Social media trends come and go. No one can really predict what will or will not click with the fickle minded consumers of today. What big companies and experienced advertising agencies may think as the next best thing to hit the market might turn out a flop while those unexpected social media marketing strategies that many people think might not go far has become viral in such a short time.
What exactly are social media trends?
These are activities, may it be long term or not, which have dominated social media. It gets shared countless of times through different social media platforms. An activity becomes a trend when it becomes viral– meaning there’s so much marketing buzz going around that it has become a major branding influencer. A perfect example of a successful viral marketing is when a brand’s campaign strategy gets shared many times in different platforms at such a short time.
At the start of 2015, many predictions were made on which trends will probably make it big this year. In this article by Heidi Cohen, she listed 10 predictions which include:
- Facebook is still the social media platform of choice for social networking
- Facebook gets a significant percentage of video market share from YouTube
- LinkedIn is still the preferred networking site for the business savvy and the professionals
- Amazon will rule social commerce
- Twitter will continue losing its importance
- Businesses will gear towards Google+
- Social Media interactions will become synonymous with resources and ROI
- Instagram will maintain its dominance as the preferred visual social media site
- Pinterest will be branded as the commerce destination
- Tumblr is still the microblogging platform choice of the younger generation
Did all her predictions come true? That depends on who you will ask or what niche or industry you are in. If you are active in social media and are up to date with the latest trends, you will know that some things have remained consistent. 2015 is not yet over, but so many trends have come and go, some have been firmly entrenched in their position, and some are actually unexpected.
So what are 2015’s biggest social media trends?
Facebook still has not lost its popularity
In 5 Trends Reshaping Social Media by Entrepreneur.com, it stated that Facebook hasn’t lost its top position as the most preferred networking site for several years now, although there’s a significant increase of users from the 65 years and above age category. Facebook’s appeal is in its ability to cater to a bigger and broader audience.
Facebook is so popular for both desktop and mobile users that is why its popularity can never be diminished. It also allows small businesses to compete at least with the big players in neutral marketing grounds as the majority of Facebook users are not really as brand conscious as you think but are more after a business’s online marketing presence.
According to an article in Zephoria which was updated just this month, Facebook has 1.49B MAUs (or monthly active users) with a 968M logged in daily users. Facebook is still so big that for every second, there are five new Facebook profiles created. Facebook’s dominance in the social media scene would be difficult to surpass.
Facebook is simply not about keeping in touch with friends and families all over the world. Literally, you can do almost everything in Facebook. From promoting your business, creating events, having group discussions and even making your online e-commerce shops, Facebook is the simplest way to share information.
Videos are In
Undeniably, videos have become the preferred medium used in social media. Videos are being shared more than any other content types in social media. And what’s not to like about videos? Compared to long winding articles and other content types, videos allow you to present a bigger picture in such a short span of time.
In Social Media Examiner, it predicted that video becomes content of choice. Vlogs (video blogs), podcasts and webinars are pretty popular too. Capturing audience’s attention is also easier with videos since 65% of the population are visual learners. Facebook video sharing is a great call to action (CTA) to engage viewers to try the brand being promoted. Parodies and memes are popular types of video content too.
In Why Are Video Ads The Best Advertising Choice Nowadays, it estimated that 85% of internet surfers regularly watch a video. Posts with videos are viewed and shared more in different social media sites like Twitter.
Social Media networks have become excellent search engine alternatives to Google
You must have heard many people making jokes about Google being their best friend. It’s because, you can literally ask search engines almost anything. Asking for reviews about a new movie, book or restaurant can also be done via social media. Yes, people use social media to ask for opinions, reviews, recommendations, and answers.
Do you know that online reviews can influence a whopping 80% of the total consumers? That’s how effective social media is.
Paid ads are gearing towards digital
Traditional marketing, in many niches, is almost dead. It’s expensive, obsolete and very vague. Digital marketing, on the other hand, is affordable, fast, reliable and caters to a more defined audience. As in the case of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram’s paid ads, your reach has become bigger meaning more significant conversions for engagement and conversion to sales.
An article in Marketing Land states that “Social media advertising helps businesses find new potential clients by using users’ own shared information to identify interest”, hence its popularity.
Jeff Bullas mentioned in his article, 21 Awesome Facebook Facts and Statistics You Need To Check Out that their mobile advertising is responsible for their 73% of their ads revenue. They earn approximately $2.5 B per quarter from mobile advertising.
People have become more and more paranoid with online privacy and security
Who can blame you if you have become paranoid about your online security or privacy? Hackers abound every day. Technology has become so sophisticated that it seems so easy to access someone else’s Facebook account. Cyber crime is more prevalent than you think; that’s why you have to take necessary precautions to protect your social media accounts from potential hackers.
Most social media sites have made several concessions to ensure that their user’s privacy will not be compromised. Putting a username and password just simply won’t do at all. You, as a user, should not ignore or discount the value of putting up security parameters on your social networking sites to avoid unscrupulous people from using your own accounts for their own benefit.
In Internet Privacy Issues and Why Security Is Important, the lack of security and privacy poses several threats:
- It deviates from the intended purpose of the internet
- The integrity information procured from computers have been destroyed or devalued
- The promised anonymity for users have been compromised
- Time, money and effort has been wasted.
Can you remember the time when snail mail, telegrams, and costly long distance calls were still the norm before the Internet explosion?
Social media has made communication so much faster and easier. You no longer have to wait for days or even weeks to hear from people on the other side of the world. With just a few clicks, you can be communicating with your sweetheart in no time.
More or less, the predictions for the biggest social media trends are right in some ways. Facebook is still dominating. Entrepreneurs and professionals swore on LinkedIn when it comes to networking. Millenials prefer Tumblr over any other microblogging site and cannot live without their Instagram and Pinterest accounts. Many businesses still use Twitter to promote their brand or product.
The biggest social media sites of 2015 like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest are not just networking sites to connect or reconnect with people. It is much more than that. They are platforms that companies can use to promote their latest products and services. These are tools you need to create awareness for your business. These are your miracle helpers to make your business go viral so you can establish yourself in your chosen niche.
