30 Dec Look Out for These Big Social Media Trends in 2017

The year 2016 continued to demonstrate that the social media market is becoming more and more upscale with well-thought-out campaigns that are strategically designed and professionally managed. You can expect to see that trend continue in 2017.

Paid advertising campaigns

Gone are the days when a company could hope to gain significant organic marketing success by assigning a summer intern to cobble together a few photos and some off-the-cuff remarks for the company’s social media channels. Social media is all grown up now with companies relying more on paid advertising campaigns in order to break through the competitive noise and be heard.

Influencer marketing

One of those paid advertising models is influencer marketing. It’s the adult version of what the company in our previous illustration hoped to accomplish with an intern. The difference in 2017 is that smart companies will thoroughly vet an influencer before aligning with them. Companies will verify that the influencer truly has the proper reach and image for the company’s marketing needs.

Focused campaigns

In 2017 companies will narrowly focus on the one or two primary social media outlets that are best for their particular business model. They will then turn over their campaign to their designated in-house media team or to a qualified independent social media firm. For example, a business with an older in-house team might be comfortable reaching Facebook users who are no longer predominately the high school and college crowd.  However, that same company may find that in 2017, if it wants to reach the younger consumer, it’s best to outsource the campaign to a firm with an understanding of what that younger demographic finds engaging—think Snapchat and Instagram.

Video and more video

What can we expect to be the most successful type of content in 2017? Video. The splashiest impressions in 2016 were made with video on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. And live video services and features, such as Facebook Live and Periscope, are increasingly becoming a part of our social newsfeeds, giving people a real-time look into just about anything, anywhere. The last available disclosure from Facebook stated that it receives eight billion daily video views. Snapchat informed investors in 2016 that its 100 million+ daily users were watching 10 billion videos each day on the app. There’s reason to believe video will continue to thrive in 2017.

The social media scene changes rapidly. Keeping up with what’s hot and what’s not is a full-time job. Fortunately, there are social media firms that pride themselves on being aware of the best and hottest available social media opportunities. Fire Dash Media helps its clients establish a complete professional social media presence. We assist our clients to find their true audience, captivate that audience and establish an ongoing relationship with that audience. Contact us and let this be the year that your company takes its social media goals to the next level.