Social media is currently one of the most changing industries in the world. A particular advancement in technology can have an impact in social media resulting in a lot of difference. We live in a world where social media has been able to dominate the world and most businesses or marketers are taking advantage of this.
Brands should be able to keep up with the latest trends in social media so as to attract more customers. Social media is gaining a lot of popularity worldwide and in 2016, Facebook was able to gain approximately 1.79 users that were active on a monthly basis. YouTube had approximately 1.3 billion active users on a monthly basis in 2016 and this shows how social media is slowly gaining popularity. Below are some the Social Media Trends in 2017 that will directly affect most of the users.
1. Social Messaging
Most people are actually using private social messaging instead of engaging in various social media platforms. Private social messaging is actually becoming very popular and in February 2016, WhatsApp was actually able to hit approximately 1 billion users.
The popular messaging apps that are currently being used by most users include, WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat and QQ chat. Most companies are taking advantage of the popularity of social messaging and most advertisers are using some of these social media platforms to market their products.
In November 2016, Facebook announced that advertisers were now able to use the users’ news feed to highlight some of their brands. In 2017, people will actually direct their efforts to most social messaging apps. This means that most companies will use this as another option of marketing their products.
2. Dealing with the problem of fake news.
Fake news has been a huge issue for most social media platforms in 2016 and this was clearly experienced in the presidential election that took place in the United States. Facebook had actually announced that they were dealing with this issue by banning some fake news sites from using various adds.
It is worth noting that the problem is still far from being fully solved. Google is actually finding it very difficult to deal with the issue of fake news and they even changed their algorithm. However, changing the algorithm has had very little effect. It has actually made Google more vulnerable to fake news.
Fake news gains a lot of traffic which makes it to rank very highly in most search engines. This makes it very hard to deal with the problem since pages get rewarded when they are clicked by many people. In 2017, most social media platforms will actually focus their energy to dealing with this problem. This means they will need to make some changes to ensure that fake news doesn’t spread at a faster rate.
3. Live Video
The use of live video was a very popular trend that was introduced back in 2016. It is worth noting down that live video is yet to fully reach its potential. Most of the social media platforms are actually taking advantage of this particular trend. The trend is currently being used on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Facebook announced that they will introduce the 360 degree video feature to all its users. This means that businesses will actually be able to use this particular feature to market most of their products. The live video feature is very important because it will now be very easy for four hours of video to be streamed at ease to various event listings and groups. The feature is very important if you’re looking to build a community or increase the popularity of a particular brand.
4. Virtual Reality
Most tech businesses invested a lot of cash in virtual reality when it was introduced back in 2016. Virtual Reality can actually be used in various social media platforms and this might happen in 2017.
Facebook were able to acquire Oculus back in 2014. vTime is the first social media network that utilizes Virtual Reality and it has made it quite easy for people to socialise easily while they’re in different virtual locations. Virtual reality has the potential of changing how people interact in social media and most businesses will actually devote most of their time to creating VR social networks and also high quality VR headsets.
The main reason why most businesses find it hard to focus their energy on virtual reality is mainly the amount of cash required to fully make this project a reality. Cash or price will therefore be the main factor that will determine whether Virtual Reality succeeds as a
major social media trend in 2017.
5. Artificial Intelligence
There have been significant advancements in social media and this means it has the potential of becoming a major trend in 2017. Most businesses are set to invest a lot of cash in artificial intelligence and people will now be able to speak directly to machines that are faceless.
Artificial Intelligence will actually be able to redefine some social media strategies for most businesses. Businesses will now be able to use Chatbots to answer some questions or queries from customers. A sales associate will now be available to all customers for 24 hours. Facebook announced that third parties now had the option of using Chatbots to create their own platform.
Some companies like IBM and Google are actually using Artificial Intelligence as a method of providing high quality services to their users. Artificial Intelligence is very important because it allows brands to be able to easily communicate with their customers. Artificial Intelligence is actually the best solution to enhancing customer experience and also plays a major role in increasing sales for any brand.
6. Social Commerce
In 2017, most social messaging companies will actually try to look at how they can benefit financially from the increasing popularity of social media platforms. Businesses will try to look at how they can benefit from millenials who spend most of their time in various social media platforms.
If brands want to increase their popularity or boost their sales, they should definitely consider incorporating some of these social media trends in 2017. The trends above will actually take social media to a whole new level.