Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or House Party, the future of brands in social networks in 2022 seems to be one of constant content creation. Brands have become slaves of the networks, today there are teams and entire agencies dedicated to generating content and pursuing interaction. However, it has become clear to marketing managers that conversion rates on social media are abysmally low (in some cases just .03%). They have also become magnetic fields for critics and critics.
In Mexico, a significant number of brands have decreased their exposure to social networks, especially those of mass consumption that were historically very visible. For instance, Coca-Cola Mexico He has not uploaded content to his Instagram account since June 28. Papas Sabritas only has 3 posts from May to date and Milk Nest He uploaded his last message on July 20. This does not mean that it does not continue to be an important medium, brands such as Pan Am, Bonafont and Herdez maintain almost daily rhythms of communication.
The medium is also important, clearly the activity on Facebook is greater than Instagram and at least in that medium it would seem that the content rate has decreased less, again taking Coca-Cola as an example, in recent days they announced on that social network the new Coca-Cola without Sugar.
The decrease in the presence of brands is largely related to the decrease in the organic reach of the content. Ironically, in the months of higher income for digital platforms since the pandemic, the demand for pay-to-play or pay to have reach has increased. The average number of people viewing social media posts that are not supported by advertising budgets is still low.
It’s no secret that most social platforms operate on a pay-to-play model for brands. On Facebook, the average reach of an organic page post is around 5 percent. That means roughly one in 19 of your fans see the page’s unspoken content. So the easiest way to drive distribution and direct sales is to increase your advertising budget.
The strategy of the brands has been to concentrate efforts on generating less content with greater relevance. In almost the opposite direction, influencers have taken their place and are generating more and more content. Personalities have also been added to the content generation process, for example an interview by Arturo Elías Ayub with Doctor Moreno about the third wave of Covid-19.
Platforms thirsty for relevant content decrease the incentive for continuous posting. However, it is also about minimizing exposure to possible criticism on social networks. The consumer has become increasingly critical on social networks and their opinions are not saved for a second. The trend for 2022 will be relevance rather than speed and the “post viral” will be sought with less energy due to its temporary effects and of little relevance in the long term.
Another important phenomenon is the gradual abandonment of text and images in favor of full length videos. Platforms like Instagram have been victims of their own success in history and the control of influencers algorithms. The number of people who think he will die soon seems to grow every day with reddits dedicated to his potential death or questions on Quora pointing to his possible disappearance. This phenomenon is associated with something bigger than Instagram, it is actually a thirst for faster consumption content, dosed but not massive.
The secret of social media in the near future is highly curated content supported by ad budget to improve reach with clearer communication goals. In other words, brands should be less speculative in their generation of posts, the consumer, platform and market will not tolerate less than that.