Want to know the latest trends that are shaping the future of social media? Having an insight into the future of social media sounds interesting to grab prospective customers and contribute to boosting your bottom line. As social media is poised to create more disruption with each passing year, it is imperative for brands to grasp new trends and capitalize on them. Here are the top eight trends that are shaping the present and future of social media:
Social Media Getting Mobile: Mobile is rapidly taking over the digital landscape with currently 2.5 billion smartphone users, a number expected to grow even higher in the future. Today, most social media members are using social media apps on their smartphones. Top social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, have the majority of their monthly active users on mobile apps. Statistics show exponential growth in the number of mobile users, suggesting that social media is getting more mobile than ever!
This trend indicates that businesses must now focus on creating and delivering mobile-friendly content in response. To do this, you can design creatives keeping in mind the recommended size that can be displayed perfectly on mobile. Mobile photo editing applications like Adobe lightroom, Enlight, etc. can help you create and distribute visual content across all mobile devices. Understanding your customer’s behavior is critical to success, and thus you must also rely on mobile advertising to reach your prospective customers.
Rise In Social Messaging: Social messaging is taking over social. Social messaging users are growing at a significant rate and this shows no sign of slowing down. The number of users of top social messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, and Viber is gradually exceeding the number of users of top social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
It appears that there is no stopping the domination of these social messaging apps. Just as social media brought huge benefits to companies, you must not ignore the potential that these social messaging apps hold! Many companies use WhatsApp extensively to resolve customer grievances and connect with new prospects. Sending transactional messages to these apps are not only cost effective but also highly scalable across geographical boundaries.
Business Reaping Benefits More Than Ever: Gone are the days when people used to communicate with brands or businesses via mail or phone. Today a growing number of clients connect over social media and social messaging. Consumers are moving towards using messaging to make purchases, ask queries and provide feedback. Thousands of brands are leveraging the power of social media to reach a larger, untapped audience. Leading social media channels are introducing new features to help businesses prosper like never before. Through social media, brands are able to connect with their potential clients, generate more leads and make more profit than ever.
Rising Tide of Chatbots: Chatbots, powered by artificial intelligence, are transforming the way brands are doing business with their customers. They are going to play a big role in the future of social media technology. Along with the rising trend of social messaging, chatbots are also rising in number. These chatbots are being used for customer service, marketing, payments, and many other purposes. Chatbots are allowing business to automate many processes and facilitate huge cost-savings.
To keep up with ongoing and future trends, you must also consider using chatbots in your business. You can start by using Facebook Messenger bots where people can easily opt-in to your messenger list.
Social Customer Service Becoming A Norm: One of the biggest changes brought by social media is how businesses are handling their customer support services. Providing customer support through social media channels by answering questions is now becoming a norm. Having a social media strategy that allows companies to quickly respond to customer queries works best! Responding to customers makes it more likely that customers will buy your product or service.
Direct interaction with the customer is now becoming critical to building brand trust. Social media is entirely changing the experience of social customer service. Providing strong social customer services across different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. will drive your social media strategy and help you run your business successfully.
Engagement Through Video Marketing: Instagram was the first totally visually focused platform that brought huge success for companies. Just after Instagram started video content, other platforms also started leaning from text to images and videos for a much enjoyable experience. On average, video content on social media platforms has the highest engagement as compared to any other form of content. For example, around 500 million people watch Facebook videos everyday.
Leading social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are constantly introducing new features and updating previous versions for video content. Interesting features like live videos and stories are performing wonders on social media. To engage your audience and take your brand to the next level, you must also plan to spend more on video advertising.
More Businesses Inclining to Social Ads: Its high time to realise the potential of social media advertising! Businesses are turning to social media advertising which has resulted in big rewards for them. Social media ads are aiding in conversion, sales with lower cost acquisition. Ad spending on social media is constantly growing and increasing by more than 20% annually. The soaring growth indicates the need for social media ads. Ads on social media are key ways to drive traffic to your website and generate sales. The best platforms to invest your ad money in include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
Harnessing The Power of User-generated Content: Brands are continuously discovering out new ways to interact with customers. In fact, as a part of content strategy, a few leading brands are reposting user-generated content. User-generated content drives more engagement than brand-generated content on social media. Reposting user-generated content builds trust and increases brand reach as customers post about the brand on social media. For a content strategy that works in the future, user-generated campaigns are all you need.
Over time, the social media landscape will witness other transformations which will only make the business journey more exciting. To step into modern social media marketing, adopting a strategy that uses new platforms, giving priority to mobile first content, creating more video content, and investing money in social ads will help you prepare in advance and reap the benefits. So gear up for these latest trends; it’s time for a new start on social media!
