Social media marketing is a living and organic thing that keeps changing with people’s preferences. You are never done creating, optimising and updating your strategy if you want to continue generating leads and sales. However, you are not labouring in the dark. We already have identified some definite trends for 2020 and we will share them with you today.
What Is the Biggest Trend of Social Media for 2020?
As you are already accustomed to, mobile will be the main keyword for social media interactions next year and beyond. As smartphones become more powerful and with larger screens, they have become effective replacements of computers.
Reading articles, watching videos and playing games is very convenient. Also, social media apps are constantly improved to offer better user experience and easier browsing. Thus, you should continue your optimisation work on your website and ads to make them as mobile friendly as possible.
Safer, Faster and More Personalised – The Future of Social Media Marketing
From the marketing point of view, the trends are clear. People want:
- Instant gratification of their requests
- A personalised approach to any interactions with brands
- Increased cyber safety and privacy.
These are the central elements of all the social media marketing trends we will analyse in detail below. Here they are:
1. The Rise of Immersive Technologies
AR, VR and MR are no longer cutting edge novelties. They have become a part of people’s lives and of social media platforms, as well. Facebook owns Oculus, one of the major players on the market of virtual reality headsets. YouTube is testing augmented reality ads. And a growing number of brands use AR features in their apps and social interactions.
As the immersive technologies become more affordable and widespread (even budget phones of recent generations support AR), they will become an intrinsic part of marketing. People love AR because it is:
- Entertaining
- Convenient
- Educational
- Helpful.
In 2020 “try before you buy” AR ads across social media platforms will become increasingly prevalent. It’s time to start learning how they work and start developing them.
2. Social Selling Will Be the Success Formula
Social media marketing will also expand to social selling – fast. Major platforms like Facebook and Instagram already allow their users to purchase products without leaving the social media app.
You should start mastering the art of creating content and ads that promote direct sales within the social network. Your clients are no longer willing to go through the process of reaching your site, placing items in the cart and going through the check-out process. The sale is either made in a few taps or lost.
3. Social Media Replaces Customer Service Departments
People are accustomed to address brands directly on the social media to file a complaint or ask a question. They use Messenger and Twitter and expect a quick answer and a solution to their problem.
As part of your future social media marketing, you must make sure that you have either staff or chatbots to handle all these customer service demands. Otherwise, your brand reputation will suffer a lot.
4. Go Live or Go Home
Live video sessions will become more and more engaging and useful for lead generation. People live in the “now” moment – so live broadcast is the way to connect with your potential customers.
Live video sessions will expand to cover almost all types of video content: tutorials, entertainment, Q&A sessions etc. Thus, make sure that you are ready to speak and make your presentation before an audience because you will be doing it quite frequently in 2020 and beyond.
5. Groups Will Become More Important than Pages
Groups are the response of social media platforms to users’ demands for more privacy online. Groups can be closed or secret, accessible by answering control questions. Administrators can take quick actions and remove members who do not respect the rules.
Since business accounts received the permission to join or create groups on Facebook, this trend has really taken off. Within a group, a brand can monitor the general sentiment of customers towards it, identify product ideas and build a thriving community. This is the best way of keeping your clients close and maintaining a constant dialogue with them.