This report draws on the expertise of our talent from various regions, incorporating campaign data and research to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the brands we work with, says the agency.
According to Ogilvy, the report aims to provide a comprehensive view of the evolving landscape of social media for brands, looking ahead to the future.
Ryan Laing, digital strategy and intelligence director at Ogilvy Social Lab elaborates on the following four points:
1. Culture is (still) at the centre of social in 2024
"Culture has long been a buzzword within the broader marketing community; however, it is now clear that it sits right at the centre of Social 3.0," says Laing.
"Brands will need to understand and tap into to culture in a more nuanced and empathetic way than ever before, going beyond simply reacting to trends but rather playing an active role in shaping and leading them by embedding culture into the brand's meaning. The key to this will be a clear understanding of culture, powered by a customised cultural intelligence model," Laing adds.
2. We are living in the era of authenticity
"In case you've been living under a rock, creators are now an essential part of any winning social strategy. The numbers are staggering, with the creator economy expected to hit USD$480-billion by 2027," Laing says.
"For brands, creators provide a more agile and scalable way to stay at the forefront of culture. As creator-led content becomes more integrated, its impact will spread across categories, even ones not traditionally associated with these types of partnerships — the rise of healthcare professionals on TikTok being one such example," adds Laing.
"Brands will need to consider more permanent (and meaningful) creator engagement plans in 2024 to really take advantage," Laing says.
3. From snackable to serious storytelling, video will drive valuable attention
Laing says, "'TikTok is the new TV' really says everything you need to know about the proliferation of video content in the past few years. Users spend more time-consuming videos on social than any other social media activity. The dominance of TikTok and Instagram Reels, and the uptake of YouTube Shorts speaks to consumers' love for punchy short clips — and we know this works."
"However, long-form content offers huge potential for extended, creative brand content. We've even seen TikTok testing 30-minute uploads in 2024 already. Most importantly, long-form video can potentially be an indicator of the most valuable metric of them all — attention," Laing adds.
4. AI will continue to have an everyday impact on our industry
"This was always going to be part of any trends list, and in 2024 we see AI propelling brand social teams forward. It's set to take over community management tasks such as social monitoring and customer service," says Laing.
"AI will shorten the process of equipping brand teams with invaluable insights into customer behaviour, sentiment and social trends, enabling deeper connections targeting and personalisation in content distribution," Laing adds.
"Creatively, AI is clearly going to play a massive role in supporting conceptual development all the way to execution through to generative content creation. All of this will result in freeing up valuable human resources for more strategic (and creative) initiatives, hopefully leading to bigger and better work, concludes Laing.
Ogilvy's
2024 Social Media Trends Report can be assessed
here.