Frank Capra once said “Don’t follow trends, start trends”. This is sound advice. However, in the social media world, staying on top of current trends is vital to a successful eCommerce online presence. Social media trends are ever-changing. What dominates the social media scene in 2017? Here’s what a few pros had to say:
“I see ecommerce brands investing a lot more in paid social and I think that trend will continue into 2017″ says William Harris, Ecommerce Growth Consultant at Elumynt.com. “It’s not enough to simply pay for ads on Google Shopping. You’ve gotta find a good audience on Facebook ads, Instagram ads and more and more, on Pinterest and other paid social media accounts. It’s getting easier to set these up and track the return on advertising, which means more brands will start doing it. It also means more competition so you’ll want to have a good strategy. Or work with a great team that knows how to get the most value for you.”
“I think social media will become an increasingly private matter. We will stop broadcasting and start communicating. Connections will become more genuine. Conversations will be among smaller and more intimate groups. Millennials started this shift when they began transitioning to platforms like WhatsApp and Snapchat. Now the business world is catching on and taking advantage of things like chatbots. Not only do these tools increase efficiency, they also facilitate one-on-one conversations. Professionals can share insight, network, and advance their industries without all the noise of a public forum.”-Monica Eaton-Cardone, COO of Chargebacks911, a company that helps online merchants optimize profitability by managing chargebacks and reducing risk.
“The big thing we’re seeing is a focus or narrowed focus by brands and businesses on particular social platforms. This is largely in line with consumer behavior. People tend to have a primary social network and then a secondary social network like Facebook and Instagram. Businesses have been slow to understand this traditionally.”-Brendan Tully, Principal Consultant, The Search Engine Shop
“For 2017 social media, I think videos are going to be thing to focus on. With users being bombarded with ever increasing messages, videos are one of the most interactive ways to stand out. The engagement numbers stand out too. With the growing popularity of live streaming and 360 videos, there are many ways brands can connect with their customers in ways never before possible.”- Oleg Korneitchouk, Director of Marketing, SmartSites
In the coming weeks, we’ll be delving deeper into marketing and online strategy through our blog. It will be interesting to see which of the above predictions turn out to be popular in the social media scene in the coming year. What new trends and platforms do you see emerging in 2017?