The 7 top social media trends: what and how to broadcast to the world in 2024?

"Successful success" is slowly becoming a thing of the past

You have probably seen in social media the accounts of “experts” and “mentors” who dress in brands, drive the most expensive cars, live in penthouses, and buy yachts every year. They regularly post photos and videos of their achievements on Instagram, accompanied by cliché quotes. And some of them occasionally offer to teach others how to “simply” earn millions.

But lately, this “successful success” has become tiresome for everyone on the internet and has turned into an ironic meme. The repetitive profile headers with loud, unsubstantiated promises of becoming rich and happy evoke negativity. The deliberate, exaggerated display of material achievements has begun to genuinely annoy and sometimes even lead to problems. For example, it causes some to worry, downplay their own significance, and spend money on questionable courses, consultations, investments, etc.

Therefore, in the coming year, content created to showcase one’s fictional or real “perfect life” on social media will continue to lose relevance. The audience wants truth, sincerity, and openness. The majority wants to follow real people who occasionally make mistakes, openly share stories from their lives, and do not deceive their followers.

UGC (user-generated content) will be most popular

Generation Z uses social media to extensively document their lives. They actively maintain video diaries and post about “everything”. Additionally, they are more likely than others to share notes about their favorite brands and places they enjoy visiting, among other things. Modern bloggers have millions of followers and they themselves are consumers of high-quality, useful, or entertaining short content. All of this indicates that user-generated content (UGC) is currently at the peak of its popularity and will not lose it in the coming year. 

For companies, a major advantage of user-generated content is that they can increase their number of subscribers, expand their community, enhance brand recognition, and level of engagement thanks to it.

Short, but high-quality content instead of hour-long videos

Over the past few years, social networks have become our main source of information and entertainment. However, the constant consumption of a large amount of diverse content has led to oversaturation and gradually developed what we call “clip thinking”. This is a type of thinking where a person perceives material through short formats and colorful images, quickly switching from one piece of information to another due to superficial immersion in its essence.

The modern internet user quickly “scans” the content offered to them. If they don’t see something interesting and appealing in the first couple of seconds, they quickly move on. A prime example of this is the videos on TikTok or YouTube Shorts. Most of us will only watch a video until the end (or at least halfway) if it highly interests us right from the start.

The trend of popular short videos is not only related to their ease of perception for users, but also to their importance for social media algorithms. For example, short videos that are popular among users generate their interest in watching the “full” versions of these same videos.

According to a study conducted by Google, 59% of young people use short videos to search for content that interests them, and then move on to their full-length versions.

When it comes to useful and educational products, nowadays, most people prefer compressed, concise video clips, podcasts, webinars, articles, etc. instead of lengthy online courses and lectures.

In creating quality content in 2024, carefully choosing topics and keywords will still play an important role. For example, YouTube Shorts, which is integrated with Google, holds a special position in search engine optimization and social media strategies, offering exceptional opportunities to increase content visibility beyond the platform itself. Quality should not be overlooked either. Despite the content becoming more compressed, user expectations regarding its quality are constantly growing. High resolution, good sound, and professional editing have become essential characteristics of worthy content today.

The Importance of Personalization and Interactivity

Modern internet users want more than just consuming content—they want to actively participate in it. Interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and augmented reality effects are becoming increasingly popular means of capturing audience attention. Additionally, live streams and broadcasts conducted on various platforms (TikTok, Youtube, Twitch, etc.) attract audiences numbering in the thousands.

Furthermore, as it has been before, in the upcoming year 2024, content must be relevant to specific users. Therefore, targeted advertising continues to be actively utilized. Algorithms and AI (artificial intelligence) will also play a significant role in achieving this goal in the near future. They enable the offering of content that is precisely tailored to the interests and preferences of individual users.

Adding captions and subtitles to videos

In today’s world, posting videos on social media without captions and subtitles is like riding a bicycle without a seat – inconvenient. 

Today, we are all very busy and constantly in a hurry. More and more users are watching videos on mobile devices without sound (for example, at work, in transit, in a doctor’s waiting room, or at a beauty salon during a pedicure). If a video only contains music, that’s fine, but if someone is speaking, without subtitles, you won’t understand anything. Therefore, a persistent and developing trend in 2024 will be to add textual transcription to ALL videos, on ALL platforms.

Many social media platforms have the option of automatically generating subtitles, but the results are quite “clumsy”. Before publishing content, it is necessary to carefully check such transcription. However, the best option is to enter the text manually or use special applications (Movavi Video Editor Plus, Subtitle Edit, VisualSubSync, or any other). High-quality subtitles improve ranking in search engines and social networks.

Captions not only make videos more user-friendly, but they also significantly increase the chances of being found through relevant searches, as users often use keywords from these captions when looking for content of interest. Another significant advantage of adding subtitles to videos is their accessibility for those with hearing impairments.

Active development of commerce within social networks

Internet users have become so accustomed to the ability to place orders in their social media feeds that they feel a certain discomfort when this option is not available. Therefore, social media marketplaces are another important trend for 2024.

Brands that ignore the use of e-commerce as a promotional tool are missing out on numerous opportunities. Therefore, for those who want to grow and develop in 2024, it is important to start adapting their SMM strategies to commerce. In order to attract more buyers through online marketplaces in groups, it is possible to offer them bonuses, discounts, cashback, and other perks. It is also important to show users reviews from real customers about the convenience and benefits of this type of online shopping.

Using of artificial intelligence

According to surveys, in 2024, the majority of companies plan to increase the use of AI for customer support and image editing. 

Additionally, artificial intelligence can be beneficial in creating personalized customized offers, advertising announcements, customer messages, etc. The use of AI will help brands better understand their target audience and provide them with the most relevant content. Therefore, it is already necessary to start developing artificial intelligence policies for social networks.

The key visual account design trends for 2024

And now, a few words about the key visual account design trends for 2024:

• Emotional depth. Content that resonates with users’ feelings and emotions is gaining immense popularity. This can include quotes, storytelling, sensual visuals, and more.
• Interactivity. The use of virtual reality allows users to fully immerse themselves in the content, which completely changes their perception. Users become “closer” to you, treat you with greater trust, and express genuine interest.
• Getting closer to nature. In the modern world, where artificiality and various “substitutes” are becoming more prevalent, SMM shifts the focus to naturalness. Images are becoming fashionable by emphasizing the beauty of nature, using animal and plant imagery, creating an account palette in natural tones, etc.
• Asian aesthetics. This point is closely related to the previous one. Japanese and Korean design, which is characterized by unusual forms and details as well as harmony with nature, is currently at the peak of popularity.
• Beauty of art. If you observe, today more and more accounts use elements of art (e.g., abstraction, calligraphy, artistic photography, etc.) for self-expression. This trend will continue in 2024.

Conclusion

So let’s summarize. Trends in SMM promotion for 2024 emphasize the importance of creating engaging, high-quality, and personalized content. Broadcasting relevant and significant topics for subscribers strengthens the connection with the audience and enhances the brand’s status in their eyes. 

Ahead of us, there are new discoveries and opportunities, which is why it is important to be able to adapt to changes and not be afraid to experiment with content in order to stay on the wave of popularity, grow, develop, and always be an inspiration for our subscribers.