10 Social Media Predictions for 2018 and How Internet Marketers Can Take Advantage of That: Insights from an Internet Marketing Agency
Background
The increasing popularity of social media will keep revolutionising internet marketing as many organisations embrace this very effective form of reaching potential markets. And the changing social media trends influence how internet marketing is done.
Understanding the changes in these trends helps an internet marketing agency come up with new and dynamic promotions for businesses. Discussed here are 10 social media predictions for 2018 that internet marketers can take advantage of to optimise their clients’ line profiles.
1. Increased Video Use
Social media videos, such as Facebook live broadcasts, are increasing in popularity and many organisations will want to consider using video broadcasts for their marketing. When made with flair videos can very successfully increase a company’s revenue.
The main focus should be on creating unique, clever video content to broadcast. Many brands make the mistake of using only 10% of their money to create video content and 90% to push it. If 90% of resources are dedicated to creating unique content and 10% to push that content potential customers will be searching for the video and watching it repeatedly.
2. The Popularity of Messaging Apps will Rise
Messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and WhatsApp, are used by over four billion people around the world. Apart from being suitable alternatives to traditional texting, their tremendous presence provides a huge opportunity for brands to optimise their social media marketing.
By focusing on messaging apps, organisations will be able to communicate directly with their customers. This vastly improves service delivery as customers get their assistance quickly and easily.
3. More Expenditure on Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising will continue to be popular with brands with larger budgets, but this higher expenditure does not necessarily translate into effectiveness. For instance, only 3% of chief marketing officers reported that social media contributes to better brand performance. This can be explained by the fact that many brands and social media agencies have not yet mastered how to manage their social media marketing.
The major mistake made by these brands is thinking that posting and responding to comments on social media is all that is necessary. The job of an Internet marketing agency is to come up with a master plan by having the proper strategy, budget, content and interaction with users.
4. The Role of LinkedIn will Increase
The purchase of LinkedIn by Microsoft will establish it as an important player in social media marketing. In certain industries, such as business to business marketing, LinkedIn offers the best marketing option.
It is more appropriate to use LinkedIn when marketing spine products to healthcare providers than using Facebook, for instance. With Microsoft behind them, LinkedIn is expected to attract many more users.
5. Collaborations in Content Creation
Many brands make the mistake of working alone when creating content for social media followers can be a challenge. An effective internet marketing agency understands the need and effectiveness of collaboration when creating social media content.
Through collaboration, growth is achieved faster and the content gets better. All collaborating parties benefit as they trade their followers by sharing their exposure. People are using this concept more frequently and increasing collaboration between content providers is benefitting everyone.
6. More Social Media ecommerce will be Seen
Some social media platforms already have features that offer their users options to purchase certain products. For instance, it is possible to purchase different products through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest using their apps. More brands will use such social media platforms to do their marketing and other platforms will embrace the ecommerce feature if they want to remain relevant and competitive.
7. Emergence of New Communication Areas
Social media was introduced as a means of online communication for individuals. Brands joined later, making social media a way of speaking and advertising to consumers. Social media keeps evolving with new and different areas of communication.
Brands will continue following suit and evolving new areas of communication in line with social media trends. This will include professional communication as well as significant interactions and exchanges between clients and brands.
8. Adaptation of Virtual and Augmented Reality
Virtual and augmented reality is expected to rise in popularity offering viewers immersive and memorable experiences. Brands will quickly realise the uniqueness and the value it provides.
Virtual and Augmented realities have already proven their impact, especially after the Pokemon Go craze of 2016. Acquisition of Oculus (the leader in virtual reality technology) by Facebook will also promote more interest in virtual reality.
9. The Value of Good Copywriting will be Realised
When done properly, copywriting will make the social media visitors leave their emails, sign up, buy products or do whatever they are asked to do. It does not matter whether it is video content scripting, writing blog content or a Facebook post calling readers to action.
The more brands keep using social media platforms for marketing, the more they will realise the power of good copywriting. Internet marketing agencies always invest in great copywriters, they are the ones who tell the story to intrigue and thrill the audience.
10. Mobile First
Mobile use has already overtaken desktops on visits to retail websites. Brands and organisations will now need to take mobile use as a foundation of marketing strategy and not as an add-on. A serious internet marketing agency understands the value of this growth area.
Conclusion
Constantly changing social media trends will continue to drive brand development. Businesses will need to understand these trends to enable them to adapt and optimise their social media marketing. Understanding these trends can prove instrumental to the success of a brand, combined with an internet marketing company committed to experimenting, pivoting and continuously learning to get it right.
