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State of Social Media 2023
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State of Social Media 2023
January 18, 2023

State of Social Media 2023

by
Meltwater

Meltwater conducts a survey annually to find out the current state of social media and to predict future trends. This blog post is based on findings from 750 marketing and communications professionals located in the EMEA region. To learn more, download the full report: https://www.meltwater.com/fi/resources/state-of-social

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In the current climate, attention is currency. As consumers become more discerning and marketing budgets tighten, reaching audiences and standing out has never been more important. With the majority of companies now using as least four of the most common platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Youtube, both paid and organic social media have truly established their place in the mix. Organic social media is a great way to build an authentic connection with an organization’s target audience, while paid social helps to amplify this message.

As different channels have different use-cases and varying audience profiles, being active across multiple channels has become a top priority. As LinkedIn is the biggest B2B network, it’s no surprise that within B2B, marketing and communications professionals ranked it highest - 64% of respondents indicated that LinkedIn was the most important channel, followed by Facebook with 18%. Interestingly, short-form content platforms played a bigger role in B2C and NGO, with significant importance on Instagram in B2C (41%), followed by Facebook (36%).

When asked marketing and communication professionals’ top goals for social media, raising brand awareness (81%) and brand engagement (55%) were the most popular across all sectors. Other popular goals included new customer acquisition (52%), followed by increasing web traffic (40%). The main challenges for marketing and communications professionals are dedicating the time and resources to succeed on social and measuring the impact and ROI. The most important development projects are aligned with the top challenges; organizations want to create more engagement with their audience and get more tangible results from social media. 

In order to gain more traction, organizations need to be open and willing to invest more time and resources in social media and its development. However, with further global economic uncertainty, organizations are being more cautious and increasingly deliberate with how they use paid social.

The survey found that both the role of organic (71%) and paid (67%) social media will increase for 2023.

To conclude, in 2023, the EMEA social media landscape will continue to evolve, taking on new roles, creating new trends and shaping the world both outside and inside the channels. Among the trends predicted, influencer marketing will continue its rapid growth, and organizations will invest further in encouraging their employees to take part in social selling, driving employee advocacy.

As shown in the survey, budgets for social media channels will either increase or stay the same in most organizations - yet again emphasizing the importance of social media. In order for organizations to survive the economic turbulence - with consumers spending more and more time online - organizations need to maintain or increase their focus on social media. By raising awareness and building loyalty, businesses can create a solid basis for increasing revenue.

Finally, as social media transcends geographical boundaries, these finding are applicable throughout the whole EMEA region; organizations everywhere in EMEA can benefit from the increased visibility and additional opportunities to create revenue.

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