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The rise of social media; trends, predictions and the role of video marketing
In the era of digital transformation, social media is no longer the alternative place to promote your product and services, it’s the number one marketplace. Day by day social media penetrates into more and more people’s lives. From reading messages to sharing their opinions on any topic, e.g politics, social issues, checking the latest tweets, leaving comments and getting acquainted with products; over the recent years social media has become so entrenched.
So as you’ve probably understood, today's article is devoted to a very actual and important topic; the rise of social media. We’ve collected some interesting trends, predictions and useful tips related to social media and particularly the right usage of video content for getting the most out of the given opportunities.
The rise of social media. Trends and predictions to take into consideration
1. Ephemeral content
This type of content, available only for short durations (usually 24 hours like stories), will become quite popular. The reason is they are short, engaging and attractive. People can scroll through one after another for hours.
2. Social commerce will expand
For years, brands have been using Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to promote and sell their products and services. Social commerce is strengthening its positions through more and more social media platforms that introduce pro-selling features like shoppable posts. It has the fullest potential to become a new retail revenue for brands
3. Niche Social Platforms will perform better
For instance, as you may have noticed, especially among youth TikTok immediately gained popularity with its opportunities to make short, crazy and fun videos. On the other hand, B2B companies prefer LinkedIn for their social media initiatives.
4. Technology adoption will be on top
We’ll see a rise in the adoption of technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Facebook is already taking huge steps in this direction with the introduction of Horizon which is a kind of virtual world for people to connect, play games, and explore. This can have an enormous impact on the future of social media, bringing the social connection to a new level.
Today AR filters can be found on some major platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. For example, Sephora, a beauty brand, has long been using AR to give their customers a unique opportunity to see how their makeup looks on their face before buying.
5. Influencer marketing will continue to shine
Influencers, getting paid to promote brands, are becoming more and more trendy on social media. Actually, today investing in influencers is much cheaper than running paid ads. This refers also to the delivered results which are quite good. In the upcoming period, it’s predicted that more and more marketers will use influencer marketing strategy and will choose to work with multiple smaller influencers instead of one celebrity.
6. User-generated content will continue to be popular
The rise of social media is also highlighted by the user-generated content that is free and is considered much more natural and original than branded content. It can help you make your brand more trustworthy for the customers and can have a strongly positive impact on your image. Some brands, like Airbnb, fully trust user-generated materials when it comes to social media content.
7. The rise of social media communities
It’s not a new phenomenon, it will just become more popular, for example Facebook groups. Many companies use these platforms to gather their current and prospective customers in one place and engage with them keeping constant connection. In such groups, members can discuss various topics, share interesting materials and posts about their experiences, ask questions and seek solutions to their challenges.
These communities are great for brands also to launch new products, seek customer feedback and gain valuable customer insights.
8. More regulatory control and legal scrutiny
Regarding the protection of privacy on social media, it has been a hot topic so far. Social media platforms can be very easily used to gather information about anyone and misuse it. In this regard, there will be more policies in place to protect users’ private information.
The rise of social media in the era of videos
So after looking into the future and having a clear picture of what to expect at least in the upcoming years, let’s see what’s the role of videos and how to best handle them to have the desired results on social media. One thing is sure, whether it is short content popular on TikTok and IG Stories or long content on YouTube, videos are the future of social media. If you're new in video marketing, remember it’s not that important to have high-quality production but quality and useful content, so better to start your journey with features like Stories.
Let’s now explore the types of videos that have become quite popular on 5 major social media platforms.
Over the last few years, Facebook introduced 360-degree video and Facebook live, which makes it easier to interact with audiences in some fresh and exciting ways. For sure, this leads to better reach and engagement.
So to get started with video marketing on this social media platform, it’s important to take into consideration some important points and incorporate them into your strategy.
- Try to mostly use square and vertical videos.
- Facebook has changed algorithms and given a bigger commitment to longer videos
- 85 percent of videos are viewed with the sound off, so it’s likely to use key words and subtitles
- Upload videos directly to Facebook as native videos give you analytics and better visibility in the feed.
Instagram has higher engagement as compared to other platforms. Regarding the duration of the videos, Instagram had some limitations before, giving 1 minute for the posts and 15 seconds for the Stories. But now with the introduction of IG TV, this social media platform gives an opportunity to make videos up to 1-10 minutes, plus 30 sec for Reels.
- For IG posts it’s preferable to use square videos and vertical ones for Stories, IG TV and Reels
- Try to be short and reduce words. Don’t make people read too much. Instagram people like visuals.
- Try to keep it simple. Don’t get overly complicated, but keep the execution beautiful. Give highlights, not all the instructions.
- Maintain focus: Be single-minded in your focus on one idea for your video.
As you know, Twitter has some character limitations so anyway, you must be short. And in these terms, video content becomes an ideal method of communicating with audiences because what you want to tell them can’t be long.
- It’s preferable to use square or wide videos for Twitter posts
- Topical content; this makes your video 32 percent more likely to be viewed
- Showing people in the first 3 seconds; this increases emotional intensity and some connection between the viewers and the content.
- Adding words; videos accompanied with text are 11 percent more likely to be viewed
Videos on LinkedIn should be an important component of any marketing strategy as it’s currently the fastest growing format on this platform. Video content is an excellent way to maximize the potential audience engagement. The tips below will help you approach the videos on Linkedin with a different, fresh view.
Make your video description strong because headlines matter a lot. While the video is engaging, the description can help you prepare your audience for what they are about to watch.
Let’s sum up
Social media gives a vast scope of opportunities to brands for connecting with customers, educating them through useful content, shaping trust and perceptions and growing their businesses in lots of ways. And now more than ever it’s important not to miss this period of rise and set another turning point for your business growth. A powerful and trendy combination; social media marketing through video marketing will help you keep up with the fast-growing pace of competition between companies and strive for the top.
The second episode of the podcast Bobble Pod took place. It was conducted by the industry expert panelists Anush Mnatsakanyan from Burnwe, Manpreet Singh from Bobble Digital, Claire Daniels from Trio Media and our beloved colleague Keith Loveday from Loveday Media. Unfortunately, he suddenly passed away 3 days after the recording.
If you’re interested in the topic and want to dive deep, here is the vodcast of their discussion.
The rise of social media; how you’ll use this period for your business growth?
