New year new me, and so would trends be for 2023! Here’s our take on Social Media Top Trends 2023.

1. Influencer Marketing – Love Thy Neighbour

With an 11% decrease in trust for online reviews in 2020, social networks have been catching up with search engines as the main discovery platform (and in Gen Z’s case, overtaken them!). While people generally trust influencers more than brands, in 2023 “real reviews from real people” is the mantra – one must be careful with influencer marketing to not fall foul of it, especially as transparency is a key reason for the lack of trust.

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@astariririaja is one of the top growing TikTok beauty influencer in Indonesia in 2022

Instagram, TikTok and Youtube serve as the primary platforms for influencer marketing, with people trusting genuine reviews from “people next door” than mega influencers. In Southeast Asia, beauty is one of the key categories for influencer marketing, and Indonesia leads the market with 38% of social chatter surrounding beauty topics.

Go beyond follower counts and examine their engagement to ensure the chosen influencers are not using engagement pods to artificially boost their engagement rates. Analyse their followers to ensure they’re relevant to the brand. Think beyond sponsored posts and work together with the influencer to deliver value to their customers.

With influencer marketing in Southeast Asia expected to worth US$2.59b in 2024, brands need to find new and novel ways for collaborations to meet consumers’ demands for transparency and trust.

Key Takeaway:

There is a lack of trust due to transparency issues over promoted / branded content. Relevant nano-influencers, no different than your neighbour, are best suited to achieve conversion objectives. Look beyond (and always validate!) follower counts to ensure the target network is relevant for your brand.

2. Content Strategy – Middle-Ground Is Out, Extremes Are In

In 2022, the main drivers encouraging following of a brand are passion, trust, and customer satisfaction. To drive the former two in a space where people are increasingly bored by social content, one has to consider content that’s out of the box to foster authenticity. This hopefully would lead to customer satisfaction, encouraging and maintaining brand following.

Sulwhasoo partnered with Thai celebrity Gulf to reward participants with a personal video call (Credit: Kom Chad Luek)

To cut through the noise and dearth of quality content, content that’s “scrappy” or/and “extreme” are preferred by audiences, to show passion and build trust through authenticity. Sulwhasoo Thailand went to the “extreme” of offering a dream-come-true 1:1 video call with Thai celebrity Gulf Kanawut. This is done through the “scrappy” format of a Live video. This campaign led to high passionate engagement, and built trust and satisfaction through delivering on their promise. Sulwhasoo’s sound content strategy – driving passion, trust and customer satisfaction – is a big part of why they’re  Southeast Asia’s most loved brand.

Key Takeaway:

Use “scrappy” or/and “extreme” content to drive passion, trust and customer satisfaction to encourage and maintain brand following.

3. Social Strategy – Content-Platform Fit Inspires Audiences

More than half of organisations cross-post content with few changes, i.e. they do not tailor their content appropriately for the platform. Yet, there are distinct usages for each platform – with TikTok mainly used for discovery and entertainment while Twitter is mostly used to keep up with the news.

McDonald’s Philippines use Facebook, Instagram and Youtube differently to best connect with the audiences of the platforms.

McDonald’s Philippines strong following on their different platforms are mainly due to their unique strategy for each, in terms of content and tone of voice. Their Instagram is heavy on aesthetic visuals, while their Youtube features heart-warming video content – fitting audiences’ usage for the platform.

Take advantage of each platform’s unique features as part of your content – like Instagram Stories’ Polls, LinkedIn’s Documents, or TikTok’s duet – to best connect with audiences.

Key Takeaway:

Social media is never a one-size-fits-all approach, tailor your content to fit how audiences use the platforms. Incorporate features unique to the platform as part of your content to inspire audiences for the relevant action.

 

Want to learn how to incorporate 2023 trends into your social media strategy? Have a chat with us!