Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned In 2022

Over the last couple of years, brands have leveraged and optimized social media marketing efforts to attract their prospects and remarkable ways. Buying products directly from social media is now the norm, with 98% of consumers planning on purchasing from any online platform, as per Sprout Social. Our industry has seen a substantial increase in social marketing spending—on organic, paid, and content creation.

We at Firebelly Marketing always consider ourselves lifelong learners. At the end of each year, we tend to reflect on the work we performed over that period. There are accomplishments that we celebrate and failures we simply glean lessons from, before moving forward. 

After much thought, these were the top six lessons we took away from 2022: 

Lesson #1: Engagement Is Changing

Brands and content creators need to adjust their reality on the kind of content that engages their audience. The way people interact with content has changed over time. Likes and comments are still valuable, but shares, video views, and sticker engagements are becoming a more common way to interact with social content. Keep this in mind when creating content, generating audits and reports, and setting KPIs and goals in 2023. – Lauren Johnson

Lesson #2: Grab Attention ASAP

All the talk about authenticity and the "goldfish attention span" is true. If you can't catch someone's attention in just a few seconds or less, they'll probably move on. With the emergence of vertical video as THE top priority for content in social strategy, brands need to grab their audiences quickly and keep them watching. This results in converting genuine, transparent, and entertaining content. – Abby Thomas 

Lesson #3: UGC Makes Relatable Brands

The importance of user-generated content utilizes everyday folks to appeal to clients in a non-direct manner. Let’s face it. No one likes being sold to. But, selling indirectly creates social media content that is more entertaining, helpful, and enjoyable to the customer. The social media post may not have a direct call to action like "Chocolates are on sale NOW." Instead, the call to action is more of a subtle suggestion or a natural progression after they interact with the content. Using user-generated content is a great (and easy) way to do it, but it's not the only way. – Arnelle Mitchell 

Lesson #4: Social Personality Means More Business

Being active on social creates a direct connection with the audience.

Social interactions serve as the difference between a well-rounded social strategy, and one that gets lost somewhere in the spam folder. Consumer habits are already decreasing because of inflation. E-commerce channels that are personable tend to delight prospective customers. Rather than phone calls, emails, and in-person interactions, our social channel approach has been the simplest method in connecting with our target audience. Remarkably, only 62% of companies have websites or a social media account; with retention being one of the most critical foundations that we based our social marketing company on, opting for traditional channels in a digital age is clearly not an option. – Kyle Spishock

Lesson #5: Video Cannot Be Ignored

Brands that have gone “all in'' on video are seeing massive returns on reach, engagement, and website traffic. Whether the brand is publishing its own videos or using influencers to produce/distribute videos—the return on investment is encouraging. Our own Firebelly creative team produced 30 original videos in November and December—and besides the great increases in KPIs—we also realized the increased requirement for more time and budget. – Duncan Alney

Lesson #6: Ad Content Needs To Work Harder

People are on social for a reason. Because of this, ads can’t feel like ads. If you’re lacking authenticity or direction, your efforts will simply be ignored. If your offered ads are passed over, the specific platform won’t show them because it diminishes the user experience, effectively driving up the cost of paid posts. This can all be avoided by creating ads that are entertaining and engaging. At the end of the day, the user knows it’s an ad, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be quality content that fits in their feed, right alongside funny cat videos. – Austin Ryan

Lesson #7: Organic Social Benefits From A Paid Strategy

Organic social benefits immensely from a paid strategy—the two go hand-in-hand. While organic reach is possible, promotion allows you to reach the right people at the right time, increasing your impressions and brand awareness while optimizing along the way to help you reach your goals. - Sam Dietz