State of Social Media 2023 – Current Trends and Recommendations

10/23/2023

Social media in 2023 – is it still a thing? Which platforms should you be active on? Who will be particularly important this year? Which platform is losing relevance? Where can I find my target group and what should I bear in mind in general?

Is social media generally (still) relevant?

Anyone still asking this question in 2023 is probably hoping to hear “no” or at least that the topic will be less relevant than before, at least after the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, I have to disappoint everyone. Social media is and will become even more relevant. Individual platforms may lose reach and users, or at least stagnate, but overall we are using social media significantly more and more intensively. This is a development that is continuing to evolve and has long since left the status of a trend behind:

Over 80% of the German population uses social media every day.
Each of us consumes a total of 234 minutes per day!
40% of Gen Z users now use social media as a search tool – including for companies, stores, cafés, etc.
46% of organizations say they plan to increase their social media budget this year.

So if you're wondering whether companies should still be investing in social media at all, the answer is yes, yes, and yes again!

Who is social media particularly important for?

For everyone – at least in principle. Every business, every association, every company can benefit from social media. Be it in sales, marketing, recruiting, employer branding, or customer service. Of course, not every channel is suitable for every purpose and every target group, but basically every brand can derive great added value from good, target group-oriented social media marketing.

The important thing here is the strategy at the beginning. There is no point in creating a channel on every platform and then just posting anything. It is true that social media does not have to be perfect and, in particular, posts do not always have to be glossy. Nevertheless, it should be clarified in advance what goals are to be achieved with the platform, who is to be addressed and in what way, as well as many other points that should be recorded in the form of a good social media strategy. In order to take current developments into account and seize opportunities, we deal with the latest trends on a daily basis and have summarized them here for you:

The most important trends in brief

Interaction is everything!

Interaction is the most important metric on social media! In the past, metrics such as follower count, website traffic, or leads were the first things people looked at to evaluate a brand's success on social media. Today, it is more important that as large a proportion of your community as possible actively and regularly interacts with your content, leaving reactions, sharing it, or commenting on it. This can be improved through content, of course, but also through good community management. This currently works best on Instagram, but Facebook and TikTok are also suitable depending on the target group.

Profiles as sales and service channels

The use of social media as a sales and service channel is no longer a trend, but rather a long-standing development. Nevertheless, too many companies still use their channels “only” to build their brand and are leaving a lot of potential untapped. Instagram in particular has greatly upgraded its functionality and offers many commerce features that can pay off for businesses! At the same time, social media is increasingly becoming the preferred channel for users' service requests. Channels such as Telekom_hilft or DB_Bahn on X (formerly Twitter) have been proving this for years, but it is now also becoming the norm beyond these channels. Anyone who wants to follow this trend should train their customer service team accordingly and, if necessary, invest in community management here as well.

Micro-influencers: small but authentic

Influencers have played and continue to play an increasingly important role in successful social media marketing in recent years. 71% of B2C companies planned to implement an influencer campaign in 2023. For those who find investing in one of the many influencer stars too expensive, they should look for micro-influencers in their social media bubble! These are usually focused on special interests (e.g., tools, houseplants, gaming, baking, etc.) and primarily report on these topics. Although they generally have a significantly smaller reach (1,000 to 100,000 followers), they are usually more cost-effective and their target audience is significantly more active. At the same time, they are often much more authentic, which also benefits your brand!

Short videos on social media

TikTok has proven that short videos are now the preferred media format for many users. Even beyond this platform, 2023 has proven this! No other format on social media has been able to achieve a higher ROI (4.5 times that of user-generated content, live streaming, and memes). So it's no surprise that the majority of social media experts have focused on this topic this year. If you want to get started on social media, you should focus on short videos. These don't always have to be high-gloss productions. Quickly made, simple, and above all authentic short videos with no more than a small team are often much more effective than elaborate shoots with large teams. Because:

Authenticity and credibility are more important than ever before!

This is also linked to the trend toward micro-influencers and authentic short videos. This authenticity is significantly more important to younger generations than it was just a few years ago. So make sure that you communicate as naturally as possible on all platforms and remain true to your brand and its values. It is very important to note that if you talk about your values, you must also be able to prove them! If you position yourself as a sustainable brand, you must be able to prove it and have an answer ready for every critical question. On the other hand, if you simply want to communicate that you are green but cannot prove it, you will not get very far on social media.

Omnichannel: Everywhere all at once

Instead of building up just one channel, you should – where possible – develop an omnichannel strategy that uses several platforms rather than just one. Many companies are active on at least four platforms, with one of the channels usually being the main focus. Admittedly, this requires more effort, but with a good content reuse strategy, several channels can be used effectively without much additional work. Long videos provide material for short videos as teasers on TikTok and Instagram. At the same time, several posts can be published on the platforms. Making-of material enables further posts and stories on various channels. This way, your target group has many points of contact with your brand across platforms and you remain better remembered. Those who focus on content reuse and make good use of tools such as an editorial plan can get significantly more out of social media. But be careful: you shouldn't just upload the exact same post to every platform; instead, you should at least adapt the post slightly to the tone of the platform and its users!

Which social media channels are important to me or will become interesting?

This is a very sensible question, but one that cannot be answered in a nutshell. First and foremost, it depends on two factors:

Where is my target audience active?
What do I want to achieve on the channel?

Which channel or channels are appropriate depends on the individual company, product, and/or service and the goal to be achieved on the platform.

If you are particularly interested in increasing sales, Instagram offers some good opportunities. However, if you are a B2B company, LinkedIn is the better choice.

In future, we will analyze several of these channels in depth on this blog and highlight the opportunities and risks in individual blog posts. For now, here are a few brief assessments from us:

Instagram

An absolute standard in B2C and indispensable in this area. In general, Instagram offers many shopping features and is therefore very well suited for sales. This is especially true if your target audience consists of Gen Y and Gen Z. Instagram also plays a major role in areas such as (micro) influencer marketing and will continue to do so in 2024. In addition to sales, Instagram is also important from a recruiting perspective – for both B2C and B2B! More and more potential applicants are using the platform specifically to learn more about corporate culture via Instagram accounts. At the same time, the effort required by companies is decreasing, as good pictures and videos can also be taken with a cell phone. At the same time, this increases perceived authenticity – an important factor in social media! Definitely plan for this in 2024!

Facebook

Still the most important platform for many companies, Facebook currently seems to be losing relevance. Users are significantly more sparing with their likes and comments. Ad campaigns are still performing quite well, but the platform is becoming less and less effective in terms of organic reach. The declining activity on the platform is a particular problem for newcomers who want to build their brand. Companies should generally look at their target group and check how active they still are on the platform. The younger the target group, the less likely they are to be (actively) on Facebook. However, those who generally have a slightly older target group and want to reach them with ads can take advantage of this and still achieve positive results via Facebook. Thanks to its easy integration with Instagram, Facebook can be maintained almost as a side project. However, it is no longer a must.

We have already written a lot about LinkedIn on this blog. In our opinion, it is now virtually indispensable for B2B and recruiting, especially in view of the shortage of skilled workers. Since XING “gave up” as a social media platform and now sees itself solely as a job platform, LinkedIn has been virtually unrivalled in the field of corporate communications and talent search and continues to evolve with its own unique influencers, ads, newsletters and new features. It's hard to predict what else will come next year. The platform will therefore become even more important and create a wider range of opportunities. If you would like to read more about what LinkedIn can already do, here are a few links on the topics:

TikTok

Anyone talking about social media in recent years has to mention TikTok. Its users are significantly younger than on other platforms (41% are between 16 and 24). However, it is far from being exclusively a Gen Z platform and is actually quite diverse. In general, the platform has a hyper-creative community with many subcultures such as baking, gaming, fitness, travel, and health, so every B2C company can potentially address its target audience. Due to the fast pace and short attention span, companies need to offer as much content as possible in the form of short videos, but this does not have to be high-gloss. It's all about authenticity and entertainment. Whether it's content from users, influencers, or companies, and whether it's pure content or “serious” advertising. This means that TikTok is completely in tune with the zeitgeist, as they say, and will likely become even more important in 2024, especially if you want to reach a young target audience.

YouTube

It seems almost outdated next to TikTok, but remains very important, especially for placing ads and influencer marketing. The platform is widely used across almost all age groups and, similar to TikTok, there are many subcultures. With the introduction of YouTube Shorts, YouTube has probably copied the most important feature from TikTok and is also very successful with it. Since influencer marketing creates many opportunities for a good marketing mix, YouTube will remain interesting for many companies in 2024, especially if TikTok is not a good fit for their brand.

X (The platform formerly known as Twitter)

Any prediction for Twitter or X is currently difficult to impossible. The platform is currently making headlines, particularly due to the antics of its new CEO. Anyone who thought at the end of 2022 that they could predict what would happen to the platform after its takeover by Elon Musk has certainly been proven wrong. As X is now known for short-term functional changes, fluctuating payment models, and controversial business decisions, we currently advise everyone to steer clear of the platform until it has regained some altitude and is gliding smoothly again.

XING

What used to be LinkedIn's biggest competitor (at least in the Germany, Austria, Switzerland region) has now developed into a job portal. Since XING has also clearly communicated that it intends to continue along this path and leave the field as a platform for B2B to LinkedIn, this is unlikely to change in 2024.

Some of you will probably still be surprised by this, but yes: WhatsApp can now be used as a social media platform thanks to various feature updates. With 83.6%, it is even the most widely used platform in Germany! Various features such as the new subscription channels, stories, and much more have greatly improved the app's capabilities. This means that WhatsApp can now also be used as a newsletter alternative, service tool, or similar. The platform will therefore be very exciting in 2024.

And beyond that?

Of course, there are many other platforms we could discuss in this context. Many of these platforms are significantly more niche than those presented so far, but are therefore much more effective and efficient for your target group. Depending on your target audience and market, the Jodel app, for example, could prove to be a very efficient channel. If you are targeting a younger audience, such as those from the nerd subculture, you should definitely keep an eye on Twitch, Discord, and Reddit. At the same time, Twitch and Pinterest should also be part of your marketing mix if you want to appeal to users who are particularly interested in art or crafts.

In the coming weeks and months, we will be focusing on many social media platforms. We will also analyze and evaluate the more niche platforms mentioned here. So stay tuned and check back on the blog regularly!

Conclusion: Keep an eye on your target groups and stay tuned!

Overall, social media remains relevant and is likely to become even more so in the coming years. Despite some changes in usage and platforms gaining or losing importance, social media marketing remains one of the most important tools in online marketing. It is important to keep up with the latest trends and pursue a clear strategy so that you don't miss any of the important trends on social media while successfully standing out from the crowd.

Choosing the right platforms, focusing on individual target groups, and creating the right content are the keys to success in this digital age. If you need help creating a social media strategy optimized for your specific needs or implementing it correctly, simply write to us at pole-position(at)drive.eu and we will get back to you for a free initial consultation. We look forward to supporting you on your journey to effective social media marketing!