It is no secret that social media is a rapidly changing field—with new social platforms popping up left and right (in fact, social app Peach became the hottest thing in social media on Wednesday January 13th and was then proclaimed dead the following Monday—talk about short lived). With more than 2 billion active social media users worldwide, it’s now more important than ever to stay on top of social trends to keep your brand relevant. Here are 5 trends we think are changing the social media landscape for good… or at least for now.

1. The mobile takeover There’s no arguing the importance of mobile marketing… According to a comScore study, mobile usage surpassed desktop back in August 2014. But did you know that mobile’s prominence will only continue to rise? People are already so attached to their social networks that they check their accounts 17 times a day—that’s at least once every waking hour. If you’re not doing so already, make sure mobile becomes a key focus for you and your brand in 2016.

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2. Right here, right now
It’s not new that consumers are all about “right here, right now” but it is why we’re seeing a rise in social media platforms focused on instant sharing (Instagram, Snapchat, just to name a few).  According to Search Engine Watch, 70% of users on Twitter expect to receive a response from companies they tweet to and a startling 53% of those users want a response in less than an hour. As a company this can be a daunting thought but don’t worry, with the help of new social listening and automation tools, marketers are now able to craft more customized responses, faster.

3. Social shoppers
2016 marks the year for more seamless integration between social platforms and e-commerce. In 2014, total social commerce sales that could be traced back to social networks hit $3.3 billion, up 26% from the previous year. To capture this opportunity, social channels have already incorporated e-commerce features, such as Pinterest’s “Buyable Pins”, Instagram’s “Shop Now”, and Twitter’s “Buy” button. But it isn’t enough just to utilize these features, social media content is also very important in influencing your shoppers—as you can see in the Invesp infographic below, 78% of survey respondents said that a companies’ posts do impact their purchases. In other words, it pays to be mindful of what you are posting and how it influences your shoppers.

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4. Live videos take the spotlightThanks to apps like Periscope, Snapchat and Meerkat, users can now instantly connect in real time with live video sharing—and they’re loving it. 6 billion Snapchat video views every day and Periscope already has 100 million broadcasts in just shy of a year. Adult users are consuming an average 1 hour 16 minutes of online video every day and that number is only continuing to rise. How do you plan to leverage videos?

5. SEO + SMO (Social Media Optimization)
Last but not least, let’s talk about SEO. Even though social media doesn’t directly influence your search ranking, social signals can’t be ignored either. In order to get the most SEO value from your social media, you’ll want to take into account the following:

  • You’ve heard it, we aren’t the first to say it but it remains true: Content is king. Simply being present on social doesn’t increase your SEO rank. Focus on generating great content and that will drive activity and engagement. This will lead to increased visibility and links, which in turn will lead to increased rank.
  • Your organic audience will have a measurable impact on your ranking so focus on building your audience organically, not just spending the money to buy them.
  • Google has deals in place with Twitter and Facebook where content from those platforms will start to show up more frequently in mobile search results. More platforms are being indexed as we move through 2016 so be sure to keep that top of mind.

So there you have it, 5 trends in social media marketing… for now. As time goes on, these too will evolve, or become common place and drop off all together. 15 years ago Facebook didn’t exist. What can you imagine in the next 15 years?

For more on social media, check out our blog Turning Organic Social Media into Actionable Insights and for more information about KHJ, please contact our CMO Cindy Hale at chale@khj.com or 617-241-8000.