Over the years, social media has become one of the fastest developing industries for marketers everywhere. In the beginning, many companies had trouble seeing the value of hiring a social media manager. Today, however, new platforms continue to sprout and employers are scrambling to find specialists who can keep their companies up to date. Every year, we find a handful of organizations that want to remain on the cutting edge when it comes to their social media presence. As always, this year is sure to have its fair share of innovation that will help take us to the next phase of the digital age.
Here are three social media trends that we believe will grow in popularity as 2016 rolls in:
Live Video
You thought Snapchat was about as real-time as you could get, right? Wrong. In 2016, look for live video apps like Periscope to grow in popularity. These apps help turn your life into a live story, where anyone in the world can tune in via their smart phones and watch whatever content you’re streaming. Whether it’s a live sporting event, a natural disaster, political unrest, or just a simple shadow puppet show, we’re already seeing channels beginning to grow loyal followings from the comfort of their own living rooms. As soon as Twitter took notice of this trend, it purchased Periscope. When a social media giant buys out a smaller platform like this, it generally means we’ll be seeing a lot more of their services in the coming months. Keep an eye out for more innovation to come, because this is just the tip of the iceberg for the live video movement.
In-App Viewing
In the past, when you clicked on content that you found engaging, you would generally be redirected to a link within your web browser. If you were on a mobile device, it would usually close your app and open your phone’s internet application, like Safari or Chrome, instead. The days of having to switch back and forth are now over, thanks to the rise of in-app viewing. Have you noticed lately that when you click on an article or link within Facebook, it takes you to a window housed within the app? That’s because platforms want to streamline content consumption by limiting page jumps and redirects as much as possible for the consumer. That way, engaging ads will be rewarded through interactions with customers that are simply and organically facilitated. It’s all about convenience here, and organizations are hoping the in-app purchases grow substantially with the newfound ease of use.
Heavy Segmentation
Brands are always working to become more personable, and social media is no different. Rather than using a generalized approach, where brands send out broad, generic content to the masses, many are now opting for a small-scale, optimized approach. While this creates more work for content creators and social media strategists, the results are nothing to scoff at. By narrowing the audience of each of your views to reach very specific demographics, organizations are able to create micro-targeted posts that users can really relate to. Because of the niche segmentation going on, pages are able to create much more content, and can customize which audience sees which posts. One-to-one marketing is the future as algorithms become progressively more sophisticated.
Struggle often fosters innovation. As we move into 2016, we are seeing social media respond to user demand for quick content consumption, and the need for businesses to relate more customized social media campaigns to the masses. Instead of leaving these issues by the wayside, innovative members of the social media world took it upon themselves to create fixes that help address the needs of the market. Each of these sprouted from a real world problem, and has resulted in its own miniature social revolution. If your business needs help staying ahead of next year’s trends, contact our team of experts, and we’ll get you set up for social media success in 2016.