January Marketing Insights – Social commerce will dominate 2022

News

TikTok now a top US marketing tool

Well, we’re at the end of the first month of 2022 and so far this year, the marketing news has been rather expected.

New reports are making it even more clear that social shopping and live stream shopping will continue to grow and dominate in the 2022 shopping year. The Asian market is projected to be the largest, but with social media companies jumping on board, markets around the world should all grow this year.

Public perception on social media platforms has taken more hits. More and more studies are being released that claim it is a problematic vehicle for divisive messaging and movements. Instagram is even experiencing users leaving the platform for mental health reasons.

This year could be a memorable year for cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Google and Signal are both making big strides towards accessible crypto wallets. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are all trying to jump onto the NFT craze, and Twitter Blue users can now use NFTs as profile pictures.

TikTok is now a top-three marketing tool for US marketing firms. In 2022, up to half of US marketers from large firms will be using TikTok for influencer marketing.

Okay, let’s get into the juicy details. Here are the top stories for January that our experts think successful CMOs need to know.


#1 Social selling and live stream shopping is SO 2022

During the next three years, social selling via Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms will outpace traditional sales channels by three times to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025, according to Accenture. The growth will mostly be driven by Generation Z and millennials, with influencers also playing an important role. India and Brazil are expected to have the highest growth rates, while clothing, consumer electronics, and home decor will be among the most popular items.

Livestream shopping is projected to take in a massive $480 billion in China this year but only $11 billion in the United States. But that could change quickly as giants like Facebook, Amazon, TikTok, Twitter, and Pinterest start to jump into Livestream shopping.


# 2 The darker side of social media

Various studies and counter studies have shown that social media is a hugely problematic vehicle for divisive messaging and harmful movements. The most significant harm comes from the connection that the platforms offer and the capacity to plug into the thoughts of people.

Twitter is trying to give users tools to better control the content they see on the platform, like making sure that they don’t see anything from accounts they’ve muted or blocked as well as any muted keywords. On the web and the iOS and Android apps, users will no longer see events from muted and blocked accounts in the Explore tab or the What’s Happening sidebar. Users will also not get emails from the platform or events-based notifications.

Over one-third of US Instagram users have cut down on the amount of time they spend on the platform for mental health reasons, according to a new report. Roughly 38% have blocked accounts, 21% have set limits on screen time, and 18% have deleted the app, according to a report by Opinium research.


#3 Cryptocurrency and NFTs growing in popularity

Arnold Goldberg, a former PayPal executive, has been hired to help bolster Google Pay and Google’s payments division as part of a company-wide push into financial services including cryptocurrencies. Google will focus on being a more comprehensive digital wallet that includes digital tickets, airline passes, and vaccine passports.

After a round of beta testing, Signal has revealed its new private cryptocurrency payments feature worldwide. The Signal app is now fully integrated with a relatively new, privacy-focused cryptocurrency called MobileCoin. The cryptocurrency is only listed for sale on a few smaller exchanges like BitFinex and FTX, and neither of those is available to US users.

Twitter Blue subscribers can now use NFTs as profile pictures. Only subscribers using Twitter Blue on iOS devices can set NFTs as their profile pictures but the hexagon-shaped profile pictures will be visible across all platforms.

Meta’s two main social networks, Facebook and Instagram, are trying to springboard into the metaverse by planning a big move into the NFT market. By making it possible, and likely cheap, for Facebook and Instagram users to mint, trade, and display NFTs, the social media giant is taking an important step towards transforming itself into a metaverse powerhouse.

YouTube is also exploring plans to integrate NFTs into its platform. The company says it will give creators new ways to connect to their audiences. The integration of NFTs on YouTube is likely to have a massive impact on the adoption of NFTs.


#4 TikTok is now a top 3 marketing tool in the US

TikTok has surpassed YouTube as the third most popular influencer marketing platform among US marketers in 2021. In 2022, it is expected that 45.7% of US marketers from companies with 100 or more employees to use TikTok for influencer marketing versus 42.5% for YouTube. Why is this? Well, YouTube has not kept up with the short video trend and TikTok is encroaching on YouTube’s territory as they move toward longer-form video.

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#5 LinkedIn ad options and new live audio feature

SocialMediaToday recently polled their audience on LinkedIn to get some direct feedback about which LinkedIn ad option is delivering the best results for their business. Out of 410 responses, 42% indicated that single image ads have been the best-performing ad option, followed by videos ads and promoted text posts, with other options a ways behind.

Last year, LinkedIn announced that it was working on a Clubhouse-like live audio feature and that feature will finally debut later this month. It will debut in beta form as part of the company’s new events platform. Users will be able to participate in live conversations, join speakers ‘on stage’ as part of the discussion, and will be able to make connections with others at an event to network with after the event ends.


You have more important things to do than filter through thousands of news sources to find the information that really matters. Let our experts, Pietro, Silvia, and Adele, do the leg work for you!

Why should you trust them? Simple – their diverse backgrounds, interests, and international locations leave them perfectly placed to monitor the industry from all possible angles and pick out the nuggets that make a difference for YOU.

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Happy marketing!


Your Viral Octopus Team.

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