By Bhupendra Singh
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are working hard to engage more and more people. They have been rolling out new features like live streaming, blocking fake news and promoting them heavily.
The question arises here is why?
This is because it is a sure short way to strengthen their hold on social media around the world. Additionally, to generate more and more revenue through sales social media plays an important role.
We have seen some enormous changes in the social media trends over the past few years. Here are the key social media trends to watch out for in 2017.
1. Live Streaming Videos
Live streaming video is the latest fad on social media. Most of the established social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have their own apps for live streaming. Whereas, there are many other third party apps that are giving strong competition.
Live streaming is the new and the easiest way to engage customers and build a brand with little or no cost. This is not only useful for big companies but also important for small businesses as well. In addition to this, Facebook has announced to expand its live streaming with 360-degree video. This will add more feature to its streaming platform.
Popular live streaming apps:
- Facebook Live: Facebook lets you share live video with friends and followers on Facebook in real time. Price: Free
- Periscope: Twitter’s live streaming app is similar to Facebook’s that let you connect in real time with followers. Price: Free
- YouTube: How can we forget YouTube the birthplace of videos? It is easy and a great way to shoot and post the videos.
2. Fake News
Fake news was one of the biggest challenges for social media in 2016. Facebook is testing a technology which can take care of the fake news. Recently, they have announced that they will weed out some stories. Readers will be able to inform Facebook about the possible fake news stories, which will then be verified by the fact-checking organizations. Facebook is working with AP, Politifact, ABC News, FactCheck.org and Snopes to launch this huge initiative.
3. Customer Reviews and Ratings
Reviews are important to establish a brand identity and people love to read them before making decisions. Currently, people share their dining, purchasing and product experience via rating and reviewing them.
Reviews and ratings are the new forms of communication and marketing. From increasing sales to generating revenue, review plays an important role in businesses.
Why are they important:
- Brands can understand their customers to serve them better.
- Helps in increasing sales.
- Most importantly helps in improving website ranking.
- Create consumer loyalty and breeds more reviews.
4. Real-Time Engagement
Another trend that will change the face of social media is the capability to run efficient client support programs. This will be going to rise in the bots and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. It is redefining the way brands communicate with their consumers. Additionally, chatbots are very effective to automate tasks and assisting consumers.
5. Mobile Optimization
Traffic coming from mobile has overtaken desktop on the web in the recent past. This is due to the proliferation in the smartphone industry. According to the research, mobile devices are driving around 56 percent of traffic to top sites. Additionally, it gives your business a competitive advantage over your competition.
Social media is all about engaging and retaining customers and to do so various platforms keep on updating their interface. Also, they add new features to attract more and more people.
