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18 Social Media Trends to Capitalize on in 2024

With 72% of U.S. adults using at least one social media platform, there’s no doubt about the power social media holds online. Investing in social media platforms and building your company’s presence is crucial for reaching people interested in what you offer.

The social media landscape is always changing, however, which means you need to stay on top of new social media trends so that you can capitalize on them. So, what are the latest trends in social media?

Here are 18 can’t-miss trends for 2024:

  1. Creating short-form, authentic videos
  2. Using social media platforms for research
  3. Creating “edutainment” content
  4. Building an authentic brand image
  5. Tapping into artificial intelligence (AI) for social media content
  6. Deinfluencing and promoting goods authentically
  7. Selling products on social media
  8. Investing in YouTube Shorts
  9. Leveraging user-generated content
  10. Looking to TikTok for video trends
  11. Moving to decentralized social media networks
  12. Updating your social media policy
  13. Dumping photos into one post
  14. Creating shareable content
  15. Living the phrase “people and planet over profits”
  16. Using interactive ads to boost engagement
  17. Working with nano and micro-influencers
  18. Focusing on building communities over followers

Keep reading to learn more about these social media trends!

And if you feel overwhelmed and exhausted trying to keep up with trends each year, consider partnering with a social media company like WebFX! Our team of over 500 social media gurus stays on top of the latest trends. Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to learn more!

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1. Creating short-form, authentic videos

To kick off this list of social marketing trends, let’s talk about creating short-form, authentic videos. Short-form videos have been trending in the past few years due to their easy digestibility and the rise of popular platforms like TikTok.

As of 2024, it’s no different. Short videos will continue to dominate the social media space and be an integral format for boosting engagement with your audience.

The one aspect that changed? Authenticity.

We’ll talk about this more when we go over deinfluencing and brand imaging, but authenticity is going to be a big trend for 2024. Users are becoming exhausted by “staged” and “fake” content –– they’re looking for genuine content that resonates with them.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

When you plan out your content throughout 2024, plan to make short-form videos for different platforms. Focus on content you can pack into a quick 1-2 minute video.

Additionally, think about ways to present your brand to your audience authentically. Don’t try to be overly salesy or take on a persona that doesn’t fit your brand.

Expert insights from webfx logo

Black and white portrait of a smiling woman with long hair wearing a dark shirt.
Anna Lewis Social Learning & Development Lead

“Users want to know who your brand truly is—and they want to know it quickly. But at the same time, your audience doesn’t want you to dominate the conversation; they want you to participate in it, which can be achieved through shorter format videos. Other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest have taken note of this and are pushing out more ways to utilize short-form videos on their platforms.”

2. Using social media platforms for research

To continue this list of trends in social media marketing, let’s talk about using social media platforms for research. In today’s world, many people use search engines to help them find information –– but it’s not the only place. More people are turning to social media for information.

Take this scenario, for example. Imagine you want to look for a recipe for broccoli cheddar soup. You go to Google, type in your query, and see some recipe options in the search results.

Google search for broccoli cheddar soup

Now you must spend your time clicking on one, scrolling through paragraphs of anecdotes about how the blogger created the recipe, and then figuring out if you like the recipe once you get to the bottom.

And if you don’t like the recipe, you must go back to the search results and repeat the process.

Social media, on the other hand, offers a simpler approach. If you search for broccoli cheddar soup recipes on Instagram, for example, it generates tons of videos and photos of recipes that you can quickly check out and see if they’re a good fit.

Instagram results for broccoli cheddar soup recipes

As a result, more people are turning to social media platforms to help them find recipes, products, and more. That means you must optimize your content, so people can find it when searching on social media.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

If you want to take advantage of this social marketing trend, you need to optimize your profile for social search engines. One way to do that is to target keywords in your posts. You can target keywords in the captions of your content to appear in relevant searches.

So, if you were posting a recipe for broccoli cheddar soup, you might target a keyword like “broccoli cheddar soup recipe” to help it appear in relevant searches. Using hashtags with keywords on platforms like Instagram can help your content appear in relevant search results.

3. Creating “edutainment” content

One of the latest trends in social media is “edutainment” content. Edutainment content includes posts that inform and educate people in a fun and engaging way. These videos will often use scenarios or skits to present information.

Edutainment is becoming increasingly popular on platforms like X (Formerly Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok. This type of content is appealing to people because it helps them learn things they didn’t know before in an easily digestible way.

Influencer giving financial advice through entertaining content

Imagine you wanted to learn how to open a high-yield savings (HYS) account. You could go and read a few articles online to learn, but that might feel boring to you (especially if you aren’t interested in finance).

Now imagine someone creates a quick, one-minute reel where they’re playing two characters talking about opening a HYS account. This video would provide more entertainment for the viewer and make the subject more interesting.

Edutainment is the new way to share critical industry information with your audience.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

To take advantage of this new social media trend, you must generate a list of topics you can post about on social media to educate your audience. Once you have a list of topics, you’ll want to think of a creative way to present the information to followers.

The most common formats for edutainment posts are skits and scenarios, but you can take any approach to presenting your information in a fun, educational way.

4. Building an authentic brand image

As we mentioned earlier, most new social media trends revolve around authenticity. With so many people creating and sharing content, there are numerous people who create phony content to get views –– and people are tired of it.

That’s why authentic brand imaging is trending in social media marketing. People want to see a real brand that presents its true self and doesn’t try to be something it’s not for the sake of views and being “trendy.”

How to capitalize on this social media trend

This trend may be the easiest of the social media marketing trends to follow –– just be yourself. Your company has a brand and a brand voice, so you must adhere to it when you create your content. Don’t stray from that branding –– embrace and showcase it in your content.

Video of a girl sharing the top five picks from Hot Toys

If you have a humorous and silly brand, integrate that feeling into your content. If your business is direct and serious, that should reflect in your content, too.

Your brand doesn’t need to be a “certain way” to appeal to people –– you’ll appeal to people solely by your brand being its authentic self.

5. Tapping into AI for social media content

Another of the new social media trends is tapping into AI for social media content. AI tools are taking the world by storm, from ChatGPT to Microsoft Bing AI.

These tools can generate information within seconds, which makes them appealing for 2024. More businesses will use AI tools because it will help them generate information faster and save time.

But what will businesses use AI for in their social media strategy?

Many businesses will take advantage of AI’s ability to:

Microsoft Bing AI generating captions for social media

  • Generate headlines: Creating an eye-catching headline that draws people in is challenging –– AI tools can help provide ideas.
  • Generate text-based posts: AI tools can generate text posts for you to share on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

Taking advantage of this latest trend in social media is easy –– just use an AI tool to help generate components of your social media strategy. Microsoft Bing AI is a great free option since it offers the ability to get “more creative” responses.

Input what you want the tool to do and pick from the responses! You can tweak them to fit your brand voice and style.

Expert insights from webfx logo

Black and white portrait of a smiling woman with long hair wearing a dark shirt.
Anna Lewis Social Learning & Development Lead

“AI has been a buzzword all throughout 2023, but we’re starting to see the practical use of it roll out into the social sphere more and more. One risk of AI, though, is that as more companies rely on it, I can see brand voices being lost or diluted, and audiences feeling disconnected from social accounts that previously felt more relatable and authentic. At the end of the day, social media needs to feel real to resonate.”

6. Deinfluencing and promoting goods authentically

One of the biggest trends in social media marketing now is deinfluencing. As platforms like TikTok rose to popularity, more people created content and became influencers in their niche. As these influencers get more popular, they get sponsored content opportunities to promote products to their audience.

With so many creators promoting products to their social media followers, it created an environment of overconsumption and vast consumerism on social media.

As a result, people started the trend of deinfluencing –– telling people what not to buy. This trend started within the beauty community but has now spread to other niches and groups online.

While there are arguments about whether deinfluencing is actually influencing (since you’re influencing people not to buy something), it’s continuing to trend into 2024.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

Since deinfluencing involves telling people what not to buy, it’s hard for your business to participate in this trend. What you can do, though, is work on promoting your products authentically.

Many people will deinfleunce a product because it underdelivers or doesn’t operate as intended. That’s why you must give an authentic presentation of your products –– you set the right expectations for your audience when you’re honest about what your product does.

Keep in mind, even when people deinfluence products, they’ll still note the ones that work or provide an alternative that’s better or more affordable. If you provide a top-notch product you authentically marketed, deinfluencers may still share it as a good option.

7. Selling products on social media

Up next on this list of trends in social media marketing is selling products on social platforms.

Popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok enable people to shop directly in the app to get the products they need. They can engage with your products through social media content and purchase the products without ever leaving the app.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

To take advantage of this social marketing trend, you must sell your products on social platforms. You can do this by posting your products or promotional content on your page to drive people to purchase from you.

On platforms like Instagram, you can create a shop/storefront to allow people to buy your products on Instagram without leaving. You can also use TikTok Shop to sell your products to TikTok users who love what they see in your videos.

8. Investing in YouTube Shorts

When you create short video content, you think to post it on popular platforms like TikTok and Instagram. But there’s one more place you’ll want to consider posting: YouTube.

Posting YouTube Shorts is one of the latest trends in social media that you’ll want to take advantage of in 2024. Considering 81% of U.S. adults say they use YouTube, it’s an excellent place to share video content and engage with your audience.

YouTube Shorts shown on the homepage of YouTube

How to capitalize on this social media trend

It’s easy to capitalize on this new social media trend –– just share the video content you post on TikTok and Reels on YouTube Shorts. You can post your content and interact with comments like you do on other social media platforms.

9. Leveraging user-generated content

Another of the top trends in social media marketing is leveraging user-generated content. People create content talking about your products or brand and share it on their social media page. With this content, your products are presented authentically by your audience.

With authenticity taking the forefront for 2024, user-generated content will continue to play a crucial role in helping build brand authenticity. Having real customers share their positive experiences, especially unprompted, will help build your authentic brand image.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

The best way to capitalize on this social marketing trend is to encourage your audience to share their experience with your products. You don’t want to influence your audience too much because you want the content to be authentic.

You can invite your audience to share their experience with your products on social media, then tag your business or use a specific hashtag in their post. That way you find the content and share it on your profile.

10. Looking to TikTok for video trends

When it comes to social media trends, it’s crucial to stay on top of current, popular content. Since video marketing trends come and go quickly, you’ll want to remain on top of them while they’re popular so you can take advantage of those trends.

TikTok continues to reign supreme in the video marketing realm –– TikTok users spend a collective 97.8 million hours watching videos on the platform each day compared to Instagram users watching 17.6 million collective hours of Reels in a day.

TikTok video trend of a confused dog

So, with more people engaging and spending time on TikTok, trends develop on the platform first before migrating to Reels and Shorts.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

Most short video trends start on TikTok and filter to other apps. Whether it’s a specific video format or an audio sound, TikTok will be where the trend starts.

So, even if you’re posting on Reels and Shorts, you’ll want to turn to TikTok to see what’s trending because it will start trending on these other platforms, too.

Keeper Security posting on Instagram using the confused dog trend

One way to keep track of trends is to watch popular content creators on TikTok. Most creators will partake in trends as they arise. If you follow multiple popular content creators and see them all using the same audio or video script, you’ll know it’s trending and can take advantage of it.

11. Moving to decentralized social media networks

One of the latest trends in social media is moving to decentralized social media networks. Decentralized social media platforms operate on multiple independent servers or a blockchain –– there isn’t one company that collects the data on a server and stores it.

Decentralized social media networks, like Mastodon, will increase in popularity for 2024 as more people become concerned with data control and privacy from other social media companies. Decentralized social media platforms give users more control and autonomy over their presence on social media.

Homepage for Mastadon social network

How to capitalize on this social media trend

To take advantage of this social media marketing trend, check out alternative platforms. See what they offer, how they operate, and if they fit your business.

12. Updating your social media policy

New social media trends aren’t all fun video styles and new tools to help you create content –– some trends are purely business but critical nonetheless. One of the most important social marketing trends for 2024 and beyond is updating your social media policy.

A social media policy is your company’s internal rules about what to post on social media. It sets guidelines for aspects like what is acceptable to post on social media and what you need to avoid.

The social media landscape is continually shifting and evolving –– some content that may have been acceptable three years ago is no longer appropriate today. And with social media platforms shifting to a stronger Gen Z base, the culture of social media is changing too.

Updating your social media policy helps avoid problems or scandals that arise from posting the wrong kind of content.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

It’s easy to take part in this social marketing trend –– just update your social media policy. You’ll want to review your policy and make any adjustments to things they may have changed. You can also expand your policy to include more rules to protect your company from bad publicity.

13. Dumping photos into one post

Another new social media trend for 2024 is photo dumping. Photo dumping involves creating a post with multiple photos surrounding an event, experience, or time.

The social media landscape is seeing a shift in how people post online –– the average person doesn’t post online as much, but when they do, they’re photo dumping to sum everything up.

Photo dump of Stanley cup costumes

Photo dumping has become an appealing way to post content because it serves as a medium for storytelling. If someone takes a trip to a beautiful location, for example, someone can see the story of their trip by swiping through the photos. A post with one photo wouldn’t have the same effect of showcasing the trip.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

You can take advantage of this trend by creating your own photo dumps. You can create a photo dump of an event at your business, a new product line, and more.

When you create your photo dump, choose an eye-catching first photo. Your first photo must draw people in, so they look at the other pictures in the post.

14. Creating shareable content

One of the continuing social media trends is creating shareable content. For your business to grow and reach new people, you need your followers to share your content with others.

Wendy’s, for example, shares memes and funny posts related to their brand to get people to share their content:

Content posted on Wendy's page imitating a meme

Creating shareable content will encourage others to share your posts on their profile, so you can reach their followers. It helps businesses earn new followers, engagements, and more. Creating this content will be the way for you to obtain more qualified leads in 2024.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

There isn’t a special formula that will help you create shareable content every time. You may create a content post that seems shareable with your audience, only for it to flop and receive minimal shares.

Generally, the best rule of thumb is to share content relatable to your audience. Wendy’s, for example, shares memes and jokes about their brand that get people to retweet their content. This sarcastic and witty style fits their brand but appeals to their audience.

wendys tweet

To create shareable content, focus on branded content that appeals to your audience. Don’t try to force a voice or style that doesn’t fit your brand –– being authentic and relatable will drive better results.

15. Living the phrase “People and planet over profit”

One of the new social media trends you’ll want to watch is living the phrase, “people and planet over profit.” More Gen Zers are joining social media platforms, which means the values and focus of social media audiences are changing.

One topic that is trending on social platforms now and into 2024 is sustainability. In fact, 82% of Gen Zers are concerned about the state of the planet, and 72% already have changed their behavior to reduce their environmental impact.

That means Gen Zers, a prominent demographic on social media platforms, are turning to planet-conscious brands.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

If you want to take advantage of this social media trend, you need to highlight the environmentally friendly features of your brand and products. Do you use recycled plastic packaging? Are your products made from eco-friendly or recycled materials?

Instagram homepage for Grove Collaborative

Highlighting eco-friendly features or your commitment to putting people first is a great way to follow this trend.

16. Using interactive ads to boost engagement

In today’s world, we’re continually swarmed with advertisements, from social media ads to over-the-top (OTT) ads to display ads on your favorite websites. With so many advertisements reaching people each day, you need to do something different to catch their attention.

That’s why interactive ads are on this list of trends in social media marketing. Interactive ads, like Instant Experiences on Facebook, provide an immersive and engaging experience. These full-screen ads enable users to interact with and manipulate the ad to see the information they care about most.

Instant Experience ad of a car on Facebook's website

Using these ads can create a refreshing experience for users and boost engagement with your brand.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

If you want to follow this trend, run interactive ads. Facebook Instant Experience ads are a great place to start –– you can try out this ad format and see if it works for your audience.

17. Working with nano and micro-influencers

When you think about people on social media, one of the first things that comes to mind is influencers. Across all platforms, influencers have a strong following, which means they can have greater reach than some businesses. That makes it appealing to work with an influencer.

That’s why one of the social media marketing trends for 2024 is working with micro and nano influencers. These influencers don’t have hundreds of thousands of followers, but they have a small niche of followers interested in their specific content.

Micro-influencers typically have a following between 10,000 and 100,000 followers, while nano-influencers have around 1000-10,000 followers.

Microinfluencer profile on Instagram

These influencers tend to have more engaged communities, making it an excellent opportunity for you to work with one of them and get your products in front of interested people.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

If you want to partner with an influencer, start searching on the platforms you use to see who’s popular in your niche. Look for people posting content related to your industry and reach out to them about forming a partnership.

18. Focusing on building communities over followers

When businesses build their presence on social media platforms, they focus on gaining followers. While building a following is a good start, there’s a new social media trend taking place in 2024: Building communities.

People don’t want to be just another number to your business –– they want to feel valued and connected. Creating a sense of community enables your audience to feel that connection –– that connection will keep prospects engaged with your company.

How to capitalize on this social media trend

A great way to build your social media community is by being authentic and engaging with your followers. Being responsive to your audience makes them feel connected to your brand, while authenticity helps them connect with your brand better.

Additionally, take time to comment on your followers’ content when they post about you. Even if you don’t decide to repost it as user-generated content on your page, you can still take time to comment on their content and engage with those followers.

Whether you’re sharing organic static content on Lemon8 or documenting life through Instagram Stories, being present and active with your followers and fans of your brand will help you create a solid community.

Need help taking advantage of these social media trends?

If you want to have an impactful social media strategy for 2024, you need to follow trends and adapt your strategy so that you can continue to drive qualified leads for your business.

Feeling overwhelmed having to continually keep up with the latest trends in social media? Consider hiring a social media marketing company like WebFX. We have a team of over 500 social media experts who will run your campaigns for you.

We’ve created over 165,000 social media posts for our clients and know what it takes to create engaging and authentic content.

If you’re ready to grow your business through social media, we’re ready to help. Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about our social media marketing services!

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