5 Social Media Trends that will Mark 2016
With Facebook reaching 1 billion users in 2015 and the other two networks in the “Big Three” – Twitter & LinkedIn – keeping very close, 2016 is bound to be a very interesting years for marketers who rely heavily on social media. And, as usual, there’s no better way to be on top of things than to get an early start. So, without further ado, here are the top trends that you will have to keep up in your 2016 social media strategy:
1. Real time updates are here to stay.
With the decay of written media, TV & radio, more and more people (yes, Millennials in the first place) will rely almost exclusively on social media for information. And it’s not all about the news; the acquisition of Periscope by Twitter, Meerkat and other live video broadcasting services gaining more and more popularity, it is clear that people want to capture moments of their lives and share them with friends instantly. Let’s remember that Instagram and Snapchat are also hopping aboard this train quite quickly and then start preparing the business strategy for it.
2. Social media doubles up as an online shop.
To be fair, this shouldn’t be exactly news for the savvy marketers. After Facebook introduced the “Buy” button and Twitter and Pinterest quickly followed, it’s obvious that the other platforms will also quickly adhere to this trend. Don’t worry; there’s a little something for everyone – even if you are in the B2B sector and can’t use the “Buy” button, you can always use the other call-to-action buttons on Facebook to nurture your leads.
3. A bigger emphasis on safety and security.
We can easily say that this has been a trend every year; it’s true, people are becoming more and more concerned with their online privacy. Even if such concerns are primarily geared towards phishing, online identity theft and other cyber-crimes, it is worth noting that they will also have an impact on social media marketers. With people less and less willing to share personal information, online research and buyer persona creation will be a bit more…challenging. But hey, we all know that any good marketer loves a decent challenge, right? Plus, ethically speaking, most marketers will be happy to be rid of the grey area of online data mining.
4. Advertising will be more visible.
Instagram finally launched its ad platform (part of the Facebook API), thus leaving no social network ad-free. Before you rejoice in this prediction of increased advertising, remember that people will also have to be more selective since no one wants to spend time on social networks just to read or watch ads. As a consequence, you, the social media marketer, will have to be more creative and more responsive to your customers’ needs. Maybe this would be a good time to start that research project?
5. All platforms will be multi-media friendly.
We all know that posts with photos or video get the most engagement, even on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Video is also starting to gain rapid terrain, so it is to be expected that the most successful social media teams won’t have only savvy copywriters, but also skilled artists.
Don’t know how to cope with these changes? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. All you need to do is fill in the contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
