Social media has become an important part of an individual’s life today. With websites like Facebook and Twitter having millions of users (and increasing), it is only natural that companies and marketers will want to capitalize on the traffic generated by these sites. Here are some social media trends that could literally rock the marketing world in 2017.
Live Video Streaming
Live video streaming has been accepted as never before. While 2016 saw a few brands toying with the idea of live video marketing by streaming videos via Facebook Live, Snapchat and Instagram, 2017 is the year for this trend to really hit it off with businesses around the world. Expect to see a whole lot of companies push their brands forward via these live video adverts.
Social Messaging
While most companies turn towards social networks for marketing, they pay little heed to social networking for the same purpose. 2017 will change all that though. With the number of users for messaging apps far outnumbering the users for social networks, the time has come for marketers to turn towards SMS messaging and Over the Top (OTT) messaging services to get their message across to customers. Studies have already revealed that the brand loyalty increases significantly via these communication methods.
Virtual Reality
While 2016 mainly saw virtual reality being sidelined for gaming, 2017 will see a shift in trends as VR gets adopted into mainstream marketing. Many companies are purported to start targeting their audiences via a variety of VR marketing campaigns.
Micro Influencers
Gone are the days when businesses used to rely on well- known celebrities to endorse their brands. The current social media trend is shifting away from high budget celebrity endorsements towards small scale, but well suited alternates. For instance, instead of relying on a star to endorse them, some brands are turning to individuals who may have fewer followers, but suit the brand’s niche better. These are the so called micro influencers who will get special attention to brands in 2017 via social media.
Artificial Intelligence
The number of users on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have grown significantly over the past few years. This has resulted in companies trying to cash in on this move by investing more in artificial intelligence and its application in various areas. One particular area that is already generating interest is that of chatbots which can quickly answer frequently asked questions in chat rooms. 2017 is the year chatbots, as well as several other AI features, go mainstream on social media.
Paid Advertising
Advertising was pretty easy a few years back with social media sites offering marketers the chance to advertise for free. However, more of these sites have chosen to reduce their brand post visibility in 2017. The complexity of social media algorithms has also increased, making it harder for brands to put their adverts in front of users. This means companies will have to shed out extra money to rely on paid advertisements and feeds on these sites. Estimates state that the amount of money used for paid advertising could reach above $41 million.
Fighting Fake News
One of the main disadvantages of social media happens to be the way fake news are spread using these sites. Hopefully, this will come to an end or at least be taken care of in 2017. Facebook started the trend of fighting fake news in 2016 by banning sites and news outlets that used the platform to spread fake news about the U.S. Presidential elections.
Germany on its part has been pushing forward a legislation to fine all social media sites that spread fake news. This move if carried out can easily catch the attention of major platforms which will start adopting their own measures to stop the proliferation of fake news on their platforms.
Summary
Social media has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Like every year, these are the trends that are forecasted to catch everyone’s eyes and become huge hits in 2017.