In 2017, there are a lot of famous stories involved in social media. There was exactly no dearth of social media industry last year, which may include different new features, brand opportunities and customer preferences. In 2018, social media trends have continued to evolve and surprise us without any break. And in coming years these trends are expected to pace in the direction of advancement even more.
In 2018, social media has poised a lot of disturbance as a number of latest technological developments going mainstreams. So here are the top most social media trends giving their best shot in year 2018.
-
Increased Augmented Reality
Apple has announced iPhone 8 and iPhone X in this year. Both the devices add in a new chip permitting the phones to offer users with exclusive augmented reality experiences. While augmented reality will have its impact on mobile gaming in the beginning, it is expected that social media platforms will look for its ways to incorporate the new technology too.
For instance: it is conceivable that instagram and snapchat will support filters very soon that may permit the users to take a selfie with a celebrity or friend projected through augmented reality. In the very same way, brands could project their products into the homes of social media users via special filters.
-
Enhancing Popularity of Instagram Stories
Around 200 million people make use of Instagram stories every month. And these snapchat and instagram stories are just one and a half year old. At such a rate, around half of the instagram users will be using these stories by the end of 2018. With this it is clear that brands interested in joining with instagram users must take out some time to master the art of using instagram stories.
-
Constant Investment in Influencer Marketing
There are more than 90 percent of marketers who employ influencer marketing strategy. They all believe that it is successful. Then there are industries like Rolex, Hubspot who use social media based marketing strategies in order to connect with new audience. This helps them in improving engagement with already existing audiences.
In recent years, brands that chose for traditional advertising strategies had to struggle to create their place. They had very less social media users and the relevant crowd. In the upcoming year, it is expected that more brands will embrace the influencer marketing as a method to connect with the audiences that tend to ignore traditional strategies.
-
Perking Up Brand Participation in Messaging Platforms
There are more than 2.5 billion people who use messaging platforms throughout the globe. And all these brand invest more money and time to connect to the consumers in these messaging platforms. Voice assistants, artificial intelligence and chatbots will make the brands able to offer personalized shopping experiences on messaging platforms likes Whatsapp, KIk and messenger.
-
Expanding the Live Streaming
Something that used to be a gimmick once has now become a part of social media. Today, there are lots of brands both big and small that have started to use live streaming to capture the attention of followers.
In 2018, more brands will start realizing the power of live streaming and may incorporate it into their monthly content plans. If that is the case, it makes it a prudent choice for brands to check out service providers like Agora.io among others to build a compatible app to support their specific needs such as live streaming of the content.
-
Going Back to Twitter
Twitter has actually failed to grow its followers to a great extent in 2017. Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram all of them have social media followers. In 2018 twitter also lost its access to streamlining NFL games. It is expected that Twitter leadership may aim to rethink about the operations of the platform.
There are a lot of possible changes Twitter may include: Selling off the company to private sellers, altering the platform to inculcate some kind of subscription element or revamp Twitter advertising options. These are all that have fallen behind some other platforms.
-
Facebook Spaces going Mainstream
Facebook is not only interested in video streaming. They have been also working on a project known as Spaces which is designed to permit friends to connect in VR. Given that Facebook possess Oculus, a software company and virtual reality hardware, it is no surprise that social media giant is developing a platform so as to make use of this wonderful technology.
Facebook is poised to scale its spaces in the year 2018. When they do, it is expected that it will be the first successful VR social media product at scale.
Wrapping Up
There are a lot of new social media trends that may leave an impact on its brands and users. It is expected that video streaming and virtual reality both will go mainstream. In addition to this, brands may turn out to newer social platforms like Snapchat and Instagram as Gen Zers spend their plenty of time there.
With the proclamation of new iPhones, augmented reality has a scope to become an integral part of the social media. If we go a few years back this was out of imagination. In the end, Facebook and Twitter will likely adjust their policies to safeguard their brands from political criticism and offer its users better online experiences.