Social media in 2018: our top 3 predictions and tips
Social media is changing at lightning speed. In 2017 digital marketers have seen many changes, innovations and even the involvement of politics in social media. These developments have really shaped how we use social media today, both as consumers and advertisers.
Here we take a look at what formats and approaches will continue to dominate the social media marketing game in 2018. We share our top 3 social media predictions for 2018 and explore how advertisers should seek to capitalise on the user experience.
Video will play a bigger role in the consumer journey
2017 saw the rise of video content. Particularly with its importance in social algorithms, this format is especially valuable to brands to achieve higher reach and engagement, including retweets, likes, comments and shares. In 2017, 90% of all social media content shared has been video!
In 2018, the popularity of video content is expected to grow, and advertisers are likely to follow this trend. Video is the number one fastest growing format in the world and has been doubling year on year.
It is predicted that by 2020, video will contribute to 80% of all online consumer internet traffic. At Social Media Week London, Facebook’s Creative Strategist, Kat Hahn said ‘not doing short video is not an option’.
Indeed, with the cramped market and every advertiser struggling to capture the audience’s attention, the first 3 seconds of video are the most crucial. We predict that in 2018, brands will strive to create engaging and fast-paced video content for audiences, and it is likely that the quality of video content will improve at a rate greater than other forms of social media.
MIGHTY Tip:
Brands and digital marketers should take advantage of trending formats such as Facebook Live and Instagram Stories. Backpack manufacturer GORUCK used Facebook Live to significantly grow its reach by broadcasting a 48-hour endurance race, which thousands of followers tuned in to watch.
Brands also should not overlook the growing popularity of Instagram Stories. Instagram stories, which is only one year old (!) is used by over 200 million people each month – more than 50 million more users than Snapchat, the original pioneer of the social media story format.
2018 will see Instagram stories growing even stronger and continuing to dominate its competitors.
Segmented personalisation will continue to evolve and improve
One of the changes and improvements to social channels that we look forward to the most, is specific to ad creation, generation and importantly, analysis. In 2018, the most popular social channels are likely to evolve and improve in terms of their analytic tools and business-specific features.
Brands should use these advancements to continue to develop personalisation techniques and targeting abilities. Social media users respond best to and are more likely to share, comment and react to personalised, customised content. Nearly three out of four of us get frustrated when content isn’t relevant to our interests.
Having a strong understanding of your audience can help with personalisation by segmenting the total audience into smaller groups or segments based on user personas. Personas can be informed by data including buyers age, location, gender, education level, interests, online behaviour and many more.
84% of millennials do not trust traditional advertising, and as they get older and have increased buying power, advertisers should look to incorporate a more soft-selling and personalised approach versus the older, traditional selling point of view.
MIGHTY Tip:
Avoid generic content without specific targeting that doesn’t offer anything unique to your audiences. Think clearly about what your different audience personas and segmented groups want, and use that to guide the message and creative of your content.
Mobile targeting will become more sophisticated due to AI tech
Almost all social media is now accessed via mobile. Facebook still optimises its desktop experience, but it is in decline, and is likely to continue to decline in 2018.
Given the growing popularity of mobile apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, it is likely that we are moving towards an entirely mobile social media experience across the board.
Contently predicts that by 2020, 59% of U.S. users will access Facebook exclusively through mobile. This number might not sound that big, but consider that 80% of Facebook’s advertising revenue already comes from mobile ads only.
Therefore, in 2018 we are likely to see the big social channels making changes and updates to their mobile apps as well as targeting options at a rate faster than those for desktop. These changes are likely to be powered by AI technology and will continue to innovate the way we target consumers and become a part of their consumer journey.
MIGHTY Tip:
Brands should invest in optimising ads for mobile formats first. When using mobile apps, people’s attention spans are shorter, therefore mobile content needs to reflect this – we suggest video content (as it tends to perform better) with the key message delivered at the beginning.
By using ATOM, a new AI powered audience builder and segmentation technology, key messages can be automatically generated and optimised based on specifically segmented groups of a target audience.
2018 is likely to see a variety of changes and innovations to social media, that will shape the way we use it. We can’t wait to see how the social landscape develops and evolves next year!