Social media gets a bigger role in companies' online marketing strategy every year. It will also increase again in 2018. In this blog, we explain the 7 most important social media trends in 2018.
That a mobile revolution is taking place has long been known. Yet there are still plenty of organizations that do not take mobile into account in their marketing campaigns. A mega missed opportunity, considering that more than 80% of all time on social media is spent on mobile devices. And we look at our phones 150(!) times a day.
If you do not currently have powerful mobile marketing campaigns, put all your work on hold now and optimize your campaigns! Avoid wasting money unnecessarily.
In May 2018, a new European privacy law goes into effect: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR in English) legislation. The impact of this new legislation is currently underestimated by companies. It also still seems like a "far cry." You will have to be more critical with the data you own and collect from your target audience. Building a custom audience in Facebook will not be as easy as it is now. If you don't comply with this law, you can be fined heavily.
Read more about the new legislation here >>
Facebook once started as an interaction channel, but Facebook is increasingly evolving into an important media channel in marketing strategies. After all, you are no longer concerned with the interactions, such as likes, comments and shares. The reach, frequency, traffic and conversion contribution are now more important. Facebook itself also puts more emphasis on ad formats that provide reach and frequency, rather than engagement ads.
Social media was once created to build engagement and create fans and organic reach. Today, social media is used as a communication channel that must perform. With targeted targeting, visible results are achieved and, above all, reach is generated. If no results are achieved, it is decided that the channel does not fit into the marketing strategy. Social media are no longer child's play, but a mature marketing channel with an important role in the marketing funnel.
Today, we focus mainly on performance and analytics. Rightly so, but we should not lose sight of creativity. After all, this is just as important. In a world with an abundance of content, it is essential that you, as a brand, stand out on social media. So make sure you design your content creatively. And in doing so, focus on conversion.
Facebook has already indicated that it expects 70% of all its content on the platform to be video. Cisco even thinks that by 2019, 80% of global Internet traffic will be video. As an organization, you will slowly have to start working more with video as well. Video will contribute to achieving your goals. To fit in a bit already, you could start with an animated video about your company vision or product/service.
Social media networks are adopting more and more features from each other, making them more and more similar. The big players copy each other as soon as another has launched anything new. As a result, they remain large and almost identical to each other in terms of positioning. New players thus have virtually no chance, because their new functionalities will also be copied by the larger players if they are successful. Without the platform having built any brand awareness at all.
Given that social media is taking on a larger role in the marketing funnel, it is likely that companies will allocate more budget to social media. Especially now that the channels' results have become more tangible because of the focus on results such as reach, frequency and conversion. Thus, organizations feel they have more control over social media. When social media delivers more, more budget will be released.
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