Social Media Trends 2024

1. The AI Trend
AI forces brands to redefine authenticity

Generative AI created a seismic shift when it broke into the mainstream in 2022 and sparked a whole range of emotions typically reserved for fellow humans.

Interest was so high that from 2022 to 2023, topics on learning about AI increased by 550%, according to an analysis we conducted of over 15,500 news articles and blogs.

And social marketers have jumped on the bandwagon.

Organizations report that they’re planning to double their use of AI across various activities—even tripling or quadrupling it in some cases.

Generative AI may be a source of hope for busy professionals like you, but it’s not without risks. Our survey revealed that audiences are not necessarily embracing AI and AI-generated content as much as social marketers are flocking to use it. 

Source: Hootsuite Social Media Consumer 2024 Survey


Different generations also have different levels of trust towards AI-generated content, according to our survey. 

Gen Z, for example, are more likely to claim they know what’s real and what’s created by AI better than other generations. They’re also more likely to trust and engage with AI content. On the other hand, baby boomers are the opposite on all accounts. 

AI for the ages

Thinking about social content generated by AI, rate your agreement with the following statements.

Sample: 4,420 respondents
Source: Hootsuite Social Media Consumer 2024 Survey


AI is inevitable on social, and scaling back on its use now would be like reverting from computers to typewriters.

To thrive in this new environment, marketers and brands need to move beyond defining “real” and “authentic” based on whether something was created exclusively by a human. 

In 2024, the most successful brands will redefine “authenticity.” It’s not about who (or what) creates your content anymore; it’s about the brand experience your content creates for the customer.

Does it feel right? Does it reinforce the brand? Does it work? Get those right and you can dismiss questions about whether a bot made it with a shrug.


How to work smarter with AI

1. Know your audience and how they feel about AI
   It’s timeless advice for a reason. A deep understanding of your audience can help you gather insights on whether factors such as age, culture, geography, or interests have influence on their perception of AI.

2. Decide which tasks to keep on your plate, and which to delegate
   AI makes a great assistant—but you still have to run the show. It’s up to you to delegate which aspects of the job AI can support, and which aspects need a more delicate hand (and nuanced brain, tbh).

3. Create AI policies and best practices for social media
   Make sure your team and organization are aligned in how you use AI. If you have rules and regulations in place, potential nightmares like angry customers and unapproved posts can be avoided.  

Dig deeper into our AI data
Get the full report →

2. The Platform Trend

Strategic brands commit to their champion social platforms

Be where your audience is, they said.

But when your audience is everywhere, that’s a tall order—and the average social media user logs into about seven platforms each month. Seven.

For brands, maintaining a presence on multiple networks is hard. In fact, it’s such a challenge for organizations, it’s emerged as the top ROI concern for social media.

Orgs fear the ROI impact of being on so many platforms

Which of the following issues do you think contribute to your organization’s concern about ROI for social media activities?

Today, instead of trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once, and letting time, money, resources, and results fall by the wayside (the historical norm), organizations are actually doing something about it—using ROI to figure out their next moves.

Take Twitter/X, for example. The majority (60%) of organizations have a presence there, but only a third of them feel strongly that it benefits their business—which might explain the 7% drop in brand use.

So organizations are more willing than even to say buh-bye to platforms and strategies that aren’t meeting their definition of ROI. They’re finally prioritizing their own platform-by-platform ROI scores and making business decisions accordingly.

No value, no point: Brands leave some of the social platform giants

Change in platform use for businesses from 2022 to 2023

In 2024, strategic organizations will push back against unjustified expectations to be on every platform. They’ll unlock their top-performing channels based on ROI, and focus their attention on those—and only those. If they’re really confident (and brave), they might even abandon one or two altogether.

Because mastering a few key platforms is surely better than being so-so at many.

How to decode (and declutter) your social platform mix

1. Run a social media audit for platform intel
   This will help you identify your hero platforms—and your duds—so you can make informed decisions about how to approach your social strategy moving forward. Get started with our Social Media Audit Guide.

2. Put your platforms in an ROI showdown
   Calculate the ROI of every platform you use and weigh them against each other. Find a channel that’s lagging behind? Even if it generates a positive ROI, it may not be worth the investment if there’s greater potential for growth with your other platforms.

3. Master the art of (proper) cross-posting
   We don’t recommend the copy-and-paste method of cross-posting, but there are ways to do it right. The top rule is to align your content with the norms, best practices, and formats of each platform. Check out this strategy guide for some cross-posting pro tips.
   
   
   

3. The ROI Trend

Entertainment fuels the social ROI engine

Before you quit reading, we get it. Entertainment can be an intimidating word, especially if you work in a “serious” organization (let alone a regulated industry). Can you even connect entertainment to something quantifiable, like ROI? 

But consumers are saying it loud and clear. After staying in touch with family and friends, the top reason they use social media is to be entertained and to mentally unwind, according to our Social Trends 2024 Survey.

You know what else they said? That they don’t like it when brands are too focused on self-promotion. 

The problem is, brands seem to have other ideas: Almost half of marketers publish product or brand updates or news multiple times a week, according to our survey. That’s a huge disconnect between what brands are posting and what people really want to see. 

And it gets worse.

While organizations are yammering about themselves, they also use engagement as the top metric to demonstrate ROI.

How can you demonstrate ROI through engagement metrics when you’re giving the audience exactly what they don’t want to engage with?

It’s no surprise then that over two-thirds of social marketers report being concerned about the ROI of their social activities. When brands measure success in ways that don’t add up, ROI will be hard to come by.

Brands cling to engagement to demonstrate ROI

Which metrics does your organization most commonly use to demonstrate the return on investment of its social activities?

In 2024, brands that publish entertaining content on social will succeed in winning eyeballs, engagement, and (eventually) market share away from brands that keep on publishing the same old stuff.

You don’t need to overthink it either. “Entertainment” simply boils down to providing enjoyment, according to the Oxford English Dictionary—that could be finding inspiration, getting excited, feeling moved, or learning something new.

Be your relatable person-self, not your super-serious-brand-self. After all, social media is not a place where you talk at someone. It’s an interactive space where the exchange of value is a two-way street.

This isn’t a strategy you can pivot to overnight (obvs). But if your old, promotion-heavy strategy isn’t working as well as it used to, it’s time to get back to the true strength of social media: building brand awareness, affinity, and long-term relationships with your audience through engaging, entertaining social content.


How entertainment helps you win social

1. When it comes to content, follow your audience’s lead
   Don’t assume you know what your followers want to see. Grab the opportunity to ask them what they want through polls and Q&As. You can also run experiments with new content types or tone of voice. Once you see results, start tweaking future posts and keep testing and iterating as you go.


2. Let social be the long game
   Don’t rush into “smashing those goals.” Social is best for building brand equity, which takes time. Don’t revert to your old, self-promotion-y ways either. No one likes a hard sell, and letting them flock to you will be so much more effective in the long run.

3. Make social relationships the foundation of your ROI
   Measure how far engagements go beyond social and across your larger business goals. This gives your social media efforts a higher purpose and makes them rooted in customer value and authentic relationships.