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Every brand has to, in a way, keep up with the joneses if it really wants to make a big impact on social media.
The following article examines 23 crucial trends needed for social media marketing come 2024 and analyzes in-depth much more than mere observations.
We will not only cover these emerging trends but also take you through some insider tips from our rich experience, being one of the richest influencer platforms.
Within these insights, we enlighten you with pragmatic strategies on how to use these tendencies effectively so that your brand remains ahead in the innovation of digital marketing.
Let's dive in.
UGC marketing has become extremely lucrative for brands because social media users appreciate it so much.
In fact:
Now, let's review the UGC marketing trends:
Your content campaigns should be based on social sharing because UGC statistics show your target audience loves to share:
There are many reasons why users like to share on social media.
Besides, social sharing brings you numerous advantages:
Here’s probably the most important thing, though:
Real customers who share their positive experiences about your brand are the cornerstones of your online community.
This brand community creates a connection with other real customers and makes potential customers want to become part of this family.
The group ultimately develops inside jokes, shared experience, everyday language, fundamental values, and legendary figures.
With each such new trait or insight, your community becomes tighter.
Offer incentives to your social media followers and product users to create social media posts about your brand.
A social incentive will motivate 60% of your potential customers, while explicit incentives motivate only 32%.
Implicit incentives that work well for user-generated content creation:
One famous example of using implicit incentives wisely is Lay’s Do Us a Flavour campaign.
The famous snack brand asked social media users to create innovative chip flavors for the chance to win a big money prize.
How about asking customers to create a new flavor?
That’s what Lay’s did, and it worked.
This idea can mobilize everyday people because their creativity makes them feel included in the brand’s essential making-of process.
Important lesson: Give your customers a voice.
A few decades ago, magazines, print ads, and TV represented visual marketing.
Nowadays, visual marketing is on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok; even the news talks about it.
Gen-Z consumers will spend hours watching TikTok clips and IG photos, and Millennial consumers aren’t that far off from this, either.
You must leverage this new social media landscape for your industry, powering your branded content with UGC.
When starting a user-generated content marketing campaign, try understanding your customers.
Insights don’t strike from heaven; they come from heavy research.
Consider a UGC platform if you’re unsure where to go from here or if you just want to save time.
The average consumer posts specific UGC, but brands try their hardest to mimic that content.
Using bots might look like an easy solution, but it is ineffective and even damaging, as it takes away your credibility.
Many of our own clients use micro - influencers to engage their social media community and to take the reins of their UGC campaigns.
That's because:
To leverage this social media trend, consider influencer partnerships.
Micro-influencers on TikTok can create authentic content that decreases ad fatigue and lowers your CPAs on this social media channel.
For example, inBeat Agency's campaign for inbox decluttering app Unroll.me slashed CPAs by 83% on TikTok and led to over 100,000 app installs with social media content like this:
inBeat Agency has also used influencers to power other social media marketing strategies.
For example, digital collaboration platform Miro worked with inBeat influencers to promote its templates on different social networks, from Instagram to LinkedIn.
Their social strategy included different types of content as well as creating free templates for marketers and business owners.
UGC trends involving artificial intelligence are reshaping how content is created, shared, and engaged with online.
Here are a few notable trends:
How to leverage this trend: Social marketers now have a myriad of tools at their fingertips, some of them free and some paid.
Influencer platforms like inBeat constantly get new software, marketing tools, and people to leverage machine learning technology for user-generated content marketing.
Our platform can tag images and videos automatically, find keywords, explore content, and match you with the right influencers.
Using the power of AI allows you to focus your time and energy on other matters.
UGC is widespread on all social media platforms.
You see it on YouTube when you search for customer reviews for a new camera.
You see it on Instagram whenever you wish to try a new recipe or buy food.
That’s why brands like GoPro and Bluehouse Salmon have created such extensive UGC campaigns.
Bluehouse Salmon, one of inBeat’s clients, has a mouth-watering IG feed thanks to UGC.
Bluehouse Salmon’s beautiful Instagram feed powered by user-generated visual content.
Side note: We take a lot of pride in working with Bluehouse Salmon because they power their content calendar almost solely with UGC.
Imagine the money you can save if you manage to do that.
But back to email campaigns.
If you’re like most other brands, the open rate is 17-18% across email subscribers and days of the week.
That’s not good.
However, UGC stats show that using user-generated content in your emails will:
Period underwear brand Snuggs uses real women in its marketing emails:
You can also apply this strategy:
The 2020 pandemic saw a steep rise in YouTube consumption.
The trend will continue in 2024, and there’s no way to stop that train.
YouTube accounts for a whopping 25% of global mobile traffic and is available in 80 languages.
Even though most viewers on YouTube come from mobile, this report shows a 39% increase in views from TV screens in 2019, and in 2020 this number exploded to 80%, accounting for 450 million hours of watch time per day!
With the number of videos uploaded by already well-established YouTubers and all the new YouTubers popping up by the hundreds each month, there are also thousands of new content consumers on this social media network.
Brands are taking advantage of this trend by promoting their products and services in two ways.
Video is excellent at catching your consumers’ attention, and it is much easier to deliver information in an engaging way.
So, let's look at the upcoming trends on YouTube.
Most people who watch videos do so because they want to see a story.
A brand story through a live stream is a very captivating and compelling way to deliver that story solidly.
Live streams create a first-person interaction that makes consumers relate and connect with your brand in real time.
Consumers can speak directly to the brand via live chat, which motivates them to stay glued to the screen.
To make the most of your live streams, you should bear in mind three things before going live:
It’s easy to think that everything should be spontaneous and random because you're going live.
Successful streams usually have a balance between improvisation and structure.
Use AI video summarization to condense long videos into engaging highlights that maintain viewer interest and are perfect for short-form content platforms.
It requires some forethought:
Being the second largest search engine globally, YouTube uses powerful algorithms, and they are continually evolving by looking at the trends themselves.
Among these trends are what viewers like to watch, hot topics, and many other features that help these machine learning algorithms determine how to present suitable videos to the right audience.
A compelling feature that can boost your brand’s views or the views of the creator you are working with is hashtags.
Even though YouTube introduced hashtags quite some years ago, most channels never really paid much attention to them.
Hashtags on YouTube work pretty much in the same way as Instagram hashtags do.
They help people find a specific product, service, topic, how-to videos, etc.
Insider tip: You can add hashtags to the video title.
YouTube allows up to three hashtags per video title.
Let’s say you have a brand specializing in coffee grinders: CoffeeGrinderXYZ.
Some people may be familiar with your brand and want to find out more about it and some of its coffee grinder models.
By adding a hashtag like #coffeegrinderxyz, #coffeegrindersinmyarea, and #bestcoffeegrinders2024, you are giving YouTube valuable information to help people discover your brand or find out about a particular model they’ve been thinking about buying but aren’t convinced yet.
Titles are critical as they will tell the viewer exactly what you will show them in the video.
Following the coffee grinder example, you could add a title like How To Use The CoffeeGrinderXYZ 20X Model.
Warning: Titles are capped at 100 characters, so it is vital to use at least one hashtag followed by a compelling title.
Using the year in the title is also a great idea, as people tend to click on recent videos.
Even if your brand's videos are slightly old but still relevant, consider editing the title to include the current year.
Many creators are doing that, and that is quite a trend these days.
Just like titles, video descriptions should be very… well, descriptive.
Make sure you write as much relevant information in your description box as many people tend to skim through that section to decide whether to watch the video or skip to the next.
Consider it as an extension to your title.
Next are the tags, which shouldn't be confused with hashtags.
Tags aren’t usually visible to the viewer, but they help the algorithm determine what kind of video you are posting.
They are keywords.
Tags are usually added below the description and should be used wisely without abusing them.
CoffeeGrinderXYZ tags can include the brand name itself, “best coffee grinders in 2024”, “how to grind coffee,” and other relevant tags.
Last but not least are the thumbnails.
With so much competition to get the CTRe as high as possible, brands and creators resort to high-contrast pictures with lots of colors and attractive fonts and faces.
Your thumbnail complements your titles and description, so it must be appealing and click-worthy to stand out from the other videos fighting for that click.
Pro tip: Use tools like canva.com to help you create thumbnails.
They have hundreds of awesome templates:
This study found that 80% of online shoppers watched a video of the product they planned to buy.
Over the last couple of years, the views of “Shop with me” style videos have multiplied by 10.
Another popular shopping-style video trend is “Does it work,” which has grown twelvefold, and “Everything you need to know” video watch time has doubled in the same period.
In fact, here’s one of Target’s Live Shopping videos:
Even though how-to videos on YouTube are not a new trend, they are powerful and will continue to grow.
YouTube’s parent company, Google, has made some changes to help “how-to” videos gain more views.
When you type a “how-to” question on Google’s search bar, it will display a text-based result, followed by a string of videos related to your search query.
If people type in “How to grind coffee,” they will see a video of the fictitious company we created before (CoffeeGrinderXYZ) explaining how to grind coffee… with the CoffeeGrinder 20X model!
So you gain a viewer and potentially a new customer, too.
Besides, there's also a growing trend towards educational content, with users turning to YouTube to learn new skills, from cooking and home improvement to software tutorials and language learning.
This trend is not just limited to formal education; it encompasses a wide range of life skills, hobbies, and professional development topics.
Basically, how-to videos are becoming the long-form content of the future.
Include "how to" videos in your content strategies or partner with savvy influencers who can create excellent content to attract more prospective customers.
These influencers should have good engagement metrics and understand consumer behavior so they can create desire, not just spread information.
As TV viewership keeps dropping like flies in a freshly sprayed cornfield, it doesn’t make much sense to run ads on TV anymore.
Most brands focus their marketing efforts on social media apps, and YouTube is one of the most popular platforms to promote your brand.
According to a recent study conducted by Nielsen, YouTube reaches more adult viewers on mobile than any cable network does.
Consumers primarily watch YouTube from their smartphones during prime time.
Add to the previous statement that around 75% of adults watch YouTube on their mobiles from home and that YouTube mobile advertising is 84% more effective at grabbing consumer attention than TV ads.
You have enough compelling evidence for investing in YouTube ads with a much higher ROI.
You can leverage YouTube Ads to reach your target audience by leveraging YouTube's detailed targeting options.
Basically, you can ensure your ads are shown to users based on factors like age, interests, location, and viewing behavior, maximizing relevance and engagement.
You can also employ different ad formats, such as skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable ads, bumper ads, and video discovery ads.
This helps you tailor your approach to suit campaign objectives, whether aiming to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, or boost sales.
Plus, you can also power your ads with influencers or sponsor their content to get more coverage.
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos are usually professionally produced videos to deliver certain sounds and visuals.
These videos are designed to invoke a variety of satisfying, calming, and soothing emotions in the viewers.
Some videos in this category include cooking, whispering, book reading, eating, and cosplay, among many others.
ASMR videos are mainly produced by channels focusing on meditation, therapy, mental health, and wellness.
But brands in other niches can leverage the power of ASMR videos to invoke certain feelings and thus, improve their customers' shopping experience.
Once again, using our coffee grinder company example, you could create a video showing the different stages of coffee preparation.
For example, sound from the grinding, the water pouring into the coffee maker.
Add to that the milk drop sound as it makes contact with the coffee, the spoon against the sides of the cup while stirring, the first slurp, and many other sound effects.
Here is an actual example of an ASMR video featuring the coffee brewing process:
Offering a 100% immersive user experience, these videos work great for real estate, hotels, house tours, travel and tourism, and video games.
With 360 degree videos on YouTube, viewers can pause the video at any time and click and drag to rotate the view at any angle they want, giving them a VR experience.
Imagine promoting your real estate company and showing potential buyers a wholly immersive experience through one of the 360 virtual tour software apps without leaving their current home.
You can showcase your town, village, or tourist attraction during these challenging times using a 360-degree video experience.
YouTube Shorts enable users to make YouTube shorts directly from their mobile phones.
People can create and upload videos of 60 seconds or less directly onto the YouTube app.
YouTube Shorts have surged in popularity due to the growing preference for quick, engaging content that fits into the fast-paced lifestyle of modern audiences.
This trend mirrors the success of platforms like TikTok, emphasizing short-form content that's easily consumable on-the-go.
Shorts cater to viewers' dwindling attention spans and the desire for instant entertainment or information, making them a go-to for quick breaks or moments of leisure.
Use this format to highlight key product features, share quick tips, or run teaser campaigns that spark curiosity about your brand.
Shorts are also an excellent tool for storytelling in snippets, allowing you to build a narrative around your brand or products in a series of engaging, bite-sized videos.
And you can engage with trends and challenges to make your content more relatable and shareable, increasing your brand's visibility.
Remember, the key is to create content that's not only promotional but also genuinely entertaining or informative, encouraging viewers to engage with your brand beyond the short clip.
Here's Marks and Spencer showcasing one of their products randomly hanging in Central London:
9. Makeover Videos Are Buzzing
Whether it is from ugly to gorgeous or from rundown to Airbnb-ready, these types of videos are buzzing now on YouTube, and there is no sign of slowing down.
Take the Dezinfun with Michelle YouTube channel.
On this channel, you can see how the creator transforms homes that look a bit, well, not very presentable and make them worthy enough to be on the cover of any magazine.
inBeat Agency collaborated with this channel for the Urban Ambiance campaign (USA-made luxury light fixtures), which generated a lot of buzz:
These kinds of videos would be ideal for any brand in the home decor and interior works niche.
Videos that show a personal transformation, like from ugly to beautiful, are an excellent idea for cosmetics, hair, nail care, clothing, shoes, and any products in the beauty and clothing industries.
You can find influencers on YouTube that are makeover gurus and will take your brand to the next level.
YouTube gaming channels have skyrocketed in popularity due to the increasing mainstream acceptance of gaming as a form of entertainment and the rise of esports.
These channels offer a blend of entertainment, community, and education within the gaming world, attracting not just hardcore gamers but also casual viewers intrigued by gaming culture.
The immersive and interactive nature of gaming content, coupled with the charismatic personalities of gaming content creators, creates a loyal and engaged audience.
So do not overlook it.
As a marketer, you can tap into this trend by partnering with gaming influencers whose audience aligns with your target demographic.
Collaborate on sponsored gameplay and product reviews, or feature your products as in-game items or settings, making your brand a natural part of their gaming experience.
Hosting contests, giveaways, or live-streaming events on gaming channels can also drive engagement and increase brand visibility.
Pro tip: Ensure your marketing messages resonate with the gaming community's values and interests to foster authenticity and a positive brand association.
For example, Nord VPN collaborated with gamers on YouTube for quite some time and generated impressive results.
They combined in-stream video inserts with review videos from the same gamers for the maximum impact:
TikTok has become a popular social media platform.
Everyone seems to know specific jingles and memes that first appeared on this channel.
Besides, many companies have started using TikTok in the past few years.
What does that mean for 2024?
Let's see.
What's The Big Data shows that TikTok went from 1.9 billion users in 2023 to 2.05 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to 2.25 billion by 2027.
Besides, TikTok isn’t just for teens anymore.
Look at the stats: 48.6% of TikTok active users are 25-44 years old.
If more businesses and people of all ages are getting on TikTok, your company should do it, too.
However, you should:
… so create commercials that people will love.
TV ads experienced quite a fall during the past few years, both in popularity and credibility.
However, Millennials still remember those almost magical Super Bowl commercials or Coca-Cola Christmas ads.
The point is, people watch video ads that blend with their lives and topics they care about.
That brings us to the next point.
Solution 1: Find trending topics to ensure your ads are popular.
TikTok groups videos with similar concepts via hashtags.
Thus, if your audience is interested in a specific topic, they can watch viral videos about that topic for prolonged periods.
That means you can:
Solution 2: Optimize your hooks to ensure you catch people's attention from the start.
For example, inBeat Agency tests different hooks for each influencer to find that catchy intro.
That's how our sister agency managed to lower CPAs for the travel app Hopper while also getting more in-app active users.
Let’s look at the numbers again.
TikTok is a great platform because of its high average engagement rate.
TikTok’s engagement rate is 17.99% in the US and 15.86% worldwide.
Compare that to other social platforms’ engagement rates:
How is TikTok doing that, you ask?
The secret is the platform’s fantastic algorithm that provides TikTok users with quality content they will most likely watch.
TikTok algorithm senses people’s preferences, based on which it gives a personalized video selection in the “For You” section.
Here’s another factor to consider:
According to a Kantar study, respondents believe that TikTok ads are better and more inspiring than the ads they see on other platforms.
This is because:
That’s why these ads sell.
For example, MAKE UP FOREVER’s TikTok creative video got 11 million impressions and 10 million views.
When posting on TikTok:
Insider tip: Use the album cover challenge to create social proof for an innovative product.
For example, the Washington Post started including TikTok in their social media strategy from pretty early on.
That’s surprising if you consider that the Washington Post has a mature, educated, and high-income audience, whereas TikTok was mainly deemed a kids’ platform.
However, the newspaper uses TikTok to engage their audience and even present the news in a funny way:
TikTok isn’t practical just for raising awareness and creating engagement; you can sell on it too.
Social commerce has grown in the past few years.
According to eMarketer, social commerce increased by 18% in 2020 and will be worth $79.64 billion in 2025.
Social commerce is expected to keep growing at a high rate.
Why should you hop on the TikTok e-commerce wagon?
TikTok already has practical e-commerce features you can already use:
Deinfluencers are a growing trend on social media, particularly on platforms like TikTok, where users actively advise against purchasing certain products or services, challenging the traditional influencer marketing approach that typically involves promoting items.
This movement stems from a desire for authenticity and transparency, with users valuing honest opinions over sponsored content.
Deinfluencers share personal experiences, highlighting overhyped or underperforming products and encouraging a more discerning consumption pattern.
@overcoming_overspending here for another ✨deinfluencing✨ moment #deinfluencing #deinfluencer #deinfluence #overspending #overspendingmoney #consciousconsumer #moneytok #moneycoachforwomen #savemoneytips #spendless #shoppingaddict #compulsiveshopping #compulsiveshopper #creditcarddebt #debtfree #impulsebuying #impulseshopping ♬ original sound - Paige-Overcoming Overspending
TikTok is poised to become a haven for deinfluencers due to its algorithm prioritizing content engagement over follower count.
As such, TikTok allows genuine and relatable content to gain visibility regardless of the creator's popularity.
The platform's short-form video format is ideal for quick, impactful messages that can easily go viral.
Additionally, TikTok's diverse and engaged user base values content authenticity and relatability, making it the perfect environment for deinfluencers to thrive and influence purchasing behaviors in a more consumer-centric way.
72.5% of marketers plan to use influencer marketing in 2024, so why not do it on the platform with the highest engagement rate?
Bonus: TikTok offers several tools to strengthen the partnership between brands and content creators.
But you should do it wisely.
Working with deinfluencers allows you to create a loyal TikTok community, sell your products, and even fulfill orders through TikTok.
Here's how you can kickstart a deinfluencer collaboration:
Instagram is poised to continue on its fairly standard course.
However, three trends seem to be catching fire on this social network.
With the increasing popularity of short-form video content, Instagram Reels has emerged as a significant trend.
Reels allow users to create engaging, creative videos up to 60 seconds long, often set to music or featuring various AR effects.
Instagram Reels offers a dynamic platform for creating and sharing short, engaging videos.
This feature capitalizes on the global trend towards bite-sized entertainment, providing brands with a tool to craft visually appealing content that captures the essence of their message swiftly.
For example, Grammarly uses Reels to promote its new features and engage with new and current customers:
You can leverage Reels by producing fun, informative, and shareable content that showcases your products or services in action, tells compelling brand stories, or participates in popular challenges and trends to increase visibility and engagement.
To leverage Reels, focus on creating content that aligns with current trends, incorporates popular music, and uses creative transitions to keep viewers engaged. Tutorial-style Reels, product showcases with a creative twist, and participation in viral challenges can enhance brand visibility.
Pro tip: Incorporating calls-to-action, such as encouraging viewers to visit the brand's profile or website, can also drive traffic and conversions.
There's a growing demand for authentic content on Instagram, with users favoring genuine posts over highly curated ones.
This trend extends to how brands approach their Instagram presence, encouraging them to share behind-the-scenes content, real customer stories, and transparent communication about their values and practices.
Brands can leverage this trend by adopting a more relatable and humanized content strategy, which can build trust and loyalty among their followers.
You can also user-generated content, real customer testimonials, and stories that reveal the brand's journey, challenges, and achievements.
Highlighting the brand's culture, values, and the people behind your products can foster a stronger sense of community and loyalty.
Transparency about sourcing, production processes, and corporate social responsibility initiatives can further solidify consumer trust.
Instagram continues to expand its shopping features, making it easier for users to discover and purchase products directly through the app.
Shoppable posts, stories, and the dedicated Shop tab offer seamless in-app shopping experiences.
Basically, Instagram has evolved into a significant e-commerce platform, offering various features that allow users to shop directly from posts, stories, and the Shop tab.
You can tap into this trend by:
As we look beyond the current year, several emerging trends promise to shape the future of social media engagement.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) open up new opportunities for brands to create even more immersive experiences — by giving users the ability to actually interact with products in ways that have never been done before.
In a way, the content strategy will also be affected by the trends with a move of brands towards smooth voice-optimized searches and smooth integrations with the devices.
It will focus on data privacy and importance in the aspect of security and put more added pressure on brands that they enforce transparent practices and focus on user trust.
You are supposed to stay on your toes and be ready to change with the changing trends if you still want to be in competition in the changing and dynamic world of social media.
That’s why you need to choose a reliable partner.
inBeat can help with many tools, such as a robust influencer database.
We have a UGC platform specifically created to find, curate, and post UGC.
And lastly, we can talk strategy with you, no strings attached, to find the best plan for your needs.