Social Media Consumer Insights

Trend - Gen Z is transforming the pickle market with a fresh, trendy approach that combines unique flavors, clean ingredients, and eye-catching branding. Good Girl Snacks epitomizes this trend with vibrant, Y2K-style branding and engaging social media presence. This demographic's obsession with pickles is reflected in the massive engagement on TikTok, where hashtags like #pickle and #picklesnack boast billions of views.

Insight - Branding plays a critical role in capturing Gen Z's attention, particularly for everyday pantry items. This generation's food choices extend beyond mere culinary preference, often serving as cultural statements that reflect identity and values. Take, for example, the resurgence of the pickle. Similar to past food fads, Gen Z's current fixation has elevated this familiar snack into a cultural touchstone, with brands capitalizing on its popularity through creative marketing strategies.

Trend - Restaurants are partnering with social media-viral chefs and foodie influencers to create menus that resonate with younger audiences. These menus take inspiration from popular recipes and transform them in unique ways to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Insight - Short-form video platforms have contributed to a rise in consumer foodie culture. Algorithms have made it easy for unique, tasteful recipes to gain worldwide attention at a rapid rate. As a result of this, both professional and hobbyist chefs have taken to these platforms to share their takes on recipes, with many quickly gaining virality. In order to capitalize off of the popularity of these videos, restaurants are partnering with these creators to develop curated viral menus for patrons.

Trend - "Bed rotting," a new trend sweeping TikTok, involves staying in bed for extended periods to engage in passive activities like eating snacks, watching TV, and scrolling through devices. This trend is particularly popular among Generation Z, who are increasingly turning to this form of self-care to combat burnout.

Insight - Gen Z is leading the charge for mental well-being. This generation is acutely aware of the pressures and demands of modern life, leading them to seek out unconventional methods of relaxation that allow for complete mental and physical disengagement. By normalizing the idea of taking extended breaks to simply rest, Gen Z is challenging societal norms that equate busyness with success.

Trend - Tech companies are revolutionizing affiliate marketing by launching new shopping apps that break down traditional barriers. Platforms like Locker are leading the charge by ditching the follower-count and aesthetic requirements that often exclude potential affiliates. This inclusive approach opens the affiliate ecosystem to a wider range of consumers, empowering everyone to become a brand advocate and earn from their genuine endorsements.

Insight - Today's consumers are savvier than ever. Traditional influencer endorsements, once a marketing mainstay, are losing their luster. Empowering everyday brand advocates fosters trust, engagement, and loyalty. As social commerce continues to evolve, the brands that embrace this democratization can potentially see more engaged consumers and higher long-term value from a more authentic, community-driven approach to marketing.

Trend - Companies are opening new social media services with the intention of fostering more intimate connections between users. In a rebellion against social medias built around endless feeds, these platforms connect users with similar interests and have convenient public and private group chat systems.

Insight - While nearly everyone today engages with some form of social media platform, most agree that the social aspect of the platforms has become secondary to monetization and algorithmically-fed content streams. Many of these users find popular social media platforms isolating, and cite difficulties trying to foster real connections. In recognition of these complaints, smaller social media services are focusing on fostering direct connections between users and communities.

Trend - Specialty artificial intelligence (AI) companies are launching generative AI tools that simplify website creation. With no coding required by the end user, these tools use an intuitive prompt system which significantly lowers the barrier to entry for website building for businesses and freelancers.

Insight - In the modern era, online presences play pivotal roles in determining the success of a new startup or a freelancer's career. However, these demographics often struggle with the technical skills or financial freedom required to build an online presence. As a direct result of these challenges, services that reduce the barrier to entry for website and online presence creation are gaining popularity. New startups are addressing this demand by leveraging AI to create intuitive web-building tools.

Trend - An extract from the sea holly plant is being used in skincare products from serums to sun care to repair skin. These items are designed to integrate anti-aging benefits into traditional skincare products. Sea holly extract has been shown to reduce sun damage, signs of aging, and signs of stress.

Insight - The prevalence of social media has led to a strong interest in the beauty and self-care industries, with Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha consumers using more beauty products earlier on than previous generations. Social media trends have drawn attention to the effects of aging, and the importance of combating the effects of aging as early as possible through the use of preventative products such as sunscreens, leading to brands redesigning daily ritual products with anti-aging ingredients.

Trend - Social media creators are blending real fruits into coffee to add both flavor and nutritional value. These blended coffees are easy to create, offer a wide range of flavor options, and offer health benefits over traditional coffee. This trend is gaining popularity with consumers on TikTok.

Insight - Social media has a strong influence on younger gen Z and millennial consumers. These consumers are much more likely to be drawn to, and participate in, trends on media platforms, particularly when the trends are low-effort and high-reward. Two of the largest categories of trends on these platforms are food and wellness. When these two categories overlap and satisfy the consumer desire for low-effort, high-reward practices, they become part of users' daily rituals beyond social media.

Trend - Independent developers are using shared protocols to create decentralized content aggregator platforms. Companies do not own or moderate these platforms, which offers better privacy than large alternatives. Many of these platforms communicate with one another to form the 'Fediverse.'

Insight - Social media users are becoming increasingly dissuaded from the popular websites due to changes in moderation. Undesirable policy changes such as restrictive guidelines, feature monetization, and centralized control have led to users gravitating towards alternatives created by independent developers. Users prioritize privacy, personalization, and freedom on social media platforms, leading to several decentralized platforms that form the federalized metaverse, or the Fediverse.

Trend - Users on various social media pages are sharing simplistic, personalizable pasta recipes with cheese as a base. These recipes are accessible enough for any user to join the trend and versatile enough for each content creator to add their own touch to the viral dishes.

Insight - One of the main attractions to food and home cooking is that it brings people together. One evergreen desire for modern consumers is interpersonal connection. People enjoy cooking with their families, friends, and even strangers. When people find breakthroughs or believe strongly in a dish, they take to the internet to share it with others worldwide. These recipes become viral due to a consumer desire for connection and interaction with content creators and other users.