So we are half way through the year already and social media use has continued to rapidly increase for both B2B and B2C businesses. Here at Eminence, have rounded up the 21 trends that are still predicted for businesses at the latter half of the year.
Have a read of the below:
Social Messaging
Yes, we know that this isn’t a new development in the world of social media. But more and more businesses are adapting their strategy to directly interact with their audience. This is due to the rapid use of messaging apps such as WeChat and Whatapp, followed closely by Facebook Messenger. Wouldn’t this be much more personal to interact with the company directly as a customer? We think so too!
Virtual Reality
This is a pretty big step in the digital marketing world. But this is definitely a working progress. No, this doesn’t mean there are going to be walking around with a headset on, but their just means companies are starting to invest more in VR. GoPro and TOM have already starting recording video for YouTube and Vimeo. It keeps the audience engaged as they feel immersed in the content. Watch this space.
Social eCommerce
As online shopping is getting ever closer to offline, there is a predicted trend to make this even easier for the user. The big social media giants are implementing technology which allows users to click and purchase directly from the platform. You’ve probably seen direct ‘Book Now’ links on Instagram, but this is currently taking you to the company site. So, keep that credit card away…it’ll increase spending dramatically during Christmas time.
Live Video
We are all aware of live video on both Facebook and more recently, Instagram. Liv Video helps businesses interact with their customers directly through answering questions and giving users the power of what they want to see. Bloggers have really cashed in on this feature, answering questions as they are using their sponsored products. Genius.
Ephemeral Content
Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and then Whatsapp, all these platforms adding on 24hr content to their news feeds. Users love this type of content. It gives them a feeling of exclusivity that it won’t be around forever, As Instagram have overtaken Snapchat’s audience on users per day, there is plenty more features that snapchat are adding to keep a hold of their originality.
Chatbots
Chat Bots were predicted in the beginning of 2017 and are still predicted to make a come back. Businesses can implement a chatbot to directly interact with their audience. This is a cheaper alternative than VR mentioned previously. But all in all, Chatbots can provide great customer service and personalise their advice based on the user. Although it required a lot of maintenance and constant monitoring.
Social Advertising
Yes, we are all well aware of how effective social media advertising is. Eminence are the experts at this. This trend has skyrocketed in 2017 due to the new algorithm introduced by the big 4. It makes it much harder to acquire organic traffic if you’re new to social media. Social Advertising can be personalised so the right people are seeing your advertisement, so get out of the anti-advertising bubble. You’ll need it!
Removing Fake News
Based on recent circumstances of Fake News, this has resulted in a clamp down on what is real and what is not. Millennials receive the majority of their news through the internet and social media is one of the main sources. Facebook have introduced a fine in companies sharing or publishing fake news to the public. This is an extremely important factor based on the amount of users that read news articles through social media. But this is a great advancement online.
Mobile Ad Growth
The growth of mobile phones being used is exponential. With millennials spending around 1 day a week attached to their phone. But, this surely means that companies can cash in on this? Instagram and Snapchat have introduced adverts in between stories and Facebook still remains to be the highest social platform to invest in. It’s a fantastic way to really target consumers exactly where they’re spending their time. So now is a time to get spending!
Artificial Intelligence
It’s only a matter of time before the techy geniuses find a way to help businesses cleverly find a way to help businesses find out more information about their audiences. AI is compulsory to be smart with your social media, we have all tested out the facial lenses on Insta and Snapchat- AI, and we’ve all searched LinkedIn for jobs, t which we see adverts for perfect matches – AI. This is a very clever piece of tech that allows businesses to work smarter with their audiences.
Rise of employee advocacy
Users much prefer to be well informed with recommendations from a friend or colleague rather than businesses forcing advertisements in front of them. This is why businesses are encouraging their employees to spread the good word about their company across social media. It’s a cleever way to gain the audiences trust without directly advertising to them. But of course, it needs to be a genuine recommendation.
Snapchat will decline as Instagram will rise
Poor snapchat, after all this fame and fortune, we think they have finally met their match in the digital world of Social Media. When Instagram first launched their stories feature, we weren’t convinced and took a few weeks for us to be fully fledged Instagram story fans. But with Snapchats prime audience being the Millennials and Gen Z, Instagram can reach more people without being too intrusive. Sorry Snapchat, it’s been a great run, but we’re converted to Instagram.
Business Features
We have always been a fan of Google Adwords and Analytics here at Eminence, giving insights in their behaviour online can be the difference between a successful marketing strategy and a poor one. But luckily for the businesses that aren’t so technically savvy, Social Media platforms are predicted to increase the consumer insights features, making it easier for more users to effectively manage their social media and understand their customer. Easy peasy.
Social Media Skills Gap
As Millennials are slowly migrating their way into the workforce, there is a distinct gap between the new and old (to put it frankly), as more trends are immersing about managing digital strategies and social media, the workforce that once worked the old-fashioned way, is no longer as effective. It’s the new and digitized millennials that are needed the most to educate companies about how they can improve their online presence. So, time to start investing in a social media genius.
Personalised Content
Isn’t it annoying when you’ve booked a flight to Italy, to then find hundreds of adverts for Thailand? How is it relevant once you’ve already booked? This trend is one that is going to improve the customer experience dramatically. Having personalised content is predicted to make analytics and adwords thrive specially through retargeting ads to catch those users that have already visited your site but have got away.
CEO Social Media use
Amazingly in 2015, there were hardly any CEOs that had any presence on Social Media. 2016 was slightly better and 2017 seeing an increase in activity of large corporate CEOs taking the main stage on Social Media. The remainder of 2017 is predicted to see more and more bosses interact and act as influencers for their own brand online.
Social Influencers
In 2017, we really can’t get enough of Social Media influencers, the market being so saturated with new and existing online celebrities, from make-up bloggers, to IT experts, each with millions of followers. Social Media users prefer to hear genuine reviews and companies have been so clever with how they go about their advertising. Companies are putting a separate budget aside just for influencers as they are so successful in the campaigns that they run. This is predicted to continue into 2018.
Merger and Acquisitions of Social Platforms
In 2017, everyone wants a piece of the social media pie. But it’s very difficult to penetrate the market with new and exciting apps and platforms due to the giants taking ownership. Periscope has been taken by Twitter and Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn. Basically, in order not to get absorbed by new acquisitions, keep a close eye on this and allocate your budget accordingly.
Organic social traffic being difficult to achieve
With the algorithm of Facebook and Instagram now in full swing, it’s hard to obtain and increase your social media presence. This is difficult to achieve organically without any advertisements. More focus will be towards the content quality. This is going to be a big struggle for companies new to social media with very low budgets. Don’t say we haven’t warned you!
Standardization
Yes, we have all noticed how eerily similar all of the big 4 social platforms are becoming recently. With instant stories, algorithms and increased video content, soon we won’t be able to tell them apart. This is a big prediction for the end of 2017, as social media platforms are running out of brand new, shiny ideas to differentiate themselves from the others. This will lead to standardization across the board. We really hope not, but this is only a prediction, we’ll stay tuned.
Superior Customer Service
We all like to looked after, the same goes for our behaviour online. The expectations are set so high that the bar is difficult to reach for some businesses. Thanks to these companies that are always on the ball, consumers now expect fast response times, relevant information and a well managed page before giving the page a ‘like’. So in order to really benefit from having a social presence. Make sure you can handle it first.