With more advancements than you can shake a selfie stick at, here’s our predictions on which trends will make the difference to your business in 2016.
With 2016 the year Pinterest and Instagram finally launch their ‘buy’ buttons to UK businesses, one-click social purchasing will firmly move into the spotlight of your paid strategy.
Until now, if a social media user has seen a product they’re interested in, they have to leave the platform, sign up for a new account and input payment details. Each step increases exit rates and diminishes ROI. Buy buttons, however, make everything a whole lot easier. The benefits? In-depth customer profiling, delivering the ad at the right time, and re-positioning of social media as much more than just a brand awareness tool.
Social Intelligence
The importance of social media listening, monitoring and analysis has often been overlooked by businesses. As we thunder towards pay-to-play it’s becoming more and more critical for businesses to tap into social intelligence to inform strategies. Setting up social advertising and just ‘hoping it works’ will ultimately end in lost opportunities and spend. Plus, as we face the ever-increasing saturation of content in feeds, how will you make sure your content is not only delivered to eyeballs at the right time, but is also compelling enough to resonate?
Video
Whether it’s Periscope, Facebook Live, Blab, Instagram or YouTube, 2016 will be the year of video. In particular, live video becomes the focus of social media strategies.
With platforms placing a greater emphasis on video marketing as a means to transcend newsfeed noise, new technology means businesses of any size can now harness the benefits. In particular, with the rise of Periscope, real time and instant interaction for low quality video is forgiveable.
If you’re in any doubt about capitalising on video, according to a report by Cisco, by 2019, video will account for 80% of global internet traffic.
An honourable mention: Instagram re-marketing.
Less of a trend and more of a tactic, 2016 will be the year Instagram re-marketing becomes a major tool in your brand’s paid-for strategy. With our US cousins already reporting a 580% increase in site visitors from Instagram advertising, its potential is simply undeniable.
