2024’s top social media trends: how social listening maximizes their potential

The trend: No more casting a wide net by using multiple social media platforms. Younger audiences are loyal to fewer platforms than their predecessors.

Your call to action: Platform engagement trends underscore the importance of placing your bets — and budgets — wisely. It’s an opportunity to focus only on platforms your audience values and develop platform-specific strategies that are most likely to resonate. 

Social listening tip — find your focus platforms: Gauge platform preferences by monitoring your audience’s engagement levels across different platforms. For example, you can analyze platform sentiment and the volume of mentions around your brand/industry to determine if the platform is right for you.

The trend: Social media and commerce continue to merge as social commerce sales could soar to $1.2 trillion by 2025, corresponding with reports that most Gen Z consumers have purchased from social media in the past five years.

Your call to action: Social shopping has become a preferred way for consumers to shop online, and your competitors may already have active stores on social media. Stand out by keeping up with and implementing the latest strategies that engage your audiences in social media-integrated shopping experiences.

Social listening tip – get inspired to revolutionize your social shopping game: Learn which social shopping experiences resonate with your audience by analyzing conversations around buzzworthy campaigns in your industry, for example, shopping events, product launches, and user experiences.

The trend: Long-form content is back. Short-form leaders like TikTok are encouraging creators to share extended videos, as data shows users spend 50% of their time on content longer than one minute, and creators who post longer content reach five times the amount of follower growth compared to those who don’t. 

Your call to action: Adjust your video strategy based on your audience’s patterns, whether you choose short-form, long-form, or both. If it’s the latter, try starting with platforms that reward their users for it. For example, TikTok launched a beta program awarding creators for publishing longer content. In short, this is your call to prioritize long-form videos as watch time once again becomes a key KPI.

Social listening tip – get your short-to-long form ratio right: Know your audience’s video-watching patterns by locating short-form and long-form content within your brand’s niche and comparing it across engagement metrics.

The trend: Social media platforms expand their search capabilities to compete with engines like Google, as nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers to use TikTok and Instagram for search.

Your call to action: If your search strategy is limited to Google, it’s time to rethink your SEO approach. Develop content strategies that align with the search habits of your target audience, including social search results.

Social listening tip – master your audience’s search habits: Learn where your audience prefers to search for content by tracking their search preferences across platforms. Go a step further by analyzing the type of content that ranks well in social search results around your brand and industry. For example, long-form videos are particularly valuable for solid search results.

The trend: Artificial Intelligence’s footprint across social media continues to expand, as 31% of Gen Z and 20% of Millennials report using generative AI, and 70% of business owners believe AI will help them generate brand content quickly.

Your call to action: Efficient use of AI makes doing more with less easier than ever, whether that be for gaining market insights or content creation. Integrate AI into your social media strategy where it adds value, but remember to maintain a human touch, especially as search engines like Google crack down on overly AI-heavy content.

Social listening tip – unlock AI’s value to your marketing strategy: Social listening is not only for monitoring audiences but also for uncovering new trends in best practices. Study how other companies use AI to amplify their social media strategy, focusing specifically on sentiments around the types of AI applications they use, like content creation or personalization.

The trend: Nostalgia marketing returns, as data shows 52% of 12 to 29-year-old consumers prefer classic brands (i.e., brands that were big before they were born), and 81% of them like when brands bring back products and trends from their childhood.

Paris Hilton’s haircare campaign with Living Proof and Warner Bros. Barbie movie are recent examples of brands capitalizing on nostalgia to drive engagement.

Your call to action: Tap into your audience’s nostalgia and bring it to life in a way that speaks to them. This will help you stand out in the crowded social media landscape with content that is already near and dear to your audience. 

Social listening tip – find your audience’s nostalgic sweet spots: Analyze the sentiment, engagement, and patterns in nostalgic content and themes that resonate with your audience.

Prioritization is 2024’s strategic focus — asking brands to leverage resources effectively amidst escalating competition and evolving audience behavior. Social listening emerges as a pivotal tool for executing your strategy based on data-driven insights into audience preferences and the trends we highlighted. If you’re a Khoros customer, Talkwalker’s award-winning social listening capabilities integrate seamlessly into our social suite.

Whether it’s fine-tuning platform focus, exploring social shopping experiences, or integrating AI, the path to success is clear: Prioritize wisely, listen closely, and act strategically to unlock your brand’s full potential in a rapidly changing digital marketplace.

Thank you to Luis Urgell and Natanya Anderson at Khoros for providing this article’s expert insights.