5 Strategic Trends for Social Media Marketers in 2016

5 Strategic Trends for Social Media Marketers in 2016

Feeling awash in the deluge of changes to social media channels? 2015 was an exciting year, but modern social media is a sprinter still waiting on their block for the gun to go off. This o i g year’s ra e is to see who’ll e at the top of the pile with innovation as the key ingredient.

1. Advanced of monetization the of social channels

On all the well-known social channels outside of LinkedIn it’s clear that buy buttons are soon to be commonplace. But it goes further than this. Now, ad platforms for native advertising are becoming fully matured with LinkedIn taking massive steps forwards in becoming a money-making machine.

This monetization has and will continue to open brand new markets and big opportunities for small and large businesses alike, while raising user engagement. And with the furthered emphasis on native advertising, each channel’s information on the user also increases in value.

2. More marketing budget allocated on social ads

From the end of 2013 to the end of this year, social ad spend will have nearly doubled; up to $11 billion annually.

Not only have advertising platforms become highly refined on social media, but more money is being thrown at them now than ever before. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and many more have native ads in social feeds along with other forms of ads.

Getting a brand name out there is hugely important, especially for new companies. And platforms like Facebook have the

wealth of user data to make some of the most targeted ad campaigns in existence.

3. Increased use of new search functions on social platforms

Over the course of 2015 social platforms pushed out more changes to search functions than any year prior. Exciting things like Fa e ook’s Search FYI, I stagra ’s ew Explore Page, and Pinterest Business Search are happening all the time now.

And of course, new ways to take advantage of these changes are also arising through unique SEO tactics. The blending of search and social is being taken to whole new levels in 2016.

4. Filli g the void the you g have

ade i Fa e ook’s users

Gone are the days when Facebook was occupied with young blood. User count for those below 24 has drastically fallen from 5 years ago and continues to decline. But do ’t worry, Facebook is still experiencing record profits.

However, the question remains, where are these users going?

Well, that little f icon on their phones seems to be largely replaced by the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and private

messengers like WhatsApp. But the void still exists and is growing. So it wo ’t e so surprisi g whe a ra d ew mainstream social app pops up out of the blue geared towards the younger audiences.

5. Customer service over social apps

As we all know, brands often engage with their fans over social media through customer service reps. Yet new channels are opening and becoming popularized, like direct responses to queries though Facebook comments and messenger. To make this easier for companies and customers, some parts of the interaction process are planned to be automated.

The results of this will likely create a new employee position inside large brands and set social service on the fast-track to becoming a mainstream system.

The face of social media is changing quickly, with new functions introduced almost every day. Find out more on what can be done with social media here.