Social media trends to look out for in 2018
Looking to utilise your social media in your 2018 digital marketing strategy? We’ve got all the trends you need to know to get ahead of the competition!
In any good digital marketing strategy, you should be utilising your social media. It’s an excellent way of interacting, engaging and growing your following online, in the hopes of generating business through your social media profiles. With social media ever changing, 2018 will bring some new trends that digital marketers and social media gurus will need to put into practice, in order to stay ahead of the competition. If you’re a business owner, and haven’t thought about investing in social media yet, this year is the time to do so! It’s an ever-growing market, that has so many features that make it the ultimate marketing tool. We’ve teamed up with leading specialists of digital marketing and web design in Essex, Revive.Digital, to bring you a list of social media trend predictions based on data from Hootsuite.
In this post, we’re going to be looking at the 2018’s new social media trends. The top leading experts in social media have made their predictions, analysed from social data, about the trends we’ll be seeing on social media in 2018. These trends will need to be put into practice in order for a business to truly succeed on social networks. So, without further ado, here is 2018’s social media trends.
Social media trends in 2018
- ROI for social media
The one drawback of social media is, sometimes, there’s no clear return on investment (ROI), which makes it difficult for business owners or managers to justify investing into social media marketing or management. Therefore, in 2018, social ROI will be looked at in a different way, in order for it’s true worth and power to be proved. It’s common knowledge that if you invest in something with no clear ROI, there’s no benefit to it for your business.
Up until now, business owners have been demanding the wrong kind of return from their social media investments. Whilst digital marketers shouldn’t have to prove the worth of social media investment, business owners are asking for it. And digital marketers don’t have the investment or budget they need to show an ROI. So, social ROI in 2018 should now be looked at differently by investors. Business owners and investors will need to consider taking a different approach to social media investment, looking at brand development as part of the ROI of social media.
- Create video content
To keep up with the trends in 2018, your business needs to develop itself into a brand. More and more users are turning to social media for entertainment and news. And the type of content they’re asking for is video content. Facebook now allows videos uploaded to automatically begin playing when scrolling down a timeline, so creating video content for social media is essential to expand your business’ brand.
The way to engage your followers in 2018 is to invest in creating video content for your social platforms, that can boost social engagement. It links into the first trend about viewing social ROI differently. Video content helps establish your brand and allow followers to engage on a new level with your business via social media. Brands are going to have to become a broadcaster, in a sense, in order for them to have a true presence on the internet.
- Optimised for mobile
It’s no new thing to learn that more and more users are accessing social media through mobile, but in 2018, it’s only set to grow even more. They’re devoting an ever-growing number of hours to social media, to consume content. So, you need to make sure your social is ready for mobile. That means the right video content on your social channels. That are made with mobile in mind. No full widescreen video that is film-esque, but video content that fits on a mobile and looks good too.
- Influential users
With an ever-declining perception of authoritative figures, micro influencers are becoming a beacon for social users to turn to for true product and service information. They can no longer rely on approval from figures they don’t know or the media, they need to see someone of influence at the forefront. Businesses in 2018 will need to target these micro-influencers (usually having around 1,000 to 10,000 followers) to help market their products or services to their demographic.
These influencers have the power to influence an audience, and in 2018 your business will need to enlist a relevant influencer to assist in building your brand and promoting your products or services. Users and consumers want a relatable persona to give them an impartial review and service. Due to their smaller sphere of following, businesses may find a more significant engagement with users, as there’s a greater chance of business coming from a collaboration with micro influencers. So, 2018 is the time to look into pairing yourself with a micro influencer.
- Chatbots
You may have seen some of these chatbots cropping up on Facebook, but in 2018 we’re expected to see a growth of these automated chatbots being used to answer user’s simpler queries, especially on social media. But the surprising thing comes when these chatbots are going to become more human in their response – so it feels like you’re interacting with an actual person. These AIs will be able to maintain basic conversation, along with addressing simple queries or notifying someone for the query to be passed on to. Chatbots on Facebook can already send money to friends, order Ubers and even suggest booking hotels based on interaction in your chats. This allows bigger businesses to streamline a sometimes-expensive customer services team and have the ones that work there working on the more difficult issues.
These social trends are expected to become common practice in 2018, so if you want to be ahead of your competitors, begin investing in them now! See social ROI as building a brand and establishing yourself, whilst creating video is the step in the right direction for your engaging your users. Your videos should be optimised for mobile, as standard. Find a relevant influencer to market your products or services on social media, as they are set to be more trusted than ‘authority’ figures in 2018. Finally, look into chatbots to help streamline your customer services team and overall ease the experience for users too.
