2015 was an interesting year for social media marketing, but 2016 may hold even bigger changes.
Online marketing changes fast, and social media changes even faster. Driven in part by the naturally fast pace and engaged involvement of users and in part by the dense landscape of competition, social media platforms are always pushing to roll out the latest and greatest new features and functions. If you want to beat out the competition in the social landscape, you’ll need to be aware of these changes and prepare your strategy proactively for the coming year:
- Social will become more commerce-based. Already, Pinterest and Facebook are making moves to become social/e-commerce hybrids with buyable pins and more interactive ads. Expect to see more social media platforms adopt these kinds of changes.
- Organic reach will decline. Organic reach has been declining for some time now, but expect it to decline further and faster in 2016 as social platforms become eager for more profits. To compensate, you’ll have to find new ways to stand out, new platforms to harness, or a new budget for social paid advertising.
- VR will make a substantial impact. Facebook-owned Oculus will release the VR device Rift early in 2016, with full Facebook integration. Expect to see VR-compatible features rolling out for more platforms, and greater user engagement.
- Video will become expected. Thanks to auto-playing videos and higher user expectations, video is going to be a necessity to survive in 2016. If you don’t already have a video element in your content strategy, it’s time to get one.
- Immediate updates will become more important. Those scheduled-in-advance posts simply won’t carry the same weight as live updates or in-the-moment posts. Work harder to bring content to your users as it happens as more features like Twitter’s Moments roll out.
As always, technologies tend to evolve unpredictably. Your best bet isn’t to set a new course and stick to it no matter what, but to set a loose course and adapt it as you encounter new changes, new tech, and new trends. Remain flexible and proactive in your social media strategy, and you’ll stay far ahead of the competition.
