How to Make the Top Social Media Trends Work for You

Around the world, there are over two billion active social media users, and that number is steadily growing at a rate of 25% per year. For businesses, this provides a whole new way of interacting with clients and customers, and it’s important to both know what’s trending and know how to make it work for you. Here are five social media trends that are taking over 2016, and how to leverage it for your business.

 

1. Teenagers are Leaving Facebook

Starting at the end of 2013, teenagers have started leaving Facebook.  While their accounts remain active, they will no longer use it as their primary social network. Instead, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are more preferred by this age group. You can use this knowledge to your advantage if that is your target audience. Instead of wasting time and money on a platform teenagers aren’t active on, you can move to where they are and make better use of your marketing budget.

 

2. Social Media as a Marketplace

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, and Youtube have all introduced a “buy button” to turn browsing into purchasing. Take advantage of these new sales channels, and encourage positive product reviews on social media, since your audiences’ friends can buy directly from those reviews. Be sure you are on and active on the social channels that your audience spends time on, and invest time to learn how you can monetize and optimize those channels.

 

3. A Platform for Customer Service

Consumers tend to use social media to complain about brands. In fact, they did so 879 million times in 2014. However, brands aren’t responding back quickly enough. Consumers expect a response quickly, even within the hour in some instances. By keeping a real-time presence on social media to respond to concerns and complaints, you can ensure your competitors don’t swoop in on your unhappy customers.

 

4. Live-Streaming Video

Thanks to apps like Periscope and Facebook’s new live video feature, your consumers can have fast access to real-time events. Live-streaming videos gives your customers a view of a more authentic side of your business and helps develop a relationship and trust with them. Use these platforms to do Q&A sessions, talk about some of your favorite products or strategies, or otherwise provide extra information your audience might want to hear from you.

 

5. Mobile is Primary

Mobile devices have become the primary screen for most social media viewers, and an estimated two billion consumers are expected to have smartphones this year. Utilizing mobile will give you an edge in reaching Millennials, a majority of whom admitted to never being without their smartphones. Be sure your site is optimized for mobile and doesn’t contain features that take it too long to load.

 

Social media is a constantly changing entity, and by staying up-to-date with the trends, you can get a jump on your competition with your marketing efforts.