Top 9 Hot Upcoming Social Media Trends in 2018.

Top 9 Hot Upcoming Social Media Trends in 2018.

Everyone wants to talk about the year ‘2018’. What’s in the pipeline for social media marketing in 2018?

So here we go –

60% increase was seen in social media budget over 2016, which is set to continue into 2018. This provides an overview of the – key insight for planning your strategy.

These are the 9 hot upcoming social media trends for 2018, which will catch the fire are:

1.   Voice search will continue to grow

Consumers can use voice search for just about anything and anywhere via phones, tablets and laptops. Study shows that 50% of all the searches will be likely by Voice by 2020.

Optimizing content for voice search will include long-tail keywords and conversational phrases. For example – ‘Best Italian Restaurants in Pune VS Italian restaurant Pune’. These will be more likely to speak out loud by users.

Content Marketing will make easier for optimizing voice search because it will not be hard to work on those conversational keywords into a blog post as it we try to stuff them into the website content most of the time.

The rise on Optimizing Content for voice-led-search behavior as Alexa, Siri and other Intelligent Agents (IAs) will continue to grow.

2.   Marketing to Generation Z in 2018

Marketing to Generation Z can now start taking up the heat as they are recognized as the next consumer powerhouse. They are expected to account almost 55% of all consumers by 2020.

Gen Z versatile approach towards Social media draws significant difference than the Millennial. They use different social media platforms for different purposes.

In 2018, lots of  business now will turn to start focusing on and making strategies according to the Gen Z for digital marketing their products and services as generation spans for almost 20 years.

3.   Personification is important

Ahead of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), brands will look over to deliver relevant campaigns to users segments without exposing individual identities.

Social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkdeln, Instagram etc – help marketers to run highly-targeted, performance-oriented campaigns. Here they need to start delivering appropriate digital experiences to individuals depending on tracking where they are in the customer journey, rather than on their personal identity. People ignore the contents which aren’t relevant to them. That is why we need to focus on content strategies that are increasingly personalized and more likely to be shared.

4.   Rise of Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality.

Augmented Reality ads on social media is developing for the brands to innovate and create enticing engagement and experiences.

Companies will be able to showcase their products in brand new ways to customers, for example – how a piece of clothing looks on them or how a certain chair would fit in their living room. This is a great way to increase conversions by showing customers how their products will look in the surroundings of their own home, before buying.

The use of Augmented Reality on mobile phones will be increasing thoroughly. It provides a niche and engaging way for marketers to reach their target audience – it’s fast, easy and very interactive.

The new iPhone 8 and Google’s Pixel 2 have included augmented reality with talking Emojis amongst other functions.

Virtual Reality is an artificial, computer-generated based simulation or recreation of a real life environment or situation. It engrosses the user by making themselves feel like they are experiencing the simulated reality firsthand, primarily by stimulating their vision and hearing.

In terms of Virtual Reality, Facebook, for example, has been working on a project and soon releasing in 2018 called Spaces that is designed to allow friends to connect in VR. Since Facebook owns Oculus, a VR Headset Retailer and Software Company, there is no surprise that they are making this jump and it’s an exciting move for marketer to start strategizing around this amazing opportunity. Facebook will be first one to be experiencing VR social media.

Augmented Reality simulates artificial objects in the real environment;

Virtual Reality creates an artificial environment to inhabit.

5.   Videos will be burning all around

Content formats will extend further, as 80% of global internet traffic is expected from Video by 2021. 90% of videos are mostly shared on the Social Networking Sites. 87% of the marketers run their ads and campaigns with the Videos. 95% of message conveyed by Videos will be retained by viewers compared with the 10% of text messages.

In a mobile-first culture, video will be our main consumption. In 2017 90% of all content shared by users on social media was Video. Now the biggest challenge is how can you capture your user’s attention in the first 3 seconds.

At Social Media Week London Facebook’s Creative Strategist, Kat Hahn quoted ‘Not doing short video is not an option’. Brands will have to start preparing strategies using video as their main part of their digital marketing.

6.   Live Streaming will be more.

Live Video Streaming market is on track to become a $70.05 billion industry by 2021. It’s just not popular with the marketers but also people love watching videos too. 80% of customers would prefer watching live videos than reading blogs or posts. Facebook live videos are watched 3X longer than the regular ones.

In 2018, more brands will begin to strap the power of live streaming and will incorporate it into their monthly content plans. Like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube even more social platforms are sure to follow as they try to capitalize on the trends.

7.   The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Chatbots Will Grow

AI is already interacting on a regular basis with marketing, when you see ads in search results, websites and on social Media platforms. 57% of Marketing is done with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it is projected to grow by 53% in the next couple of years.

Chatbots were once the robotic and clunky machines but now with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) it has helped many brands to have real time engagement faster with customers from around the world. For example – solving customer issues or ordering pizza. According to Gartner, 20% of business content could be machine-generated by 2018. Chatbots give brands to get connected on a personal level with their users by sending directly personalized messages. Chatbots will make customer service faster.

Chatbots and AI can make Real time engagements faster with the customers for brands.  AI is now assuring to deliver more contextual and personalized content and campaigns.

8.   Ephemeral content (Stories) will provide the best engagement rate

As we know, Snapchat was first to let users share short videos that gets delete after 24 hours forever. It worked so well that Facebook decided to endeavor it both on Instagram and in its own app.

But in its first year, Instagram surpassed Snapchat view count with 20 Million views a day. It is seen now that huge number of all the Instagram users will be using Stories by 2018.

This will help brands to connect with their customers by creating stories which can showcase company culture or products and experiences or put the process on display on Instagram, regardless of B2B or B2C.

9.   Social Media Influencer’s & Micro-Influencer’s

Till now the easiest Public Relation strategy was to hire celebrity with hefty price tag for endorsement of your brand or product.

But there’s come a reasonable solution i.e. social media influencers (or micro-influencer’s), who are celebrities in their own circle. These influencers have an incredible amount of followings in hundreds of thousands or millions.

Brands are now moving to hire these influencers to promote their products and services because study has shown that they deliver 11X the ROI compared to traditional digital marketing, and also 49% of people rely on influencers for their purchase decisions. This is not just a trend, but a billion-dollar emerging industry.

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