2017 Social Media Trends and Digital Marketing Ideas

Aside from some the traffic interest generated from President Trump’s daily tweetstorms, Twitter will continue it’s downward slide. Having missed user engagement and growth targets the past year, the weak advertising platform will force Twitter to reinvent or get acquired. Struggling to find a revenue hit, Twitter has started shrinking as Facebook and Instagram have embraced videos and short line conversation options. Watch out for a Google takeover of Twitter in 2017.

Snapchat is being used by businesses for quick intros and product releases, but it is also becoming part of the academic fabric with acceptance notifications coming from several colleges to applicants for the 2017 school year. Businesses can solicit followers who will get notifications when new content is available and it seems the most successful early adopters have been able to create content snippets for users.

From ads to reviews, videos will continue to dominate the market and are quickly gaining ground on traditional TV. The on-demand nature of short intro ads make them more palatable for a younger generation. The autoplay feature on Facebook and launching of Snapchat business platforms will make creative efforts more fleeting, but more personal.

Facebook’s commanding revenue source now requires businesses to pay to get their brand exposed to their fans. Subsequently, post boost needs to be part of every campaign – even just for your page fans. Additionally, we’ve become accustomed  to sponsored ads on most social media platforms, and content that lacks authenticity is glossed over. Keep you message on point and genuine.

The excitement of Facebook, Twitter, and even Snapchat are fading and as their brands become “established” there is a much slower pace of user growth and the energy boost that comes from new users. Growth of likes will slow and we’ll see more reliance on the big influencers on all platforms. Advertisers will likely start channeling promotions through each platforms big players.

Nothing new here, but brands will continue to see their public image and buyer appeal affected by online reviews. We’ll see an expansion of reviews on social media platforms in 2017. The importance of transparent business practices and general “feeling” of honesty continue to be rewarded. Some of the major review washers will become embattled with consumers as their pay-to-play business models are exposed (think Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, and BBB).

Just like we’ve seen with subscriber solicitation for blogs, newsletters, and personalized remarketing, we’ll see dynamic growth in the social sphere with the explosion of Facebook Live, Opt-in ads, and multi-platform reporting. These tools will become indispensable as the organic fan growth stabilizes. Automated Marketing Solutions or AMS will be accessed through a Content Management System or third-party online platforms.

Twitter and Snapchat put you in a sphere with “your people” and Facebook’s algorithm builds on your past behavior and serves you behavior-based content. Don’t look to social media to bring you contrarian viewpoints. 2017 social media trends won’t be bucking that trend anytime soon. Until then, we’ll see reinforcement of existing beliefs for users on every platform.