Important Social Media Trends To Know (Part 1)
Source: sproutsocial.com
As social platforms introduce new features and change their algorithms, social media trends also undergo an evolution. Initially, Snapchat was known for its disappearing, FOMO-inducing content. Now, over 500 million people use the feature daily on Instagram, with more platforms now adding similar features.
This is just a taste of how quickly we adopt new trends in social media.
Of course, these rapid changes present a whole new challenge for brands and social media marketers. They have to constantly review their existing strategies and add new types of content to their repertoire in order to keep their audience entertained and interested. Here are some top trends to watch to help you adapt and grow.
Trend #1: Live streams will remain popular
To maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of COVID-19, many businesses went digital however they could. Face-to-face meetings turned into Zoom conferences and live concerts became live streams. Take for example, the number of views on Instagram and Facebook Live doubled in just a week.
While the situation continues to evolve, people have started getting used to being able to interact with brands live without leaving their homes. So live streaming will most likely continue to gain popularity and should definitely be a part of your social media marketing strategy.
Trend #2: Stories as a content format
With more than 500 million users interacting with Instagram Stories daily, the Instagram Stories feature is already one of the most dominant content formats. In other words, they’re unlikely to be going away any time soon and it’s definitely a platform you should be looking at more.
Brands should take a more organised approach and plan for Stories as a content format for their publishing calendars. More importantly, the use of video as Stories will likely increase since they appear to outperform photos.
A SocialInsider study found that images in Stories have a 5.65% higher tap-forward rate than videos. Tap-forward rate is the number of people who saw your Story and moved on to the next one before finishing it. The same analysis also found that photos in Stories had more drop-offs than videos, indicating that people tend to spend more time viewing videos than images. 51% of brands are already using videos in Stories, and the number will likely increase.
Trend #3: Social commerce will continue to grow
With social media constantly adapting to enhance the user experience, we’re seeing more features and tools that support quick and easy shopping. Instagram, for example, allows consumers to add product tags and enable easy checkout without leaving the platform. On Facebook, you can set up a Shop where people can browse and buy items. This can be the perfect tool for marketers to capitalise on. Keep in mind that 54% of social media users research products using social media. These referrals can influence the purchase decisions of 71% of users.