Social is continually developing with new channels, new regulations and of course, new trends. And, it has changed the way in which trends are formed. Originally trends would rise up outside of the digital sphere - through popular culture or those topics big enough to spark global interest, and conversation. Today, trends can be formed from concepts on TikTok to hashtags on Twitter. The Social Media Trends 2023 Report, developed by consumer intelligence platform Talkwalker in partnership with software firm Khoros, predicts ten 2023 trends to help brands better engage with social media audiences.

AI will take centre stage

One big trend for 2023 will be the rise of AI-powered predictive analytics. With mentions of predictive analytics up 20% since January 2022, marketing and social media professionals will start to integrate AI-powered predictive analytics into their processes at scale to forecast the next big industry trends accurately.

Organic growth

With ever-changing consumer habits in the aftermath of the pandemic, persona marketing is also set to become redundant. 2023 will see brands target their broader communities, focusing on community eco-systems to generate organic relationships and connections. Private social media platforms such as Discord, Geneva and Signal will enable this as they can help influencers and brands create closer connections with their audiences.

10 key trends

1. The cookie gets debunked - the beginning of the end for third-party cookies, consumers are increasingly frustrated by the lack of privacy
2. Social media meets a new social standard - fake news maybe getting cleverer, but consumers are wising up too
3. Decentralised networks - the future of social media run by consumers, not big business
4. Multi-sensory social media - brands will invest in bringing sensory elements to digital experiences from gamification to fully immersive digital malls
5. Social commerce - the consumer will be willing to explore new shopping channels
6. The Metaverse - immersive reality, Web3 and blockchain will see consumers in a 3D world
7. Predictive analytics - AI-powered predictive analytics integrated at scale to accurately forecast the next big industry trend
8. The environment, no longer an afterthought - consumers and brands will come together for impactful environmental change
9. Customer experience gets, even more, social - social media will be the go to place for brands to connect with customers
10. Personas are over, think communities - brands will move further away from personas and target their broader brand communities

Methodology

The report was created by Talkwalker and Khoros using Talkwalker’s Consumer Intelligence platform. The data was collected from January to August 2022 and mentions of topics were gathered from a variety of media, including news sites, social media channels, blogs, and forums.

Written by Jack Richards, marketing lead, Northern Europe at Talkwalker.

If you're interested in more insight and discussion about Social Media Trends for 2023 then there's still time to register for PRmoment's free to attend The State of Social Media Report webinar.