2016_social_media_trends

Top Social Media Trends for 2016

2016 is going to be a game changer for digital marketers. Some social media trends from 2015 will continue as predicted and some will completely take over. Here are our top social media trend predictions for 2016.

 

Shift From SEO to Social

User behavior on the Internet has begun slowly changing when it comes to searching for information about products, services and companies. While the number of web pages continue to grow (less than 3,000 websites TOTAL were on the Internet in 1994 and over 1 BILLION pages by 2014 – a 30 million percent increase in 20 years! source), the SERP spots available on page 1 of any search engine has remained the same – a whopping 10.

More and more users are skipping using search engines and looking to perform their search directly on social media channels.

One reason is visual content is readily available on social media channels and to many consumers, this has a higher trust level than text-rich content on websites. Feedback is the other reason. Consumers value feedback, finding that in reviews and comments on social media.

The question now should be “How can I be found on BOTH Google and Social Media?”

Shift From Talking to Listening

Digital marketers will change their focus from “talking” or push marketing side of communication to the “listening” side of communication. Social listening is simply paying attention to what is being said about product, service, company or even an individual on the Internet

The information gleaned from social listening can; in some cases, be more valuable than revenue generated from social media and significantly more valuable than low-level engagement from passive followers.

We Are Going Mobile

It comes as no surprise that the number of phones, phablets and tablets has significantly increased in the past few years. In 2016 it is estimated there will be just under 200 million smartphone users in the U.S. alone.

Up until about a year ago, web content was primarily focused to suit desktops and laptops. In 2015 the number of users accessing the internet on mobile devices surpassed internet traffic initiated on desktops and laptops and that number is expected to continue to rise well beyond 2016.

Then of course there is Google’s announcement in the spring of 2015 that they will “penalize” websites that are not optimized for mobile. Of course, Google’s definition of penalizing websites would be down ranking or not indexing your website altogether.

Buy Buttons Will Be Everywhere

Both Pinterest and Facebook have now added buy features to their networks and others are sure to follow. The trend will only grow as people’s buying habits change.

Pay to Play Will Increase

A sure way to increase the reach and engagement on your social media updates is to create compelling content that gives your audience a reason to stop scrolling and interact with the content.

Social media advertising can enhance reach and engagement greatly.

One of the biggest benefits social media networks provide is their information-rich databases that marketers can now tap into.

Competition for visibility will increase and as a result, we see a rising cost in social media advertising. If social media marketing is an integral part of your online marketing strategy, beat your competition to the punch and start seeing the benefits of higher visibility, reach and engagement early.

Format Video For Anything

It used to be good enough to post a video on YouTube or Vimeo and then syndicate it across all your social channels. That’s not good enough anymore. Now your video will need to be optimized for each channel you post it on to increase the odds it will be successful. There is a difference between a video formatted for YouTube and formatted for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others.

Give us your feedback … what trends did you see in 2015 that worked for you?