The social media landscape is constantly changing and we are sure to see it go through a number of changes over the next year. To help keep you in-the-know, here are some of our predictions and insights into 2016 social media trends.
Real-Time Video
Twitter’s Periscope, a live video streaming app, launched in March of 2015. Since that time, it has grown immensely and changed the way we interact with video. In the beginning, Periscope was rivaled by a very similar app, Meerkat. However, it seems that Periscope has won the battle of the live video streaming apps with 2 million daily active users as of August 2015 (Mobile World Live).
On January 12, 2016 videos from Twitter’s Periscope app began appearing in users’ feeds, “right within the social network’s main app on iPhones and iPads” (The Guardian). If you are looking for a fun, new way to engage with followers in 2016, give Periscope a try!
Increased Paid Advertising
The top social media sites are furiously rolling out new advertising capabilities, causing advertisers to increase their budgets. From the introduction of Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr advertising to new Twitter ad features, there is ample opportunity to increase your social media ROI in 2016.
According to Marketing Land, Twitter will continue rolling out the new Promoted Moments native ad product, event targeting, advanced retargeting and more in 2016.
Greater Focus on Customer Services
Many companies are placing a greater emphasis on social customer service in the New Year. It is no longer acceptable to use social sites to 'talk at' your users. Now we must engage with our users to keep them happy. Many customers take directly to social media to voice a complaint. Are you prepared to engage?
New Image Size Guidelines
One thing we can count on to constantly change is the image sizing guidelines for the various social sites. Knowing and following the recommended dimensions for each site is vital to maintaining your professional look. Review this 2016 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet from Search Engine Journal and save it to your desktop for reference!
If you need assistance with tackling social media in 2016, please contact Informatics’ social media management team. We would be happy to help!
