With Covid restrictions preventing people from making personal and professional plans over the last two years, a growing number of people in the UK are hoping to make up for lost time this year by making positive lifestyle changes in 2022. In fact, according to research from YouGov, 16% of Britons say that they will be making a New Year’s resolution this year, up from just 11% in 2021.

To understand who exactly is making these resolutions, we analysed the users talking about New Year’s Resolutions on social media and segmented them into audiences using the Fifty platform.

Want to learn how your brand can activate these insights and reach your target audience in 2022? Book a demo with our team.

New Year’s Resolutions: Who’s Doing What?

In this study, we break down the 5 most prominent types of resolutions to see which areas of life people are prioritising in 2022.

Health & Wellness, both physical and mental, was by far the most dominant category with well over half of users citing this as their top goal for the year ahead. As well as health, we also saw a large focus on financial wellbeing, learning and reading, career progression and travel.

Health-Focused Resolutions

Exercise was the most common health goal this year, which comprises all efforts to be more active (such as running and cycling, etc.), The gym, however, proved much less popular, as more and more people have turned to working out at home while gyms were closed during lockdown.

Dieting was next on the agenda, with most people promising to eat more healthily in general and some choosing to adopt more prescriptive ways of eating such as veganism and keto.

Third on the list was reducing alcohol intake which, unsurprisingly, was largely driven by conversation around Dry January, which has only increased in popularity since the pandemic began. New research from the charity behind the initiative, Alcohol Change UK, has shown that almost a third of drinkers (28%) in the UK found themselves drinking more in 2021 compared to 2020. As a result, one in seven of all British adults are reportedly planning to take a month off drinking this January.

Last on the agenda was quitting smoking, a stalwart New Year’s resolution. Despite some audiences becoming more health-conscious amidst the pandemic health crisis, government studies show that smoking rates in the UK have increased since March 2020, with smokers citing feelings of boredom and anxiety experienced during lockdown as the primary motivating factors. As the country’s leading cause of preventable death, it is understandable why this resolution remains at the top of the list for so many.

A Healthy 2022: The Audiences

To find out who the individuals were behind these grand promises, we segmented the audiences that were posting content around health-focused resolutions. Each of the audience groups mentioned below can be activated directly via the Fifty Platform.

Here’s what we found:

The already health-conscious

Naturally, those most engaged with health-focused resolutions were those already leading a healthy lifestyle. We found an array of tribes that were already engaging with a number of topics surrounding health and wellness, from exercise and diet through to mental health and mindfulness. Another interesting emergence were the more focused tribes, such as Cyclists and Vegans, which demonstrated a clear commitment to a specific facet of health for the coming year.

The less health-conscious

There were also a number of tribes that displayed traits, interests and lifestyles that generally correlate to a less healthy lifestyle, and are evidently keen to make change in 2022.

The most prominent of these were Sports Fans, with a particular focus on Football and Horse Racing. These sporting types also showed a keen interest in pub and bar culture and, of course, lots of engagement with mainstream TV and Entertainment.

We also saw tribes of Social Drinkers emerge, whose social lives revolve mostly around their local watering holes. Dry January was especially popular amongst this cohort, likely for the opportunity to detox after an indulgent Christmas period.

The last key theme here was Gaming and Esports. Evidently tribes that are susceptible to large amounts of passivity, there was a renewed vigour among some of these to lead a healthier, more active life in 2022.

Inner City Urbanites

There is an undeniable correlation between affluence and health-consciousness, given how health and wellness products are traditionally sold at a premium price point.

This link manifested in our analysis in a number of ways, most notably through the medium of culture. Our study revealed a clear interest in the Arts, namely Theatre and Comedy, whilst Classical Music and Opera were also prominent, revealing a clear overlap between wellness and high culture.

Are you a health or wellness brand looking to engage health-conscious audiences this year? Get in touch with our Client Executive [email protected] to find out how Fifty can help you activate these insights, or book a free demo today.