Social media trends will continue to evolve and surprise us. Here are some trends marketers should keep an eye on in 2017.

1. Rampupyoursocialmediamarketingstrategyaswepresenttoyou
someofthetrendsthatwearvelikelytowitnessin2017andbeyond
THETOP8
SOCIALMEDIA
TRENDSTO
WATCHOUT
FORIN2017

2. SOCIALMEDIAHASHADANENORMOUSIMPACTINTODAY'S
DIGITALMARKETINGLANDSCAPE.
Withthesefigures,itissafetosaythatsocialmediaindeedisoneodthemost
indispensabletoolsinmarketingproductsandservicesintoday'scompetitivemarket.
Thepopularityofsocialmediaamongmarketersisexpectedtoboostup,in2017
makingothersalesmethodstobeobsoleteorinappropriateintoday'sdigital
environment.
Inreturn,83%ofallmarketershavealreadytakenadvantageof
socialmediamarketingtoincreasetheirsalesandboosttheir
brandidentity.
In2016,thesocialmediaspherehascontinuedtorise
2.3billion
activeusers
andmorethan
1.9billionactivesocial
mediausers

3. 1.LIVESTREAMINGVIDEO
VideosharingsiteYouTubeisstillthetop
contendertodayintermsofthe number
ofvideocontentbeinguploadedand
viewedeveryday-with48%ofarketers
planningtoaddYouTubetotheircontent
But12yearsafteritwasfounded,and
withtheintroductionofsmartphones,
almostallthepeoplearenowabletouse
theirdevicetocaptureliveeventsand
sharethemtotheirsocialmediafollow-
ingsreal-time.
arethreeofthelivestreamingservicesthatsocialmedianetworksoffer toitsuserfreeof
charge,givingbusinessesgreatopportunitytopresenttheirproductsandservicestotheir
followingsinamoretransparent,creative,andtimelymanner.
Instagram's
Stories
Facebook
"Live"
Twitter's
Periscope

4. 2.RISEOFCHATBOTS
Oneofthebestexamplesgainingattention
nowadaysarethechatbotsthatareem-
beddedwithinFacebookMessenger.
Thoughpeoplethinkthatchatbots
weremadetoaddentertainmentvalue
inchatservices,Facebookandother
socialmedianetworksarealready
usingthesetoautomatetasksand
assistindataretrievingprocess.
Theycanalsobeusedtoimprovethe
customerexperiencebyresponding
tovariousqueriesbytheuser.
MarkZuckerberghavealreadyannounced
thatthirdpartiescouldusetheMessenger
tocreatetheirownpersonalchatbot.
Andin2017,wearelikelytowitnessbusinessestotakeadvantageofthistoestablisha
strongrelationshipwiththeircustomersandfollowingsonline.

5. 3.LOWMORTALITYCONTENT
Snapchat,whichcurrentlyhave150milliondailyactiveuserscanbe
saidtobetheonewhopopularizedtheconceptofshort-livedcon-
tentintheweb-thosevideosorimagesthatdisappeatedafterthe
visitorhasviewedthem.
ThiswasfurtherextendedwhenSnapchatrolledtheupdatetotheirplatformcalled"Sto-
ries"whichextendsthelifeofthecontentfor24hours.
Andjustrecently,Facebook-ownedmobilephoto-sharingandsocialnetworkingsiteIn-
stagram,whichhitthe500millionmonthlyusersmarkthisyear,haveadoptedthis
featureofSnapchatandcalleditInstagramStories.
Judgingfromthisfact,wecansaythatthereisatightcompetitionbetweenthetwoplat-
formsandwearelikelytoseetheusageofbothinthedigitalmarketingcampaignsnext
yearandbeyond.

6. 4.MERGINGPLATFORMS
Thesepastfewyears,we'veseenalotof
consolidationbetweendifferentsocial
mediaplatforms.Facebookbought
Whatsap,InstagramandOculusRift.Twitter
acquiredPeriscope.
Andjustrecently,
techgiantMicrosfotpaid
$27billion
In2017,expecttoseemoreoftheseacquisitionsasmoretechandsocialstartups
struggletoenterthemainstream.
Formarketers,itiswisetowatchoutfortheseconsolidationsasitwillimmensely
affecttheperformanceofsocialmediachannelsyouhavechosentodistributeyour
content.
tobuytheprofessional-oriented
networkingsiteLinkedIn.

7. 5.RISEOFINORGANICTRAFFIC
Anothershiftthatsocialmediamarketersmayseecomingin
2017istheincreasingdifficultiesingainingorganictraffic
fromsocialmediasites.
Gettingnoticedinthedigitalspherewassosimpleway
backthen:GrowlikesonFacebookandfollowersonTwitter
bypostingupdatesonaregularbasis.
Butthattacticisalreadygettingobsolete.
Mostofthesocialmedianetworkshavechangedtheiralgo-
rithmsastheyalreadyremovedchronologicaltimelineup-
dates-makingyourbusinessalmostinvisibleunlessyouim-
plementtheirpaidads.
Thismeansthatmarketersmustnotonlyrelyonthepowerofsocialmediatodriveor-
ganictraffictotheirsitesbutratherpursuemultichannelstrategy-fromSEOtoEmail
marketing-tomaximizetheirdigitalmarketingcampaign.

8. 6.VIRTUALANDARGUMENTEDREALITY
PokemonGohasbeeneffectiveinintroducing
ARtothepublic,andseveralVRheadsetfirms
suchasFacebook(OculusRift),Sonyand
Alphabet(GoogleCardboard)generatedhype
enoughtocreateasolidmarketforthier
products.
Wehavewitnessedthesuccessthatvirtualreality(VR)andaugmentedreality
(AR)havereachedin2016.
In2017,we'relikelytoseeFacebookto
bethefrontrunnerofARapplicationin
thesocialmediasphereastheyareal-
readyexperimentingwithlensesand
masksinFacebookLive.
Thisfeaturewillallowtheuserstotryonavarietyofdifferentmaskswhilesharingalive
video-deliveringadifferentexperiencefortheirusersworldwide.

9. 7.MOREPERSONALISEDCONTENT
Mostofthemarketerstodayaretaking
advantageofFacebookre-targetingthat
allowsthemtocraftadvertsandcontent
drivenbyidentifyingwheretheaudience
havebeenontheweb,aswellastheirown
preferencesandinterests.
Asmoreandmorepeoplearebecominglessappreciativewithtraditionaladvertising,the
needforpersonalizedandrelevantcontentandadvertisingdeliverybecomesmore
important.
Becauserelevantcontenthelpsconsumerstorecallabarnd,italsopromptsthem
tointeractwiththecompanymorepersonally,andeventuallyconvertintoaloyal
customerofthebusiness.

10. 8.INCREASEDUSAGEOFSOCIAL
INFLUENCERS
Fromfashion,foodandtechindustry,we'veseenalotofbrandswhohaveactivated
influencerstoconstructcredibilityandtrusttotheiraudiencethisyear.
GoogleTrendshasshownasteadydeclineof
Interestinprintadvertisingoverthepasttwo
years(2014-2016),whileinfluencermarketing
continuestogainprominenceandisonrival
withvideoadvertising.
With47%ofonlineconsumers
usingAdblockers,itisonlyevi-
dentthattheoldtechniquesof
advertisingarenolongereffec-
tivetobreaktheonlinecontent
clutter.
Instead,marketersarenoweyeingtotap
thepowerofinfluencerstocreateau-
thenticcontentfortheirbrandtoacquire
newcustomersandestablishatrustto
theiraudience.
ofthemarketerstodayarelooking
forwardtousingatleastoneinfluencer
marketingcampaignwithinthenext
twelvemonths.
Infact,
84%
Asanevolvingplatform,keepingupwiththesechangescangiveyourbusinessa
competitiveedgeinthemarket,increasedbrandidentityandgreateonlinereputation.

11. Withallthesetrends,expecttoseealotofprogressanddevelopmentsthatwilltake
placeinthesocialmediasphereinthenextfewmonths.

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belimitless.media