Top 8 Hottest Social Media Marketing Trends In 2017 [Infographic]

Nikkoy Beltran http://cjgdigitalmarketing.com 6m 1,450 #socialmedia

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Hottest Trends For Social Media Marketing In 2017

Sure enough, our modern society cannot be described without mentioning a thing or two about social media. Since the advent of social media sites in the late 90’s – Six Degrees – the internet has since been flooded with people who simply wants to share their personal experience to their peers and of course, meet other people. Fast forward to present, multiple social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and WeChat allows even those from most remote areas to communicate with others, not only through text but also through real-time videos and images.

With the increased usage of social media, businesses around the world have already started capitalizing on these networks nowadays. Taking their marketing efforts in a more personal level through social networking, a lot of brands have successfully established a more stronger relationship with their followings, allowing them to create a better brand image both offline and online.

That said, here are the key takeaways from the infographic below from CJG Digital Marketing which showcases the latest social media marketing trends this year 2017.

1. Increased usage of Live Streaming Video platforms
2. Chatbots will continue to rise, especially in areas such as customer service and sales
3. More brands will use Short-lived Content platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories
4. More Social Media Platforms will consolidate
5. Obtaining Organic Social Traffic will become tougher; Social Analytics will proliferate.
6. More brands will take advantage of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies
7. More brands will produce Personalized Content
8. The power Social Influencers will continue to rise.

There are a lot of trends to watch out in social media marketing this year. To learn more, check the visual guide below.

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THE TOP 8 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2017

Social media has had an enormous impact in today’s digital marketing landscape.

In 2016, the social media sphere has continued to rise with more than 2.3 BILLION ACTIVE USERS

and more than 1.9 BILLION ACTIVE MOBILE SOCIAL USERS

In return, 83% of all marketers have already taken advantage of social media marketing to increase their sales and boost their brand identity.

With these figures, it is safe to say that social media indeed is one of the most indispensable tools in marketing products and services in today’s competitive market. And as we approach 2017, its popularity among marketers is expected to boost up, making other sales methods to be obsolete or inappropriate in today’s digital environment.

Ramp up your social media marketing strategy as we present to you some of the trends that we are likely to witness in 2017 and beyond.

1. Live Streaming Video

Video sharing site YouTube is still the top contender today in terms of number of video content being uploaded and viewed everyday – with 48% of marketers planning to add YouTube to their content strategy in 2017.

But 12 years after it was founded, and with introduction of smartphones, almost all the people are now able to use their device to capture live events and share to their social media followings real-time.

• Twitter’s Periscope
• Facebook Live
• Instagram Stories

are three of the live streaming services that social media networks offer to its users free of charge, giving businesses great opportunity to present their products and services to their followings in a more transparent, creative, and timely manner.

2. The Rise of Chatbots

Chatbots have been generating a lot of buzzes this year, and there is a valid reason for that. For the uninitiated, a chatbot, according to Chatbots Magazine, is a service powdered by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, that a person can interact with via a chat interface.

One of the best examples gaining attention nowadays are the chatbots that are embedded within Facebook Messenger.

Though people think that chatbots were made to add entertainment value in chat services, Facebook and other social media networks are already using these to automate tasks and assist in data retrieving process.

Mark Zuckerberg has already announced that third parties could use the Messenger to create their own personal chatbot.

And in 2017, we are likely to witness businesses to take advantage of this to establish a strong relationship with their customers and followings online.

3. More Expiring Social Content

Snapchat, which currently has 150 million daily active users can be said to be the one who popularized the concept of short-lived content in the web – those videos or images that disappeared after the visitors has viewed them.

This was further extended when Snapchat rolled the update to their platform called “Stories” which extends the life of the content for 24 hours.

And just recently, Facebook-owned mobile photo-sharing and social networking site Instagram, which hit the 500 million monthly users mark this year, have adopted this feature of Snapchat and called it Instagram Stories.

Judging from this fact, we can say that there is a tight competition between the two platforms and we are likely to see the usage of both in the digital marketing campaigns next year and beyond.

4. Merging of Social Media Platforms

These past few years, we’ve seen a lot of consolidation between different social media platforms. Facebook bought WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus Rift. Twitter acquired Periscope.

And just recently, tech giant Microsoft paid $27 BILLION to buy the professional-oriented networking site LinkedIn.

In 2017, expect to see more of these acquisitions as more tech and social startups struggle to enter the mainstream.

For marketers, it is wise to watch out for these consolidations as it will immensely affect the performance of social media channels you have chosen to distribute your content.

5. Harder Acquisition of Organic Social Traffic

Another shift that social media marketers may see coming in 2017 is the increasing difficulties in gaining organic traffic from social media sites.

Getting noticed in the digital sphere was so simple way back then: Grow likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter by posting updates on a regular basis.

But that tactic is already getting obsolete.

Most of the social media networks have changed their algorithms as they already removed chronological timeline updates – making your business almost invisible unless you implement their paid ads.

This means that marketers must not only rely on the power of social media to drive organic traffic to their sites, but rather pursue multichannel strategy- from SEO to Email marketing- to maximize their digital marketing campaign.

6. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

We have witnessed the success that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have reached in 2016.

Pokemon Go has been effective in introducing AR to the public, and several VR headset firms such as Facebook (Oculus Rift), Sony, Alphabet (Google Cardboard) generated hype enough to create solid market for their products.

In 2017, we’re likely to see Facebook to be the frontrunner of AR applications in the social media sphere as they are already experimenting with lenses and masks in Facebook Live.

This feature will allow the users to try on a variety of different masks while sharing a live video- delivering a different experience for their users worldwide.

7. More Personalized Content

As more and more people are becoming less appreciative with traditional advertising,t he need for personalized and relevant content and advertising delivery becomes more important.

Most of the marketers today are taking advantage of Facebook re-targeting that allows them to craft adverts and content driven by identifying where the audience has been on the web, as well as their own preferences and interests.

8. Increase Usage of Social Influencer

From fashion, food, and tech industry, we’ve seen a lot of brands who have activated influencers to construct credibility and trust to their audience this year.

Google Trends has shown a steady decline of interest in print advertising over the past two years (2014-2016), while influencer marketing continues to gain prominence and is on rival with video advertising.

With 47% of online consumers using Adblockers, it is only evident that the old techniques of advertising are no longer effective to break the online content clutter.

Instead, marketers are now eyeing to tap the power of influencers to create authentic content for their brand to acquire new customers and establish a trust to their audience.

In fact, 84% of marketers today are looking forward to using at least one influencer marketing campaign within the next twelve months.

With all these tends, expect to see a lot of progress and developments that will take place in the social media sphere in the next few months.

As an evolving platform, keeping up with these changes can give your business a competitive edge in the market, increased brand identity and greater online reputation.

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