2022 served as a momentous year for Facebook users and digital marketers alike in terms of common interests in trends. As for 2023's outlook, it promises new and exciting trends you've never seen before, or you've seen for the first time used as an advertising trend.

Regardless, we're here to examine the biggest Facebook advertising trends of the day, what's expected to explode out of the gates or become huge in the future, and what the platform believes is the next big thing (something about Meta, probably).

2023 Facebook advertising trends prove quite numerous, so we'll breeze through some otherwise in-depth topics in order to ensure full coverage. The wider platform trends you can take advantage of marketing-wise for 2023 include the following.

• The Continuing Success of Facebook Ads: If you're a marketer, the simplest way to get targeted ads to get eyeballs from specific demographics or people with related interests is to avail yourself of ads on Facebook. This is why 93 percent of social media marketing and advertising budget is dedicated to that specific service.

  The line between offline and online continues to blur. People are using Internet reviews to find real-life restaurants, for example. Since the pandemic, citizens have become more like netizens with their reliance on technology.

  It's projected for Facebook Ads to continue rising in 2023, or at least not slow down. You should also watch out for increasing costs for Facebook ads. Make sure to have a percentage of your marketing spend dedicated to it.

• The Launch of Advantage+ Shopping: Facebook launched in 2020 Shops, which led to the growth of shoppable advertisements. Facebook's parent company Meta is launching Advantage+ Shopping campaigns for good measure as assistance to a business's marketing.

  These campaigns increase ad effectiveness with less effort compared to other Facebook ad types. To be more specific, it involves selecting the dates of your campaign, how much budget you want to allocate for it, uploading the sample ads themselves, and then the rest of the work is done by the "magic" of artificial intelligence (AI).

  These shopping campaigns by Google assist digital marketers in getting conversions with their ads through the placement savvy of their AI. You won't have to spend as much time creating ads, with it automating up to 150 variations of your ads automatically. This maximizes your advertising budget to its utmost.

• Facebook Videos Engage More People: Videos are more engaging to Facebook users. By engagement, we mean users are more likely to watch videos for a longer time, leave comments on it, or view posts in video format compared to simple images, memes, single pictures, or a photo album.

  To be more specific, compared to photos and still images, Facebook videos get 135 percent more engagement. Last year, 82 percent of all the online content on Facebook that people consume is of the video variety. Anyone can make a video in the 21st Century, with phones doubling as cameras and whatnot.

  A brand marketing team can do as well as a content creator in creating buzz on pretty much anything, thus making this a valid advertising trend for 2023. Have a better handle on what people are watching by viewing the trending videos on Facebook.

• Facebook Stories or Facebook's Version of TikTok: Facebook Stories is basically Facebook's answer to TikTok in 2023 and Vine when it was big back in 2015. Launched back on March 28, 2017—right off of the shutdown of Vine on January 17, 2017—it served as the social media giant's answer to short-form video stories submitted by its own users.

  Some users might allege that Facebook Stories have been left in the dust by Snapchat and TikTok. However, it's pulling in more than a billion posts every day. It's still in the running in the race for sure.

  In 2023, Stories will remain relevant as an advertising and promotional medium for independent content creators and branded deals. Facebook users want live blogging content without necessarily going to Twitch or having an interest in gaming.

• Livestream Like You're on Twitch.tv with Facebook Live: Facebook Live exists because every social media platform from YouTube to Instagram has a livestreaming function. It's considered an advertising and marketing trend in 2023 because of its potential to reach an audience interested in live or real-time entertainment.

  Did you know that compared to regular video engagement, the engagement rate of Facebook Live is at a mind-boggling 178 percent higher? The difference and appeal of live interaction cannot be denied, especially since people are 8 times more likely to stay watching a live video versus a prerecorded video.

  Advertisers and digital marketers are also licking their chops at the prospect of using livestreaming on Facebook as an advertising trend with its 2.6 billion monthly users, thus giving them a significant audience boost for sure.

• Video Ads are Everywhere for Good Reason: You should take care when making your digital or online version of the TV commercial as well. As mentioned, video is the most popular form of content on Facebook, even when it comes to the ads that interrupt them.

  Figuring out what the latest viral sensation is so viral will pay dividends to your marketing soft sell or even hard sell attempts. Recognize the patterns on today's videos while making your marketing content on your own Facebook page.

  What's more, Facebook is only second to YouTube when it comes to video production and user consumption of said content. Many new tools have become available right on the phones of users to make it easier to create high-quality videos, which makes it easier to share your story and brand to the world.

• Ubiquitous Chatbots Become More So: Many Facebook users might automatically think of spam when they think of chatbots, but that couldn't be further from the truth. They're actually also used for customer service, live technical troubleshooting, and a gateway to handle chats before getting to a live agent.

  Chatbot stigmas aside, many businesses on Facebook Messenger can't function without it serving as at least a gatekeeper for customers with the most troublesome of problems. The chatbot can serve as a sieve for Frequently Asked Questions and the simplest of issues with the product or service.

  This is why back in 2022, there were more than 300,000 active chatbots available. They're a necessary addition to your marketing, customer interaction, and public relation tools for sure.

• The Concept of Shopification on Facebook: Shopification isn't strictly speaking a new concept. It's been around the block as a Facebook advertising trend. It still counts as a 2023 ad trend though with its continued relevance. Its popularity has even skyrocketed as of late as we prepare to enter the first quarter of 2023.

  It essentially blurs the line between offline and online, allowing them to work in synergy. QR codes, for example, can be scanned to immediately visit various websites or online content. Mobile payments can be made to restaurants you walk-in to or get food deliveries from.

  The Facebook purchase journey moving forward will now involve Shopification staples like live shopping, mobile payments, and QR codes. The increased visibility of this trend allows people to patronize it more since if they can see it, they'll be able to shop for it.

• The Importance of Collaborations: The act of collaborations is a huge thing among YouTubers and social media influencers in the 2010s. Two brands or personalities can unite fan bases and do a crossover that's mutually beneficial to both, especially if they're in related industries or have crossover markets.

  It's still a big deal in the 2020s, with the tradition continuing among TikTok users doing "collabs" with Instagram influencers. TikTok in particular is doing Stitches and Reels Remixes in order to add to viral content or transform it to something else through memetic mutation.

  So how can digital marketers enter collabs such as crowd-pleasing lip-syncs or dance challenges? They can collaborate with users as sponsors, particularly those who regularly do collaborative challenges.

Facebook helpfully released their own annual trend report, but not necessarily about advertising methods to target demographics or capture leads. They're more like trending cultural touchstones, hence the report being called "Culture Rising".

Marketers and advertisers can identify these broad trends that house smaller micro-trends they can then use to reach a broader audience on Facebook in a cultural manner.

• The Increasing Importance of Diversity: Inclusiveness, diversity, and self-expression were all part of a platform trend in 2022 and an enduring trend for 2023. They're not only getting news media airtime. Social media has also covered this cultural topic.

  To be more specific, Facebook is all about highlighting diversity, acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, and removing any regressive posts deemed rife with bigotry, racism, cultural insensitivity, homophobia, transphobia, and hate speech.

• Gender Fluidity and Gender Role Expansion: It's not only a male and female binary on Facebook. To better keep up with Facebook terms and conditions while also targeting a younger Millennial/Gen Z audience, it's best to educate yourselves on the expansion of gender roles, language, and symbols.

  Your advertisements should feature more diversity-minded topics and queer-friendly language in light of the new generation viewing traditional gender roles as more irrelevant and gender role expansion as more relevant in the 2020s.

  Focusing on gender-neutral advertising and marketing might be in order. Gender role expansion and woke ideology is particularly prevalent in industries pertaining to fashion and makeup.

• Specific Territories Require More Cultural Sensitivity: Advertisers need to be more culturally sensitive when coming up with their digital marketing campaigns. For instance, in the United Kingdom, conversations about the consequences of colonialism have risen to 87 percent.

  Meanwhile, the respondents also indicated that 42 percent of them value race, country of origin, ethnicity, or nationality in 2022 more than in 2021. Facebook views this upward trend as a clarion call for brands to become more aware of people's sensitivities to inclusion and diversity.

• Identity Celebration and Authenticity: It's going to be all the rage to celebrate your identity, whether it's your gender, race, or sexuality. This is a projected Facebook trend, so your brand should openly embrace diversity activism by partnering with members of the LGBTQ+ community and giving them a voice and platform.

  In regards to authenticity or "rawthenticity", it's all about presenting your true self online or brands encouraging such. This can be seen with the body positivity movement where beauty can be seen at any size, among other things that fall into this broad category.

  This rise in encouraging users to be less Instagram fake and more authentic about themselves will move the needle of inclusivity and representation compared to the traditional standards of beauty, fashion, and so forth.

• Self-Expression or Expressing Yourself Relationship-Wise: Another "cultural" advertising trend you can base whole ad campaigns on is self-expression and being proud of yourself, your relationships with others, and your identity/nationality/sexuality. In the relationship front, it might involve renewal of wedding vows.

  Others might announce they have a plural or polyamorous relationship. Still others could have an off-beat divorce party in order to go about the devastating occasion in a more tongue-in-cheek or constructive manner.

  Facebook has become the place to become your most authentic self relationship-wise. Ads can push norms and boundaries the same way Facebook users do.



• Don't Forget Neurodiversity and Accessibility: You'll also appeal more to the "woke" mindset of Facebook users by keeping in mind the vital trends of neurodiversity and accessibility. 69 percent of responders were concerned about mental and physical disability discrimination.

  Therefore, it's best for brands and companies to show that they're allies of the neurodiverse population by offering accessibility options on their website to cover the needs of people with disabilities. You can use things like captions for those hard of hearing as well as larger fonts for those with sight disabilities.

• The Wellness Phenomenon: The world is all about promoting wellness. Nebulous a concept as it is at first glance, digital marketers can grasp the movement by the way it's applied in business, marketing, and advertising terms. People want to be healthier.

  Not every part of the world is fanatical about wellness like, say, Silicon Valley or California is. However, aspects of the concept are creeping in, like an emphasis on Facebook for work-life balance or mind-body health. If your business is somehow related to this trend, you can ride along its bandwagon.

  You can create work-life balance advertisements or mind-body health products that promote your brand and celebrate a healthier non-toxic way of living that the Facebook content algorithm favors.

• Connection and Connectivity: Facebook or Meta is still about connecting people. It's the grandfather of social media, after all. It's considered a long-standing advertising trend for marketing agencies and businesses to use the way friends, family, and devices connect to one another through social media.

  According to 66 percent of respondents to Facebook's "Culture Rising" study, they're all excited about new technologies. However, in turn, about 65 percent of them wish the new tech is easier to comprehend, grasp, or use. User-friendliness is a big deal for them.

• Clamor for User-Friendly Tech: It's understandable the frustration of some when it comes to new tech, even those who keep updated about them. Some of them, like virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and so forth, have high-concept ideas that the every-person might have difficulty wrapping their heads around.

  It's important for developers to remember that these technologies are made for use by end users. If they're unable to easily use it, it will falter. As in the case of the Metaverse having a strong start and a steep decline.

  Surely, they are working hard to make their high-concept technologies become more user-friendly. As advertising agents and marketers, keep a close eye on tech companies simplifying such tech the same way they did with the smartphone.

• Speaking of the Metaverse: The Metaverse is still a thing, guys. The VR Chat in social media platform has its flight delayed in 2022 but it's still moving forward because Meta has invested hugely on it. Colloquially, it's basically 3D virtual worlds a la "Second Life" but with a focus on economic or social media connection.

  As far as digital marketers are concerned, keep a close eye on virtual economies and worlds. They've stumbled a bit with the steep decline of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as well as the tepid reception of Metaverse, but when technology catches up with the people, we expect more future Metaverse action.

• The Spread of Nano Communities: Advertisers and marketers are well-aware of the importance of a niche market. Because not every business can become the market leader, other businesses are able to survive in cottage industries or with a smaller but dedicated market share by targeting niches.

  During the pandemic, Facebook niche communities or "nano communities" truly started branching off or developing. Niche interests like #CrystalHealing, #EntrepreneurLife, or #KDramaSquad started really popping off, enabling people with niche interests to have places on Facebook to go to.

  Now that we're returning back to normal and COVID-19 has been reduced as a worldwide threat, these communities will still remain. Advertisers with relevant niches can target these ready-made hobbyist ones with professional ease.