Social media continues to move into the mainstream of the marketing mix. This won’t change in 2024. And as marketers realize social media’s ability to incorporate culture and community in propelling conversions, the role of creators will become more important in planning marketing strategies. 

Here are some ways marketers are expected to use social media this year:

• Even though consumers seem to be abandoning social media to some extent, marketers will continue to spend on social media and shift their budgets around. A recent Gartner survey predicted that half of consumers will leave social media or significantly drop their engagement with social by 2025. Another Gartner survey from 2023 found that consumers think that social media has gotten worse in the past five years. Even if social media engagement drops, there are other options for marketers, such as digital video or streaming and investment in SEO.
• If engagement on other social platforms decreases, marketers may make greater use of YouTube. Consumers seem to be more accepting of it than other platforms. However, Gartner has found that ad fatigue is an issue with advertising on social media, as the percentage of consumers abandoning apps and websites when asked to allow data tracking rose from 20% to 33% between 2021 and 2023.
• Regardless of other actual and potential pitfalls with social media, many brands are going to continue investing in social. Social remains a connection for interaction between brands and consumers.
• Smaller, more intimate digital spaces are appealing to consumers. They look to community spaces that are more manageable, away from the noise and huge space of the internet.
• Social VR will become more prevalent, especially with the anticipated arrival of Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
• Shoppable ads are still in their infancy. Consumers still haven’t jumped on this bandwagon so marketers will need to improve their strategies.

Additional social media marketing trends for 2024 include:

• Increased social media marketing budgets.
• Acquisition of social and influencer firms by agencies.
• Increased use of in-house creators.