9 Exciting Social Media Trends For 2022: From Social Video to Content Remixing

There’s no avoiding it – our love of scrolling and swiping is here to stay! Social media provides brands with an opportunity to connect with audiences around the world and provides creators with plenty of fertile ground for making their content stand out. 

At the same time, social media has become a key marketing channel that – when used correctly – cuts through the online clutter and captures audiences’ attention in a way traditional forms of advertising often fail to. 

To help you make the most of these hugely persuasive platforms, we’ve compiled a collection of social media trends that are set to shape the online landscape over the next 12 months – from social commerce to content remixing. 

Videos designed for social media – which are often short and snackable – continue to dominate the online arena, and it seems the glory days of long-form video may be long gone (for now!). 

“As little as a couple of years ago, long-form video was trending on social media with the introduction of IGTV and Facebook Watch,” says Jen McKinnon, Envato’s Video Marketing Manager. “But since then, we’ve seen a social video revolution that has shifted content towards the vertical, bite-sized format. The emergence of TikTok was a real catalyst for this shift. It inspired the introduction of Reels on Instagram and, more recently, the removal or transformation of IGTV into a more streamlined, all-inclusive ‘video’ category for anything outside of Reels.”

Platforms have been scrambling to embrace this trend originally kick-started by TikTok. Instagram launched Reels in 2020, while last year YouTube introduced Shorts – a new short-form format for the traditionally long-form video streaming platform. As a result, brands are keen to join the bite-sized movement – like this quickfire offering from Nike.

With the rise of social video showing no sign of slowing down, now’s the time to learn tips and tricks that will reel in those viewers. From live streaming and animation to vertical and searchable videos, our 5 Social Video Trends and 7 Top Video Trends for 2021 blogs will bring you up to speed. And when it comes to keeping on top of TikTok trends, we’ve curated a collection of 10 templates available on Elements to help you cross-promote your channel in style. 

If you want to stay on top of short-form videos, check out the seven stylish titles contained in TikTok Elements by Typo-land or add sliding animation and modern glitch effects to your content with TikTok Promo from Motionsparrow.

From music festivals to webinars and product launches, the pandemic forced many brands to pivot from in-person events in Auckland, New York, and other big cities to online offerings. Social media has played an important part when it comes to advertising and amplifying digital events, with platforms supporting audience participation and live streaming functionality connecting organizers and attendees like never before. Take Isol-Aid as an example, which describes itself as a ‘socially (media) distanced music festival’.

“With the need to move many events online over the past couple of years, a number of social media features have emerged or been rebooted to enable brands to connect with customers,” says Julia Fernandez, Envato’s Senior Content Marketing Manager. “Instagram Live Rooms allows creators to go live with up to three people, creating a truly intimate online experience. Live Rooms are perfect for events such as Q&As, tutorials, and musical performances, which can then be shared and watched by your followers. 

“And Instagram’s not the only platform experimenting with live offerings. Brands can use LinkedIn Live for networking on LinkedIn as it provides them a platform to share stories, connect with their target audience, and create valuable content. In contrast, Twitter Spaces (which is inspired by Clubhouse) enables live audio conversations between participants. In addition, Pinterest TV is a new offering of live, original, and shoppable episodes featuring some of the platform’s most popular creators.”

We expect to see these features continue to flourish as hybrid events – in other words, events that host in-person attendees as well as an engaged online audience –  take center stage. With this in mind, it’s important to take these physical-meets-virtual events into account when planning your marketing strategy. 

Promote your event to an online audience with Virtual Music Concert Pack by lilynthesweetpea, offer attendees an interactive experience thanks to this 360° Panorama Plugin for WordPress from jegtheme, and find all the social media posts you need to promote your digital event with graphicook’s Virtual Start Up Conference Flyer Set.

From social media influencers to bloggers and vloggers, millions of people are now earning money by marketing their knowledge, interests, and opinions online. Whether it’s fashion and beauty advice or political analysis, audiences around the world are showing up and subscribing to content that inspires, informs, and entertains them. And they’re willing to pay for it too. Multi-hyphenate Lil Ahenkan (otherwise known as influencer FlexMami) recently announced her decision to paywall her premium content using Instagram’s Close Friends feature. 

With independent creators, curators, and community builders increasingly shaping the way audiences consume content, it’s no wonder brands and businesses want to get in on the action. 

“Creators have become the key to unlocking our digital communities,” says Jo Birelson, Envato’s Social Media Specialist. “Brands that partner with creators are able to access and connect to these communities in more authentic and less forced ways.”

Social media is hugely responsible for driving the creator economy, by both incentivizing users with financial rewards and establishing professional development programs for emerging talents. 

“Snapchat recently pledged to pay $1 million per day to top-performing Spotlight creators,” says Jo, “while Pinterest has established a $500k creator fund and YouTube pays its top Shorts creators $100m each year. Meanwhile, Instagram’s Creator Week was designed to help creators build their careers, support their wellbeing, and connect with peers.

Brands want to partner with creators because they know what’s trending online and have a loyal fanbase, but this requires a considered approach. “From finding the right fit and considering diversity and inclusivity to letting go of some control, an honest and lasting relationship should be your goal,” says Jo.

What’s trending on Instagram? You are, thanks to the sleek, stylish, and sophisticated Trendo Instagram templates. Give your feed an instant makeover with a square and vertical Instagram Gradient kit from Sko4 and use Instagram Puzzle to create 12 posts that mingle and merge to form one eye-catching image. Plan and schedule the posts by using social media scheduling tools to get it just right.

From inspiring people’s purchases to offering an online shop front, social media has become the new frontier for retail marketing. While consumers might have previously seen a post on Instagram and clicked through to the brand’s website, today they can checkout and complete their transaction with Instagram Shops in just a few clicks – all without leaving the platform. Online clothing brand ASOS has even created a dedicated Instagram page, ASOS Marketplace, for the specific purpose of selling products using social commerce while also promoting small brands and businesses.

“Increased social media consumption and shopping from home have created the perfect storm,” explains Jo. “Pre-pandemic, social commerce was reserved for the disrupters, while post-pandemic it has become the norm for users to check-out in-app.” 

This means brands should take advantage of new social commerce tools – like Facebook’s Shops in Groups and YouTube’s early experiments with live-stream shopping – and ensure they’re offering the best possible in-app experience. Remember: sending potential customers to a website or a landing page can create a potential leak in the conversion funnel. 

Make your social shopfront sparkle with an Instagram Commerce Pack which includes 25 unique Instagram templates that are great for showcasing your products. Or check out more than 20 fashion-forward Instagram Shop Stories and color-popping Mondrian-style Instagram Shop templates by spacestudios. 

Satire has become one of the biggest tone-of-voice trends on social media over the past few years, and as a result, brands who don’t take themselves too seriously are blowing up our feeds with memes, gifs, and candid content. 

Gone are reams of boring business-speak: we now expect online accounts to be sarcastic, silly, and self-deprecating. Like Envato’s If Fonts Were Human video, in which typefaces are put through their paces, job interview-style. 

Coinciding with the rise of snackable social platforms and features, like TikTok and Instagram Reels, this trend taps into people’s appetite for short, entertaining, snappy content. But it also resonates with audiences seeking authenticity – those who like their advertising to come with a side of self-awareness. 

Take a playful approach to your promotional materials with these fun Social Media Transitions, this Viral Video Template, this WordPress Meme Generator, or a Blog Intro that’s the perfect way to welcome viewers to your YouTube channel. 

Having already touched on the importance of authenticity, this commitment to realness goes hand-in-hand with social awareness and accountability. As consumers adopt ethical purchasing habits, they’re looking for brands that share their values and are committed to the issues they care about. 

With a recent Consumer Culture Report revealing that 83% of millennials want companies to align with their values (and 76% want CEOs to speak out on issues they care about), social media provides a powerful platform where brands can share their positive messages while creating an open dialogue by welcoming interaction and engagement. 

“Whether it’s content on environmental sustainability or racial equality, a brand that creates content for good can become more memorable for having a defined position,” says Jo.

For example, to show support for the LGBTQ+ community, Skittles shared a special edition on social, which moved away from its multicolored packaging to stress that point that, during Pride month, only #OneRainbow matters. While toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap continues to use its Instagram account to raise awareness of social and environmental issues and offer advice on ways to make your charitable donations work harder. 

Share your Pride month promotions with LGBTQ Discount Sale Graphic Templates from Chanut_industries, encourage followers to go green with Environment Instagram Stories templates, and create social media posts to raise awareness of your charity event thanks to bayurakhmadio’s Stop Hate Virtual Music Concert Flyer.

While the social media landscape is constantly changing and evolving, there are still plenty of opportunities to take a trip down memory lane. This is why in recent years we’ve seen the return of retro graphic design trends, from the LSD-inspired psychedelia of the 60s to the tropical palm trees and pastel sunsets of the 80s. 

Whether it’s to remind us of childhood or revive a once-popular design style, this trend offers brands, artists, and designers the opportunity to revisit the things we know and love. Offering an ‘antidote to modern times’, lifestyle brand Recess stays true to its promise by posting images of an old-school browser window and a Nokia 3310 (complete with a game of Snake on-screen) to its socials. 

So, while we’re spending more time in front of screens than ever, creators are looking back over their shoulders – interrogating 90s pop culture for inspiration, having fun with the minimalist retro aesthetic, and celebrating the geometric shapes, simple color schemes, and functionality that underpinned the Bauhaus movement of the 1920s. 

Invite audiences to embrace the 80s with Retro Gradient Instagram Templates, use a retro font like Rigeko in your next project, and channel a dial-up internet vibe with this collection of Instagram Post templates. 

This next trend is all about making your content work harder and lengthening its lifecycle by breaking it into multiple posts and adapting it to suit different platforms. As Jen McKinnon, Envato’s Video Marketing Manager acknowledges: “When you create a piece of content there is always more value to be had than just the single post you created it for. Content remixing or content atomization is a way to extend that content’s value by repackaging it across different platforms.” 

Sharing behind-the-scenes snaps from a magazine photoshoot, refreshing and reusing content assets that have resonated with audiences in the past, and seeing how content performs on new channels – these are all strategies that can realize maximum results with minimum effort. 

See us practicing what we preach and turning our interview with Russian digital artist Farelyph into three formats: a how-to blog post that’s all about anime art; an Instagram post that offers a fast-paced snapshot of her creative process; and a snackable YouTube Short.

Give your social content an instant lift with Social Media Pack Vol. 1 from graphix_shiv, which features Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest templates, or try out five different designs and square layouts with this fashion-savvy Social Media Pack or this sophisticated offering.

For more advice on growing your online presence, check out these expert social media tips covering everything from coming up with a strategy to keeping your followers engaged and entertained at all times.

Photos featuring a single color make for eye-catching social media content, which is why brands are embracing this up-to-the-minute photography trend in order to stand out from the competition. 

“With the rise of digital marketing, social media advertising, and online shopping, it’s no longer enough to just have professional product photography,” says Envato’s Digital Designer, Taylor Conacher. “Imagery must demand attention and engage distracted audiences in less than a second before they scroll on. Monochromatic product photography looks right at home on an Instagram feed or Pinterest board. Whether it’s a zero-alcohol wine or a new toothbrush, the impact of a single color dominating the entirety of the frame is immediately eye-catching. Combined with interesting object composition, this trend drives brand association and leaves a memorable impression.”

Taking a bold and bright approach to branding, monochromatic photography can communicate so much with just one hue, like emotions and mood. Pink feels playful, red says daring and green feels fresh, while this yellow Instagram offering from Canada-based product photographer Treesha Millicent adds a splash of sunshine while perfectly demonstrating the less-is-more appeal of monochromatic. 

Of course, subtle variations are achieved through the use of different tints and shades, but the idea of the monochromatic design trend is to pick a micro-color palette and stick to it. Embrace this social media trend by posting product mock-ups in calming blue, a beauty product-friendly blush pink or sophisticated grey, or check out some of the monochromatic photography below from Envato Elements for inspiration.

And that’s a wrap on our Social Media Trends for 2022! Familiarize yourself with these hot topics and you’ll be turning heads on TikTok and trending on Twitter in no time. But if you do need a helping hand when it comes to building your strategy, check out this round-up of tips from social media experts. 

For more marketing content, there’s our Social Media Marketing Guide and Social Video Trends blog, which covers everything from live streaming to YouTube Shorts. And don’t forget, a subscription to Elements includes access to all of the social media assets you need, from customizable templates to eye-popping graphics, and attention-grabbing backgrounds.