9 social media tips and trends for February 2022

1. Social media news: Stay on top of the latest platform updates

Catch up on the latest social media platform news and developments for February 2022:

• TikTok now lists the most popular songs in the app at any given time, filtered by region.
• TikTok launched TikTok Tactics, an online course to help marketers step up their approach.
• Instagram made improvements to how you can schedule a Live, including adding it to your profile, as well as allowing any video remix.
• Facebook is removing profile videos from February 5.
• Snapchat added several new features including emoji poll stickers, individual chat replies, bitmoji reply reactions, and new call lenses and preview functionalities.

2. Twitter tip: Don’t fall into the “sea of same”, do be sincere.

Twitter’s latest report #RealTalk, The state of brand behavior on Twitter finds that people are tired of the “sea of same” from brands on Twitter.

The report notes that most brands are sounding the same, using similar keywords, length of Tweets and brand archetypes. And that users are describing brands on Twitter using the same words: “playful” and “funny.”

So what do people expect from brands on Twitter?

Twitter surveyed users in 8 countries and looked at 5,000 unprompted Tweets about brands. These were their key findings:

• 7 in 10 agree that conversations with brands is one of the best things about Twitter.
• 80% said that they don’t mind being sold to on social media, as long as it’s fun, useful, or moving.
• 1 in 2 people agreed that brands that rely on humor and jokes can feel outdated today.
• 61% think that brands should acknowledge moments of crisis. However, people will call out brands that are being insincere. And they also notice when you stay silent.
• 48% state that it’s more important now for brands to support economic, social, political, or cultural issues compared to a year ago. But when brands join sensitive topics, they must do it meaningfully and without generalizing communities.

Based on these findings, Twitter suggests the following best practices:

• Avoid sameness. Focus on distinction.
• Be real. Be you. Talk about topics that seem right for your brand, don’t just jump on what’s trending.
• Connect with culturally relevant topics, in unique ways.

Our take on this report? It’s great to get people’s (conscious) perspective on brands on Twitter. But what people say doesn’t always reflect their unconscious behavior. And the report did not investigate whether following these best practices would lead to an increase in your Twitter metrics or commercial KPIs. That remains something to test for your own audience.

3. Content idea: Welcome your new employees with a dedicated post

Marking the arrival of a new hire with a welcome post on your brand’s (or careers) social media channels can help you increase engagement and brand trust.

Welcome posts are a great opportunity to show your employees’ faces, which helps make your company appear more “human” and relatable. This in turn helps your audience form a connection with your brand. Research also indicates that showing people’s faces on social media drives engagement. Plus, current employees will often engage with new team members’ posts, increasing its reach — and therefore putting your brand in front of more people. Tap into these benefits by publishing your own welcome new employee posts.

4. Social media calendar: Pin point content opportunities throughout the year

To help you plan your campaigns and content in 2022, Twitter put together a calendar of key events happening throughout the year. You can choose to filter the calendar by region, or check out the full global list of events.

While this isn’t the most comprehensive event calendar we’ve seen, you might still come across a few interesting dates to add to your existing social media content calendar.

5. Social media tip: Simplify your content creation workflow with templates

We help 150+ sports clients speed up their visual content creation, increase fan engagement and more with our content creation tool and templates. Want to create your own sports social media templates? Get inspired by these 36 social media sports template examples.
Not in sports? No problem. Check out the branded templates we’ve also designed and built for employer branding, media and publishing, and communications teams.

6. Instagram tip: Focus on your video, messaging and creator strategies

In a recent video, the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri revealed the key areas of focus for the platform in 2022.These include:

• Video (again): With special focus on Reels and Reels formatting.
• Messaging. Embracing that messaging is the main way that people connect online.
• Transparency: Helping people better understand how Instagram works.
• Creators: Helping creators make a living on Instagram.

To make the most of these upcoming priorities, we recommend that you review and double down on your Instagram Reels strategy, private messaging processes, and creator partnerships.

7. YouTube tip: Stay on top of the 2022 priorities

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki also laid out her priorities for YouTube in 2022. YouTube’s roundup of priorities wasn’t as clear-cut as Instagram’s, and features a long list of different focuses. But some of the same topics did reemerge. These were the key themes we pulled out:

• Growing creator ecosystem: New features, more control, more ways to make revenue.
• YouTube Shorts: Helping creators get started and monetize their content.
• (Continued) focus on music, gaming, learning, sustainability and black voices content.
• Developing live experiences.
• Social commerce: Letting viewers browse and shop products in (live) videos.
• Removing dislikes.
• Protecting viewers, increasing transparency, and working with policymakers.

With so many ideas and priorities, it’s probably best here to choose only a couple of themes – relevant to your goals and audience — to explore further in your 2022 YouTube planning.

8. Design trends: Step up your visuals with these 2022 trends

Bring your social media visual style up to date with the help of one or more of the top design trends for 2022. These include:

1. Adding 2D elements to your 3D designs.
2. Driving expression with experimental fonts.
3. Breaking all the traditional design rules with anti-design imagery.
4. Cramming more into your designs for a maximalist style.
5. Creating backgrounds using geometric shapes and patterns.
6. Using a cyber-punk style to bring moody, heavy, abstract feelings to your designs.
7. Adding personality to your visuals with doodles and sketches.

9. Instagram tip: Get ideas for your Add Yours stickers

“Add Yours” Instagram Stories stickers enable you to create a themed thread for followers to add their own Stories. These are great for engaging your followers and generating UGC.

BRR Digital discusses some best practices in their Instagram post. Including making your Add Yours theme specific, since Stories are only up for 24 hours. And to keep the momentum going by sharing the best contributions in your Stories.