At Blue Horizons we are quite excited about 2016 in terms of all things social media as there are some very interesting speculations and developments arising within this area.
The first area of interest for all marketers is the reputable Buy Now buttons which have started popping up more and more frequently allowing people to sell their products and services through platforms such as Pinterest and Facebook. We have a strong feeling that by the end of 2016 Buy Now buttons will be a social necessity for anyone selling online and using social media as a platform to promote their business.
In the last few years technology has developed at an astonishing rate with the release of 4K TV’s, 3D touch as we saw with the release of the iPhone 6s and iPad Pro along with a whole host of other cool things, However Apps...if you want to do something, find something or pass the time there is an app for it! With a huge 76% of adults owning smart phones and over 32 million purchased every year there is a big market more apps, which is why we predict a rapid diversification and spread of in-app functionality, Just in the last 12 months we have seen a massive growth in features, with the development of auto-playing videos as you scroll down your feed, or instant sharing across platforms. Facebook has always held the title for being king of adding new features and functionality, but what will platforms like Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram pull out the bag in the coming year?
Security - We as a nation have gone privacy crazy, but for good reason! With just shy of 3 billion people using the interweb there is a lot that could go wrong very quickly seeing as our lives are virtually fully stored within our phones, tablets and the mysterious Cloud. As a population we are becoming very giving when it comes to providing sensitive information so naturally there is a calling for up rated security protocols and regulations to help keep our data safe. With the rapid growth in the use of apps such as Snapchat, with this comes naturally a huge user demand for a more secure method of communication and storing of data such as Date of Birth and personal credentials. In the last few months Facebook have been stepping up their game to help keep their users safe by adding new features and levels of protections. So it seems 2016 could be a security game changer as the only way to thrive seems to be to protect as well.
Are your post reaches organic? One of the biggest challenges for a social media manager/page manager is to produce quality content, content related to the business but at the same time content that people are going to want to follow through and on read in further detail. A very large proportion of businesses are realising just how much social media can benefit business in terms of reputation and visibility so naturally everyone’s taken to social media in the attempt to increase their audience span and popularity. Social media giant Facebook has taken note of this social business boom and they have massively cut the amount of organic visibility your posts get in order to get you to purchase their Boost Post option. So it will be interesting to see how this fairs out over the course of the next year; how far will the pricing of advertising will go? Will there be any other restrictions silently placed upon our content? Guess we will have to watch this space!
In the early days of social media it was a lot easier to build a following as there wasn’t as much competition as there is today. However with social giants such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn keeping a very close eye on the market it means it’s becoming harder to build a following on the smaller networks as the larger networks generally are buying out the small ones in order to remove risk of up and coming competition.
We are going to draw this altogether with a possible point to sleep on and have a chat about within the office. Paid Advertisement. This does seem like a bit of an area people are sceptical about, however it works! If you are willing to look at your budgets and allocate a small portion of your budget to advertising key posts such as treatment launches, new product or services then this could really aid the growth of your following base and inventible help bring more business in. The key is to be smart and strategic about it. Spending money on every post will become a financial headache for you and your accountant alike. ‘How should I do it then?’ is probably what you are wondering, and the answer is simple...PLAN! Planning is key to this game; maybe plan to promote 2 posts a week or even 2 a month for several days at a time...but make sure the content is interesting and of value to your business’ key audience.
