2022 Trends Forecast: PR, Social & Content

2022 is here, and with a new year comes new trends, because in our industry, nothing stays the same for long. But that’s why we love it – new technologies, platforms and methodologiess are always evolving and we enjoy the process of learning and adapting to help our clients grow bigger and better.

So, we asked the agency for their predictions for the coming year. Check out our PR, Social & Content 2022 forecast below…

Lizi Legge – Social Media Manager:

TikTok continues to fly

After insane growth in 2020 and continued popularity in 2021, I predict a continued amount of time to be spent on the platform and for it to increase its market share – the platform currently has over 1 billion users monthly.

We are already seeing shopping features being launched and would expect them to become more sophisticated from an organic and paid perspective – much like product tagging across other platforms. This ‘shop now’ expectation would hugely support the small businesses which TikTok prides itself on celebrating.

Pinterest to see an uptake in advertisers

Right now, for many advertisers, Pinterest isn’t a priority platform. But with ads working harder than on other platforms, I predict an uptake in advertising on Pinterest for top of the funnel customers. Pinterest holds a unique position in that it’s users access it with an expectation to seek out future purchases, but without a firm knowledge of what they are looking for (i.e., they’re not going with a Google-able search term). There is a huge advertising opportunity here and chance for brands to show up when the customer is still in the browsing stages.

Influencer advertising crack down

With the ASA continually cracking down on advertising rules for influencers, I predict an increase in monitoring of influencer partnerships with brands. Particularly with TikTok providing a new generation of influencers, who are being recruited for brand campaigns, there is an expectation that platforms will provide their own, clear guidance alongside the ASA – with brands being further penalised alongside influencers.

Influencers as creators

I expect to see an uplift in influencers being used for their content creation skills, becoming the ‘face’ of brands, in lieu of shooting owned social content. Particularly with platforms like TikTok, I anticipate a creator-first approach to content strategy for many brands, allowing a more authentic voice via native posting. The use of influencer content on owned feeds has previously been pushed to improve brand sentiment through that third party endorsement, but harnessing the creative talents of influencers (of varying audience size), is an opportunity to make social media content creation budgets go further and work harder.

More influencers will be used as value messengers and we will see more brands using influencers to share their values, as a priority. As the public demand transparency and sustainability, influencer’s will be at the heart of sharing this message via their platforms.

To support this, platforms will increase technological innovations to make it easier for brands and creators to collaborate – an example of this is Instagram who are creating a creator dashboard to make it easier for brands and influencers to work together and manage collabs.

Gabriella Haile – PR, Social & Content Account Executive:

Online shopping experiences

Viral content on TikTok will continue to drive sales. I predict the #tiktokmademebuyit trend will grow even bigger in the next year, as the platform continues to invest in shopping features such as Shopify.  Influencer marketing will help to drive online sales due to the ability to purchase products via many social media platforms. As influencers promote products and services on their accounts, they become important intermediaries when it comes to converting awareness into sales. This, combined with affiliate marketing, will lead to influencers leading the way in powering a seamless online shopping experience.

Demand for video

The demand for sponsored video clips will continue to grow. Instagram in particular will need to hold its own against platforms like TikTok, by maintaining a focus on what it does best – images and short-form video. As the platform battles with the popularity of TikTok, we may see Instagram invest more in video capabilities within the app.

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2022 is going to be an exciting year if this forecast is anything to go by. What do you predict will be big this year, we’d love to know!

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