Unlocking Success in the Digital Age: The Latest Social Media Advertising Trends Unveiled by Experts!

Staying ahead of the curve is paramount in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape. As businesses and brands strive to engage their audiences in an increasingly competitive online world, the role of social media advertising has become pivotal. To gain insights into the latest strategies and techniques that are making waves in the world of social media advertising, it’s crucial to turn to the experts. In this comprehensive exploration, we dive into the dynamic realm of “Social Media Advertising Trends: What’s Working Now by Experts?”

Discover the innovative approaches, data-driven insights, and cutting-edge campaigns that leading professionals in the field are utilising to harness the power of social media platforms.

Valerie Nova

Design Studio @ Ubanzo

In my role as an Art Director, I’ve noted three key trends in social media advertising: interactive content, video ads, and the incorporation of social media into the customer journey.

Interactive elements, like poles or AR filters, encourage us to design more dynamic visuals that provoke audience interaction. This helps foster a deeper connection with users.

The rise of video ads means we’re now creating short, impactful visuals catering to the popularity of platforms like TikTok.

Lastly, merging social media with the customer journey means our designs now serve a dual purpose – attracting attention and guiding the viewer toward a purchase. These trends are making our creative work more intertwined with user engagement, creating an exhilarating time to be in this field.

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Yousaf Yunes

Founder @ YRV Dynamics

• eCommerce Brands Understanding the Role of Reach and Awareness. Conversions and traffic have driven Ecommerce in social media. Over the last few years, top-funnel strategies have played a growing role. Reach & awareness bring acquisition audiences to the top of the funnel.This has led to growth marketers vetting top-of-funnel tactics and improving bottom-funnel conversions. You cannot have purchase conversions and then awareness; it’s vice-versa; you need awareness first, —–> then you have conversions. Conversion models are becoming nuanced as consumers become resistant to formal advertising.
• Beating the Top of Funnel Drum: PR has been Picking up Steam for Ecommerce. Editorial pieces generated by larger platforms build awareness and, conversely, down-funnel conversions. Understanding the role of PR and timing that accordingly with your paid social + organic can lead to a combined effort to build buzz for your brand.
• It’s not only about followers; it’s emails. Years ago, followers were the social currency of choice. With newer brands, scaling followers can be an enormous, expensive task. What e-commerce platform brands need to understand is that you do not own your followers. The respective platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, own them. If there is a hack or error and the platform and your profile is restricted, you are in serious trouble. The one thing you can own is emails. These can be used as your brand’s social platform via e-newsletters for announcements, paid custom audiences, look-a-likes, the list goes on.
• Brands with brick-and-mortar to use IRL (in real life) events to boost store visits. While many love to click and buy, stores still invest in live entertainment to boost declining sales and promote those socially.

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Brenton Thomas

Founder & CEO @Twibi

The rise of interactive content, video ads, and the evolving role of social media in the customer journey signifies a significant shift in marketing strategies. Interactive content, such as quizzes, polls, and augmented reality experiences, engages consumers actively and fosters personalised interactions.

Video ads have become increasingly prevalent due to their ability to effectively convey compelling stories and capture attention. With the growing popularity of video platforms like YouTube and TikTok, brands can reach wider audiences and create engaging visual narratives. Social media has evolved from mere awareness-building tools to vital touch points throughout the customer journey.

Platforms like Instagram and Facebook now offer shoppable posts and seamless integrations, enabling direct purchases and easy access to product information. Moreover, social media is a powerful channel for customer support and feedback, enabling brands to enhance their relationships with customers and provide personalised experiences. Embracing these trends allows businesses to stay relevant in the dynamic landscape of digital marketing and better connect with their audience at every stage of the customer journey.

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Michael Melen

Co-Founder @ SmartSites

• Memes & Humor: Straight-forward traditional business advertisements continue to trend down. You need to capture user’s attention with humour. Once taboo, even big brands now use memes and funny short-form videos to attract attention.
• Video: The video keeps getting more engagement than static image posts. Video ads are a great way to tell stories and connect with your audience on an emotional level.
• Organic Paid Advertising: With the rise of ad blockers and frustration over platforms’ ad policies, brands are turning their focus on organic content versus investing in paid promotion. The exception here is influencers – you pay influencers, but the reach is organic.
• Social media is becoming increasingly important in the customer journey. Consumers use social media to research products, learn about brands, and connect with other customers. Brands must be present on social media to reach these consumers and build relationships with them.

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Sophie Miller

Marketing Manager @ Booking Agent Info

As an experienced Marketing Manager with a deep understanding of social media, I can confidently highlight the latest trends that are revolutionising the landscape of social media advertising. Interactive content has emerged as a game-changer, captivating audiences and driving engagement like never before.

Incorporate interactive polls, quizzes, and interactive stories to encourage active participation and foster a deeper connection with your brand. By sparking curiosity and involvement, you can boost brand awareness and create a memorable impact on your target audience. Video ads continue to dominate the social media advertising scene, and their effectiveness is undeniable. Short, attention-grabbing videos are perfect for capturing users’ fleeting attention spans and conveying your message effectively.

Leverage the power of storytelling through video to evoke emotions, showcase your products or services, and ultimately drive conversions. Consider utilising platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok, which have gained immense popularity and offer an excellent opportunity to reach a younger, trend-savvy audience. Social media’s role in the customer journey has evolved into a critical touchpoint for consumers.

It’s no longer just a platform for brand discovery; social media now plays a vital role in customer research, feedback, and support. Businesses must actively engage with customers, respond to inquiries promptly, and address concerns transparently. By providing exceptional customer service on social media, you can build trust and loyalty, turning satisfied customers into brand advocates who spread positive word-of-mouth.

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Milosz Krasinski

Managing Director @ Chilli Fruit Web
 

Edutainment, the blend of education and entertainment, is becoming dominant in social media advertising. This trend is about creating content that is both informative and entertaining, striking a balance between providing value and engaging the audience. Brands like Chime have found success on platforms like TikTok by creating content that addresses financial issues with a blend of humour and useful tips.

The rise of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels has created the perfect environment for edutainment content to thrive. As a brand, this is your opportunity to demystify industry misconceptions or provide life hacks featuring your product in an entertaining way.

Confidence in the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing is at an all-time high. Marketers are not only feeling more confident about the ROI of social media, but they are also becoming more adept at proving it. This confidence is reflected in the proportion of the marketing budget allocated to social media. However, with this increased visibility, social media is also exposed to higher levels of scrutiny. Marketers need to be prepared to demonstrate the value they bring to the table.

It’s time to start petitioning for more resources for video production to ensure your brand can stand out in the new social media landscape.

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Dominik Maka

Head of SEO @ LVBET

Employee advocacy is becoming a major trend in social media marketing. Companies that have implemented advocacy programs are seeing increased brand awareness and qualified job applicants. It’s a way of building a brand presence within an industry.

Employees can serve as authentic ambassadors for your brand, sharing their experiences and insights and connecting with audiences in a way that traditional advertising can’t. It’s about leveraging the power of personal connections and trust to promote.

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Alex Velikiy

Founder & CMO @ Chinesetea101

There are four major social media advertising trends we’re observing in 2023:

Video Dominance: Video continues to be a strong player in social media advertising, with formats like TikTok and Instagram Reels becoming pivotal. Twitter, for example, reports 10x more engagement for video tweets, proving its significance for marketing strategies.

Automation of Ad Production: Brands are now automating ad production to cater to a wider audience in less time, using dynamic imagery and personalised messages to replace generic content. Ad creation tools allow brands to simultaneously create and manage various ads, saving time and resources.
Influence and Authenticity: While influencers are still a staple in social media marketing, the emphasis has shifted toward authenticity. Brands are now turning to micro-influencers, who have proven to provide higher engagement rates, to bring more relatability and trust to their campaigns.

Growth of Shoppable Content: With the rise of social commerce due to the pandemic, in-stream shopping and shoppable posts are projected to be a significant trend. Live-streaming shopping experiences combined with influencer collaboration create engaging, immersive shopping environments, driving further customer engagement and sales.

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Syed Sazzadul Bari

Growth Marketer @ wpwax

As an experienced digital marketing strategist with 6 years of experience, I believe I can contribute valuable insights to your story.

Examine the latest trends and strategies in social media advertising. Seeking perspectives from social media marketers, ad managers, and platform representatives. Discuss the rise of interactive content, video ads, and the evolving role of social media in the customer journey. Due to frequent algorithm changes, we need to adjust our strategies accordingly.

I’ve noticed improved results in my video content lately, especially in shorts/reels on social media. They gain more engagement and reach and become more popular than average posts. However, as marketers, we are still learning to effectively use this media to engage with our audience and potential customers.

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Jonathan Zacharias

Founder @ GRO

A popular trending strategy for social media to showcase video content is to embrace short-form videos. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are gaining popularity for their ability to captivate audiences with concise and visually appealing videos. These platforms prioritise content that can quickly grab the viewer’s attention and deliver a compelling message within a short duration. Additionally, video subtitles can enhance engagement, allowing viewers to consume the content without sound.

Ultimately, with the decreasing attention spans of social media users, adopting short-form video content has become a successful trend.

One popular trend in social media advertising is influencer marketing. Collaborating with influencers allows brands to tap into established and engaged audiences, lending authenticity and credibility to their products
or services. Influencers’ ability to connect personally resonates with consumers, making it an effective way to increase brand awareness, reach new demographics, and drive conversions.

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Bridget Reed

Co-founder @ The Word Counter

One proven trend for social media is to incorporate live videos. Live videos have gained popularity, offering users a real-time and immersive experience. This type of content allows businesses to engage with their audience more personally, as viewers can interact with the broadcaster through comments and real-time polls.

By utilising live videos, brands can foster a sense of transparency and authenticity, ultimately enhancing their social media presence and building meaningful connections with their followers.

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Daniel Osman

Head of Sales @ Balance Homes

A highly-performing trend for social media posting is creating visually appealing and shareable graphics or infographics that can also help boost engagement. Partnering with influencers or using user-generated content are other effective strategies to generate organic reach and increase brand visibility on social media.

The use of storytelling, interactive polls, and live streaming are also popular trends in social media posting.

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Mitchell Gould

Digital Marketing Consultant @ Seattle

Many companies are leveraging video ads that include subject matter experts from the company highlighting the value of their product or service. Adding a face to the brand helps boost credibility and trust, and typically, we see better engagement metrics than less interactive types of content like single-image ads.

The great thing with video ads is you can build audiences based on how much of the video they watched, and then you can retarget those users with more content and stronger call-to-action. i.e. a user who watches 75% of your video ad is probably more problem and solution-aware than someone who watches 10% of a video ad. This can help you identify who out of your target audience is farther down the journey and help you market to them accordingly. Company: mitchellgould.com (B2B and B2C Paid Ad Consultant)

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Eva Rose P. Reyes

Link Building Specialist @ Bay Property Management Group

From a property management company’s perspective, the rise of using interactive content, video ads, and social media can significantly impact customer engagement strategies. Having a strong presence on social media networks can give your rental business an edge against competitors in your area.

Interactive content such as 360 virtual tours can provide potential renters a personalised viewing experience. The role of social media in creating a unique customer journey for potential renters drives awareness, growth, and engagement while making sure property managers maintain ethical practices while targeting different demographics.

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Jeff Moriarty

Marketing Manager @ Moriarty’s Gem Art

We started doing live online shopping shows for our business in 2022. It quickly became very popular, and now we get over 2,500 people watching our show each month. Even though it was a small business, it was very easy to implement through YouTube.

Live shows now generate 20% of our monthly revenue, which continues to climb. We are now investing more money into production, advertising, and products as we plan on switching to a weekly show towards the end of the year.

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Suraj Nair

Digital Marketing Executive @ SocialPilot

As a digital marketer, I’ve been closely monitoring the dynamic landscape of social media advertising. The trends have been fascinating.

Interactive content has emerged as a game-changer, allowing brands to engage users in captivating ways. Behind-the-scenes posts have also started to showcase growth. In fact, people love to interact with such posts, making them feel like they are part of the team.

In addition, video ads continue to dominate, and with platforms like Instagram Reels gaining momentum, short-form videos have become a strategic goldmine for instant impact. The surge in Instagram Stories ad revenue, projected to reach 20.03 billion dollars in 2023, underscores their effectiveness.

I foresee brands leveraging short videos like Reels to offer bite-sized insights, while Instagram Stories will be harnessed for immersive storytelling.

Social media’s role in the customer journey is evolving beyond awareness – it’s guiding consideration, purchase, and post-purchase interactions. Facebook’s 10 million active advertisers exemplify the platform’s enduring power. In addition, 84% of viewers have made a purchase from a brand after seeing it on YouTube.

The future of social media advertising is excitingly dynamic, ready to reshape how businesses connect with their audiences at every touchpoint.

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Karyn Jeneen

Financial Leadership Consultant @ KB Training & Development Group

Don’t just follow the latest trends; leverage your data and insights. Sure, there are proven methods that still work. Still, selecting the advertising approach that optimises your ROI is vital. With algorithms constantly changing, utilising AI not only automates tasks and targets ads but also enables you to create personalised content. This positions you to spend more time understanding and adapting to customer trends.

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Himanshu Roy

SEO Strategist @ Statusbrew

The digital landscape has been inundated with a flood of short-form videos, much to the delight of the Gen Z audience.  Nowadays, people prefer not to stick with a single source for too long, making it difficult for businesses and creators to develop unique ideas. The improvement of AI becomes a lifesaver. Enter the latest sensation – ChatGPT, released in June 2022.

A captivating frenzy has seized the attention of marketers, CEOs, and CMOs, as they tirelessly explore novel avenues for content creation. The marketplace boasts an array of tools capable of conjuring high-calibre content in mere seconds. Moreover, social media platforms have seamlessly integrated AI into their system, empowering social media marketers to craft compelling content with just a few clicks.

Podcasting has emerged as a voguish conduit for tapping into expansive audiences. The allure of recording and distributing bite-sized interviews or discussions across social media reverberates as a savvy time-saving strategy. After all, who can resist the appeal of repurposing content across multiple channels?

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Steve Lourdessamy

Co-founder and CMO @ Spheria

Social Media Advertising is at an all-time high in the company’s marketing strategies for a good reason: your users, partners, and customers primarily interact with your brand on social media. Here are 3 trends to take into consideration:

1. Tell your brand’s story with your customers’ voices. User-Generated Content (UGC) – Think of 5-star reviews, thank you emails, or video testimonies from your customers – should be the basis of your content strategy. There’s no one better than your customers to tell the world about what makes your product/service unique.
2. Adopt short-form video content when telling your brand story. With TikTok and YouTube Shorts, there’s a huge space to invest. And you don’t need to spend too much on production or editing; your smartphone camera can make marvels, especially if it’s in the hands of one of your customers.
3. Think multi-channel. Simply because your customers rarely use only one social media. You should be speaking to them everywhere. Focus on your content pillars, create content around them, and distribute it widely.

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Dr. Anu Vrat

Pharma Veteran, Astrologer, Wellness Mentor, Philosophy

In the realm of social media dynamics, the fusion of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram gives rise to what can be aptly termed as the “Golden Triad.” Unlike standalone platforms, these three channels bear distinct yet interwoven characteristics that collectively amass an immense user base. The choice to represent them as a triangle is emblematic of their closely related nature, with each platform contributing its unique allure to the amalgamation.

Facebook, the vanguard of modern social networking, facilitates connections through status updates, multimedia sharing, and group interactions. Meanwhile, YouTube’s multimedia-rich environment caters to visual and auditory senses, creating a global arena for creators and viewers alike.

In contrast, Instagram champions visual storytelling and curated aesthetics, offering a space for individuals and businesses to convey narratives through captivating imagery. This “Golden Triad” taps into users’ diverse communication styles and preferences, forming a comprehensive ecosystem that spans generations and cultures.

It’s a strategic blend that harmonises the strengths of each platform to create a holistic approach capable of engaging an extensive audience. As this triad synchronises, it becomes a potent strategy that wields the collective power of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, uniting their unique attributes to create an impact more extraordinary than the sum of its parts.

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Eduardo Lopez Pineda

Founder @ VSharp, LLC

Social Media Advertising continues to evolve increasingly rapidly, offering brands unprecedented reach and engagement. Some prevailing trends, like video content, especially short-form videos, continue to gain traction thanks to platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels (as well as YouTube shorts, Facebook reels, and other platforms’ offerings). Personalised, dynamic ads powered by AI and machine learning enhance user experiences by providing content tailored to individual preferences and browsing habits.

It has also facilitated the appearance of other industries in direct-to-consumer advertising- clear examples are the online education and training industries, which offer useful and enriching content At the same time, these tools and platforms have also created a bigger democratisation of voice: younger generations, along with an increasing number of adults, are not just passive consumers. They’re actively exposed to vast information and have powerful platforms to express their views.

On the flip side, this real-time feedback loop, through likes, shares, and comments, provides marketers with immediate insights while handing significant power back to the public. Ephemeral content, like stories on Instagram and Facebook, leverages this by providing a sense of urgency, driving higher engagement rates.

The emphasis on socially conscious and purpose-driven advertising is also more pronounced. Brands align with causes and values that resonate with their informed and vocal audiences. Lastly, with increasing privacy concerns, platforms are focusing more on opt-in data and transparent advertising practices. This demands closer interaction and creates a need for a higher level of trust between brands, providers, and their audiences.

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Curtis Luke

Founder @ Niche-Marc Consulting LLC

Brands must be willing to break the mould to connect with audiences effectively. They’re spending time and resources on campaigns that are likely to fall flat. Breaking the mould isn’t easy. If it were, everyone would do it, and there would be no mould in the first place. I can’t give you a tailored roadmap to connect with audiences. What we can do is provide you with the foundational tips needed to make your next great idea grab their attention. Here’s what you need to know:

✔ Create like a creator-innovative

✔ Avoid going straight for the sell

✔ Make use of the comment section

✔ Iron out your approach to social customer care

 ✔ Meet your audience where they hang out

✔ Amplify your brand’s beliefs and values

✔ Build meaningful influencer and creator partnerships

 ✔ Use customer feedback and reviews for social media improvements/enhancements. Incorporating the principles of content creation, research, strategic planning, and data analysis will help you create effective and engaging content for social media advertising purposes. Adapting to a strategy based on changing trends and audience preferences will continually enhance your social media advertising efforts.

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Shakeel Ahmed

CEO @ Top SEO Expertz

As a digital marketer, I believe businesses embracing these 2023 social media advertising trends will succeed:

• Short-form video remains popular in 2023, with TikTok and Instagram Reels growing in popularity. This format is ideal for businesses to reach a wider audience and engage with potential customers in a visually appealing way.
• Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular, allowing businesses to connect with their audience in real time and build relationships.
• In 2023, micro-influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers will be more effective for businesses to reach a targeted audience because they have a more engaged audience who is more likely to trust their recommendations.
• Personalization is crucial to marketing, including social media. Using data, businesses can target their ads to the right people at the right time, ultimately improving their ROI.
• Social commerce allows businesses to sell products and services directly to customers through social media, saving time and money. It is expected to grow significantly in 2023.