Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 10, 2021

The majority of marketers last year increased investment on Instagram. This year, Instagram holds the top spot at 48%, but others are close behind. About 47% of marketers plan to increase budgets on Facebook, 44% on YouTube, and 43% on LinkedIn.

The biggest jump was seen with with TikTok, with 36% of marketers planning to increase their investment and 38% planning to maintain it — a dramatic increase from last year, when only 13% said they planned to increase their investment in the platform, and 5% said they plan to maintain it.

Hootsuite released its annual global Social Trends 2022 report this week, which analyzes social ad trends, calls out companies that are doing well, and provides insights into how brands can capitalize on their social ad spend in 2022.

More than 18,000 marketers, industry analysts, and Hootsuite customers and partners participated in the study that revealed the platforms that are most effective for reaching their business goals in 2021, what platforms they spent the most and least on in terms of ad spend, and what social platforms businesses should be prioritizing most in 2022.

A key theme that emerged this year is social’s expanding value across all types of business — not just marketing. The data shows a large jump in “improving the employee experience” and “brand protection,” as well as excitement about “expanding social’s impact on other departments,” particularly among senior level marketers.

While Facebook and Instagram rank high, marketers rated networks like TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat as being much more effective than they have been in previous years. TikTok’s ad effectiveness skyrocketed 700% from 3% last year to 24% this year, according to the data.

Facebook decreased in perceived advertising effectiveness to 62% in 2021, compared with 78% in 2020. 

Instagram also declined in perceived advertising effectiveness, rating 49% in 2021, down from 70% in 2020.

When asked to cite the top three goals that marketers will try to achieve on social in 2022, 53% cited brand awareness, while 47% cited customer acquisition, and 46% cited driving conversions.

Companies also expect more from social. Some 20% — up from 4% — said improving the employee experience will become important this year. Brand protection and risk mitigation jumped from 5% to 20%.

Top goals on social in 2022 based on company size:

The biggest challenges on social run the gamut. Some 51% cite consistently producing creative social content, while 43% cited the decline of organic reach and the need to increase paid advertising budgets on social, and 34% cited integrating data and technology to build a unified customer view.

Other challenges include the need to engage consumers, the need to unify social across all departments, and managing privacy of customer data.

Among marketers, these social platforms are considered the most effective for reaching their business goals when asked to pick the top three:

• Facebook – 62%
• Instagram – 49%
• LinkedIn – 40%
• Twitter – 39%
• YouTube – 34%
• TikTok – 24%
• WhatsApp – 19%
• Pinterest – 15%
• Snap – 13%
• Other – 1%

The data shows a big increase in “improving the employee experience” and “brand protection,” and excitement about “expanding social’s impact on other departments” — particularly among senior-level marketers. MediaPost.com: Search & Performance Marketing Daily

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