Social Media App Trends for 2023
Make sure your brand keeps up with social media app trends for 2023. The unpredictability of social media gives many brands and marketers sleepless nights. For instance, who could have predicted that Facebook would lose its spot among the most popular social media apps in just over 12 months? Not many. Yet, the Meta-owned app has dropped out of App Store’s daily top 10 charts 59 times in 2022.
Similarly, no one knew about BeReal two years ago. Yet, it’s now one of the most popular social media networks, with more than 53 million users and up to 10 million daily users. These changes affect brands on a regular basis as social media is how they connect with customers. Make sure your brand keeps up with social media app trends for 2023.
Top 7 Social Media App Trends to Expect in 2023
Fortunately, gathering and analyzing existing data provides a glimpse into the future. This of course allows savvy brands to prepare for the unknown. With that in mind, we’ve identified seven social media predictions for 2023 your brand should be aware of.
1. Social commerce sales continue to soar higher
Global eCommerce sales jumped from $492 billion in 2021 to slightly over $600 billion in 2022. This was primarily spurred by the post-covid recovery. However, brands should expect the trend to persist as social media’s role in global commerce intensifies. Reports suggest the total revenue could even reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. Deals, discounts, and ease of purchase are other factors driving social media eCommerce.
2. The role of influencers to increase
At least 72.5% of social media marketers used influencers in 2022, up from 67.9% in 2021. This trend isn’t about to slow down either. According to a recent Lumanu research, influencer marketing outperforms traditional social media ads by 20% while returning $5 to $6 for every $1 invested. So, brands and marketers will likely allocate bigger budgets to influencer marketing in 2023, to the tune of $4.5 billion, according to Statista.
3. Short-form videos to take over?
You’ve likely seen YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat Spotlight videos. But have you wondered why? For instance, why would YouTube, traditionally known for its long videos, suddenly adopt “shorts?” Easy. Because short videos are the new trend, especially as people have shorter attention spans than ever before. Videos under a minute long get 68% more views and ads under 30 seconds generate more conversions. As a result, 30% of social media marketers plan to invest more in short videos in 2023.
4. TikTok to Rule the Industry?
Most likely not. However, it will come close going by its explosive growth. Having only launched six years ago in 2016, TikTok’s rise to the top has been inspiring. For instance, 693 million people downloaded the app in 2019 and 850 million in 2020. Indeed, TikTok now has more than 1.8 billion active monthly users. Thus, making it the seventh most popular social media app. At this rate, it could break into the top three by the end of 2024.
5. Social AR to power future e-commerce
Social media networks are working overtime to make AR a reality. The increased spending on social media AR supports this. For instance, reports indicate that the social media AR market was only worth $42.7 million in 2018 but will likely explode to $411.4 million in 2023, a 57.3% CAGR. This makes it one of the fastest-growing social media trends. Snapchat’s Snap AR is the most popular.
6. Can social audio catch on?
Social audio platforms, notably Clubhouse, reigned the airwaves in 2021 and early 2022. Unfortunately, the hype began to die towards the close of 2022. However, could we see a comeback of this in 2023? Unfortunately, many social media experts think otherwise. For instance, Twitter’s Spaces is no longer exciting, and Spotify’s “Locker Room” is mostly dead. Similarly, Facebook’s “Live Audio Rooms” have stalled. So there’s little hope all these platforms will come back. Thus, brands and marketers would be better off focusing on long-form podcasts instead of short-form audio.
Summary
2023 will be a big year for social media and the platforms’ users. For instance, in social media app trends for 2023, we can expect a rise in social commerce, short-form videos, and social AR. Similarly, TikTok and social media influencers will have a good year. Unfortunately, social audio platforms could finally die as other features and apps take over.
