The New Year rang in with some promising resolutions, revolutionary changes across the globe and predictions. Talking about predictions, this year also there are some things and events buzzing around that what will rule the Social Media.
“Love me or hate me, but you cannot ignore me” goes perfectly with Social Media. The ever-shifting landscape and dynamics of Social Media has taken the world into a whirlwind and every day has become like an adventure with the discovery of a new trend or update. And brands are trying to make the most of this ever-booming social network to reach out to the target audience and build a relationship of trust and loyalty. The social space has also given brands leverage to let people know about their brand, services, and products in a more understanding and acknowledging way.
And as we hop on from 2016 into 2017 and look back there is a long way that we have come with so many innovative and new updates on every social channel. 2016 was a big year for Social Media with live videos, stories and apps that has transformed the way brands communicate and express their perspective and moving forward there is a lot expecting from the year 2017.
Let’s have a look at the 2017 prediction for Social Media and Social Media Marketing.
Videos – Videos were a big hit last year and the trend seems to be continuing this year too. Not only that, Videos are touted as the future of the network, with more emphasis to be put on the updates that will be added for uploading and sharing videos over the next 12 months. “Facebook sees that the next generation of users are gravitating towards the ‘camera-first’ style of interaction and they want to appeal to those users to keep them on Facebook”, reveals a study. And the video trend is likely to become increasingly common on Facebook, advancing the platform’s shift towards becoming mostly video in the upcoming years.
Live Streaming – The social media fanatics and brands went berserk with the launch of Facebook Live and it has seen major growth in the past year. “According to Facebook, number of people broadcasting via Live Facebook has increased and they are also drawing significantly more engagement than other types of posts on the network”. The feature also draw a larger audience; both in terms of viewers and creators. With Live – Streaming the function of the moment, Instagram is also to be following the footsteps of going live.
Virtual Reality – While there is nothing specific to be announced about this feature as of now, but it is expected that Facebook can come up with more tools to enhance the use of 360 feature bandwagon. The biggest change expected is the arrival of 360 movie that will make the 360/VR feature more prominent among the users. This update will also give users more ways to create their own 360 content.
Facebook Search – Last year also saw an upsurge on the ‘Facebook Search’ option. With more than 2 billion on platform searches every day, it is also expected that the platform will work actively to boost this trend. This means that this growth not only boost engagement on the platform, but also keeps the users away from Google. So, some new updates can be expected on this front by the channel.
Messenger Business – Last year with Messenger Bots; Facebook tried to build a new platform for direct communication with brands. In 2017, Facebook is likely to continue with messenger Bots for more use from Business perspective and a special emphasis on why people would want to connect in this way.
Reactions – Every action has a reaction and abiding by this statement, Facebook came up with some funny and cool reactions. Back in February, when they were introduced the main objective was to offer more ways to express. And it will be interesting to see what new will come in this feature.
Stories – Stories also made it big in the Social world. With Instagram and Snapchat both offering stories option and in 2017 Instagram is expected to add improved visual features, new reactive filters to enhance stories and make it a more viable option.
So, the Social circle is expected to be full of new developments and innovations in the New Year. So, let’s make pace for a social storm and get set to experience its power.
