Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends of 2024 — What Can Contribute to Your Brand’s Development

Nothing changes as quickly as marketing trends. Considering that they vary depending on the platform and sometimes even the target audience, marketers need to stay abreast of all changes to plan and develop effective strategies. Let’s discuss the latest trends of 2024.

Key marketing trends that await businesses in 2024

Recently, HubSpot presented the results of the Marketing Strategy Survey on dominant trends in 2024. Besides fresh data from over 1400+ marketers worldwide, the company’s experts also highlight trends from previous years. Understanding these fast-paced changes will help you react promptly, promote your brand, implement exciting strategies, outpace competitors, and remain a successful business or a niche leader.

In addition to HubSpot’s data, I’ve analyzed statistics and forecasts from Hootsuite, offering you the most interesting insights.

Trend #1: Choosing the Ideal Platform for Your Business

The ideal platform depends on your business and where your target audience is. But how to choose when the average user logs into nearly 7 social networks every day?! I recommend focusing on communication channels that have already proven their effectiveness.

The current top platforms from Hootsuite look like this:

How businesses changed platform usage from 2022 to 2023. TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram show the highest growth [data from Social Media Trends 2024 by Hootsuite].

In HubSpot’s view, the top three leaders are TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. The company’s experts note that video-oriented platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn are the most effective and have the highest return on investment:

Trend #2: Short Video Content Dominates TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram

Everyone knows, though they might never admit it, that watching TikTok and YouTube shorts can be addicting. But it’s not just another way to distract or relax after a hectic day. According to 39% of marketers, short videos yield the highest return on investment. In the U.S. alone, 56% of consumers purchased at least one item after seeing an ad on TikTok.

Why do social media users love such content and don’t swipe away? Short videos offer the essence without the fluff, keeping viewers’ attention focused. Therefore, the impact is often better than with longer videos.

Predictions suggest that this year, 57% of marketers will increase investments in creating short videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Hootsuite predicts a new wave of popularity for longer videos, ranging from 2 to 5 minutes. One possible reason is that users seek a lot of information on social media, and more detailed answers require more than 15–30 seconds.

Trend #3: User-Generated Content (UGC)

One of the hottest trends! While users, not professional marketers, create this content, it is valued for recommendations and genuine product or service reviews. UGC can be integrated into the marketing strategy as a form of paid native advertising, or you can motivate your followers to create content about your brand.

What will you gain from such content? This tool helps your brand reach a new audience, become more recognizable, attract new customers, strengthen connections with the audience, and increase sales, all while spending fewer financial resources than traditional advertising.

And finally, if you still doubt the effectiveness of UGC, 84% of consumers will trust a brand that uses user-generated content in marketing strategies.

Trend #4: Native Advertising and Sponsored Content

A close form of content to UGC, but this advertising format promotes not only your brand but also creators who produce publications or videos for you.

36% of marketers plan to increase investments in native advertising in 2024.

According to recent data, native advertising:

• gets 53% more views than traditional advertising;
• generates an 82% higher brand rating compared to banner ads;
• influences purchasing decisions (73% of users are influenced by video content on social media).

When advertising doesn’t look like advertising, doesn’t overtly sell a product or service, it doesn’t irritate platform users. Interesting and useful information without direct calls to purchase is more effective in holding attention, engaging the target audience, and increasing subscriber involvement. It’s important to create engaging content and adapt the advertising message to the format and requirements of the social media platform where it will be placed.

Trend #5: Brand Values Reflected in Content Will Help Retain Customers

According to Consumer Goods Technology, 82% of consumers want a brand’s values to align with their own. In this case, the price of the product takes a back seat. 75% of consumers reported choosing another brand due to a conflict of values. That’s why a business should be genuine, transparent, consistent, and demonstrate its stance on various issues important to its audience (e.g., being proactive in sustainable development).

Trend #6: Social Media Search

Literally yesterday, it was unthinkable to imagine searching for information about everything in the world without Google. But the search engine itself provided interesting research results: 40% of Americans aged 18–24 use TikTok and Instagram for searches. The younger generation increasingly avoids using keywords to search for information. Visual content formats, such as videos and images, are more prevalent in search.

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Social media communication tools have transformed into search engines. People look for news, information about products, services, places, reviews, and video reviews.

Why is this important for businesses? If you don’t answer the important questions for your audience, someone else will and get their share of traffic and views. Create entertaining and educational videos for social media and optimize keywords in titles and profiles.

Trend #7: Influencer Marketing

Influencers are everywhere. Therefore, influencer marketing remains a vital tool in brand promotion. According to HubSpot, 84% of marketers will increase investments in influencer marketing in 2024, as collaboration with bloggers was effective last year. The benefits of this collaboration format remain unchanged — a brand can increase brand awareness and expand its audience.

It’s not necessary to choose thought leaders with a million followers. Micro-influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers are also a good choice. The main thing is for your values to align and for the bloggers to have an active and engaged audience. This solution requires lower costs and can be even more successful than collaborating with celebrities or macro-influencers.

Trend #8: Social Media as Shopping Platforms [Bonus]

In the summer of 2023, HubSpot conducted a survey of consumer trends and noted an increase in sales on social media:

Using social media for promotion and product sales is very convenient. Use these platforms as an additional sales channel, and you can increase sales and enhance brand awareness while communicating with subscribers. Social commerce benefits the buyer as well — quick purchases with minimal effort.

Conclusion

Some of these mentioned trends have been on the market for several years, but in 2024, they are gaining even more momentum. Get ready to experiment! I hope you found new ideas for your social media content in this material.

Which trends will you use for your marketing strategy and why? Share your answers in the comments!