Are you watching? Social Media Trends for Business

The business world is constantly changing. (Surprise!)

Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, some new piece of technology or some new method of doing things comes along and turns the whole thing upside down. For example, who knew, five years ago, that Facebook Ads would be all the rage now and that Instagram would be following in their footsteps? (Actually, Instagram was a fledgling platform 5 years ago - just another new place to post photos for your friends.)

So what’s going on that you might want to keep track of?

Here are a few of the latest trends in social media for business that have been making the rounds:

Response Times are decreasing by the minute. Customers don’t just want answers to their questions and responses to their complaints, they want them now. According to Search Engine Watch, 70% of Twitter users expect to hear back from brands they reach out to, and 53% want that reply in less than an hour. If they’re issuing a complaint, the number skyrockets to 72%. Many of these inquiries and complaints go unanswered. In 2015, companies weren’t responding 7 out of 8 times when contacted through social media. The moral of the story: if you’re not quick to respond, one of your competitors might be.

You already know that creating great content on your site is a key part of drawing your audience to your product or service. That hasn’t changed; customers have just ratcheted up their demands. Thanks to the success of apps like Periscope, many social media experts are expecting live streaming to be the next big thing. It’s like reality TV for your business without the scripting, allowing you to show an authentic, unedited side to your business.

Buy buttons will be an important part of social media marketing going forward. A ‘Buy Button’ is just that, a quick link that lets the viewers instantly buy a product they see in a sponsored post. Mobile users of Facebook and Pinterest now have this ability, letting them make instant purchase decisions without ever leaving the app. By the end of 2016, most major social media brands will feature some kind of buy button naturally as an element of their advertising campaigns.

Apps are king, and consumers are demanding apps that do more and more. Facebook, for example has introduced Instant Articles, a type of publishing which allows you to ‘create fast, interactive articles on Facebook.’ Starting this year, the new Wordpress plugin will allow you to easily link those articles from your Wordpress-based website. And Facebook isn’t the only one. Other platforms like Twitter and Instagram are working to expand their offerings, so you can do everything you can imagine without ever leaving the app.

These trends will only continue. While it means that social media marketing will demand an increasing share of an entrepreneur’s attention, it also gives them new tools to work with and exciting new ways to engage their customers.  Will you be there, or will you be left behind?