Constant Contact asked experts for their top 33 social media tips for 2017 - almost all start with 'v'

1. 33 Expert Tips on the Social Media Trends
20172017You Should Watch Out for in

2. In the world of social media,
trends come and go.

3. Busy small business owners
and marketers wonder where
they should focus their attention.

4. To help you out, we contacted
33 marketing experts to find out:

5. “What is the one social media
trend small businesses and
marketers should watch out for in
2017?”

6. You’ll see some trends have a
lot of people talking.

7. We hope this advice helps you
cut through the clutter!

8. Chris Del Grande
@ValuedMerchants
Founder of Valued Merchants
“Live video: The most personal and
human way to share your story and
engage with your audience in
real time.”
1

9. Natalie Gouche
@nataliegouche
Founder of LA Social Media Trainer &
Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert
“Take advantage of free livestreaming
services. Don't be afraid to try this
effective marketing tool that takes
virtually no effort.”
2

10. Jeannine O'Neil
@Jeannine_Oneil
Owner of JO Social Branding & Constant
Contact Authorized Local Expert
“The 3 Vs - Visuals, (Live) Videos, and Vemes:
Businesses and organizations will strive to stay
top-of-mind in the social media news feeds in
2017. They’ll be posting more vibrant visuals,
video or live video, or vemes (video memes) to
connect with their audience.”
3

11. Michael Stelzner
@Mike_Stelzner
Founder of Social Media Examiner
& Social Media Marketing World
"A growing trend is the use of short form videos to
convey stories. Now that Instagram and Snapchat
record 10 to 15 second video clips and sew them into
stories, it will be more important for marketers to
understand how to create short and
compelling videos.”
4

12. Azure Collier
@azurecollier
“Content that's ‘in-the-moment.’ Facebook Live,
livestreaming platforms, Snapchat, and
Instagram Stories are popular because it's about
spontaneous and not polished content. People
are engaged because they want to see what
happens next.”
Social Media Marketing & Community
Manager at Constant Contact
5

13. Ann Handley
@MarketingProfs
Head of Content at MarketingProfs
“Do less and do more. Do less of things that feel
like you ‘should’ do them, but your heart (or your
audience) isn't in it. And double-down on the
things that connect to your strategy, tell your
bigger story, and grow your audience.”
6

14. Anita Campbell
@SmallBizTrends
Founder of Small Biz Trends
“Facebook Live events will rock! Find an app,
such as the BlueJeans OnSocial app, that
allows you to broadcast several participants at
once, and upload slides. It can be the 2017
version of a webinar with this twist: you tap into
the billion+ Facebook audience.”
7

15. Matt Montoya
@MatthewMontoya_
National Product Trainer,
Constant Contact
“Facebook Live video has exploded in popularity
and 2017 will be the year it completely moves
into the mainstream consciousness. It’s easy to
adopt and can be a very impactful tool to
promote, educate, and engage.”
8

16. Bryan Caplan
@bjcbranding
CEO of BJC Branding &
Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert
“We’re going to see a lot more video marketing
in 2017. Third-party apps will help small
business owners to create fun, engaging, and
almost-professional video content through the
use of augmented reality and special filters.”
9

17. Charlotte Walsh
@charlesriverrun
Owner and Operator,
Charles River Running
“Give more than you take. Push out content that
benefits your audience at a higher volume than
your asks. For every call to action send out 3
helpful blog posts, articles, or infographics.”
10

18. Jenn Herman
@jenns_trends
“We'll see a lot more in-app integration for social
media in 2017. We're already seeing Facebook and
Instagram find ways to keep people more engaged
within the social media app, rather than leaving
to visit an external website.”
Founder of jennstrends.com, Social Media
and Instagram Consultant and Trainer
11

19. Anna Bennett
@ACadizBennett
Founder of White Glove Social Media,
Pinterest Expert
“The trend for businesses on Pinterest in 2017 is to
make sure they create content (including short
step-by-step, to-the-point helpful videos) for their
audience designed to help them improve some
part of their lives. Strong visuals with helpful
information is the key.”
12

20. Miranda Paquet
@mirandapaquet
Content Manager,
Constant Contact
“2017 will be about focus. It's time to give up
the mindset that you have to be everywhere.
Instead, focus on the one or two channels
your audience is most active on.”
13

21. Joe Waters
@joewaters
Founder of Selfish Giving &
Co-Host of CauseTalk Radio
“In 2017, every company or nonprofit will need to
be serious about paying for access to social
media. That means restricting the reach of your
posts, updates and tweets unless you pay for ads
to reach your audience. For play, you must pay!”
14

22. Diana Adams
@adamsconsulting
Tech Journalist,
PostPlanner Brand Ambassador
“In 2017, virtual reality will be a powerful social
media and content marketing trend. Virtual
reality can be an effective and cutting-edge way
to differentiate your business from your
competitors. It brings people together unlike
anything we’ve experienced before.”
15

23. Neal Schaffer
@NealSchaffer
Founder of Maximize Social
Business
“It's 2017, so let's wake up to the fact that the days
of organic social media success are long gone.
However, with smart investment and proper
optimization of social ads, smart small businesses
will finally see the ROI that they have been
seeking.”
16

24. Rustin Nethercott
@rnetherc
“In 2017, there will be no more ‘shooting from
the hip.’ If you aren‘t constantly measuring the
real impact your social media channels are
having on your business, you’ll be quickly left
behind.”
Content Developer
at Constant Contact
17

25. Kim Garst
@KimGarst
CEO of Boom! Social
“Live video is going to skyrocket in 2017. Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram have all
integrated live video functionality. I think the live
video options will evolve and it will become easier
for businesses to use the medium to tell better
stories and build deeper connections with their
communities.”
18

26. Alisa Meredith
@alisammeredith
Content Marketing Strategist
& Pinterest Expert
“Live video needs to have a place in your
marketing plan for 2017. There is nothing like it for
connecting with your audience, building trust, and
giving you the edge you deserve because of who
you are and what you have to offer.”
19

27. Julia C. Campbell
@JuliaCSocial
Founder of J Campbell Social Marketing &
Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert
“Live video should be part of your marketing
strategy in 2017. It grabs people's attention and
gets up to 10 times the amount of views of regular
video. Create a live video plan, experiment, don't
be afraid to make mistakes, and think about what
would be interesting and relevant to your
audience.”
20

28. John Haydon
@JohnHaydon
Nonprofit Marketing Expert,
Founder of Inbound Zombie
“Live video! More and more businesses and
nonprofits will continue to create more
intimate customer experiences by
broadcasting reveals, events, and product
demos with Facebook Live and Periscope.”
21

29. Dorien Morin-van Dam
@MoreInMedia
Founder of More in Media
“Now that everyone can be a broadcaster using
Facebook Live or other livestreaming apps, it is
important for small businesses and marketers to
use measurable strategic tactics when creating
scripts and videos.”
22

30. Bria Sullivan
@msbriasullivan
“Pay attention to the growing popularity of
expiring content. It creates an urgency to see
what's happening right away. It's not just for
young Snapchat users anymore, as Instagram
is the latest to embrace this growing trend.”
Content Developer at
Constant Contact
23

31. Rebekah Radice
@RebekahRadice
Chief Marketing Officer
of Post Planner
“I predict that 2017 will be a return to
true community building. It's no longer
enough to go wide in social media. Now
is the time to go deep and invest in your
online community.”
24

32. Rich Brooks
@therichbrooks
President of Flyte New Media
“Small businesses and entrepreneurs will need
to budget for social ads in 2017 just to be seen.
That makes driving traffic to an opt-in page on
your website to build your email list even more
important than ever before.”
25

33. Andrea Vahl
@andreavahl
Marketing Consultant, Co-author of Facebook
Marketing All-in-One for Dummies,
Co-Founder of Social Media Manager School
“Social media advertising is going to
become more personalized as we are able to
get more specific with retargeting, using
customer lists, and very specific interests.”
26

34. Jonathan Medows
@CPAFreelancers
CPA and Founder of
CPA for Freelancers
“Social media is evolving from just a place
where companies post information to a place
where they actually engage, educate, and
serve their customers. The way that businesses
approach their social media strategy needs to
address this shift.”
27

35. Mike Gingerich
@Mike_Gingerich
Co-Founder of Tabsite
“The further rise of Instagram as a social
media force for SMBs is a trend to watch in 2017.
With a huge list of new features rolled out in
2016, along with integration into Facebook’s ads
network and Messenger, Instagram is poised to
both see increased user growth and
time spent on the service, as well as
business use.”
28

36. Donna Moritz
@SociallySorted
“A trend that's growing yearly is a content
‘overload,’ resulting in more algorithms, and
making it harder for businesses to get content seen.
Rather than jumping in to create more content for
the sake of it, instead create ‘core’ content on key
platforms that helps your audience solve a problem.”
Founder of Socially Sorted
29

37. Robert Caruso
@Fondalo
Founder of
fondalo.com
“In order to break through the growing noise,
a massive increase in both the quantity and
quality of brand content is going to be
required for the same results of the past.”
30

38. Kim Vij
@educatorsspin
Co-Founder of The Educators' Spin on It,
Pinterest Coach, Co-Host of #PinChat
“Pinterest is going to become more actively used
as users engage with the new ‘Tried It’ feature and
new inviting board layouts. Discover now how to
make your pins stand out first in the search bar
with focused pin descriptions, boards, and images
for Pinterest's visual search engine.”
31

39. Peg Fitzpatrick
@PegFitzpatrick
Founder of pegfitzpatrick.com,
Author of The Art of Social Media
“Video looks to be the big trend going forward for
2017. Live video on Facebook Live, Instagram Live
(coming soon to everyone), and Twitter’s Periscope are
big. Disappearing, exclusive content like Instagram
stories and Snapchat are proving to be engaging. Focus
on ways that you can tell your story with video to grow
your brand and connect with your audience.”
32

40. Dave Charest
@davecharest
Senior Manager, Content and
Social Media Marketing, Constant Contact
“In 2017, small business marketers will get serious
about going beyond vanity metrics and digging
into the business impact of their actions. This will
help them make smarter decisions about where to
spend their time and money.”
33

41. Stay on top of all the latest
marketing trends!
Sign up for our Hints & Tips
newsletter:
blogs.constantcontact.com/subscribe-to-hints-and-tips/
www.prowlcommunications.com 905-734-8273
Try Constant Contact for 60 days free