Showing posts with label Ephemeral Content. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ephemeral Content. Show all posts

Monday, November 13, 2017

9 Marketing Trends To Look For?


2017 has brought about numerous new features for social media platforms. Some highlights include:

Twitter introduced a 280-character update.

Instagram began testing a 4x4 grid, after also introducing the ability to include several photos per post this year.

Facebook introduced Facebook Stories, a direct assault against Snapchat, which it tried to buy back in 2017.



So what’s the social media forecast moving into 2018?

Technology and innovations by the top social media companies are growing at rapid rates. As these online giants add exciting new features, they also bring on new users who may have been holding out for some reason or another.

Look out for these social media trends for 2018..

The Rise Of Augmented Reality

At the newest iPhone launch in September 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the newest generations of iPhones will have an augmented reality (AR) feature and demonstrated how it works to the public.

Apple showed off AR applications from gaming to sports, all integrated with the iPhone camera lens.

It won't be long before social media companies find ways to incorporate this new technology for use on their own platforms.

Snapchat Spectacles have been talked about as a business venture that will pave the way for augmented reality. On a related note, Snapchat just released a software update that allows you to superimpose your Bitmoji into the real world.

Popularity Of Ephermal Content

Ephemeral content, popularized by Snapchat and adapted by both Instagram and Facebook, is short-lived content that disappears after a user has viewed it or after a 24-hour period. This content format is popular with millennials and generation Z, who will be the focus of many brands’ marketing efforts in 2018.

There are over 200 million people using Instagram Stories per month, which is 50 million more than those who use Snapchat, and Instagram Stories is just a touch over a year old. The concept of disappearing content may sound scary to many marketers but several brands are already using Instagram Stories for ads.




What makes ephemeral content popular is that people think it’s more authentic than planned content.

With this in mind, social media trends 2018 suggest that you should post your best, high-quality content on your Instagram feed and real-time content on Stories.

Another element of interest to marketers when it comes to the use of Stories is that they are located at the very top of the news feed on their respective networks, keeping your brand top of mind when our target audience is using this feature. With Stories, there’s a component of fear of missing out and an impulse to take quick action, because the content is gone after 24 hours.

A Focus On Generation Z

A study by Goldman Sachs found that by next year, Generation Z will be more valuable to most organizations than millennials.



The oldest members of Generation Z are aged between 17-22 and are starting to enter the labor force or university and will enjoy increased spending power as a result.

Gen-Z are considered the true digital natives, as they were born with devices in hand and are very expressive and outspoken. Generation Z maintains a social media presence with thousands, if not millions, of followers.

To definitively reach Generation Z, brands need to be on the platforms that Gen Z prefers, such as Snapchat and Instagram.

Brands also need to create more personalized content, because like millennials, Gen Z puts a premium on authentic experiences.

Continued Rise In Influencer Marketing

90% of marketers that have used influencer marketing found it to be successful, so it seems fair to forecast that it won’t be going away anytime soon.

However, influencer marketing hasn’t been without its challenges.

Most brands will be taking advantage of some type of influencer marketing, but not all are transparent about it. Instagram rolled out an update to try and address this issue. The update displays a subheader under the influencer’s username which says “in paid partnership with”, in order to disclose sponsored posts.




Consumers may become bored with seeing influencers with 10,000 followers promoting brands that aren’t related to their niche.

Influencers will likely become more selective about who they decide to work with.

For 2018, building relationships with key influencers is something brands should focus on. Building relationships is complex, since each influencer is different and will require personalized messaging.

Social media trends 2018 may also involve brands turning to real experts instead of social influencers.



Video And More Live Streaming

2017 saw the rise in popularity of video content, which is effective in getting attention, engagement, and followers. On that note, video is the fastest growing ad format. By 2020, it is expected that video will make up 80% of consumer internet traffic.

Social media sites have also started offering in-app live-streaming and ways to create ephemeral content. What was once a novelty became a mainstream focus of social media, with some brands turning to livestreaming to capture the attention of their followers. An added advantage of livestreaming is that it requires commitment, keeping uninterested audiences away.

You can also expect that your simple image posts will receive less reach, as they are outperformed by moving images and videos. Thankfully, by using a few nifty apps, a smartphone and a shred of creativity, it's pretty easy to put your stills into motion.



Digital Hangouts

Video has been increasingly important and popular lately, so video hangouts may be the next iteration or progression of this social media trend. New social media in 2018 may include the likes of Houseparty, a video hangout platform used by over one million people daily, composed mostly of Gen Z. Facebook is reportedly building something similar to it, tentatively called Bonfire.

Facebook, who also owns Oculus (a virtual reality hardware and software company) is also testing a project called Spaces, which seeks to connect friends in VR. Facebook is set to scale the project in 2018.

Tightening Up On Fake News

A study found that 59% of links shared on Facebook have never been clicked, meaning that many people just read headlines without taking the time to digest the whole story. After some snafus in the 2016 United States presidential election, social media sites have started to embrace a more personal approach to governing conduct on their platforms.

Related Article: Media Company Social Media?


Facebook, which was criticized as one of the major channels for spreading fake news, is exploring methods to update their machine learning to track possible hoaxes and send them to human fact checkers for review.

Social media has become a popular medium for providing customer service, apart from email and phone calls. Some people prefer this over the latter two options because with social media, you get real-time updates and answers.

However, large businesses tend to receive more social media inquiries than what human agents can reasonably handle, which are often just the same questions over and over again. Instead of (or in addition to) creating a FAQ page, many businesses are building chatbots to assist customers looking for further information.

A chatbot is a software application built to stimulate human conversation. In fact, there are over 11,000 monthly active bots on Facebook Messenger. Gartner has predicted that by 2018, 30% of our chat conversations will be with chatbots. If you're not using chatbots for your business, Hubspot claims that you’re already behind.



Facebook Becoming (Almost) Entirely Mobile

Contently predicts that by 2020, 59% of US users will access Facebook exclusively by mobile device. This prediction doesn’t sound too far-fetched, as the 80% of the company’s advertising revenue comes from mobile ads.







“Social Media Trends 2018

Social media gave brands and their customers a chance to connect and the major players are constantly coming up with more ways to do so.

If we are to believe social media trends 2018, the near future will bring about brands looking to a new target audience, new sources of media, and continue their focus other social sites like Snapchat and Instagram.." -Maddy Osman


    • Authored by:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
    Published by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , , , ,
    Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

    Thursday, September 21, 2017

    Maximum Impact Social Media Trends?


    With more and more brands trying to connect with audiences across an array of social channels, the attention span of people is on a decline.



    Businesses need to quickly figure out what’s best for their audiences in order to generate better engagement and increased brand loyalty.

    Here are five crucial social media trends that will have the maximum impact on your social media strategy in 2018 and ahead.

    Ephemeral content will provide the best engagement rate

    Snapchat has led to the popularity of ephemeral content. With 10 billion daily video views, no marketer can ignore the platform that Snapchat provides. It is the best way to reach younger millennials and generation Z.

    Ephemeral content is short-lived, and the longest it can last is 24 hours. After that, it disappears forever.

    This might sound scary to marketers, but the considerable popularity it has received so far has forced them to develop strategies for ephemeral content marketing.



    There are several advantages that Ephemeral content offers:
    • Content that is short lived is thought to be more authentic versus sponsored ads or spammy posts that lasts longer and push customers into making purchases.
    • The content is lost within hours, so it effectively raises the potential of FOMO (fear of missing out). As a result, audiences take fast action and marketers gain from it.
    • Users can access content easily with the help of Snap Codes or QR codes.
    • Ephemeral content gives you potential customers’ attention, which is undoubtedly the most prized commodity on the internet today.
    • Have a plan in place to reach audiences with the help of an ephemeral content marketing strategy that essentially revolves around producing content (videos and pictures) that is able to engage audiences in the shortest possible time.
    Related Article: Important Social Media Network Updates?



    Content that engages audiences on a personal level will be liked the most

    84 percent of millennials do not trust traditional advertising, so it does not makes any sense to create content that is written from a selling point of view. People do not like content that is not relevant to them. Instead, content that is personalized and based on user personas is more likely to be read and shared.

    People do not like content that is not relevant to them. Instead, content that is personalized and based on user personas is more likely to be read and shared.


    With buyer personas, you get an exact answer to what your audience wants instead of guessing it. It is much better to prepare content that solves users’ pain points.

    Know your target market and create a user persona based on the person’s age, gender, education level, income, likes, location, etc.

    Adopt a storytelling approach and narrate the story in a manner and language that your audiences understand best.



    Reach out to influencers and ask them to share your brand stories.

    eMarketer predicted that opinions of around 45 percent of people who buy on the internet are affected by the opinions of other people.

    Influencers are people who are connected with your audiences at a personal level and can provide the best engagement, often leading to direct sales, with simple recommendations.

    Platforms like Influence.co can help find influencers related to a particular niche. Moreover, contacting influencers also brings search-engine-optimization gains, as brands are able to reach a much wider audience in the shortest possible time.

    Engage with the audiences on a personal level. Comment on their posts, share their voices, tag them and respond to them when they need you.



    Businesses leveraging the power of social chat bots for customer service will win the game

    Gartner predicted that by 2018, around 30 percent of our conversations will be assisted by machines.

    A chat bot is a software application built to simulate a human-like conversation. It is like a friend to the customer. It assists people 24/7 and helps improve revenue by building lasting relationships with potential customers.

    For businesses that have thousands of followers, adopting a personalized marketing strategy for every customer that requires responding to followers’ comments can be a daunting task. Chat bots can assist by creating one-to-one interactions with each follower and responding immediately to the questions posed by them. They are fast, they initiate timely responses and they are always polite no matter how rude the customer’s replies are.

    Brands that use chat bots for customer service will certainly win the hearts of audiences and ultimately defeat their competitors.



    Livestreaming and interactive broadcasting will be the next big thing

    Facebook already offers livestreaming via Facebook Live, and businesses must use it to reach their niche target audiences.

    Livestreaming requires commitment from audiences, so it will automatically keep the uninterested ones away.

    Moreover, with interactive broadcasting channels like Agora, one-way livestreaming is converted into two-way streaming, which allows people to chat with each other.

    The best part is that your audience is not required to download another app. It integrates with existing apps and allows brands to reach consumers in real-time.



    AI and image recognition have already begun to transform social media marketing

    Social media is no longer a text business for marketers. With around 3.2 billion photos being shared every single day on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, the trend is moving toward visual content.

    With tools like Einstein Vision for Social Studio, brands now have the power to search for pictures related to their brands on social media. This product from Salesforce uses artificial intelligence algorithms like Einstein Image Classification for image recognition, coupled with visual search, brand detection and product identification.

    Brands quickly need to capitalize on this visual phenomenon, as people are more likely to share and comment on posts that contain images. With AI in place, it has become easier for marketers to find visuals that do not have text keyword mentions in them. Moreover, image processing will provide better metrics and accurate data to uncover the minute details that remained inaccessible before AI.

    Guest Authored By Guy Sheetrit. Guy is CEO of digital marketing agency Over the Top SEO. Follow Guy on Twitter.




    “We expect a lot of changes in the social media landscape in 2018, which means that the role of social media marketers is expanding.

    Mobile-first is the strategy to adopt, and you only need to combine the power of inbound marketing with the above discussed strategies in order to take your business to the next level.." -Guy Sheetrit

      • Authored by:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldbrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
      Published by at No comments:
      Labels: , , , , , , ,
      Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA
      Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)