Consider, for instance, how a few years ago, influencer marketing was a new and intimidating concept for many marketers.

Fast-forward to 2023, and 81% of social media marketers say most companies will have an influencer as the face of their brand this year.

A few other major trend-shifts: Building an active online community is now a critical component of a strong social strategy; social media is becoming the preferred channel for customer service; and funny and relatable content wins over more polished posts.

Here, let’s explore the 8 top data-backed recommendations for social media marketers to leverage in 2023 to continue to grow their audiences, increase customer loyalty and engagement, and achieve higher ROI.

1. Create a strong social media community.

A whopping 90% of social media marketers say building an active online community is crucial to a successful social media strategy in 2023.

Online communities can help you cultivate stronger relationships with your prospects and customers, and ultimately deliver more value. They enable your audience members to connect with each other and share tips related to your industry, and helps showcase your brand as a leader in the space.

Social media communities are on the rise: Over the past three months alone, 20% of social media users joined an online community, while 22% actively participated in one.

If you’re interested in creating a strong community in 2023, consider leveraging either Facebook or Instagram, which are tied at #1 for the most effective platform for building a social media community.

2. Leverage social media as an e-commerce platform.

Social media is quickly becoming an e-commerce platform with all the capabilities to purchase products or services directly in-app.

For instance, 25% of social media users age 18-44 have bought a product on a social app in the past three months — and social is the preferred product discovery channel for consumers age 18-44.

This trend isn’t going anywhere, and will likely become increasingly popular in the new year. Roughly 80% of social media marketers even predict consumers will buy products directly in social apps more often than on brands’ websites or third-party websites like Amazon in 2023.

The biggest inhibitor to social selling is a lack of trust. Only 21% of social media users rate products sold in-app as high quality, and just 42% of social media users feel comfortable making purchases on social media platforms.

If you work at an e-commerce company, it’s vital you launch shopping features so followers can easily purchase your products without leaving the apps.

Additionally, to build trust with your audience so they’re more likely to purchase in-app, you’ll want to leverage the power of customer reviews. Alternatively, working with an influencer can help you build trust between their loyal following and your brand.

3. Build a customer service strategy for social.

Rather than calling and getting put on-hold for a customer service representative, many consumers nowadays prefer to get their questions or concerns answered on social media.

Social media is quickly becoming a customer service tool. In fact, roughly 84% of social media marketers say social media will become consumers’ preferred channel for customer service in 2023.

A few quick stats:

  • 1 in 5 social media users age 18-44 have contacted a brand through DMs for customer service in the past three months.
  • 42% of social media marketers list providing customer service through DMs as a primary responsibility of their job.
  • 76% of social media marketers say their company offers customer service via social.

It’s vital that your company offers customer service on the platform(s) your consumers frequent and prefer. To incorporate a customer service process into your social strategy, you’ll want to run an audit to figure out where your customers are, set up monitoring streams, keep an eye on mentions, and build a system to get questions answered quickly.

You’ll also want to consider setting up a dedicated social channel for support.

Additionally, you’ll need to identify which employees should respond to customers’ queries. Right now, 43% of companies providing customer service through DMs have a customer service representative responding to customers, while 41% leave it to the marketer in charge of managing that platform. Another 13% use automation tools like chatbots.

Choose the Insights That Make the Most Sense for Your Brand

Above, we’ve covered the biggest trends and shifts in the social media landscape in 2023 — but that doesn’t mean you need to follow all of them to see tremendous success.

Instead, rely on your own social analytics to determine what your audiences crave. Perhaps you find that, despite testing short-form video, your prospects and customers still click the long-form videos more often. Or, maybe you find that funny content doesn’t work well with your brand voice, and instead choose to invest more heavily in authentic content that matches your brand tone.

You know what’s best for your consumers, but hopefully, these recommendations provide you with the inspiration you need to start testing, iterating, and improving your social strategy for 2023 and beyond.

Read the complete list of social media recommendations on our partner HubSpot’s blog.

Contact Us today to learn more about how Goose Digital can help support your social media strategy.