Disputably one of the biggest communication shifts since the printing press, social media has taken the world by storm for just over a decade, and is not going anywhere soon. It’s so pervasive in society, it has changed the way we communicate, spend our down time and it has definitely changed the rules of marketing.
In this fast paced world of social media marketing, what we did last year will not work this year. We’ve been watching trends closely, and these are three new trends that need to be put into your digital strategy. This article is here to help you capitalize on these new trends and create an edge for you.
VIDEO:
Video is insanely massive! If you are not using video, you are missing out on huge opportunities. It is estimated that by 2021, 80% of all traffic will be video. Not just that, but people consume one billion hours of YouTube video per day, and Facebook gets 4 billions daily video streams! These numbers are crazy and they are telling us one thing: people love video!
As staggering as these numbers are, most companies admittedly are under-utilizing video on their social platforms and websites. Marketers who use video grow revenue almost 50% faster than non-video users. LinkedIn way that 3 times as many people are watching video ads verses static sponsored content.
Simply put: Start recording!! These numbers prove that it is worth the effort to create content and start using video to grow your brand and engage your customers.
STORIES:
Stories is another trend that has been on the rise for a couple years, yet is under-utilized when it comes to marketing. These short 15 second clips are the perfect way to reach millennials and Gen Z-ers who prefer to take in micro content. It is also the perfect way to show a bit of your personality and authenticity online.
Instagrams
Stories arguably was one of instagrams best decisions made to date, with other platforms following suit. Instagram literally copied SnapChat Stories (not even bothering to change the name) when
they saw how many people were flocking to SnapChat’s new format. Part of the problem Instagram saw was that people weren’t posting as often as they would have liked, because their day wasn’t “instagram worthy”. Stories is perfect for the days where nothing glamorous is happening, or you want invite people behind the scenes. If you get a big enough following, Instagram will let you link each story to a website which is great for sales funnel.
LIVE:
Live video is a trend that keeps on going. In fact, LinkedIn just recently announced that they will be launching a Live feature to their 600 million users. LinkedIn saw that video is the fastest growing format on their platform, and after public demand, decided to launch live.
Live is awesome because it can be as polished and produced as you want it to be. You can quickly pop on live when you’re walking from your car to the office and have real-time conversations with your audience, or you can set it up with a great backdrop and perfect audio. And your audience loves it! Being able to build a relationship with them in real time enhances the relationship and increases trust and loyalty.
The other amazing benefit of live is that it has great reach. On Facebook and Instagram, it literally notifies your friends to let them know you are live, which helps with reach. Again, the stats back it up: people spend 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video compared to pre-recorded videos. Facebook live is the most popular at this point, but YouTube Live is catching up quickly.
These three trends are here to stay for a while, and are still relatively new. Jump on these now and you will be way ahead of your competition! They are easy to use and to implement into your strategy, and the effort will pay dividends.
