- Event Promotion Tips
Social media trends you need to understand in 2023
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By Ryan Moss
- 23 Jan 2023
- 8 min read
To say social media is popular would be an understatement. Platforms have come and gone over the years, each changing our lives with new technology. Before 2013, watching comedic shorts made by everyday people would seem strange. But thanks to TikTok and Vine before it, scrolling the feed and tagging friends in funny clips is a fixture in our daily routine. Anyone can get involved. All you need is a mobile phone and an internet connection.
It’s had an impact on the way we consume and buy, too. Facebook revolutionised marketing by allowing brands to deliver their product to their customer’s news feeds. The days of paying for ad space in a magazine and hoping people see it are gone. Now, we can harness technology. By using data and other precise metrics, we can find the people we think will be interested in our product.
Social media is forever evolving. New features become prominent, and people find innovative ways to use them. So, it’s crucial to keep an eye on new developments. We’ve rounded up some predictions below that can help your event, bringing new customers no matter what genre of event you promote.
Short-form content will remain popular
With apps like TikTok and features like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, short-form video content has taken social media by storm. It’s a versatile format. You can be informative, entertaining and promote your brand, as well as editing any long-form video content to create previews to distribute across the apps we mentioned.
According to a survey carried out by video marketing company Wyzowl, 71% of marketers created social media videos in 2022, 42% of marketers made teaser videos, and 70% created explainer videos. This data shows that video creation was popular last year, and we can expect that the format will continue to be popular as 2023 unfolds.
There are several ways to harness this type of content. If you run a club night that books monthly residents to play, you could create DJ tutorials to post across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Your followers will likely be DJs themselves, and you’ll no doubt be followed by other professional DJs that work in the same genre as you.
You’ll have valuable content that will make people want to stop scrolling and people who will appreciate you making knowledge available. That means it’s more likely people will share it with their networks, meaning more eyes on your page.
TikTok as a search engine
As the popularity of TikTok grows, people are finding different ways of using the app to meet their needs online. As of late, the app has become a search engine for its users, and it looks as though the company have responded to that. In a recent ad, TikTok UK closed the video with a call to action that said: “Search it, learn it. Do it with TikTok”.
We don’t think that TikTok will overtake Google and other traditional search engines. But, it’s clear that there is a rise in both informative content and people using the app to search for new experiences.
The content could be highlights of your night — crowd reactions, jokes, drag performances — with the keywords you want to target in the caption, closed caption and on-screen text. For example, your keyword could be ‘Techno in Manchester’ or to be more specific, the name of your forthcoming booking and the city they’ll be playing in.
You can do the same with the example we mentioned in the previous section. It’s a combination of the new and traditional. Using SEO techniques with TikTok’s prominence as a search engine can show your event to new customers.
Gated content and Instagram Subscriptions
Gated content is an article, video, journal or guide that you have to sign up for to obtain. Marketing companies, ticket providers and B2B brands often produce how-to guides to generate leads. In the past few years, we’ve seen journalists create newsletters with a monthly sign-up fee to report on specialist subjects.
So, it’s not a new trend per se. However, Instagram’s latest feature, Instagram Subscriptions, could be adopted by brands to reward customer loyalty with exclusive content. It hasn’t launched in the U.K. yet, but the company is set to roll out tests in 2023.
The list of exclusive content includes posts, lives, stories, group chats and broadcast channels, and you’ll be able to set a price for the subscription. For event brands, this could be a way of offering discounts to subscribers and live content with your residents and people who appear at your event.
It’s a way of building a community around your event. By offering extra things alongside your night, the people who attend can hear more from you and be part of something with like-minded people.
Micro-influencer marketing
Influencers have been around for a while now. Their content is popular across various social media platforms, with brands securing partnerships with them to attract new customers. The main critique of influencers is a perceived lack of authenticity and the highly edited content turns some people away.
For event brands, working with influencers can present challenges. It’s tricky to find content creators who specialise in music, comedy, drag or other events where performers are prominent. In these circles, the perceived lack of authenticity could harm your whole image.
Enter the micro-influencer. A micro-influencer is someone with a bigger following than the general public but smaller than the celebrity type associated with influencers. As people look for more authenticity from brands in 2023, working with these content creators could help raise your event’s profile.
You could collaborate with a radio presenter or a content creator who is interested in the thing your event promotes. They could review your event, create a video around it or do some promotional content.
Localised Tik-Tok content
Back in August 2022, TikTok began to test out a new feature titled ‘Nearby’. With the ‘Nearby’ tab, users can view content local to their area, and creators can tag their content with their location.
So far, the feature has only been tested in South East Asia. However,It’s unclear whether the platform will roll out the ‘Nearby’ tab globally, but it’s one to keep an eye on. Combined with the increase in people using TikTok as a search engine, ‘Nearby’ could be helpful for many event brands.
If you’re running a new Christmas market in your area, you could create a TikTok post and market the event as the best-kept secret in your town or city. Add in our advice about using relevant keywords from earlier, and the feature could help you drum up interest and valuable customers.
Got a question you need an answer to? Give us a call on 03333010301 or ask us a question over on the Skiddle Promoter Twitter account by clicking or tapping on the button below. Alternatively, you can also find a list of our most frequently asked questions over at https://help.promotioncentre.co.uk/
