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SOCIAL MEDIA
Report discusses shift towards a culture-first social media approach
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024
Brands will need to understand and tap into culture in a more nuanced and empathetic way than ever before, says Ogilvy.
Ogilvy has released its ‘2024 Social Media Trends Report’, highlighting sub-trends within the broader shift towards a culture-first approach to social media.
The report draws on Ogilvy expertise from various regions, incorporating campaign data and research to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the brands that Ogilvy works with.
Ryan Laing, Digital Strategy and Intelligence Director at Ogilvy Social Lab, elaborates on several key points from the report:
Culture remains at the centre of social media
“Culture has long been a buzzword within the broader marketing community; however, it is now clear that it sits right at the centre of Social 3.0,” says Laing.
“Brands will need to understand and tap into culture in a more nuanced and empathetic way than ever before, going beyond simply reacting to trends.”
Photo by Fauxels from Pexels
Rather, brand marketing teams must play an active role in shaping and leading social media trends by embedding culture into the brand’s meaning, Laing believes. The key to this will be a clear understanding of culture, powered by a customised cultural intelligence model.
We are living in the era of authenticity
“Creators are now an essential part of any winning social media strategy. The numbers are staggering, with the creator economy expected to hit US$480-billion by 2027,” Laing says.
“For brands, creators provide a more agile and scalable way to stay at the forefront of culture. As creator-led content becomes more integrated, its impact will spread across categories, even ones not traditionally associated with these types of partnerships – the rise of healthcare professionals on TikTok being one such example.”
Laing says marketing teams must consider more permanent and meaningful creator engagement plans to really take advantage.
Video goes from ‘snackable’ to serious storytelling
“Users spend more time consuming videos on social than any other social media activity,” states Laing.
“The dominance of TikTok and Instagram Reels, and the uptake of YouTube Shorts, speaks to consumers’ love for punchy short clips.
“However, long-form content offers huge potential for extended, creative brand content. We’ve even seen TikTok testing 30-minute uploads. Most importantly, long-form video can potentially be an indicator of the most valuable metric of them all – attention.”
AI will continue to impact the industry
“This was always going to be part of any trends list, and in 2024 we see AI propelling brand social teams forward. It’s set to take over community management tasks such as social monitoring and customer service,”
Notes Laing: “AI will shorten the process of equipping brand teams with invaluable insights into customer behaviour, sentiment and social trends, enabling deeper connections, targeting and personalisation in content distribution.”
You can find out more about the report here.
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