By pbump@hubspot.com (Pamela Bump)

According to 2021 2ubSpot Blog Research, most marketers search for new or emerging social media platforms on a weekly or monthly.

When you visit the App Store or Google Play and search “social media,” there are hundreds of apps to choose from. But, as the pool of social platforms grows, will any of them really change the game for marketers this year?

The truth is, probably so. The year 2020 changed the way we did just about everything — including socializing. Social distancing became a familiar part of our lives leaving a void for personalized communication we used to have in-person.

Nevertheless, humans are adaptable, and several new social networking sites have emerged in the last twelve months to recreate the communities we’ve had to abandon abruptly.

2022 Social Media Trends

The hottest social media trends thus far are audio-based social networking and live streaming.

Live streaming video (32%) was the second-highest trend social media marketers invested in this year, behind short-form video content. The survey also revealed that streaming performed better than expected for 52% of social media marketers surveyed.

This comes at a time when platforms like Twitch and Discord are rising and expanding beyond gaming.

As for audio, Stephanie Morgan, social media expert and founder of the marketing agency Social Lock, sees a bright future for this new type of community.

“Audio-based social networking is a relatively new concept, but it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon,” she says.

HubSpot Blog Research found that 65% of social media marketers ranked live audio chat rooms among the top three most effective social media formats.

Watching the growth of young, promising social channels will help you determine which are worth joining and which aren’t worth your time.

And, if you do end up joining a hot new social channel early on, you may have more time to pick up on what promotional content works there. This will put you ahead of competitors that launch their accounts later and might struggle to come up with creative post ideas.

To help you stay on the cutting edge of social media, we’ve compiled a list of eight young social platforms that you might want to put on your radar this year. These platforms have all gained a large user base, interest from investors, or news buzz in recent months.

For each platform, we’ll walk you through how it works, its user base, why it might be promising to marketers later on, and how you should approach it today.

1. Twitch

Year Launched: 2011

Number of Users: 140 million monthly active users

Twitch is a live streaming platform that allows creators to interact with their audience in real time. Its leading traffic driver comes from video game enthusiasts.

Image Source

Players can record themselves playing popular games like Fortnite and Minecraft while the audience watches and engages. Some creators also offer exclusive content to those who choose …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron