Social media trends that you should follow this 2017

As of January 2017, there have been over 3.77 billion active social media users around the world. This rate increases day by day and there’s no way we could stop it. Why douse a blazing fire when we could add more fuel to it?

More than being a virtual billboard of events, photos, promos, and updates, social media creates online connections that our business needs – connections that can eventually create engagement. These are the small gestures we do online such as liking, commenting, retweeting, responding to comments and messages. Not only do these actions create engagement but also pave the way for lifetime brand loyalty, as luck would have it.

As social media continues to establish itself as a great avenue in achieving our online marketing goals, it is our duty to adapt with the constant changes it confers. Here, we have three of the most anticipated social media trends for us to consider applying this year.

• Chatbots, talkbots, and chatterboxes

Social messaging is not new to us but in recent years, it has been repurposed to as a virtual customer care application for businesses. Often called as a chatbot, talkbot, or a chatterbox, this additional function of online chat is used by many netizens. And we can’t blame them. It works as if they are just sending a private message to one of their friends. It’s the easiest and quickest way for them to ask questions and raise their concerns without them going to a physical store or calling customer service only to be answered by a voice operator.

One prominent social messaging application today is Facebook Messenger. An instant, free, user-friendly and has distinct features that fit perfectly to be an online social messaging tool for every business. Through this, netizens exert less effort but get more prompt resolutions. Just imagine how the 1.15 billion daily active Facebook users will love your brand once you start utilizing this new social media trend.

• Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) hyped the public when it was re-invented in 2014. From its first onset during the 1800s, VR has come a long way. Today, when you are using VR, you think and act as if you are on the very location of what you see. This developed technology offers an extraordinary medium for us, marketers. It pushes our marketing strategies to its limits. Making us think how could we use such technology that is hardly used by other brands. Moreover, it carries a lot of advantages that we shall consider it to give people a new and best experience they can’t get anywhere else.

• Videos and more videos

All things video will continue to take over the social media sphere this year. If almost everyone can watch a video and even capture one using our fingertips, our brand shall, too. You see, social media is more about psychology and sociology more than technology. It lets us show that our businesses have a personality, just like anybody. In this case, we better express how collaborative we are with our audience through the use of 360-degree videos, snaps, stories, live streams, and even the recorded videos. People love to see our human side through authentic content and we shall give it to them. We can use videos for live events, holidays, behind-the-scenes, interviews, contests, and a lot more. It offers a diverse opportunity and diverse business results either.

***

Let’s not deny it, social media is proven to be the most powerful online medium more than anything else. The more inventive it gets, the more our brands should get by it. However, the main concern here is to provide the more personal interaction our market wants and needs in an instant. In case you’re having trouble crafting your marketing plan for your business, iManila is here to help you out. Contact us now and let’s catch on these trends together.

 

Reference: Forbes