1.
Instagram Stories Drive Upcoming Instagram Trends
Instagram Stories is a big deal and they’re not
going away. We wrote about it here; check it out if you missed it. Daily
viewers of Instagram Stories surpassed daily Snap Chat viewers just one year
after launch, and the growth isn’t stopping.
2.
Influencer Marketing Makes Major Contributions to Social Media Engagement
Influencer marketing is big business — a
billion2. Influencer Marketing Makes Major Contributions to Social Media
Engagement
Influencer marketing is big business — a
billion-dollar industry by some counts. There is an exhaustive list of
micro-celebrities who earn six figure incomes. And this isn’t a fluke.
Influencer marketing is uniquely keyed to exploit certain facts about a growing
number of buyers.
As Millennials advance their careers, and
Generation Z starts theirs, an enormous population’s purchasing power is
increasing swiftly and starkly. These two groups — who, combined, literally
comprise most of the world’s population — are uniquely influenced by this
marketing method. dollar industry by some counts. There is an exhaustive list
of micro-celebrities who earn six figure incomes. And this isn’t a fluke.
Influencer marketing is uniquely keyed to exploit certain facts about a growing
number of buyers.
As Millennials advance their careers, and
Generation Z starts theirs, an enormous population’s purchasing power is
increasing swiftly and starkly. These two groups — who, combined, literally
comprise most of the world’s population — are uniquely influenced by this
marketing method.
3.
Generation Z to Decide Social Media Trends
We’ve mentioned Generation Z in both of the
previous topics for good reason.
Retail Dive had this to say about Generation Z
and their associated social media trends:
“Gen Z is two- to three times more likely to be
influenced by social media than by sales or discounts — the only generation to
value social media over price when it comes to making purchase decisions…”
Furthermore, 81% report watching at least one
hour of online video per day, or more, according to a study by Fluent, covered
by AdWeek. Combine these facts and realize that droves of Generation Z will
graduate college and/or start careers next year, and you start to see the
powder keg.
4.
Messaging Platforms Make Companies Accessible
What do you know about WeChat? They’re a wee
little Chinese messaging company . . . error, one that’s looking to cross 1
billion users this quarter. WeChat and WhatsApp are absolutely ubiquitous
across either ocean, reaching across many different functions to dominate
social media, direct messaging, and even purchasing and commerce.
5.
Live Streaming Explodes
Live streaming isn’t about live streaming. At
least not in the way we’re going to be talking about it. You’re going to see a
lot more of it in 2018, and the people who do it well will be fully with the
times and accelerating. Its prevalence will increase because it works.
But there’s something more at work here.
It’s actually about technology. We get better
phones every year. Does that mean that we’re running the same apps better?
Sometimes. But once the technological baseline of the average user has clearly
moved up a notch, it becomes about making more robust apps that do more and
fully take advantage of that new technology.
The smartphones of today are better than what
we used to have by orders of magnitude. Furthermore, our data speeds are
better, and are poised to make yet another insane leap in the next few years
when 5G becomes the standard.
Live streaming is a medium or implementation of
social technology that’s uniquely positioned to take advantage of hardware
improvements for the next several years. The resolution of an image the size of
a phone screen can only get so good before you have to zoom in to see a
difference.
But better video processing across the board
means all devices involved can handle more streaming at a better quality across
more channels at the same time. This is such a huge change that it’s possibly
unclear that anyone is even capable of fully understanding the ramifications.
6.
Twitter is Going to Change
And they themselves might not even know how
just yet.
Twitter has been slowly circling the drain, in
some respects, for a long time now. 2017 pulled no punches with the social
network, either. Twitter needs to make some big changes to stay relevant, as
its growth is the slowest of all the major social media platforms.
7.
Online Hangouts Become the Norm