Social media represents one of the most important opportunities for affiliate markets. It offers access to a potential market of billions of customers and the creative options and opportunities are essentially limitless.
However, social media is in a state of constant evolution. As new technology continues to develop, social media channels and platforms will adopt new systems and change to meet the shifting demands of customers. Affiliates must be willing and able to quickly adapt to new changes if they want to see long-term, sustained success. We’ve put together a list of the top social media trends to watch out for in 2023. Check it out below.
Social shopping
In days gone by, social media was simply a space to share aspects of your life and connect with friends are other like-minded people. Today, modern social media channels have evolved into something more, they represent one of the biggest commercial opportunities found in the online sphere.
The ecommerce industry itself is going from strength to strength, with Amazon, eBay, and Shopify dominating the digital retail space. However, as we head into 2023, experts predict we could see a notable shift in the shopping and buying habits of consumers. Social media is already a place where consumers see adverts, be they paid-for ad spots or influencer-based marketing campaigns, so why not let them buy products directly on these platforms as well? It seems rather convoluted for a customer to spot something on one platform and then have to navigate to another to purchase it.
We’ve already seen some social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, roll out their own in-house shopping features. While shoppers still maintain that they still prefer to shop on more traditional ecommerce websites, we can expect to see social media shopping take off in 2023.
Community-based interaction
At its core, social media is about the individual. Social media platforms encourage users to broadcast their lives and show off to friends and the wider internet world. However, many are predicting that this focus on the individual is set to change as we head into 2023, with more effort put into encouraging and promoting community-based interaction and engagement. Communities have long been part of the internet, from the message and image boards of old to today’s social media groups. However, they have long proved tricky for marketers to target, with an insular, defensive mindset that is not conducive to traditional marketing techniques.
Online communities present an attractive opportunity for marketers, with a captive and highly knowledgeable audience. To effectively target them as part of a campaign, affiliates must adopt more organic marketing practices and focus more on personalized interaction rather than broader campaigns. As we head further in 2023, we can expect to see the power of the influence wane somewhat, and for communities to come to the fore.
Decentralization
The idea of decentralization is closely associated with the world of cryptocurrency. However, the concept can also be applied to the social media landscape, and many experts are predicting that we can expect to see more decentralization of social networks in 2023.
What does this actually mean? Decentralization refers to a power shift, in this instance, it would mean that social media platforms would have less control over their channels, with the onus put into the hands of the users themselves. In theory, this should improve data and privacy issues that are often cited as major problems on social media. Additionally, decentralization will offer new monetization opportunities, crypto in particular, and interconnection between different platforms.
So, what does this mean for marketers? Affiliates can expect to see a greater ability to connect with a wider audience. Rather than being limited to one social channel, decentralization will mean a much broader and more diverse demographic base can be targeted with a single campaign. The monetization options will also prove attractive for marketers. Crypto has been hailed as the future of online payments, the blockchain technology it is built on can offer greater transaction speeds, reduced fees, and improved security and anti-fraud capabilities.
The end of third-party cookies
Cookies are small chunks of data that can be used to track users as they move and navigate throughout the web. Cookies have long proved invaluable for marketers; they can be used to track customer movements and evaluate the success of particular strategies and campaigns.
However, Google has announced plans to phase out the use of third-party cookies on their systems by the end of 2023. This plan has been rumored for some time, but now that it looks set to happen sooner rather than later, it’s vital that affiliates are aware of how it could affect their businesses and the wider social media landscape. Third-party cookies are used to track a customer’s actions after they have left your website, so this information will no longer be able available after Google phases out the feature. However, first-party cookies are set to stay in place, which can be used to track how long a customer is spending on your platform, while Google has announced replacements for third-party cookies that marketers can expect to see in the future.
Conclusion
Social media is constantly changing and adapting to keep up with new technology and meet user preferences. Use this guide to know what to expect from social media in 2023.
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