Posted by There’s no question that social media is an essential part of business and marketing today. While this is true, if you are like most people, you may wonder what the future holds. After all, just in the past decade, the realm of social media has been transformed. In the beginning, it was only used as a method for friends to communicate, but today, the industry is worth billions and something that impacts the lives of people across the globe on a daily basis.
Facebook began as a newsfeed for college students and has transformed into something that is defining the next generation of social users. Before diving into the future of social media, it’s a good idea to fully understand what the landscape looks like today.
- The realm of social media is dominated by Facebook, YouTube, and up-and-coming Instagram.
- Approximately 75% of Facebook users and 60% of Snapchat and Instagram users visit each site, each day.
- There’s been an increase in Instagram usage of seven percent since 2016.
If you are interested in learning how social media is going to change and transform and how these changes will impact the business world, keep reading. Here you can find out everything you want to know.
Video is Now Front and Center
According to information from Adobe, approximately 50% of all marketing professionals have stated that video is the content type that provides you with the most ROI. It’s expected that this percentage is only going to grow as video becomes more essential within all aspects of media and content.
As a business, your customers are spending time watching videos across all the social media platforms. This ranges from behind-the-scenes content, product testimonials, explainer videos, thought leadership interviews, and more. Each day, the people you sell to and people who may be interested in what you offer, are interested in videos that help them connect with the brands or companies they know or like.
If you can fully understand what channels you should optimize for your audience and create content from those metrics with the help of the right team members, the growth you can experience will be unparalleled. Keep in mind though, you can’t just use video – you must use it properly. This means finding the right employees (learn how exactly ATS work and what it offers here). Keep in mind, you don’t have to hire outside workers for this.
There are apps for remote workers to create and upload video content for your brand that resonates with your current and potential customers.
Short-Lived Content Storytelling
Six out of 10 people who use Snapchat or Instagram will log on a minimum of one time per day to see what’s being posted. This is an attractive statistic to make the case for content storytelling and how it now only lasts for a limited amount of time.
This all-new form of storytelling is something that is surging in popularity among companies, brands, individual users, and influencers. This content only lives for 24 hours, leaving brands with a lot of testing and discoverability to find out what works and what doesn’t.
If you are thinking about investing in ephemeral content storytelling, you can look to other brands and even your competition, to see the content they produce. There are companies in every industry that are already excelling at this type of storytelling.
It’s important to figure out the best practices to use to engage your target audience and to ensure people hang around to see the whole story and to interact with the content you published. Today, this includes using the chat and direct message features to talk to your customers. The changes can help to bring about stronger relationships because you are effectively humanizing the brand, which makes customers want to advocate or purchase from you. That’s because it is these features that make customers feel like they are part of their community.
Today, stories have overtaken regular activity on sites like Instagram. Other social platforms, such as Skype, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn are beginning to integrate stories into what they offer, which means your ability to use ephemeral content to build your brand is now no longer an option.
Embracing Social Media and What it Offers for Businesses Today
If you want to continue to succeed, now is the time to review what your social media strategy is and whether or not it is aligned with what is coming in the future. By taking steps to improve this alignment now, you can enjoy more success later on.
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