Popular Platforms in 2023
There are countless social media and digital marketing platforms available. A key component to growing your business is knowing which ones are going to offer you the best outcomes. We are always researching and looking for insight on platforms that are growing in popularity or offering tools to help businesses.
Keep reading to find out which platforms we’re seeing the most growth on and consider whether they are a good fit for your business.
Facebook is still the most used social media platform, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. The platform is most commonly used by people in the 30-64 age range. While it might not be the newest platform, it does offer a number of features which keeps users coming back.
Facebook has a user-friendly interface. With its countless interactive features like marketplace, events, pages and groups, we don’t see Facebook going anywhere anytime soon. Plus, its integration with Instagram, paid ads capabilities and the roll out of Facebook reels allows the platform to remain competitive in 2023.
Many in the digital marketing industry expect to see significant growth on Instagram as we head into the second half of 2023. The platform has more than 1.16 billion active monthly users and counting.
Instagram has an accurate algorithm and its features offer brands huge potential to grow their businesses. The in-app shopping experience offers a seamless user experience, allowing customers to search, browse and purchase items without ever having to leave the app.
Instagram is user-friendly and is a great platform for multiple forms of content including static images, carousels and short form videos (Reels). This makes it an appealing platform for influencer marketing and user-generated content. Instagram also offers the ability to be a search engine, so remember to use keywords and SEO optimized captions.
If you’re not leveraging Instagram for your business yet, you should consider it.
Short form video is one of the most popular and commonly consumed types of content online. We expect to see this trend continue through the remainder of the year. TikTok’s focus is almost exclusively on short form video, and with the high demand for this type of media, the platform is expected to see its year over year popularity continue.
TikTok is a powerful advertising platform for businesses. If executed correctly, brands can advertise their products and services in a seamlessly integrated way. Often, a viewer won’t realize that what they are watching is an ad because content on TikTok is designed to be entertaining, not salesy.
While short form video content is popular and widely consumed, we can’t forget about the power of longform video content to engage, entertain, and inform your audience. At the end of 2022, YouTube had more than 1 billion active monthly users worldwide.
The platform is most commonly used for long form video content (more than 1-3 minutes), but has also entered the world of short form video content through YouTube Shorts. These are quick, easy to digest videos like reels and TikTok videos. YouTube continues to allow creators to amass large followings, highlighting entertainment and showing off the human side of their business.
According to Hubspot, Live Audio platforms are gaining the most popularity in 2023 and marketers are planning to leverage them. Think of Live Audio platforms similar to listening to a podcast, except live on a platform instead of pre-recorded. It’s a live experience that doesn’t incorporate video and can be a powerful tool for businesses to tell their story.
While Chat GPT isn’t directly a digital marketing tool, its rise in prominence and wide-ranging uses makes it something we’re definitely keeping our eyes on. In January, the platform had more than 100 million monthly users, and this number continues to climb.
Chat GPT is an AI software that can write anything from a social media caption to unique and functional code. It’s a great tool for content writing for social media, blogs, websites, and email marketing.
We look at Chat GPT and similar AI softwares as a support to what we do. While it’s amazing to be able to give the AI direction, provide it with keywords and have a fully written piece of content at the end, we do find that the results lack authenticity. Remember to review the content and adjust it for your brand voice to ensure you maintain an honest connection with your audience.
Looking for Support?
If you’re looking for support to determine which platforms will help you see the best returns, reach out to us at hello@thesmallsocial.com to book a discovery call. Our team of digital marketing experts are here to ensure you’re reaching the right audiences and utilizing the right tools to help you grow your business online.
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