According to a NordVPN survey conducted earlier this year, the average Pole spends an average of 51 hours a week online, of which only 16 hours are spent at work. Social media is an integral part of our lives, and the amount of time spent scrolling through Instagram or scrolling through TikTok is constantly growing. The role of online marketing is therefore growing – what trends will 2022 bring us in Polish social media marketing? Check out our subjective list.
Table of contents:
- Video marketing in a refreshed version
- In-stream shopping
- E-commerce on Instagram
- The growing importance of TikTok
- Voice assistants
- Ongoing campaigns with influencers
1. Video marketing in a refreshed version
Video marketing is nothing new in the field of marketing in Poland. However, in the coming year we may expect a small revolution. Instead of classic video forms in social media, live video content will gain in popularity. In its research, Cisco predicts that live video content will account for nearly 20% of all Internet video traffic in 2022. What kind of content could be at stake here and how can so-called live videos be put into business to make money from them?
Live broadcasts (e.g. on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube) are one of the sub-branches of content marketing, i.e. marketing based on valuable content. Sales here are long-term and results do not appear immediately – so the strategy should focus on educating potential customers and building trust in the brand as an expert in its field. This is where live video works perfectly: in the form of live tutorials, live training, instruction, or lectures. However, there is another option – we’ll tell you about this, in the next section.
2. In-Stream shopping
For some time now, Facebook has been steadily expanding the shopping experience directly on the platform. It aims to make the entire purchasing process without going to external advertiser sites. So the number of posts with direct purchase options is growing and improvements in payments are taking place. Furthermore, the company is developing Facebook Pay as well as its own digital currency. Meta makes no secret of the fact that it is also moving more and more in the direction of In-Stream shopping, i.e. live (live shopping). Live shopping is nothing more than selling products via live video streaming with the ability to shop from a Facebook page – all in real time.
The popularity of this type of solution is inspired by the market… China. The value of the Chinese live shopping market had grown by over 280% by 2020. Today it is known that the country wants to achieve a similar effect on Facebook, that is on the Western market, including Poland. We will certainly follow these changes, especially as it is not uncommon for Facebook’s innovations to arrive in Poland with little (or more) delay. However, it already seems that the trend may be taking hold: live shopping is available in Poland, and live broadcasts themselves are becoming increasingly popular.
3. E-commerce on Instagram
When talking about sales through social media, it is impossible to omit here the dynamically developing Instagram – another “child” from the Facebook company Meta. E-commerce is currently one of Instagram’s main goals, and the options for shopping directly on the platform (i.e. without leaving the app) are constantly growing. According to Hootsuite’s “Digital 2021” report, nearly 9.2 million Poles used Instagram in 2021 (representing 60.6% of all Polish social media users). 59.1% of this group are women, and every fifth user is a woman aged 18-24. By advertising on Instagram, we will reach almost 30% of Poles over the age of thirteen.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CW22H8OoRFg/
New features to make shopping easier (and these we can certainly expect, looking at where the platform is heading) could be based on improving product search with images, advanced product discovery panels on Instagram or, as in the case of Facebook, live shopping, i.e. direct sales in live reports. The question is whether the new tools will be introduced to this market. After all, current shopping opportunities via Instagram are severely limited in Poland compared to our Western neighbours.
4. The growing importance of TikTok
In 2022, Polish marketers will finally stop ignoring TikTok. Taking into account last year only, Polish users increased by 58% on this platform! Currently, TikTok is used by 3 million Poles, mainly women and people aged 9-15; about 9% of users are over 19 years old). Its role in the social media field will grow so much that any company whose audience overlaps with that of this platform will have to at least consider appearing there with its marketing activities.
However, it is not only the changing number of users that is worth tracking here, but also the changes taking place on the platform itself. In 2022, we can expect a number of significant advertiser-friendly innovations: the entry of new paid ad formats, as well as rising influencer rates from TikTok. So if you want to market your products or services to young Poles, now is the last moment to get on this platform before your competitors do.
Source: TikTok
5. Voice assistants
In Poland, the number of people using voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri or Alexa is increasing. According to reports, the market value of voice shopping in 2022 will reach USD 40 billion, and spending via voice interfaces will account for 18% of consumer spending. There are more and more households that use voice assistants on a permanent basis. In Poland, the number of such households is still not high (mainly due to the language barrier) – however, Google search using a voice assistant is growing in popularity (and in Poland this option has been only available since 2019).
According to Google, 58% of consumers have reached out to the tool to find local businesses, and 52% of them are looking for information about discounts and special prices from brands that interest them. This data should be especially important for small local businesses. It seems that customising SEO and configuring the Google My Business tool for voice search will soon become not so much an interesting marketing add-on as an absolute necessity.
6. Ongoing campaigns with influencers
One sponsored post, a social media competition or a short video with influencer placement? In 2022 we can expect a slow end to this type of cooperation with Polish influencers. Ongoing campaigns, i.e. long-term cooperation with so-called brand ambassadors, are growing in popularity (and, as we expect, will continue to grow). Especially the biggest influencers will be involved. And just as micro-influencers have so far been considered the future, brands are now focusing more on building relationships with one, or at most several, very well-known faces.
Why this change? Here the reason lies mainly with the influencers themselves. In 2021, the Polish Internet was full of so called “scams”, i.e. suspicious cooperation with brands that often do not exist (in legal terms), which sold cheap products at very high prices (on the dropshipping principle). What is more, since this year the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has also become interested in the cooperation of influencers. It announced a fight against illegal non-trading of collaborations with brands on influencers’ channels (for starters, the biggest ones). It is clear that Polish viewers are watching their online idols more closely. Neither business owners nor marketers should be indifferent to this change. For fear of working with an influencer with a bad reputation, or being accused of hiding product placement, brands are already starting to rely on proven individuals and building long-term business relationships with them.
These are just a few promising trends in Polish social media for 2022. As a Polish marketing agency, we are up to date with every novelty and change that is introduced to the Polish market. So if you’re looking for a proven UK agency, get in touch with our experts.