Social Media Trends to Prepare for in 2018
- Rise of Augmented Reality – Apple recently announced the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. Both devices incorporate a new clip that allows the phones to provide users with extraordinary augmented reality experiences.
2. Increasing popularity of Instagram Stories – Over 200 million people use Instagram Stories each month, which is over 50 million more than those who use Snapchat and Instagram Stories is just one year old!
At this rate, nearly half of all Instagram users will be using Stories by the end of 2018.
3. Continued investments in influencer marketing – Over 90 percent of marketers who employ an influencer marketing strategy believe it is successful.
Next year, it is likely that more brands will embrace influencer marketing as a way to connect with audiences who tend to ignore traditional strategies.
4. Focus on Generation Z – A recent study conducted by Goldman Sachs concluded that Generation Z was more valuable to most organisations than millennials.
Today, the oldest Gen Zers are 22 years old. They are just beginning to enter the labour force, and will have increased buying power for some time.
5. Increasing brand participation in messaging platforms – Over 2.5 billion people use messaging platforms globally, and yet brands are still primarily focused on connecting with consumers on pure social networks.
In 2018, expect brands to invest more time and money in connecting with consumers on messaging platforms.
6. Expansion of live streaming – What was once a novel gimmick has become a mainstream part of social media. Today, Brands big and small have started using live streaming to capture the attention of followers.
In 2018, more brands will begin to realise the power of live streaming, and will incorporate it into their monthly content plans.
7. Rethinking Twitter – Twitter has failed to grow followers significantly in 2017. In fact, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram all have more social media followers.
In 2018, it is likely that Twitter leadership will aim to rethink how the platform operates.
8. Digital Hangouts go mainstream – House party is a video hangout platfrom used by over one million people each day, it is primarily used by Gen Zers as a way to hang out with friends digitally.
The platform is so successful that Facebook is reportedly investigating ways to create a similar functionality with in their platform.
9. Facebook Spaces goes mainstream – Facebook isn’t just interested in live video streaming, they’ve been working on a project called Spaces that is designed to allow friends to connect in VR.
Give that Facebook owns Owns Oculus, a virtual reality hardware and software company, it is no surprise that the social media giant is developing a platform to make use of this new technology.
10. Social platforms embrace stronger governance policies – After a series of controversial decisions during the 2016 presidential election, social media platforms have embraced a more hands on approach to governing conduct on their platforms.
Facebook recently turned over thousands of ads that seem to be connected to Russian meddling, and has invested in new AI and human forms of monitoring.
Read – 12 Steps to Social Media Success
