Since the introduction of social media platforms years ago, trends have changed significantly. It used to be an outlet to share photographs and catch up with long-lost classmates of years gone by. Now, it’s the main avenue for businesses to capture an audience and gain leads to improve profits. Whether you are a company or just someone that’s looking to gain popularity in the viral world, you need to know what the latest trends are to stay on top of the game.
1. Live Streaming
People don’t want to sit and read articles like they once did. Everyone always seems to be so busy with their lives these days, and they don’t have the opportunity to sit and read a lengthy description of products or services. They do have time to watch a video though, and live streaming is something that is up and coming in social media trends. It was just introduced on Facebook not long ago, and users love it.
You can give potential customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business and what you have to offer them. They will feel more connected to you and personalization is essential in today’s market. With everything being done through the internet, people want to feel like individuals, and not just another person scrolling through their news feeds.
The beauty of your live streaming videos is the fact that people don’t have to catch you live. Your post will stay up on your pages so that users can look at it whenever they want or review it several times to gather the information they are seeking out.
2. Videos Are Everything
If you don’t want to deal with the live streaming feature just yet, you can always include pre-recorded videos on your social media profile to grab the attention of people browsing around. Researchers have stated that up to 90% of all content shared within the last year was in the form of a video, to give you a better representation of how important it is.
You can share all of the same details that you would see in a live stream video, but in one that’s a bit more rehearsed and staged if you haven’t quite reached the level of comfort with going live.
3. Auto Chatbots
Previously, a business would have to hire human individuals to take care of their customer service support. It was a person sitting behind a computer or on the other end of a phone waiting to answer questions that customers had. Now, Autobots are being implemented to save time and cut down on costs.
When a user puts in a specific set of keywords or a phrase, the chatbot can give an automated response that is directly related to what they have expressed interest in. While the system isn’t full-proof, with the number of chatbots being used jumping from 33,000 to 100,000 in just a year, it’s clear that people are benefiting from them. It’s saved specific industries millions of dollars since they started using them. Instead of paying a live person, they only have to make sure that their programs are running correctly so that customers are getting their questions answered in a timely fashion.
4. Micro Influencers
Micro influencers are being used to sell products since social media has exploded. They aren’t celebrities per say, but they are people that have a lot of people following them. That means, when a business wants to sell a product or service, they can offer it for free or a reduced price to these influencers. Then, the influencers will share their feedback and promote what they have been offered to their group of followers.
It’s an effective way to reach a vast audience without having to spend a lot of money or time. The people that are following these influencers are going to trust what they say. As a result, people are going to be more likely to buy the products that they are promoting. It’s a winning relationship for both the business and the micro influencer that’s getting a great deal on all kinds of products and services.
5. Blogging
While blogging is no longer at the top of the list when it comes to social media trends, it’s still imperative. Most people aren’t going to go through and read pages of content, they want to know that it’s there. It shows that you have authority and knowledge in the industry that you are promoting. You can keep your audience up-to-date on specials, new trends in your industry, and talk about your products. Just be sure that the content that you include in your blogs is of high quality.
Blogs can have videos added to them as well to keep your leads interested in the information that you are sharing. It gives them a great place to go for when they want to look up details on their own time. People will begin to trust you and turn to you as a valuable resource when you keep your blog current.