Five Social Media Trends for Businesses in 2018

I wanted to share a webinar I watched hosted by Hootsuite (@HootBusiness). You can watch below:

Here are some notes I took.

According to Hootsuite, here are three key challenges that organizations face in 2018:

1. Finding sustainable solutions for declining organic reach (more networks want you to pay to get more eyeballs on your stuff).
2. Keeping pace with algorithmic shifts and social network innovation.
3. Proving the ROI (return on investment) of existing strategies.

Key consumer behaviors on social to watch:

1. Social dominates time spent on mobile.
2. Passive social behavior continues to climb.
3. Consumers integrate social deeper into their purchase journeys.

Here are the five key trends Hootsuite sees in 2018:

Trend #1: The evolution of social ROI.

• Key shifts in ROI measurement include: measuring beyond content performance metrics, connect ‘activity’ metrics with customer journey stages, CMO helps identify top business objectives for social.
• Social is becoming a driver of customer insight.
• More organizations are using the customer journey to guide measurement.

Trend #2: Mobile fuels the growth of social TV.

• Networks are shifting toward more broadcast style types of metrics.
• Social viewing is on the rise. (Example: Facebook Live)
• Internet advertising spending outpaces TV.
• Social video is a great way to increase organic reach.
• Instagram live video has good engagement.
• LinkedIn rolled out their own version which is good for B2B.
• Combine SEO strategy with Facebook Live.

Trend #3: Trust declines, while peer influence rises.

• Trust in different institutions was at an all-time low in 2017.
• Because of this people are turning to each other.
• Peers are now as credible as experts.
• Marketers fatique from inflated influencer promises.
• 2018 will reward businesses that put their people – employees, advocates, customer communities, and influencers – at the center of their marketing strategy.
• Build advocate communities using Facebook groups.
• Go unscripted on Facebook live.

Trend #4: Humans, meet AI

• Computers are adapting to people, rather than people adapting to computers.
• Messaging Apps are becoming more personalized content channels.

Trend #5: The promise (and reality) of social data.

• Social data can help marketing gain new influence and recognition in the enterprise. But to recognize its promise, there is still work ahead.
• Challenges:
  • Marketers underestimate the time and resources needed for social data projects.
  • Social data is difficult to integrate with other tools and is often opaque.
  • Data can be political.
• Potential:
  • Use true customer intelligence to gain new influence with executives.
  • Demostrate strategic value of social channels – not just tactical brand awareness or customer service value.
  • Go from reactive listening to uncovering new sources of business and brand growth.
• 96 percent of online conversations are unbranded.
• Get comfortable making assumptions with data you have.

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