will bring on its own challenges, however. All consumers do not have access to social media. Yet, with over 1 billion users on TikTok alone, it will be important for brands to properly curate and monitor content ensuring user-generated content (UGC) isn’t inappropriate and misleading, potentially negatively affecting the brand reputation.

Matthew Gilbert, Lecturer, Marketing at Coastal Carolina University:

With one billion active users worldwide, TikTok is now the 7th largest social networking platform — surpassing LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat. This is not surprising given Cisco’s projection that online videos will account for more than 82% of consumer internet traffic by 2022. This is 15 times higher than it was in 2017! Additionally, nine out of ten customers prefer watching videos when researching products with nearly two thirds making a purchase after watching a video. One of the most significant social media trends to watch for in 2022 is the continued dominance of video content — both recorded and live streaming. Why? Video increases the reach of your marketing while strengthening engagement with your audience. TikTok will lead the way, but in doing so, will open the door for increased video integration on existing platforms while potentially launching additional options.

Flynn Zaiger, CEO at Online Optimism:

If you were surprised that TikTok overtook Google as the most visited online destination in 2021, you simply haven’t been paying attention. The most viral content on all social media platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, has time and again showcased that flashing music note logo that TikTok has made famous.

• Google (Alphabet) will build additional social media features into YouTube’s platform. Many remember the failure of Google Plus. While that’s burned into Google’s mind, they seem to have caught more of an audience by rolling out YouTube Shorts to such a large audience. They’ll continue trying to engage the audience and grow its community, to better fight against TikTok’s incredible growth.

• Expect to see the first major social network built off the blockchain. Investment firms have thrown money at anyone that mentions the words ‘crypto’ or ‘web3.’ While most of these gambles will fail, it’s likely that the future of the Internet gets its major start this year from whichever firm has the luckiest VCs.

• The rise of micro-influencing as a full-time job will reach its potential this next year. There’s been an increasing willingness from brands to choose the quality of a sponsorship, rather than the size of an influencer’s following. As influencer databases have been built out to be more extensive, brands are willing and able to pay for 100 micro-influencers to produce incredible content, rather than pay for one very expensive influencer.”