*1-2 minute read*
As of today, there are over 2.5 billion active social media users worldwide and the number is growing at a rate of 9% a year. With social media becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives, here are 5 trends that have been introduced to the world that you can expect to see make a huge impact in 2017.
- Live Video: Although live video is not necessarily new, with the rollouts of FB Live, Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Periscope, etc., it is still in the infant stages. By 2020, it is said that 75% of the world’s mobile traffic will be video, according to an estimate by Cisco.
Why the spike? Similar to the selfie, we are now a people obsessed with knowing what is going on at all times, and video is the perfect way to share your life and interact with people and brands. - Messaging Apps: Social media has always existed as a way for individuals to communicate with the mass online. The game changer was the moment brands caught on and started implementing social pages to speak and advertise to their audience. We can expect to see new customer service platforms starting to emerge to help bridge the gap between brands and consumers.
- Paid Advertising and Social Commerce: Increased competition and pressure to become profitable are continuing to force social platforms to come up with more creative advertising options for businesses. Pinterest and Twitter have recently started to allow the functionality for purchasing products and we can guess that in 2017 that will be the push needed to help with mainstream adoption of all brands.
- Imagination to Become Fashionable: We’ve all seen our fair share of practical or emotionally charged posts going viral, but on the cusp of those posts are inspirationally imaginative pieces grabbing the attention of users world wide. These posts are more artistic in nature, pulling individuals in with the lure of aesthetics.
Tips for brands in 2017: the pretense of advertising is slowly fading; take the time to curate beautiful and authentic images to share with your users. - Social Platforms will Continue to Rise: It’s fair to say that the biggest trend for 2017 will be the continued evolution of all of our favorite social channels. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat have become such a part of our lives, it’s hard to imagine what we would do without them. Be on the look out for new algorithms, new search and interface features, and the innovators to come up with new and creative ways to share content with people like you and I!
This post was written by Christine Wilson. Christine is a Social Media Content Specialist with Media Connect Partners.
