Tis (nearly) the season to be prognosticating, as we head towards the usual end of year chaos.
We have already talked about some of the marketing trends we expect to hold centre stage in 2018. Now we turn the spotlight on social media trends for 2018, inspired by an infographic from Filmora (available here).
1 Video
First on the list is the least surprising of all: social goes video. Yep, all those moving pictures clamouring for attention on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram (now joined by LinkedIn, which has recently added its own native video offerings) will continue to get all the attention.
What that means for marketers: if you are not using video in social media, you are much less likely to get noticed — and even less likely to get remembered. According to data gathered by Filmora, 95% of video messages will be retained by consumers while only 10% of text-based posts will enjoy that privilege.
Oh, and if you can, make those videos live. Facebook Live videos are watched three times longer than regular videos.
2 Ephemeral is Hot
The move to short-lived content, pioneered by Snapchat and shamelessly copied by Instagram Stories, will continue to be a thing in 2018.
Why? There are a few factors at work, including:
- increased concentration on the actual post content, precisely because it will disappear
- fear of missing out, because the messages are limited and time-constrained
- users can afford not to worry about little things like spelling, grammar or accuracy, because their messages don’t hang around long enough to be critiqued
3 Chatbots are multiplying
There are now some 12,000 active chatbots on Facebook Messenger and it is estimated that 30% of our chat conversations will be with the little creatures next year.
Why? Because, in many cases they are smarter than humans — at least when it comes to talking about what they know (are programmed) to chat about.
If you already know the most frequently asked questions about your products and services, a chatbot is the simplest, most efficient and friendliest (!) way to share that information with your prospects and customers.
4 Influencer Marketing is growing strongly
Influencer Marketing is the fastest-growing marketing channel, according to Filmora data.
That’s because, with all due respect to traditional media channels, Influencer Marketing is (or can/should be):
- more targeted
- more credible
- more affordable
Influencer Marketing can also be more successful, according to 94% of those who use the channel.
And, since these days consumers put more trust in friends, whanau and peers, Influencer Marketing is an easy approach to gather endorsements that hopefully turn into sales.
5 Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
Yeah, we may never actually arrive at the long-promised “year of the mobile“, but this is pretty darned close.
More than 90% of Kiwis under 55 now have smartphones and, guess what, we actually use them — most especially, for checking in on social media many times a day.
And yes, that means that any marketing or promotion that you do on social media needs to be mobile-friendly — and, if you are sending anybody from a social medium to your own website, that better be mobile-friendly as well.
Want to know a whole lot more about NZ Marketing Trends for 2018? Check out our upcoming slide presentation.
Need to know more about Social Media Marketing for New Zealand? One of our online training courses might be just what you need.
Oh, and if you don’t have Mobile Marketing all figured out already, we have a course for that as well.
