Social media is an ever-changing beast. The dominating platforms are constantly pumping out updates to make their apps better and new apps are being created every day to try and take a piece of the cake. There are also viral trends that come and go constantly and you need to be ahead of the game for 2018. Here are our top social media trends that you should be implementing this year:
Instagram stories will continue to grow Influencer marketing will become extremely effective Generation Z will become top priority Live video will become the social norm Social messaging will dominate social support Twitter is dying – they need a jump start Ditch Snapchat for Good Video, video video
Instagram stories will continue to grow
As we have mentioned in a few previous blogs (check out one of those blogs here), Instagram is absolutely blowing up. Their newest and hottest feature? Instagram stories. In 2018, Instagram stories will continue to grow for a few different reasons. First of all, when you post a story, it stays at the top of the feed until 24 hours have passed. This keeps the content relevant and easily accessible. Second, they have taken over as the number one story sharing platform, crushing Snapchat. Lastly, they continuously add new features and updates that make the app easier to use and give more creative freedom.
Influencer marketing will become extremely effective
So many users use social media to keep tabs on their favorite celebrities. They trust these celebrities even though they don’t know them on a personal level. You can use this to your advantage as long as you can get in touch with influencers on social media. Often times, smaller celebrities love to get paid to promote brands and companies. Their followers trust them and if you can get the celebrity to trust you, their followers will trust you as well. Essentially, these celebrities are middlemen to connect followers to your business. This form of marketing has become very popular and will only continue to grow. It can and will help you grow your business.
Generation Z will become top priority
In most cases, with recent social media trends, the younger generations dominate and determine them by themselves. Because of the value that they bring to where social media is going in the future, Generation Z is now that generation and you need to focus your content on their likes. Attentions spans in today’s youth are only getting shorter and the content they see needs to be catered to that. Content needs to be brief, to the point and extremely engaging. If you can accomplish this, you will latch on to Gen Z and run with them to social media fame.
Live video will become the social norm
When it comes to events you are hosting (we write an entire blog on how to cover live events on social media here) a majority of your following on social media will not attend. This is because you will have followers from all over the country or even the world. However, that does not mean that they are not interested! In today’s society, there is a huge demographic that loves to sit in the comfort of their own homes and watch events on smartphones or tablets. You need to accommodate them! That is where live video comes into play. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all have options for live video, which means there is no reason why you should not utilize those features when you are covering an event. Designate one person to cover your event on social media through live video and be sure that they are engaging with your audience live while the event is happening. Answer questions, respond to comments, etc..
Social messaging will dominate social support
It is now 2018 and people sitting on the phone for hours on hold with a support representative will no longer be acceptable. If consumers become frustrated with your brand and can’t get in contact with you for support, they will leave and find a company that is easier to work with. How can you combat this? Social messaging platforms. Being able to chat with a representative directly has become extremely popular and useful. Chat support will migrate to social media platforms, allowing users to get in direct contact with brands for assistance on already popular forms of communication, like Facebook.
Twitter is dying – they need a jump start
Twitter has stayed stagnant in 2017 with little to no growth in new users. The reason for this is because they have not added any new, exciting features that encourage users to stay on their platform. It seems as though they are taking their rise to dominance and just coasting with it. That is one of the quickest ways to become irrelevant in an ever-changing industry. If companies in competitive markets are not constantly growing and changing, they will slowly die, which is what is happening to Twitter. We are not saying give up on it, but if they don’t change something soon, they will fade away.
Ditch Snapchat for GOOD
Much like Twitter, the number of people who use and value Snapchat has slowly decreased. However, they sort of have the opposite problem. Rather than not putting out any updates or new features, Snapchat is updating their app but the updates make the app less user-friendly and less intuitive. Their latest update has left people furious. They organize stories by when you last snapped that account, rather than chronological. Because of the bad updates and the introduction of Instagram stories, we recommend just sticking to Instagram stories exclusively.
Video, video, video
Generation Z’s attention span will be at an all-time low, in comparison to previous generations. This means creating unique, engaging content will be the hardest it has ever been. One thing that will likely hold their attention is video (and probably video alone). Videos need to be eye-catchy but also brief, that way they grab their attention but don’t bore them in length. In the beginning, when social media was first introduced, people were in awe that you could write text and share it with the world. This quickly transitioned into photos. A few years later, photos and videos were all the craze and now it seems to be shifting heavily to videos. You need to integrate videos into your weekly content somehow or you will see a decrease in engagement.
What are your predictions for 2018? Let us know in the comments and be sure to share the blog!
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