Social media is a great tool for promotion today, whether you are a creator building a personal brand or the owner of a small business. But if you want your promotional efforts to succeed, you need to be mindful of trends. This is especially important because social media trends evolve rapidly, and staying ahead of the curve can help you capture audience attention and maximize your impact.

Track your competitors email marketing tactics with Emails Nest

Try Now!

Read further to discover what trends in social media and marketing are precisely, why it’s so important to follow them, and what is trending on social media in 2024.

What are social media trends?

Social media trends are the tendencies that become popular on social media over a certain period of time. These trends can take many forms, including topics for discussion, aesthetics, songs, memes, design and editing solutions, and even types of content, such as user-generated content or short-form videos. 

How do trends start? If a lot of people create content using a certain pattern, it becomes a trend.

Those who work with social media or promote their personal brand or projects there have to stay aware of such trends in marketing. It’s imporant to notice when they change and evolve in order to adapt effectively and maintain relevance.

What is trending on social media in 2024?

The trends that will be relevant in 2024 and potentially beyond include the following:

AI use

The use of generative AI is expected to increase greatly over the next few years. Today, it already helps social media specialists with things like:

• Content generation. AI tools help you quickly create engaging text, images, and videos. This automation streamlines content creation and ensures a steady flow of high-quality posts.
• Personalization. Using AI, you can craft personalized advertising and generate content tailored to user preferences and behaviors. By leveraging AI-driven insights, you can deliver more relevant and targeted messages and enhance user engagement and conversion rates.
• Campaign analytics. AI-powered analytics tools provide deeper insights into campaign performance and customer behavior. By analyzing vast amounts of data in real-time, AI helps you refine your strategies, optimize ad spend, and drive better results.

Old money aesthetic

What is “old money”? This is an aesthetic trend that cherishes and showcases timeless elegance, luxury, and wealth. Key elements of this trend include:

• Classic, high-quality fashion pieces, for instance, cashmere sweaters;
• Lifestyle, such as horseback riding, tennis playing, sailing, and attending high-society events;
• Muted color palettes, often in neutrals and earth tones.

By checking out the following Depositphotos blog article, you can learn that this trend is highly popular these days. For example, the hashtag #OldMoney has 8.6 billion views on TikTok alone.

Authenticity

Consumers are more critical of marketing tactics than ever, which makes authenticity one of the top priorities for brands. People now prefer accurate, trustworthy content over polished ads.

Authentic content can help you connect deeply with audiences, creating trust and loyalty and boosting business credibility. The more transparent and honest a brand is about its experience and challenges, the more respect and trust it gains from its audience. The numbers support that, as 86% of consumers believe authenticity is vital for choosing what brands they like and support.

User-generated content (UGC)

User-generated content (UGC) often comes in forms of reviews, social media posts, and videos and pictures of products. Its authenticity and relatability help build stronger trust between a company and its customers.

Consumers value UGC highly and expect brands to use it in their digital and physical touchpoints. That’s why 82% of brands and retailers are currently either shifting or considering shifting their paid media budgets to focus more on owned and earned content creation, UGC included. 

Storytelling

Storytelling in marketing and social media is all about creating a compelling story around a brand or product. It helps make emotional connections, improve message retention, stand out from competitors, and humanize brands.

Efficient storytelling is human-first, meaning that it focuses on people’s experiences and emotions. This helps target audiences connect with brands on a much deeper level than just product features or statistics.

Community building

Сommunities are groups of people who genuinely connect with a brand’s values, products, and services. These offer members rich interaction, open dialogue, and personalized experiences, often built around shared interests.

To build these communities, brands can use channels like private forums, social media platforms, webinars, and live events to communicate directly with their audience. They can also encourage user-generated content, collaborative projects, feedback, and virtual events to strengthen connections within the community.

Why is it important for creative and business people to follow social media trends?

Following social media trends is essential if you want to remain competitive and relevant. Here are several reasons why it is so crucial:

1. Increased visibility and reach. Trending topics and content are often shared more widely and quickly, helping brands reach new followers and potential customers.
2. Better engagement. Knowing what’s currently popular and showing it to your audience can encourage them to interact with your posts more and, therefore, foster a more active community.
3. Competitive edge. When you are among the first to adopt and promote new trends, you build yourself a reputation as a leader and innovator in your niche. 
4. Optimized content strategy. Trends can help you figure out which types of content and topics currently resonate with your audience and adjust your content strategy accordingly. 
5. Opportunities for creativity and innovation. Trends often inspire people to experiment with new content formats and creative approaches. With their help, your content can become more original and engaging.

To sum up

Keeping up with trends and implementing them in your social media can help foster loyalty with existing customers and reach out to new ones, as well as become more engaging to your target audience and generally more competitive in the market. Follow the tips listed in this article to update your social media strategy with the most relevant trends. 

Track your competitors email marketing tactics with Emails Nest

Try Now!