AI, Music and More: Four Factors That Will Change the Social Landscape of 2023
The social media landscape never has a dull moment, and this year will be no different. The intersection of social, commerce, and culture has never been more active, and these crossovers are keeping brands on their toes and ahead of the curve. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top trends that the team here at SOCIALDEVIANT has their eyes on as we move forward.
Social SEO
The rise of social media as a search engine tool, as well as the advancements of search engines within social platforms natively, has revolutionized the norms of content discovery.
Organic visibility now stands to have the strongest value in years, as platforms such as TikTok have advanced their algorithms and internal search capabilities, allowing users immediate access to their most valuable content. In fact, within TikTok’s core base of Gen Z users,
UGC Over Microinfluencers, 40% of users turn to TikTok over Google when conducting a search.
Music Rights Vs Social Trends
With TikTok driving the majority of user based social trends, we werent surprised to see so many music-based short form videos created over the last year. With that, we also expected to see creative workarounds to participate in trends without running into any copyright violations. Brands participating in song based trends featuring music by artists such as Lady Gaga and Fleetwood Mac were promptly hit with terms of service violations, and in some cases even cease and desists. This has led to larger brands such as Pepsi to create their own music and their own ways to participate in these trends. Meanwhile, we’re continuing to work directly with TikTok as they push to expand their commercial music library available to brands.
Proactive Engagement as Branding Tool
Brand’s appearing in unique conversations within social has become a powerful method of awareness and positioning in the last year. Duolingo, Vice, Slim Jim, and many other brands have been regulars as of late within the comments section of TikTok’s most viral videos week after week. This has led to an increase in their on-platform engagement, and a rise in brand sentiment in Gen Z and millennials. A creative play on the platform’s algorithm, this engagement tactic is now a core part of any TikTok presence.
AI’s Power Over Content
Generative AI is revolutionizing content marketing by creating content that is indistinguishable from human-generated content. It can be used to create unique and high-quality content at scale, with the help of natural language processing and machine learning algorithms. We're keeping a close eye on where the line is drawn between having easily produced content VS putting your brand on autopilot.