Whether you're just getting your social media strategy rolling or you've already built a powerful following, you must evolve with changing trends. Many new services are available, so let us help you focus on the most important trends right now.
Live Streaming Video
Marketers who are keeping up already know that video on a landing page significantly impacts conversion rates. Live video services such as Meerkat, Twitter's Periscope, and Facebook Live is fast becoming an important way to engage your brand community. The advantages are clear. You have the impact of video combined with instant communication. You can answer questions from viewers in real-time. You can stream events at your business. Launch new products live. Get your customers involved in your philanthropic missions. It is truly a powerful tool.
Bonus: Facebook's algorithm currently gives newsfeed preference to live video. Your followers will also get a notification by default when you go live.
Mobile
You've been hearing it for some time now; mobile is important. If you're not brand new, you should have a mobile optimized website. Mobile engagement is now more important than ever as mobile Google searches surpassed searches from computers in 10 countries, including the United States. You've likely noticed this trend in your own website data. Your customers are accessing their social media accounts from mobile as well.
When a customer finds you via Facebook ad or clicks through to your site from your Twitter feed, their experience from that social media app to your site all the way through checkout must be flawless and intuitive across devices and mobile platforms. There may not be a faster way to lose business than by making it impossible to buy from you unless someone finds a computer from which to access your site.
Snapchat
This service is beginning to attract brands, as they figure out how to leverage it. Get ahead of the curve and sign up now. Just 3% of B2B and 5% of B2C respondents to the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report are using Snapchat, but the service boasts 100 million active users each day. One of the tenets of successful social media marketing is to engage your customers where they are already spending their time. Get there when they do, figure it out with them, and continue building community.
Snapchat is meant to be fun for people, not a place for brands to market. That's really part of the ingenuity of building a brand-loyal community there. Snapchat is perfect for creating a palpable brand persona that engages directly with customers in a meaningful and personal way: video and images.
Blogs
Are you surprised? Some brands have seen their blog traffic slow in recent years, blaming the shift in content types from long form blog posts to shareable snippets and mini-infographics. But that's not exactly the truth behind the trend. Social media, specifically Facebook, drive such significant amounts of traffic it has changed the way brands create headlines, interact with customers, and distribute paid advertising. Businesses are as concerned, or more so, with SMO (social media optimization) as with SEO.
For the most part, customers engage quickly and succinctly with your brand via social media. Your blog is the place where you can do a little more talking. Your blog frees you up to engage with your customers in a personal way on social media. When you send traffic to your blog from social media, be sure you're making it worth their time to engage more deeply.
Employees
Recent data shows that your message is broadcast exponentially further when shared by your employees rather than a business social media account. The MSL Group found a 561 percent increase in reach because your employees have 10 percent more connections than your brand. It is this massive increase in reach that has inspired a fast-growing segment of businesses to institute Employee Social Advocacy Programs (ESAP). By creating a program that encourages employees to share company content, businesses also enjoy more engagement.
Small businesses may not have an army of employee social advocates, but you can still encourage your small team thoughtfully. Asking your employees to share a special offer once a day for one week. Then take a break. Sole proprietors, take a tip from ESAPs by sharing about your business on your personal accounts regularly, but infrequently. This measured approach reminds personal friends what you have to offer without being a pest. Consider creating content that describes what you do in layman's terms or new products you're offering just for sharing with personal networks.
Unlike some of the fads in social media that fizzle out as quickly as they appeared, these five trends won't be going away any time soon.
Original article: 5 Social Media Trends to Follow
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