It may have flown by, or it may have felt like a decade, but like it or not 2015 is gone for good and 2016 has come in swinging. A new year means new change, and we are curious about what 2016 has in store for the social media marketing world.
2015 gave social media marketing a slow, but steady, increase in the popularity of video marketing, a cut in the organic reach of Facebook posts, an entirely new Google+, promoted Pinterest pins, instagram ads, a Twitter heart, and much more! It even teased us all with rumors of a Facebook dislike button that never happened.
Will 2016 be the year? Who can say! Today, I will take a shot in the dark at guessing the top social media marketing trends of 2016! Here we go…
#1: Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are still very new, but already companies are scrambling to use them. Why is this? Because in 2014, Instagram was one of the top ways to reach potential customers…and it was free. Due to its massive rise in popularity, Instagram remained a top platform for social media marketing and consumer engagement. This increase in brand use has forced Instagram to reevaluate the scope of a brand’s organic reach.
To put it plainly, if you want to continue to reach your large following of consumers, I predict you may have to start paying for ads!
(Fingers crossed– I also hope 2016 is the year that Instagram starts allowing users to post links in their captions, but I won’t hold my breath!)
#2: A Deep Understanding of Your Analytics
I am predicting that social media analytics will become more crucial than ever in 2016 because of one thing: money. Social media used to be free, but now a lot of it isn’t. Facebook started this trend by reducing its organic reach. Today, you have to boost a post if you want to reach…well, anyone!
Unfortunately, this approach has worked well for Facebook’s bank account, and I’m guessing that all of the other social media platforms have taken note. 2016 will be the year when paying to reach your consumers becomes the norm. This will put a heavy stress on studying the ROI of social media marketing. In order to continue getting a desirable ROI, marketers are going to have to know, in full detail, exactly what works and what doesn’t. How will they get this information? Studying the metrics!
#3: Blogs Will Be The Source Of Website Traffic
To be a strong contender in the social media marketing race, you should be tweeting, posting instagrams, creating funny memes, producing visually stimulating graphics, and creating educational or witty Facebook statuses, but these tactics do not always draw a customer to your website. If website traffic is your goal in 2016, you better get to blogging!
On a daily basis, people are exposed to a plethora of content. It’s so much content, in fact, that people are just scrolling and scrolling until something catches their eye. Visual graphics and videos will stop a consumer, but only for a quick like. In order to get a potential customer to your website via social media, you have to teach them something they want to know. Blogs are the best way to do this. If you post something on Facebook that educates your consumer, they will not only click it, but they will also consider your business as the expert, and this has the potential to convert into a sale!
So, that’s what I expect to see in 2016. Will I be right? Will I be wrong? Frankly, I don’t care, as long as social media is still a thing, because I love it, I believe in it, and I live for it!
Do you think you could benefit from social media marketing? We would love to help you design and carry out the perfect approach for your business. Contact us today.
