The social media landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, as does the way in which social media is used by businesses to expand their reach, build communities and, ultimately, increase their profits.
Whether social media is part of your marketing strategy currently or you are considering utilising social media marketing in the future, here is a summary of the key social media trends and opportunities that you need to be aware of.
Video
Video continues to play an important role in social media, not least because of the rising popularity of live broadcasting. The trend towards “video first” on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, shows no signs of fading any time soon, making it particularly important for brands to consider how they will utilise video to raise their profile, engage audiences and increase revenue.
Business to Business (B2B) brands who have yet to venture far beyond a traditional corporate promotional video will be interested to hear that LinkedIn is currently taking steps to make video more prominent on the platform, including testing the “LinkedIn Live”, which would allow users to broadcast live, in much the same way as is already possible on Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram continues to grow in popularity, now boasting upwards of 1 billion active monthly users. Whilst some brands may have previously discounted Instagram as a platform primarily occupied by millennials, celebrities and bloggers, the reality is that as the platform has grown in popularity, the demographics of its user base has diversified.
If you have yet to incorporate Instagram into your marketing strategy, then now is the time to reassess its potential for your business.
Stories & Ephemeral Content
Whilst the “Stories” feature did not originate from Instagram (stories first became popular on Snapchat), Instagram has certainly brought Stories to the mainstream, marking one of the biggest changes to the social media landscape that we have seen in years.
Instagram now has more than 500 million accounts using Instagram Stories every day, whilst other platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube, have also embraced Stories. Even LinkedIn has been testing their own version of Stories.
Whilst the content you create for Stories is ephemeral, i.e. it is only publicly accessible for 24 hours in most cases, the reach and impact that brands can make within a relatively short space of time is immense. If you have yet to consider incorporating Stories into your social media marketing strategy, then you could be overlooking a valuable opportunity.
Influencer Marketing
Whilst there has been a reasonable amount of negative press surrounding influencer marketing in recent months, with thorough research, preparation and strategy, this form of collaborative marketing continues to be highly effective for many businesses.
We expect to see brands carrying out more rigorous background checks of the influencers they choose to collaborate with in 2019 and becoming more open to working with “micro-influencers” as they recognise that influence and impact is about much more than total followers alone.
In this blog post we have highlighted some of the key social media trends that you should be aware of. These trends represent opportunities for your company to increase its reach, improve its social media presence and see a greater return on investment from social media marketing.
If you are in need of further advice or practical support, then our experienced team is on hand to help you develop and implement a successful social media strategy for your business.