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There's no doubt: businesses and consumers are increasingly digital. The e-commerce figures speak for themselves, as they grew by 361% in Colombia this year compared to 2021, moving nearly 1% in 40%. Social media has played a leading role in this growth.
In fact, according to the Hootsuite platform, everything indicates that next year a transition that was unthinkable a while ago will accelerate: social media will take the place of search engines like Google. That's why it asserts that small business owners who want to survive must know how to position their offerings on social media.
But which ones will reign supreme next year? Purpose Brand has no doubt that TikTok will continue its aggressive expansion, placing increasing emphasis on its commercial offering.
“According to Statista, as of January 2022, 711% of users reported making a purchase when they came across a product while using the app (TikTok). Even more interesting, users view the platform as an alternative to Google and search for products they're interested in purchasing,” Purpose notes.
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In these forecasts, it's surprising that Twitter is given a fairly prominent place in 2023, despite the financial problems it has exposed and the uproar following its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk. Purpose believes brands will leverage this network to broadcast short advertising videos, respond quickly to consumer complaints and claims, and build relationships with their community.
It's worth noting that TikTok is the sixth-largest social network in the world, with 1 billion users, although this figure only includes users over 18, so the number could be higher. Despite its popularity and impact, Twitter is outside the top 10, appearing in 15th place with 436 million users.
The data is consolidated in the Global Overview Report 2022, released by Hootsuite and We Are Social, and highlights that the networks with the most users currently are Facebook (Meta), with 2.91 billion; YouTube, with 2.562 billion; WhatsApp, with 2.000 billion; Instagram, with 1.478 billion; and WeChat, with 1.263 billion (see Chart).
The end of Facebook?
If anything was clear this year, it's that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, hasn't fared well. User growth and overall results haven't been in line with market expectations, and the metaverse project hasn't been entirely convincing. This led to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the conglomerate, losing nearly US$1.482 billion of his net worth last year and dropping out of the top 20 richest people.
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However, there's more to Facebook than that. Purpose hopes the network will consolidate its "Reels" platform, taking on TikTok and gaining momentum in the era of short videos. "It's no surprise that Facebook is looking to continue prioritizing Reels, which are now available in more than 150 countries, and working with creators to better support them," he notes.
For its part, the regional comprehensive digital marketing agency Brandformance believes that Instagram, with its famous reels, and YouTube, with its shorts, are examples of how short videos will become increasingly important when it comes to attracting new users and helping companies design their commercial strategies.
Compared to WhatsApp, it confirms that it will continue to lead the messaging and communications segment, but its declines have closed the gap with Telegram. It also looks forward to the future of Discord and Slack.
According to Eze Joulie, founder and CEO of Brandformance, other 2023 trends are expected to see podcasts continue to boom due to the closeness they allow brands to connect with their target audiences; and regarding young people, he suggests that Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) will gradually consolidate TikTok and Instagram over other social networks, and even over Google.
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Favorites in Colombia
At this point, it's worth highlighting how social media operates in Colombia. According to a report by the firm Branch, the most used are WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, and Twitter.
Branch also highlights that "there are 65.75 million connected phones in the country. If we compare this to the population, this means that each Colombian owns, on average, 1.2 cell phones."
And he adds that "in terms of social media use, Colombia has 45.80 million active users, which represents 81% of the population."
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