🔮 Peep into our (social media-only) crystal ball

Hello hello 👋🏾 

Happy Friday the 13th! We’re two weeks into the new year, and it’s already going down in history as one of my more hectic starts. I hope your 2023 has been a little more restful for you so far.

💌 In today’s email:

• 🔮 Peep into our (social media-only) crystal ball
• 📱 Mitra recommends you show off your small business
• 📣 What’s happening in social: Instagram is (finally) sunsetting the shopping tab, YouTube is making it rain, Ryan Reynolds is creeped out by ChatGPT, and Twitter rolls out a TikTok-style feed.
• +All the best content from the blog.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next Friday!

Warmly, 

Tami & the Buffer team

P.S. The Japanese believe that 13 brings good fortune and luck as it sounds similar to their word for “to live”.

🏊🏼 Deep dive: Gaze into our crystal ball for social media predictions in 2023

Okay, so no one can actually predict the future. But we can extrapolate (okay big words 👏🏽) based on current trends and make assumptions about the future. So with that in mind, here are our expert-led assumptions predictions for social media in 2023.

• We will see more AI-generated content that might be mediocre, but that mediocrity will lead to a bigger spotlight on creatives with a unique style, voice, and perspective. (Mohammed Asaduallah, Daniel Sobey-Harker)
• The era of the wealthy, aspirational creator is fading quickly, making way for new voices in everyday people. More "regular people" will get to share their voice, especially on short-form video platforms. (Kasey Bayne)
• Per-platform social managers will become a thing as more brands will realize why their social media team can’t also be their PR team, copywriters, content creators, and everything in between. (Kendall Dickieson)
• Video content creators that are great on camera will be sought after to create social-first, video-first content for TikTok and YouTube Shorts. (Hayley Rodgers)
• Creators will hone in on email marketing and focus more on building their own brand and creating their own businesses than relying on brand partnerships. (Jennifer Reardon)
• Increase in higher-quality, targeted content to combat the decrease in cookieless paid social. We will see a resurgence in organic content due to the pivot from the social graph to the interest graph. (Arielle Sanchez, Duarte Garrido)
• We'll see many more creative and unexpected collaborations between companies, celebs, and influencers a la Mr Beast + Antarctica + Shopify. (Natalie Sportelli)
• Bonus: YouTube Shorts will become the new TikTok (Kendall Dickieson)

What do you think will happen in social media in 2023? Let us know here!

🚀 Supercharge your social media strategy in 2023 with Buffer

Growing your social media has never been easier, with Buffer's stacked deck of features to help you publish the best content and connect with your audience across multiple channels.

👇🏽 The latest from the blog

• #AskBuffer: Where do you start when creating new social channels for your business?: Umber covers tips and best practices for starting a new social media channel for your business and making the most of it. Use the hashtag #AskBuffer to ask us your burning questions about social media and we might just answer with an article!
• How This Small Business Owner Went From an Etsy Store with $100 to making 7 Figures in Sales: In our first installment of 'How I Grew My Small Business,' Umber takes a deep dive into how Janet Hoang turned a high school art project into a successful lifestyle brand.
• Spotlighting Digital Nomading & Third Cultures from a Buffer Teammate: At Buffer, we regularly share cultural spotlights to connect our global team and help us understand one another at a deeper level. Sophie, our Growth Marketing Manager, presents a deep dive into life as a digital nomad.

🎙️We revived The Science of Social Media!

The Science of Social Media is a weekly podcast exploring hot topics, best practices, and insights into social media from the Buffer team and top social media marketing experts.

📱 Social Tip of The Week from Mitra, Buffer’s Social Media Manager 

“Show what your small business sells in 7 seconds”

Here’s a really easy trend for you to jump on. Just do exactly what the audio says - show what your small business sells in 7 seconds! You can use photos, videos, or a combination of both. Here’s a great example from Fire + Sol Candle Co.

🤳 What's Happening in Social

• 🛍️ Instagram is removing the Shopping tab and putting back the Create button starting in February.
• 💸 YouTube will start sharing ad money with Shorts creators on February 1st.
• 🤖 Ryan Reynolds uses ChatGPT to create a “mildly eerie” ad for Mint Mobile.
• 👉🏽 Twitter rolls out a swipeable feed where you can switch between recommended tweets and tweets from people you follow, similar to TikTok’s For You page.

Thanks for reading! 💟

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