Guest Author
Are you using today’s Facebook trends to the fullest? In case you didn’t know, Facebook hit 3 billion monthly active users in 2023, highlighting just how large of an audience your brand and its offerings can reach if you personalize your next social media campaign to suit the current trends.
Like all social media platforms, Facebook develops rapidly as new features become available, audience needs change, and popular marketing and advertising trends take over.Â
Don’t get left behind! Read on and stay ahead of the curve by leveraging the latest Facebook trends to supercharge your social media strategy!
Streamline your marketing with an efficient social media strategy template.
Short Summary
- Using Facebook for social media marketing and advertising has a number of advantages, such as low costs, wide audience, and access to performance insights.Â
- Facebook Reel plays doubled from 2022 to 2023, highlighting why they should become part of your Facebook strategy.
- Facebook Shop enables businesses to sell their products or services without the time and money needed to design a website.
- Brands can leverage the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for efficient customer service, as well as marketing, content creation, and advertising.
- Facebook has recently invested in helping groups and communities thrive with new features.
- With Facebook making it easier for more individuals to become influences and content creators, brands should consider collaborations with an authentic, human voice.Â
- Businesses in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia can now get Meta Verified on Facebook.Â
- Meta has launched a privacy center, which enables businesses to manage their privacy settings and data for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in a single location.
Benefits of Using Facebook For Social Media Marketing
Facebook launched to the public (anyone over 13) in 2006 and is now the world’s largest social media platform, making it the best place to grow your brand. Â
Here are some of the key benefits of using Facebook to grow your brand:
- It is cost-effective. Setting up a Facebook business page costs nothing. You will pay for adverts, post boosting, and sponsored Facebook Stories. However, Facebook ads typically cost less than those on other ad platforms like Google.
- You can reach a broad audience. Over 2 billion people worldwide log into Facebook every day. Let that sink in.Â
- You can target a specific audience. For example, local businesses can target customers within a 10-15 mile radius with radius targeting.
- You can view performance insights. The overview in the Insights section allows you to monitor data such as page views, post reach, likes, and more.
- You can spy on competitors. An interesting feature on Facebook lets you spy on your competitors and assess your page’s performance against theirs.
- You can increase website traffic. Adding links to your website within your posts drives traffic from Facebook to your site.
- You can use it for networking. Facebook networking is essential for increasing brand awareness and attracting new customers. You can network on Facebook by joining groups, engaging in discussions, and sharing content that starts conversations.
8 Facebook Trends Every Brand Should Know About
Now that you know what Facebook brings to the table, let’s explore the latest trends that are shaping the way brands interact with their audiences.
These are some Facebook trends everyone should be aware of:
- Reels and video content
- Facebook Shop
- AI-driven customer support
- AI ad targeting
- Groups and communities
- Influencers and content creators
- Meta verified
- Privacy and security
1. Reels and Video Content
Leveraging Facebook Reels and video content allows brands to engage with followers and reach new audiences. In fact, short-form videos (under 15 seconds) are the top content format consumers want brands to focus on in 2024.
Reels, a short-form social media video, became a success on Instagram immediately, and now we are seeing the same growth levels on Facebook.Â
Take a look at how Vans showcases their products in this reel:
According to founder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Reel plays doubled from 2022 to 2023, highlighting why they should become part of your Facebook strategy.
In addition to Reels, it is essential to note the growing trend of long-form videos and consider how you use long-form storytelling in your content.Â
Originally a social media platform for short-form videos, TikTok has recently reported that its users spend half of their time on the app watching videos that are a minute or more.
Luckily for those adding video content to their brand strategy, Facebook is making it even easier to create and share short-form and long-form videos with new editing features, the ability to live stream in 4K, video shopping, and video advertisements. So, businesses should allocate part of their budget to producing video content.Â
2. Facebook Shop
Social commerce and eCommerce are continuing trends to consider for your strategy.
Luckily, in 2023, Facebook followed in the footsteps of other social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, by releasing an online shopping feature.Â
Facebook Shop allows social media users to purchase from a brand directly on Facebook or by clicking through to their website. This enables businesses to sell their products or services without the time and money needed to design a website.
Facebook Shops replaced livestream shopping, which became unavailable on Facebook and Instagram last year.
While the live shopping commerce features are gone, you can still broadcast live on Facebook and link to your website during the broadcast.
According to Hostinger’s Digital Marketing Statistics, 23% of global consumers rate Facebook as the best social commerce platform. So, if you haven’t yet experimented with social commerce, now is a great time to add this to your Facebook strategy.
However, it’s essential to note the greater focus on the customer experience (CX), as shopping online has become more about engagement and entertainment than a transactional activity.
3. AI-Driven Customer Support
71% of those aged 16 to 24 believe that a quick reply from a customer service team improves the customer experience, highlighting that efficient customer service is a priority and a top trend in 2024.Â
So, how can you respond to a customer query outside of office hours? Integrate a social media chatbot such as Botpress or Chatfuel. This will allow users to access streamlined customer support from your business Facebook page, saving time for your employees and customers.Â
Chatbots can provide product information, answer frequently asked questions, and guide the customer through the purchasing journey.Â
Only 26% of organizations that use social media as a primary customer service channel have employed chatbots. So, employing a Facebook Messenger Chatbot is an excellent opportunity for your brand to get ahead of the trend.Â
However, always use AI carefully and ethically, and consider creating an AI use policy to safeguard your brand and team.
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4. AI Ad Targeting
AI ad targeting on Facebook lets businesses tailor their ads based on what users like and do online.Â
To create an ad, you can use filters like demographics, interests, behaviors, and location.
The steps you need to take include choosing your campaign objective, defining your audience with detailed targeting options, setting a budget and schedule, designing your ad with engaging visuals and copy, and finally, reviewing and publishing your ad.
This smart targeting ensures ads reach people who are most interested, making each ad more effective and relevant. It boosts efficiency, cutting down on wasted ad spend by focusing on likely customers.
This feature also enables quick tweaks and tests in real-time, helping businesses adapt to feedback and changing trends quickly. With AI, companies can see better results and learn more about what their customers want, all while making advertising feel more personal and less intrusive.
5. Groups and Communities
As a social media network, groups and communities have always been integral to Facebook.Â
However, Facebook has recently invested more in helping groups and communities thrive with new features. So, now is a good time for businesses to create and post in Facebook Groups to build brand loyalty and give your community a deeper connection to your business.
When you create a group from your Facebook Business Page, you allow users to interact with the people behind your brand in a more private forum and have authentic conversations around a common interest related to your business.
However, it’s essential to remember that groups are not a place to focus on sales but a way to build a community of like-minded people.
If you’re only interested in promoting your products or services, optimize your Facebook Business Page instead.
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6. Influencers and Content Creators
When discussing social media influencers and content creators, you’re likely thinking of those with thousands of loyal followers on Instagram or TikTok.Â
However, Facebook has recently made it easier for individuals on the platform to make money (if they’re over 18), build a public following, and grow a global community by opening up professional mode to everyone.Â
Professional mode includes monetization tools and features such as:
- Professional dashboard. You can manage the professional tools for your profile and get insights about followers, post reach, and post engagement.
- Invite friends to follow. Your Facebook followers can invite their friends to follow your profile, expanding your audience.
- Be discovered. The professional mode makes your account eligible for Facebook to recommend your content or profile to potential followers.
- Ads on Facebook Reels. You can place your Facebook ad campaigns directly on your public Reels to earn money.Â
- In-stream ads. You can play ads before, during, or after eligible videos to earn money.Â
- Subscriptions. You can monetize the content you share with your fans to make earnings and create deeper connections with your audience.
Take a look at how Vitamin A Swim and The Salty Blonde collaborated for this giveaway:
Brands can collaborate with these influencers and content creators to bring an authentic, human voice to their platform. 57% of marketers say they would use Facebook to work with influencers.
7. Meta Verified
Late last year, Meta announced that businesses in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia could now get verified on Facebook, earning their page the coveted blue tick.Â
Here’s how it looks like when your business page is verified:
Meta Verified monthly subscriptions start at $21.99 a month per Facebook or Instagram account or $34.99 a month for both.Â
To get verified on Meta, all you have to do is:
- Start your application on Facebook
- Select your business
- Verify business details, such as legal business name, address, phone number, email, and website
- Wait to be reviewed
In addition, the blue tick will also make it easier for your brand to find suitable influencers and content creators to collaborate with because they’ll know the account belongs to a verified person.Â
8. Privacy and Security
In recent years, due to concerns about privacy and security, Facebook has tried to improve its platform’s privacy and security with new features such as end-to-end messaging encryption and two-factor authentication.Â
In addition, Meta launched a new privacy center, which enables businesses to manage their privacy settings and data for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in a single location.
So, businesses must show customers they are committed to protecting their data and safeguarding against threats like phishing attacks.
This will likely increase the number of marketing campaigns that are transparent about a brand’s privacy practices and focus on building trust with customers.Â
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Dive into These New Facebook Trends?
With the continuing rise of video content, the introduction of Facebook Shop, and the investment into Groups, it’s evident that Facebook is committed to keeping users engaged on the platform.Â
So, if you proactively embrace the eight Facebook trends explored in this article, your business can effectively engage your followers.Â
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Author bio: Neve Wilkinson is an experienced content writer at SEO agency Solvid. I write a range of marketing and business articles, and have previously had my work featured on Boostability, Reporter Outreach, Outreach Monks, VisualFizz, The Future Of Commerce, and more.
