Marketers have an opportunity to review their social media marketing strategies at the beginning of the year and take advantage of new opportunities that arise as social media platforms evolve.

It can be difficult to keep up with the latest features, algorithm updates, and disruptive social apps. However, it allows you to explore exciting new possibilities that will help your company grow in 2022.

To help you make the most of your social networking strategy in the new year I published findings from the HubSpot blog’s Social Media Trends Survey. I collected data from over 300 B2B and C marketers to answer questions such as:

• What social media platforms can marketers use right now?
• What kind of content are marketers creating and what formats do they use?
• What platforms, content types, or formats are most likely to have the highest ROI?
• What is the best time to post on social media?
• What are the challenges social media marketers expect to face in 2022?
• What are the expectations and plans of marketers going into 2022?

I have taken a deep dive into our survey data and compiled a list of key recommendations for social media marketers in 2022. Based on our data, here are a few suggestions.

8 Data-backed Social Media Marketing Recommendations For 2022

1. Your company’s values should be defended

Social media users love content that reflects your brand’s values.

Media marketers are in the moment and has the third highest ROI of all content types

This trend will continue to grow in 2022, as 95% of people who leverage this content plan on increasing their investment or maintaining it, and 21% plan on using it for the first-time.

This is in line with our previous survey on marketing trends , which found that social responsibility would be a top-trend in 2022.

We also found that social media marketers who claim their social media strategy was effective in 2021 are 21% more likely than those who reported a poor strategy last year to use content that reflects their brand’s values.

2. Be open to funny, interactive, and relatable content.

Funny content has the highest ROI of all content types and is also rated as the most effective by social media marketing professionals

Humorous content will continue to grow in 2022 with 33% of people planning to invest more in funny content than in any other format.

Furthermore, 56% of people who don’t use funny material plan to use it for the first-time in 2022. 95% of those who use it already will increase or keep their investment in this year.

Interactive content is No. Interactive content is No. 2 in terms of usage, ROI, effectiveness, and will continue to grow in 2022.

49% of people who don’t use interactive content plan to do so in 2022. 97% of those who use it already plan to increase or maintain their investments this year.

We also found that social media marketers who claim their social media strategy was effective in 2021 are 25% more likely than those who reported a poor strategy.

Current users and first-time users will invest more in related content .

54% of social media marketers don’t use relatable content. 93% of those who do plan to leverage it in the future, or increase their investment, are planning to do so for the first time in 2018.

3. Do not choose influencers based solely on their number of followers.

Followers are not everything. Influencer marketers place a strong emphasis on quality content, followed by engagement rates, alignment and values, and aesthetic. Follower count is at #5 on this list.

Social media marketers who claim their social media strategy was effective in 2021 are 26% more likely than those who report an ineffective strategy to be evaluating which influencers to partner on social media.

Although micro-influencers (10k-10k followers) are the most sought-after type of influencer marketer, it’s not because they are less expensive. The graph below shows how the amount that companies pay influencers can differ depending on their following. This confirms our conclusion that follower count is not the most important thing marketers consider when deciding to partner with influencers.

You can use the quality of the content and the engagement rate of their followers to determine the value of an influencer partnership.

When working with influencers, the most popular platforms for marketers to use are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

Facebook has the highest ROI for influencer marketing. Instagram, YouTube and Twitter are close behind.

4. Explore new and emerging social media platforms.

Social media marketers look for new or emerging social networks to leverage frequently. 86% search at least once per quarter, while many search monthly (29%), weekly (22%), and 20% multiple times per week. Only 1% of respondents say they don’t search for new platforms.

Twitter Spaces, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Shops are the top platforms that social media marketers are investing in.

They are also pulling their investment from lesser-known live audio platforms like Spotify, Riffr and Discord Stage Channels, Spotify Green Room, as more established platforms like Twitter start to include live audio features.

5. Invest in building social media communities.

64% of marketers are using social networking communities. This number will continue to grow as 30% of those who do not use social media community intend to start in 2022.

96% of people who use social media to their advantage plan to invest more in the coming year or continue investing the same amount.

Marketers build communities on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

6. Use data and research to reach your target audience.

We asked marketers to rate their social media strategies this year. The data was then divided into two groups. The first group was those who rated their social strategy as effective. The second group was those who rated it ineffective.

The most effective group to use when trying to find their audience via social media is:

• 21% more likely than others to use social listening
• 17% more likely than others to research the demographics on social media platforms
• 17% more likely than others to search for relevant online communities
• 14% more likely than their competitors to analyze demographic data they already have

7. Create short-form video content to reach younger audiences.

Younger audiences, such as Gen Z (2-24) and Millennials (25-40), prefer shorter video content that is entertaining, trending, and reflects a brand’s values. This makes platforms with short-form video features, like TikTok and YouTube, ideal for reaching them.

8. To reach older audiences, leverage interactive/educational content on Facebook.

Gen X (41-56) and Baby Boomers (57-75) prefer interactive/educational content, such as interviews/podcasts/expert discussions and live videos, and Facebook is their platform of choice.

More data-backed marketing insights

Want more social media and marketing data? Many of the results of the Social Media Trends Survey overlapped with the Blog’s recent Marketing Trends Survey. These included the dominance and power of short-form videos, influencer marketing, the opportunities presented in “Live” audio and chat rooms, as well as the top social media platforms.

For more information, see HubSpots Social Media Marketing Report or our Marketing Trends recommendation post her .