9 Current Facebook Trends & Forecasts for 2024 You Should Be Thinking About

Amid the COVID-19 lockdowns that separated friends and families, people turned to social media to stay connected. And when it comes to social media channels, Facebook is still the market leader worldwide. The platform’s growth is the most notable of all Facebook trends. But the company’s constant improvement of the system through updates, new tools, and tweaks are also worth noting as it makes Facebook an attractive marketing tool for any organization.

Taking advantage of social media management software benefits will increase the likelihood of your Facebook marketing efforts becoming successful. Facebook has proved useful in certain business areas, among them marketing, customer service, and even collaboration. Hence, it makes sense that using Facebook in conjunction with top social media management tools would ensure optimal outcomes. To give you a better idea of what’s in store for the platform, we have looked at the latest Facebook trends. 

As of January 2021, Facebook has become the first social network to register more than one billion accounts with over 2.74 billion monthly active users. Its revenue for 2020 was $85.965 billion, a 21.6% increase from 2019. 

Facebook remains the most effective social media advertising platform that can be used for free or at a minimal cost. However, the platform continues to evolve as a business tool, which is evidenced by the increase in the number of companies seeking to leverage the platform to reach more audiences. Simply checking out the latest Facebook statistics would confirm these benefits.

The social media platform continuously receives new features that can prove useful to organizations. Check out the following trends that are expected to impact Facebook users and businesses alike in the coming years.

Stories

Although originally invented by rival Snapchat, stories publication is now dominated by Facebook, which now boasts of over 1 billion stories shared via the platform daily. So what makes stories a noteworthy Facebook trend? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg thinks stories will play a key role in the future of social media for a variety of reasons.

Zuckerberg pointed out three reasons why stories will be relevant in the years to come. First, many consider Stories as the new newsfeed. It has changed the way Facebook users share everyday events. And as stories happen in real-time, sharing comes almost instantaneously, keeping friends constantly in the know.

Stories also work well with smartphones, making them highly suited to today’s users, most of whom use mobile devices. Lastly, stories support user privacy, a feature that most people find useful nowadays.

Facebook Live

Facebook Live can now be used by anyone who uses the platform, unlike before when only verified brands can take advantage of the feature. For companies that have limited marketing budgets, this can prove to be an excellent marketing channel as Facebook users are known to watch videos daily—100 million videos to be exact. It is also a fact that live videos are ranked higher in news feeds, giving them optimal exposure.

Facebook Live engagement is also going through the roof at 178% higher than average post engagement. It’s also worth noting that the time people spend watching Facebook Live has quadrupled and live videos perform better with Facebook’s algorithm compared to pre-recorded videos (SproutSocial, 2020).

Facebook Live’s ability to reach many audiences makes it an ideal marketing tool.

Video Is Still King

It’s projected that by 2022, video will account for 82% of internet traffic. That’s 15 times higher than it was in 2017 (WNIP, 2021). Video was also used by 33% of businesses to develop content specifically addressing COVID-19, while 66% used video to engage and communicate with key stakeholders. These included investors, partners, customers, and employees (Cielo24, 2020). Hence, pundits see videos to continue to dominate Facebook marketing. The fact that different types of videos continue to emerge in recent years allows companies to cater to different types of audiences. 

The popularity of videos as a marketing tool can also be traced to the fact that Facebook videos get 135% more organic reach than images. The popularity of Facebook videos shows no sign of waning, which is why 46% of marketers are mulling the addition of these videos to their digital marketing efforts in the immediate future. Check out the latest digital marketing statistics and find out for yourself how videos have been performing for companies’ marketing programs.

Chatbots

The use of chatbots in social media platforms has become fairly commonplace, and Facebook is no exception. There are already 100,000 active bots monthly on Facebook Messenger. Businesses use them in different ways but customer service remains as the chief chatbot application. Users may program them to answer simple issues and queries, allowing you to drive your sales by automating customer interactions.

To successfully use chatbots, there are several things you should remember. First, you have to make your customer’s chatbot experience feel personal. Coming up with a persona should take care of this. You might also want to make the chat process simple. Doing so would make your customers feel at home with the tech. And finally, accept the fact that chatbots are no magic pill: expect to hit snags along the way and prepare for such situations.

Automation and personas make FB Messenger bots a hit with businesses and customers.

More Paid Ad Spending

Content marketers have been boosting investments in paid social advertising, with 93% of social media advertisers investing in Facebook ads. The social media platform has been raking in top dollar from advertisers, with ad revenue reaching $27.19 billion during the fourth quarter of 2020 (Statista, 2021). The increase in the popularity of Facebook ads continues because social ads are 74% effective.

However, investing in Facebook ads also entails some thinking. The social media platform has retargeting features that you can use to zero in on customers who are already interested in your offerings. You can improve this process further by promoting ads that feature reviews of a particular product or service. Safe to say, this is one of the most prominent Facebook advertising trends.

Customer Journey Tracking

Journey mapping is a critical process that done right would help you understand your customers more. However, marketers do not exactly love its quite cumbersome processes. If you are a marketer, you know that knowing the ad that a customer last clicked before purchase gives you a representative snapshot of the customer journey.

Facebook’s launch of a new attribution tool has made it possible for companies to tracking customer’s online journey. Unlike current methods, the tool allows you to view touchpoints such as landing pages, posts, reviews, and ads that lead to a specific purchase. It basically, provides you with a clearer picture of the whole customer journey, allowing you to measure the value of individual sales channels.

Brand Voice

Companies showcase their brand voice every time they update their websites, launch an ad or publish a post on social media platforms. Brand voice has become a key marketing ingredient as it helps organizations easily recognized in the heap. And social media is a great avenue for building your brand voice.

Facebook can contribute to your brand voice strategy by allowing you to post engaging content that will appear in your customers’ feeds. However, making this work will be entirely up to how you create and manage your content. You can succeed with your content strategies by improving corporate values and being consistent across sales channels, among others.

Most Popular Social Media Management Software

1. HubSpot Marketing. A top social media management platform sporting core features like omnichannel lead management, marketing automation, social media monitoring, and analytics. See what else it has to offer in our HubSpot Marketing pricing and review page.
2. Facebook Pages Manager. A tool that lets users manage Facebook pages via mobile devices. Learn about Facebook Pages Manager pricing and its features like scheduled posts, boosting your posts, translating your posts, and create events among many others.
3. monday.com. A collaboration app that lets social media teams manage their social media campaigns across different platforms. Our monday.com pricing and review page will let you know more about its features like automation and task management.
4. Zoho Social. A tool that lets you create and publish content using bulk scheduling, repeat posts, and automatic scheduling. Check out its other features like multi-channel marketing and social media metrics in our Zoho Social pricing and review page.
5. HootSuite. A social relationship tool that can help you manage your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. Learn about its features like social analytics, social media monitoring, and omnichannel functions in our HootSuite pricing and review page.

Page Customization

Facebook has been allowing users to customize their pages for some time now. The feature is nothing new but it continues to be a valuable tool to maximize your social media reach. You can customize different page components while allowing you to integrate third-party applications to your page. Marketers find this feature very useful as it effectively allows them to sell directly through Facebook.

You can customize Facebook pages in a variety of ways. Changing templates depends on the business category, allowing you to choose the best design for your business. You can likewise manipulate tabs, which you can add, rearrange, customize or remove as you see fit. This customization option allows you to stand out from the crowd. 

Facebook Spaces Will Be a Thing

Social media users have always wanted to meet in virtual settings. Facebook Spaces is an app that can do just that, allowing geographically challenged users to gather in a virtual place. This virtual setting allows for the sharing of different media types–all in real-time. Again, this is a great opportunity to market your brand. But you may also want to use the best social media monitoring solutions to ensure that your Facebook marketing campaigns are on the right track.

This new platform is going to benefit marketing professionals as it offers endless branding options. You can easily share product descriptions and information. Users can likewise have the ability to point to different product types, including cars, apparel, shoes, and even food. So how do we know that Facebook Spaces will work for businesses? It’s because leading organizations have started tinkering with the technology.

How can Facebook groups boost community engagement?

Facebook groups are an underutilized tool for businesses seeking to foster a sense of community and engagement. Unlike Facebook pages, groups are designed for more direct interaction, allowing businesses to create spaces where customers can share experiences, ask questions, and participate in discussions. Here’s how leveraging Facebook groups can help improve engagement:

• Create a sense of exclusivity: Private groups can give members a feeling of being part of a special community. Offering exclusive content, promotions, or insider information can incentivize users to join and stay active.
• Facilitate customer support and feedback: Groups can serve as a platform for customers to share their experiences and seek support. Businesses can use these discussions to gather feedback and address issues in real-time.
• Encourage user-generated content: Asking members to share their experiences, stories, or photos related to your product or service can generate organic content. This can help build trust and create authentic connections.
• Host virtual events and live sessions: Use groups to promote and conduct virtual events such as Q&A sessions, live tutorials, or product launches. This provides an opportunity for real-time interaction and deeper customer engagement.
• Build niche communities: For businesses catering to specific interests or demographics, creating specialized groups helps in reaching highly targeted audiences, fostering more meaningful interactions.

What These Trends Mean for Your Business

The Facebook business trends presented here tell us that the social media platform has yet to outgrow its usefulness to organizations. In fact, it was an important channel for businesses to interact with stakeholders when the COVID-19 outbreak happened. The company’s continued search for more powerful and useful features is also a testament to this. Most of these upgrades make the most of new technologies like chatbots and AI, which bring companies and customers closer together.

Facebook videos published and shared through the platform still outperform traditional media in terms of reaching audiences. To get a general overview of how social marketing has been faring, all you need to do is check out the most current social media statistics.

Meanwhile, tools like Facebook Live and Stories would likely emerge as popular and effective marketing tools as they are free to use and can exploit the fact that users spend more time watching videos than they do with other media. Given all these Facebook marketing trends, the prospect of your business benefiting from Facebook is quite high. But as they say, the truth of the pudding is in the eating. You will need to give the social platform a try to see if it works for your business.

Key Insights

• Continued Growth of Facebook: Facebook has over 2.74 billion monthly active users as of January 2021. Facebook’s revenue for 2020 was $85.965 billion, a 21.6% increase from 2019.
• Stories as a Major Feature: Over 1 billion Facebook stories are shared daily. Stories are seen as the new newsfeed and work well with smartphones, supporting user privacy.
• Increasing Importance of Facebook Live: Engagement for Facebook Live is 178% higher than average post engagement. Live videos are ranked higher in newsfeeds, offering optimal exposure.
• Dominance of Video Content: By 2022, video is expected to account for 82% of internet traffic. Facebook videos get 135% more organic reach than images.
• Rise of Chatbots: There are 100,000 active chatbots on Facebook Messenger. Chatbots primarily serve customer service roles, automating interactions and driving sales.
• More Investment in Paid Ads: 93% of social media advertisers invest in Facebook ads. Facebook’s ad revenue reached $27.19 billion in Q4 2020.
• Customer Journey Tracking: Facebook’s attribution tool allows tracking of customer journeys, providing insights into touchpoints like landing pages, posts, reviews, and ads.
• Brand Voice on Social Media: Consistent brand voice across social media posts helps in brand recognition. Engaging content is key to a successful brand voice strategy.
• Page Customization: Customizable Facebook pages allow businesses to maximize social media reach and integrate third-party applications for direct sales.
• Emergence of Facebook Spaces: Facebook Spaces allows users to meet in virtual settings and share media in real-time. Offers unlimited branding options for marketers.

FAQ

1. How many monthly active users does Facebook have as of January 2021? Facebook has over 2.74 billion monthly active users as of January 2021.
2. What was Facebook’s revenue for 2020? Facebook’s revenue for 2020 was $85.965 billion, which is a 21.6% increase from 2019.
3. Why are Facebook Stories considered significant? Facebook Stories are considered significant because they have become the new newsfeed, are well-suited for smartphones, and support user privacy.
4. What is the engagement rate for Facebook Live compared to average posts? The engagement rate for Facebook Live is 178% higher than the average post engagement.
5. What percentage of internet traffic is expected to be video by 2022? By 2022, video is expected to account for 82% of internet traffic.
6. How many active chatbots are there on Facebook Messenger? There are 100,000 active chatbots on Facebook Messenger.
7. What percentage of social media advertisers invest in Facebook ads? 93% of social media advertisers invest in Facebook ads.
8. What is the purpose of Facebook’s attribution tool? Facebook’s attribution tool allows companies to track the customer journey, providing insights into touchpoints such as landing pages, posts, reviews, and ads.
9. How does brand voice contribute to a company’s marketing strategy on Facebook? A consistent brand voice across social media posts helps in brand recognition and engaging content is key to a successful brand voice strategy.
10. What are the benefits of Facebook page customization for businesses? Customizable Facebook pages allow businesses to maximize social media reach, integrate third-party applications, and facilitate direct sales.
11. What is Facebook Spaces and how can it benefit businesses? Facebook Spaces is an app that allows users to meet in virtual settings and share media in real-time, offering unlimited branding options for marketers.

References:

1. Chen, J. (2020, August 3). 18 Facebook statistics every marketer should know in 2020. Sprout Social.
2. FIPP: The Network for Global Media. (2021). Over 82% of internet traffic will be online videos by 2022: How publishers can scale their content production. What’s New in Publishing.
3. Fuentes, N. (2020, July 24). Video marketing trends during COVID-19. cielo24.
4. Tankovska, H. (2021, February 2). Facebook: Quarterly segment revenue 2020. Statista.

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.