Over the years, social media has transcended from a mere networking tool to playing an increasingly pivotal role in marketing and advertisement. This boom is a direct result of its ability to reach millions of target groups and its selective demographic features, making it both feasible and highly effective.
Statistics from 2016 is a conclusive proof that marketing has taken a turn for the digital. Facebook remains on the top and continues to be the go-to networking platform for 79% of American internet users, followed by Instagram with 32% of users, Pinterest with 31%, LinkedIn with 29% and finally, Twitter with 24%, as per a survey published in Wordstream. Stats show that posts with images receive a higher engagement rate and 100 million hours of video content are watched daily.
At this point in time, 2017 seems to be the year for video sharing. Short, crisp, and currently relevant content is the way to go, and it comes under three major categories:
- Video
- Live video
- News
Marketing trend predictions for 2017:
- Pay to play – This helps create an organic reach by filtering audiences according to relevance.
- Chat-bots – A popular responsive bot (robot) feature like Siri, which frees up brand customer representatives to focus on in-depth queries.
- Personalization – Advanced ad personalization that helps the ad reach the right audience.
- Live streaming – Great for events and product launches, live video streaming has the potential to create engaging content that can be viewed and shared in real time.
- Mobile first – Statistics show that 80% of social media users, view updates and login through their mobile device, overtaking desktop usage over the past few years. This, inevitably, will change the concept of design from ‘optimize for mobile’ to placing mobile first.
While nothing in the digital world can be guaranteed, numbers show that 2017 will be a good year for social media marketing and anyone looking to launch a brand or product. Big things are on the horizon for events, giving businesses even more tools to enhance the experience this year.
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