Throughout the year, microtrends continued to dominate digital spaces across industries, IRL and on our screens. As the name suggests, these trends typically enjoy a short-lived burst in popularity and are quickly eclipsed by the newest viral moment. But some trends actually manage to leave a lasting impression and influence — especially where our social media usage is concerned.
As we close out the year and reflect on our favorite moments, we’re keeping an eye on the trends that lasted beyond the buzz and became tried and true tactics to elevate marketing efforts and drive results. Read on to learn more about our team’s favorite social media trends of 2023.
Table of Contents:
1. “Edutainment”
At the start of 2023, Sprout Social predicted that merging entertaining delivery with informative, insightful content would be a strategy that businesses leverage in their marketing campaigns (Gomez, 2023). If you’ve been following Social Kapture, you’ll be familiar with The SKoop Reels, which we create to help our audience learn more about our services and provide clients with information to make the most out of their partnership with us.
How to use “edutainment” for your community:
This is a great tool to answer FAQs, showcase amenities and features, introduce your team or share fun facts about your community, neighborhood or local history. Make it fun, informative and visually interesting for a content package that will click with your audience.
2. Growing creator economy
Influencers continued to make their mark on social media as impactful content creators. The prediction from experts at the start of the year was that creator and influencer viewership would hit 10 trillion views per month across all platforms in 2023 (Gomez, 2023). By the end of the year, the influencer marketing industry is expected to be valuated at $21.2 billion worldwide (West, 2023). If scrolling through your own social media feeds throughout the year is any indication, the creator economy remains alive and thriving.
How to include creators in your marketing strategy:
Audiences want to hear from people that they trust. Who can better showcase the perks of living at your communities than local micro-influencers who are in tune with your neighborhood and the prospects within your area? Check out this example from our Influencer Marketing campaigns with Jardine Apartments.
3. Attention-grabbing storytelling devices
This year, we saw devices and techniques from literature and film pop up in social content. Notably, the use of non-linear storytelling proved to be an effective tool to grab audiences' attention as they scrolled through a sea of content.
According to Later.com, “It’s the ultimate hook — whether it’s decoding a trending topic or sharing a sound bite that’s bound to stop viewers in their tracks and make them want to play catch-up.” (Ashcraft, 2023)
How to get prospects’ attention on your feed:
When recording and editing video content, pinpoint the most engaging clip and place it at the start of your video to spark interest and keep your audience engaged to learn what led to that opening point.
4. “Read more in the caption” CTAs
Storytelling in Reels has continued to evolve as creators come up with innovative ways to organize and present information in formats that audiences can easily consume.
A 10-second reel that includes a call-to-action to read more in the caption is an effective strategy to capture your audiences’ attention and encourage them to read longer stories, lists of tips and recommendations without losing their attention with lengthy videos.
How to engage your community to read more:
Record a clip of your favorite space at the community and add a short bit of text to the video that ties into the information you’d like to share with a call to read more in the caption. Then give all the important details there to keep prospects and residents in the know while keeping the visuals clean and branded.
5. Tiny mics
These adorable accessories didn’t originate in 2023, but they did seem to grow in popularity as a tool to improve sound quality for voiceovers, interviews and tutorials.
How to feature your own tiny mic:
You may have seen us use this tool in our own content for Social Kapture — and our clients loved it, too! See the tiny mic in action by checking out our past content on Instagram and in this floorplan walkthrough created by the team at The Illustrator.
6. Day-in-the-life content
According to Hootsuite, 56% of consumers want to see brands that are more relatable in their social presence. (Hootsuite, 2023)
Day-in-the-life posts are an evergreen way to relate to your prospects and residents. Whether you’re showing behind-the-scenes experiences of your leasing team, property manager or maintenance team, this is a community-focused tactic to connect your audience to your communities’ brands in a more personal way.
How to capture your day authentically:
While you work through your day, take short video clips of the day’s highlights and record a voiceover or add text to provide context and connect the moments with both your brand and audience.
7. POV
Speaking of relatable content, POV posts have been a great format to create shared experiences online this year. It’s an easy way to introduce authentic storytelling that can connect audiences to your brand with just a few words and a thoughtful video concept.
How to showcase your community’s point of view:
Film a video showing an amenity space or apartment interior with the text “POV: you arrive home to the best address at [your community’s name].”
8. Hi, Barbie!
Barbie mania was undeniable this year. Bright, bubbly and, above all else, pink, there’s no doubt that the Barbie movie release activated a massive demographic of brands and content creators to jump on the “Hi, Barbie” trend.
How to adopt timely trends:
One great example is the Greystar Houston team, who used this trend to showcase their team in a fun and exciting way.
While the Barbie buzz may have passed and will live on as a fun moment specific to 2023, we know that there will be new opportunities to join in on viral moments in the new year. Stay tuned into your social media circles and when you identify a trend that’s too good to pass up and suits your brand, get your team involved. You can use it as an opportunity to highlight team members with lighthearted and relatable content.
9. Social media as a customer service tool
HubSpot's 2022 Consumer Trends Survey showed that 20% of the Gen Z demographic and nearly 25% of Millennials have reached out to a brand on social media for customer service in the three months leading up to the survey. (Bump, 2022)
For this holiday season, Sprout Social found that 74% of users say that they are likely to reach out to brands on social platforms.
How to use customer service-focused tools to reach your goals:
Meta’s newest messaging features like Saved Replies and Broadcast Channels allow brands to better connect with their audiences in DM’s. These features are perfect for keeping residents and prospects engaged with your community within the spaces where they spend the most time in the new year.
10. Mixed elements in graphic design
With the juxtaposition of real-world elements and illustrations, “designers can add a layer of playfulness, spontaneity, and humor — aside from realism — to their designs” (Geyser, 2023).
For example, our signature mix of line work and photography is one of our team’s favorite manifestations of our brand.
How to remix your marketing materials:
Play around with user-friendly design software to create flyers, posters or banners for upcoming events at your community! For your social media content, our team of designers can create custom content with your branded colors, logos, line work and patterns, so be sure to send us your brand guidelines and assets!
11. Motion graphics Video content continues to be the most preferred form of social media content and marketers have to get creative with how they produce videos to engage audiences.
Using motion graphics and animation can help create and define your brand identity, and help your brand stand out from the competition (Geyser, 2023).
How to make your videos stand out:
Our Premium Social Media Management package includes monthly Reels content to take your social presence to the next level! Connect with our team to learn more about it.
12. Sustainability in graphic design
Creating sustainable business practices is a hot topic across nearly every industry, including digital marketing. Consumers are increasingly seeking out products and services that are more sustainable, and graphic designers have been adopting updated practices to meet these demands.
Sustainable graphic design focuses on simplified branding and logos and redesigned packaging that reduce waste. (Richardson, 2023).
How to build a sustainable brand:
Whether your community is LEED certified or you want to reduce your environmental impact, your social presence is a great place to promote those brand principles. Keep our team updated by submitting a Content Request Form to incorporate the ways your community is working toward a greener future in your social content.
As trends come and go, we’ll be staying tuned in and innovating our products and services to make sure your communities have the tools to keep up with the ever-evolving digital spaces. We can’t wait to see what trends emerge in 2024! Subscribe to The SKoop below to keep up with all the latest news and updates from SK.