What's App for Social Media in 2018?

There were a number of changes in 2017, including new features, consumer preferences and brand opportunities. And it looks like it won’t be any different in 2018. Let’s begin with the first trend.

Increased Engagement Rates 

The connection between customers and brands gets closer and closer. One in three will mention a brand while sharing a personal accomplishment on social media, Weight Watchers, being a good example. In addition to sharing, they enjoy a response from the brand about their accomplishment. In fact, 41 percent of Millennials include a brand on a milestone, so they can say “thanks.” Brands are no longer looking at social as a platform. It’s become a way to establish lasting relationships. Instagram’s latest figures reveal that 80 percent of its users follow the brand on a network

Surprise! Customizable Chatbots

What if your company receives hundreds or thousands of customer service questions? The answer? Chatbots. Social Media trends in 2018 point to continued growth. Facebook’s Messenger has more than 100,000 in use to collect information, provide product guidance, and take orders. However, not all chatbots are created equally. In the future, brands will rely on customization to address specific questions This feature gives them the ability to create, preview, and deploy chatbots to their social accounts.

What’s Next? Social Listening Tools

Social listening is the practice of tracking the conversations that develop from specific phrases, words or brands. The idea is to leverage those words or phrases, giving you the opportunity to create specific content that reaches a specific audience. From there, a brand can analyze the actions of its audience. Brands can also track overall brand health, introduce more effective marketing, and improve their customer’s experience. Social listening tools will have a big and important impact on brands in 2018.

Finally...More Augmented-Reality & Face Filters

AI lenses or face filters were popular last year, and they’ll be even more popular in 2018. Instagram’s push toward Stories is the catalyst. The most popular face filter? Dog ears. That’s no surprise. Snapchat’s is the dog filter as well. The feature that differentiates them is advertising capability. Snapchat allows advertisers to use custom built filters. However, the price tag can be very expensive. Instagram might be next to offer brands custom built face filters. That said, given the iPhone X, social media networks are more likely to take advantage of the trend. 

To stay on top of the latest trends and developments in advertising and marketing, be sure to visit our Website and blog often. Also look for our monthly newsletter. 2018 should be an interesting and trend setting year when it comes to the social landscape. We wish you every success!

(This article is excerpted in part from sproutsocial’s blog, February 6, 2018)