How social media will look in 2023 and how that will impact your business.
Twitter is a mess. Facebook hasn’t delivered reach in years. Instagram doesn’t know what it wants to be, TikTok is intimidating and the rest are just… bleh.
It makes you wonder where you should be placing your attention in 2023. This week I’m taking a look at where each platform is headed and how that will affect you.
Let’s go!
The split between social networking and creator media
I’ve written about this before in my blog, and I’ve recently heard it talked about on several podcasts.
And while social media is far from dead, we’ve seen a changing appetite for it. And since social media turned 25 this year, you could say that our rowdy teenager has grown up a bit.
Facebook is still the biggest game in town. Instagram is still the #1 place to see beautiful photos. TikTok is very much a fast-grower and attention-grabber. Twitter is a bit of a mess right now.
But this isn’t where they will all sit during 2023.
There will be some changes to come that we all need to be ready for.
And one overall action that everyone will need to take.
TikTok has changed everything, and will continue to change everything
Despite TikTok becoming successful because it was an app that did one specific thing really well, its growth has stagnated very quickly. So they are wanting to pull a Facebook move by becoming more than just a place for entertaining videos.
They’re currently trialling a music streaming service to take on Spotify. They’re expanding the incentives to creators to make longer videos to take on YouTube. They’re investing heavily in search to take on Google.
And this is where TikTok’s mistake might be. They are so well-loved because it’s so easy to just open the app and do one thing. And they do that one thing really well.
Will they be a good music streaming, long format video or search engine app? Who knows?
They’re banking on their 1 billion users to jump over and use them for more and more things.
TikTok in 2023 will continue to command a lot of attention. But there’s a bit of a cancer spreading on TikTok that is going to bring about a rebellion.
And that’s its tendency to reward malignant attention with more views.
There’s a type of videos now that have some random scene from everyday life, or from a street scene that has a headline saying something like, “comment when you see it.”
These videos drag us in and may make us watch for up to 2 minutes before ending. The trick is that nothing important happens during the video. The headline is a lie designed to bait us into watching, deliver nothing, and then generate thousands of comments of people complaining or saying things like “nothing happened.”
Unless TikTok can get on top of these posts and accounts that are essentially discrediting their platform, users will turn off and go elsewhere to the next cool thing.
Honestly, Twitter has always been a bit of an edge case in Australia.
It’s a place for political discussions, debates and name-calling.
With the recent purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, the network has attracted a lot more attention — even if it’s also lost nearly two thirds of its staff and over a million of its users to alternatives like Mastodon.
Twitter will continue to lose advertisers over 2023 as Elon does what Elon does best. And that won’t necessarily be a terrible thing.
Twitter, as it has been, doesn’t make enough money. It hasn’t got enough daily influence on people’s lives, and it’s not a place where young people want to be.
So in 2023, Elon will define whom he wants on the platform and what kind of advertisers he wants to be marketing to them.
He’ll also attempt to add commerce, ticket buying, financial transactions and more curated news onto the platform — but it will come at a cost. Already the US $8 Twitter Blue has been announced as the only way that you’ll manage to get your tweets seen by anyone.
Twitter will become more of a place for premium content — a little like Substack is now. You will be able to subscribe not only to Twitter but to individual people’s content there.
And I find that quite compelling. If I am seeing Twitter as a place to get great content, rather than a firehose of crazy people’s opinions, then I’d stick around.
I’d also be very interested in being someone who creates content on Twitter.
Facebook can be a terrible place to promote your business or personal brand if all you’re using is a business page.
No one sees page posts unless you pay to boost them. Groups, on the other hand, can get to people who are members quite consistently, as long as the group is consistently delivering the things that the people in the group want to see.
One thing disturbing me is the @everyone tag that is being increasingly used in groups.
If a group owner uses the @everyone tag and I go in to read the post only to find that I haven’t been mentioned at all, I leave the group.
It’s a great way to get attention, but it’s also a great way to remind someone that they are part of a group they forgot about and don’t care about — so they will leave.
Groups will still be the place to be on Facebook in 2023. School groups, Mums groups, Star Trek fan groups, Kath & Kim Appreciation groups — they’ll all continue to perform well — even if business pages are slowly becoming useless.
Instagram will continue to push more towards a TikTok approach. You’ve probably noticed that they’re pushing us to add music to our photos — which makes them Reels.
While adding audio to a static image might help you get a few more views, the key to building an audience on Instagram is all about entertaining and clever Reels.
Basically, treat Instagram as another TikTok — but one where you can vary between videos and photos.
I’m expecting Instagram to lose users in 2023 — but for the users that remain to be more engaged and more willing to enter into conversation.
It will still be a powerhouse place to sell products and promote premium services, though.
Pinterest actually dropped user numbers in 2022 and that is expected to continue in 2023.
The failure of their shopping features hasn’t helped any of us be very confident in Pinterest.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should abandon it.
Pinterest is still a great place for inspiration.
Brides, mothers-to-be, renovators and career builders are here.
Pinterest is a very positive place. And that will be it’s strength.
If you’re selling a product or are a coach, I’d be taking a look at it in 2023. Especially if you’re selling globally.
And that’s important, because Pinterest doesn’t have a lot of users in Australia.
The Bottom Line: Diversify!
The one theme I would offer for 2023, would be to diversify where you are on social media. Please don’t put all your attention into one place.
For those who are highly dependant on Facebook, I’d look at developing your own newsletter based on a customer relationship management system like Hubspot or Sendinblue (which is what I use.)
If Instagram is all you really use, then you really should start looking at TikTok to increase your visibility.
Look at what people like you are doing on all these platforms and choose a new one to enter into in 2023.
That’s all for this weekend. Just one short read about what different social media platforms will be like in 2023.
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See you again next week.
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P.S. When you’re ready, here are a few ways I can help out.
This coming Monday, November 22, I’ll be hosting a free Meta Business Masterclass as part of the Australian Entrepreneurs Alliance E-Fest. You’ll learn about best practices for Facebook, Instagram and Messenger — as well as an in-depth look at Business Suite.
My free Personal Branding Mini Course just passed its 400th subscription. It’s a great way to learn how to form your own personal brand over five weeks in your inbox. Do this before you see a consultant, and you’ll save thousands.
As the holiday season approaches, you may be wanting to get some ideas on how you can do better with your social media and personal brand in 2023. I offer a free 15-minute discovery call to anyone in Australia who wants to see what’s possible.
