2022 Brand Marketing Content Trends

Short videos have become an irreplaceable form of entertainment in people's daily lives. They not only influence the public's grasp of timely information with their short, flat and fast information depth, but also penetrate into all aspects of people's lives with their exciting and interesting content.

Just some time ago, Douyin E-commerce released the "Top Ten Trends in Lifestyle Report" , which pointed out that great changes have taken place in the past year. New cultural systems, aesthetic trends and living standards will be redefined. A series of changes have accelerated changes in technological innovation, environmental protection, business culture, work models, lifestyles and social methods.

In order to think about and outline the patterns and meaning of life, and allow brands/users to achieve self-satisfaction and identity in progress, Douyin E-commerce has sorted out the top ten lifestyles: "high-quality wildness, street photography ceiling, immersive home life, everything is recyclable, Chinese style is the top style, office show, a bit like the past, technical style coolness, sweating ritual sense and dimensional artist".

Combining the top ten life trends released by Xiaohongshu in 2022, you will find that there are nothing more than three underlying logics behind these lifestyles. These three logics are not only the external manifestation of Maslow's needs, but also the entry point for brands to deeply understand users and capture content trends. Let’s analyze them one by one.

01 "Feel Yourself" A Luxurious Moment for Modern People

We often see a lot of advertising content advocating young people to be themselves, elevating the attitude-oriented slogan of "being yourself" to brand values, thereby achieving sincere communication with users and touching users to resonate. This approach is certainly effective, but it is fundamentally different from "feeling yourself".

"Feeling oneself" is more about an individual's search for the inner self, such as high-quality wildness. On the surface, it seems to be a yearning and fascination with camping culture, tents, oil lamps and the starry sky, but inwardly it is more about escaping from the current life, giving oneself a fresh lifestyle, or emptying oneself, or feeling a moment of tranquility and freedom.

This includes a somewhat retro style like the past, as well as return-to-home entrepreneurship and city wandering in the top ten trends of Xiaohongshu, which to some extent stimulate the inner self by changing the external environment or through the influence of the external environment.

We can see the essence through the phenomenon, and we can also see the phenomenon through the essence. According to the data, 42.2% of TikTok users regard outdoor leisure activities as an important form of entertainment, such as visiting parks, fishing, camping, hiking, climbing, surfing, etc. to relax. As for those who yearn for outdoor life, 38.5% said that they would arrange outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, camping, etc. on weekends or in their spare time more than 6 times a year.

The reason for this trend is that contemporary people are under too much pressure in life and mental stress. They either use "escape" to sort themselves out or please themselves, or complain and make fun of themselves like the "steal culture" that is the essence of most short video content on TikTok. In short, they either choose a "quiet moment" to feel themselves.

On this level, brands can show care or approach from the user's perspective. On another level, brands can provide users with a window to vent, find suitable opportunities or topics, fully mobilize users' emotions, and facilitate the fermentation of UGC content, thereby extending the breadth, depth and cycle of content radiation.

02 "Attitude Life" is never out of date

Good content is never a multiple-choice question, but "attitude life" is indeed a very useful direction. For example, most brands' call for being yourself as mentioned above is essentially highlighting attitude life, including the ceiling of street photography in trendy lifestyles, everything is recyclable, Chinese style is the top style, technical style is cool, and second-dimensional artists, etc., are all subdivisions of different scenes under attitude life.

From a data perspective, for example, among those who are keen on street photography, 64.3% said they would choose the most suitable outfit when going out for fun; among users who stay at home on weekends, 89% would wear home clothes in daily home scenes; among those who agree with green and environmentally friendly life, 83.8% agree with rational consumption and only buy goods that are needed and of good quality. Among the top Chinese trends, the number of views of clothing short videos with keywords related to "national tide" exceeded 4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 297.2%, etc.

A series of data show that "Attitude Life" is closer to people's daily lives, and is also accepted by the majority of users because of its clearer direction and compliance with self-will.

Why is "Attitude Life" a simple, effective and fast way of communication for brands? The core reason is to go back to why contemporary people are so attracted by "attitude".

"Attitude Life" is essentially a potential user education. It gives users clearer and more specific expectations through deep and precise insights, and enables users to realize their own expectations or ideals through a set of self-consistent logic and guidance, so that they can take action. This is a process for users to achieve self-identification.

So in today’s marketing environment where brand attitudes are so rampant, how can brands find new ways to win user recognition from a unique perspective? Two core directions:

1. Reverse thinking: do things that are opposite to the mainstream and correct. For example, the mainstream is calling for women to be independent, and reverse thinking is that women should care for themselves.
2. Forward thinking: that is, to follow the trend rationally and correctly. It may not be easy to stand out by following the trend, but at least you won’t make mistakes. In an age of embracing and cheering, a homogeneous attitude can also be a wise means.

03 Never give up "self-discipline and progress"

Everyone knows that self-discipline goes against human nature, but why are things that go against human nature becoming more and more popular in today's era? For example, the ritual of sweating profusely and the sober shopping among the top ten lifestyle trends on Xiaohongshu can all be considered as a trend of "self-discipline and progress." Compared with "feeling oneself", it has a stronger purpose, and compared with "attitude life", it focuses more on the present and requires long-term accumulation of actions, so it can be summarized as "self-discipline and progress".

According to survey data, 45.2% of Douyin users chose "recognize the importance of health and exercise regularly." Among those who recognize the importance of fitness, 37.3% spend irregular time on exercise and fitness each week, and 20.1% spend 1-3 hours per week on fitness. Fitness and sports leisure have become a common lifestyle.

The essence of "self-discipline and progress" is, on the one hand, the awakening of contemporary people's awareness of health, saving money, etc. For example, due to the recent severe epidemic, the topic of fitness at home has become increasingly popular, and topics such as fitness with Liu Genghong have once dominated the hot searches.

On the other hand, it is more of a spiritual belief that is the inner driving force of contemporary people. Through "self-discipline and progress", they can become better people, thereby indirectly driving the development of the entire industry trend.

This type of marketing method is often simple, direct and crude. Because the user's purpose is often very clear, on the one hand, by inducing a good purpose, it can give users better expectations, and on the other hand, it can also stimulate users' fighting spirit and promote action.

04 Summary

Behind the Douyin Top Ten Trends in Lifestyle Report are actually different external phenomena of the three underlying starting points of users: "feeling oneself", "attitude towards life", and "self-discipline and progress" . The trend of content marketing is defined through the segmentation of different groups in different scenarios.

But no matter what the direction is, the three basic themes of "feeling yourself", "attitude towards life" and "self-discipline and progress" remain unchanged. Playing gimmicks and tricks are just differences in techniques, and you often only learn the surface but not the essence.

The only path is to follow these three basic points, start from the user's perspective, follow your heart, use the deepest experience, and dedicate the sincerity of the brand. Believe that if you can impress yourself, you will definitely be able to impress others, that's all.