How Reels, Gen Z and chatbots will redefine social media in 2023

Over the years social media has been a must-have tool for marketers. Coming 2023, industry experts say brands will further experiment with social media practices. Marketing researchers have unveiled some of the upcoming trends.

The demand for reel-based content is set to have more takers. Experts say LinkedIn will be about much more than jobs, GenZ will redefine UGC, social SEO will replace hashtags and closed captioning will be the default on social video.

Social media & marketing strategies

Talking about how social media has evolved in recent years, Ameer Ismail, President of Lintas, live, says that after the unfortunate spike of Covid, social media has proven to be the most effective and easiest way for brands to communicate their proposition because of the quick turnaround of assets/campaigns and the platforms.

“I feel we have just scratched the surface when it comes to social media. With this evolving, need for influencer marketing and metaverse, there is still a lot more to come in this evolving and exciting world of possibilities,” Ismail added.

As for Pravin Shiriyannavar, COO, brand-comm, a unit of Madison World, social media has evolved to a stage where there is a belief that one is not a marketer if he or she doesn’t know social media marketing. "Today, it has also gone past being a selling platform to being a service platform because of its interoperability. Brands are constantly listening to customers’ voices and it is part of the brands’ feedback or listening machinery. It has also become a great platform for personal branding. At Brand Comm, we have been helping many CXOs in their brand-building journey."

Trends for 2023 

Social media has been lately seeing a lot of chatbot communication and brands continue to invest in influencer marketing. According to Shiriyannavar, there will be an increase in acceptance of video content along with a need for business psychologists to study consumer behaviour and work on campaigns that are scientifically backed. He also spoke of the need to develop engaging content by constantly monitoring the way users or consumers react and engage.

Tussle between platforms

Ravi Kumar, Founder, and CEO, MadHawks, says, “Facebook, as the most popular social media platform, will continue to take a larger business share from brands. Instagram is rapidly catching up and may soon overtake Facebook in terms of user numbers. However, it is unlikely to occur in 2023. The ageing demographics of Facebook users, which also mean higher spending power, are a better bet. This has the potential to be a valuable resource for future Facebook business growth. LinkedIn could be the underdog among all the talk about Facebook and Instagram taking over the spotlight for brands. Despite having a smaller audience, LinkedIn's success will be driven by the tightly knit communities and clear intent of the audience. Twitter, on the other hand, has seen a massive clash - so it's a good idea to keep actively engaging with your audience as the platform will catch the attention throughout the year - For better or worse.”

Sharing more on what the future looks like, Ismail, said, “We go through a football field of data regularly and attention is in short supply. In that context, social media is a perfect space to learn, share and express views. As a matter of fact, brands now are keener and more interested in the type of content, moment marketing initiatives and digital film campaigns to increase their engagement and thereby conversion.