What’s New in Social Media for 2020
It doesn’t matter if you run an Etsy shop out of your garage or a multinational corporation. Social media needs to be present in your 2020 marketing strategy. Keeping abreast of the latest trends and changes in social media will help you build an effective strategy to ensure success in the New Year and beyond. Here are five points to consider:
Constraints on Paid Ads
Between a Senate impeachment trial, a U.S. presidential election, and the UK’s official “Brexit” on January 31, political angst will be front and center in the media this year. If you need a break from the targeted onslaught, you can head on over to Twitter, where paid political ads that “advocate for or against legislative issues of national importance,” including those about climate change, immigration and health care, are now banned. In a Tweet, Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey, said that the social platform believes that the reach of political messages “should be earned, not bought.”
Secret Likes
In mid-2019, Instagram began testing out a new policy that would remove visible likes. If the social media giant goes through with this change, users will only be able to see the likes on their own posts. The goal, according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, is to improve the mental well-being of members by taking away the ability for them to compare their numbers to others. “The idea is to depressurize Instagram. We’re trying to reduce anxiety, we’re trying to reduce social comparisons.”
Despite Instagram’s good intentions, this change could have a negative impact on businesses who rely on influencers for exposure. Learn more about this change here.
Public is Out, Private is in
Although social media usage continues to rise, public social media activity is on the decline. Instead, messaging apps like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are gaining popularity as users seek more intimate interactions. This trend poses a challenge for marketers, who will need to determine how messaging apps fit into their overall social media and customer service strategy.
Facebook and LinkedIn groups are also gaining popularity as social media users search for others who are like-minded, share the same interests, or seek the same experiences. Research shows that developing meaningful relationships improves well-being and happiness, and the group feature fosters just that. Incorporating this trend into your social media strategy is a must. Businesses who build a group around their brand are creating a community of customers who are more likely to engage with them and become brand advocates.
Video Reigns Supreme
The rise of video isn’t new, but it continues to be one of the most important social media trends as we head into the new decade. According to Social Media Today, video will account for 82 percent of all internet traffic in 2020. Your marketing team will need to make video part of your social media strategy in order to remain competitive, and is faced with the task of learning how to engage your audience with videos that capture and hold their attention.
As video takes over the internet, it’s no surprise that video-driven apps such as TikTok, Lasso and Triller are growing in popularity, as well. TikTok, in particular, is leading the way with engaging content that, according to Entrepreneur, “shuns the overly curated and filtered view of life Instagram has become known for.”
Social Commerce
Over the last decade, social media has played an imperative role in the expansion of ecommerce. According to Pew Research Center, 84 percent of shoppers consult at least one social media site before making a purchase. So it’s no surprise that users who find products in their news feeds would also prefer the convenience of purchasing that product directly from their Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. app. In 2018, Facebook launched Facebook Marketplace, a direct competitor to Amazon, Google Shopping and Etsy; and in the same year, Instagram rolled out Shoppable Posts, providing brands with the ability to tag items in posts that, when tapped, lead to a checkout page. Experts agree that there is no doubt this trend will continue to grow and evolve as we move through the New Year.
Every successful business, big or small, is backed by a carefully developed strategy-based marketing plan. Included in that plan is a social media presence that was crafted based on current and developing trends. If you need help making sense of those trends and turning them into an actionable marketing plan, let’s chat.