5 Social Media Trends to Consider For Your 2018 Strategy

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

5 Social Media Trends to Consider For Your 2018 Strategy

Last year, there was no shortage of surprises, new features and time in the national spotlight when it came to social media’s influence in politics. Cough, Russia. In 2018, we can expect to see the social media relationship between brands and consumers continue to evolve and affect the way we connect and engage with one another. Here are 5 social media trends to consider for your strategy in 2018:

Shifting Demographics

Brands need to be mindful of shifting demographics and behaviors among Millennials and Gen Z. At least 40% of Millennials already have children, and that rate will continue to climb throughout 2018. These monumental milestones mean major lifestyle changes for Millennials and major sales category shifts and opportunities for brands. We break down how to communicate with Millennial parents here.

As for Gen Z, according to a recent Goldman Sachs study, the young, influential generation is predicted to be a driving force both organizationally and economically. In fact, the oldest Gen Zers are now 22 years old and are beginning to enter the workforce, which in turn will increase their purchase power. As true digital natives, Gen Zers heavily rely on connectedness and communication through platforms including SnapChat, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. While 47% of Gen Zers say they love SnapChat, don’t throw all your resources into one platform. Gen Zers, much like Millennials respectively, gravitate towards authenticity and relevancy and prefer communicating on other platforms such as Instagram or email. More on communicating with Gen Z here.

AR/VR Advances

As AR and VR technology continues to advance and become more accessible, brands may consider adopting the technology into their social media strategy and overall marketing plans. While only a mere 8-11% of marketing professionals are utilizing the technology, up to 26% of marketers say they would like to incorporate the technology into their marketing strategy over the next few years, according to Business Insider.

Regulations and Governance

After a series of controversial discoveries of Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election, both Facebook and Twitter have adopted new policies governing conduct on their platforms.

Just last month, Facebook announced that it intends to change the filter of the News Feed to emphasize more meaningful social interactions between friends and family—not publishers. As a result, users will see less public content, including news, video and posts from brands.

Additionally, Facebook will take a series of steps to bring Facebook ads to a higher level of transparency by allowing users to view ads a Page is running on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger — whether or not the person viewing is in the intended target audience for the ad, as well as increased requirements for authenticity from advertisers, particularly political advertisers.

Twitter announced it intends to launch an advertising transparency center that discloses information about all ads running on its platform. Additionally, it would ban Kremlin-funded, English-language media outlets RT and Sputnik from advertising on Twitter.

Chatbots

This year we can expect more brands to invest in chatbots, as well as AI and voice assistants. Chatbots will continue to enable brands to offer real-time assistance via messenger apps like WhatsApp, Messenger and Kik, in addition to providing a more personalized shopping experience on site. Gartner predicts that chatbots may handle 85% of all customer interactions by the year 2020.

Live Streaming

Considering Facebook’s recent News Feed announcement, brands will have to look to creative alternatives for organic page content such as live streaming. Good news for brands, according to Live Stream, 82% of audiences prefer live video to traditional, written posts. Additionally, users are likely to spend three times longer watching live video as opposed to pre-recorded. 

Trending from G/L: Facebook gets ready to launch Facebook TV

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Facebook gets ready to launch Facebook TV

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Facebook was back on track for releasing Facebook TV, rumored to release later this month. In other words, the company is about to take on user-generated video content giant, YouTube. Shocking? I think not. What is shocking is how long it’s taken a rival to take on the behemoth. Facebook’s rounded-up their fair share of social dynamite over the past few years, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Live and most recently, taking a page from SnapChat’s ever-engaging, ever-addicting, short-lived video/photo messaging content via Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories.

Image via Variety

So what can we expect from Facebook TV? Ridiculously targeted content and world domination. Not necessarily, but you can count on a mix of scripted and user-generated content, that thankfully (at least for now), will not be featured on your News Feed. Facebook’s impressive 2 billion users can catch fresh content on Facebook’s TV designated page. The company aims to create higher-end content compared to YouTube, but supposedly it’s not competing with video producers such as Netflix, HBO and Showtime…sure you aren’t Facebook, not this month.

Facebook’s newest endeavor comes on the heels of the company’s push toward longer-form entertainment and tackling an over-crowded News Feed filled with advertising, as well as incorporating ads into Facebook Messenger. Facebook is funding a set of original programs intended to give the company a slice of the super-sweet $70 billion television advertising market.

Facebook originally expected the project to be ready about a month ago, but it has taken longer than anticipated and further delays could occur, according to Bloomberg.

Now, this new TV venture does not come without its constraints. There’s a risk that Facebook’s users won’t necessarily spend as much time scrolling through Facebook’s News Feed if they start watching long-lasting videos via Facebook TV. “That’s going to have an impact on impression rate growth,” said CFO David Wehner. “So there is, in that sense, a cannibalistic effect of sort happening there.” Indeed advertisers, how will we survive without our traditional News Feed impressions? Video content advertising via Facebook TV, am I right?

We’ll be staying tuned for updates on the company’s latest project and any advertising opportunities that come with it.

Trending Now from G/L: Industry Support, Quirky Brands, New Apps and more

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending Now from G/L: Industry Support, Quirky Brands, New Apps and more

TRENDING NOW FROM G/L

Every Monday morning, the G/L office starts our week by meeting together and updating everyone on new business, old business, this week’s needs, last week’s successes – all the good stuff. We always take time at the end of these meetings to discuss what is trending now in our marketing and design world. We decided that what we talk about isn’t only beneficial to us, but to our clients and followers – so every Monday morning we share our favorite trends with you.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Last week, we talked about companies moving ads onto Instagram, a designers project The Urban Type and more. This week, we are talking about grabbing a beer with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Joe Boxer’s support for binge-watching shows, Samsung embracing the unboxing video trends, breaking up with IE8, Facebook taking on the video space and an app that reads your facial expressions to save pages for you.

“GRAB A BEER”

If you weren’t thirsting for a beer before, you may be after seeing this site. Anheuser-Busch InBev recently launched a digital campaign entitled “Let’s Grab a Beer”. The site is aimed at promoting the beer industry as a whole. In fact, if you weren’t looking for who made the site, you may never know it’s from A-B InBev. The site includes infographics, photographs and memes in a Pinterst-esque look and feel. This is a good example to show that your audience wants to hear about the industry, not just about your brand – and ultimately, if the industry benefits then the company does too.

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.57.37 AM
See the website here.
Read the full article from AdAge here.

INACTIVITY MOTIVATION

Joe Boxer is known for its wacky yet clever ads, specifically around holiday seasons. The brand mentions that in a slow time of year, they came up with something to put them back on the radar – it is known as their Inactivity Tracker. A spoof on exercise trackers, this band rewards users for doing nothing. The brand says it encourages slowing down and spending time in pajamas in this crazy world – but does so while showing the quirky personality of the brand. The product is accompanied by a video, a content hub and a PR push.

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 11.07.35 AMRead more about the product, and how to get it, in the article from AdAge here.

SAMSUNG EMBRACING THE TRENDS

“Unboxing” videos have become wildly popular in the tech world. Consumers record themselves taking their phone out of the box for the first time and reviewing the look, feel and features on camera. Samsung acknowledged that this is a steady trend in the tech world and made new ads out of their own professional unboxing videos. The brand uses each unboxing video to introduce the product and (at least) one specific feature to the viewer. These ads show that Samsung is in-tune to what their tech world is consuming and committed enough to tailor their style of reach to what the audience will already be looking for. Though action packed and filled with drama, the message the ads convey is the same message a tech reviewer at home would post.

Watch the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll0iK6fIsI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=40&v=NEhhIM6K_2o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efjaZeGFWis

Read the full article from AdWeek here.

IT’S OVER, IE8

I think most of us at G/L broke up with Internet Explorer long ago, but because of a influx of new users and the six year anniversary of IE8, a website to help you realize your worth and relationship needs out of a browser has launched. This is the break-up with your IE8 browser site…and it is harsh. The website walks you through the break up, it tells you why you’re ready to let it go or encourages you that your choice to leave is the right one. Once you make your decision, this website has you tell IE8 in 100 characters why it just isn’t working out and then these reasons get displayed on the website for everyone to relate to.

Check out some of our favorite break-up statements:

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 11.25.41 AM

See the website for yourself here.

FACEBOOK IN THE RUNNING

Brands (such as Popsugar, BuzzFeed, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and more) are creating video specifically for use on Facebook, leading to Facebook’s transition as a leader in video streaming. This appears to still be unfolding, as there are many thoughts to pre-roll ads, user experience and insights – but marketers are interested in learning more. Facebook targets by age, gender and location among other benefits, so it would be no surprise that brands start investing more in videos tailored to Facebook instead of (or in addition to) YouTube. Facebook has been approaching this from a small and medium size business perspective as well by encouraging them to learn more about the benefits of video uploaded to Facebook and how that performs compared to photos and text posts. In addition to Facebook’s push to keep more content within their platform, we’ll be keeping an eye out to watch this shift continue to unfold.

Read the full article from AdWeek here.

SMILE SUGGEST: SMILE FOR YOUR FRONT FACING CAMERA

Smile Suggest is an app for your browser that (when turned on) uses your front-facing webcam to detect when a website makes you smile. Once it detects a smile, it saves the page for you that you can revisit later or share with friends. It’s a little bit of creepy and awesome at the same time – who knows, it could be the first step to never needing to navigate manually again, like the Xbox Kinect.

Watch the video.

See the website here.

Want to talk these trends with us? Did you see an interesting trend we haven’t talked about? Let’s chat. Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Did you miss the last trends we shared? See them here.

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