Seven predictions for social and content marketing in 2017
Jay Ong from Scorch iProspect reveals where marketers should look to find the best opportunities for reach and ROI in this guest post.
2017 is shaping up to be an exciting year for social media and content marketing. With existing platforms innovating, evolving and competing against each other, the year ahead is going to an interesting one for savvy marketers.
Here are my seven predictions on how social and content marketing in 2017.
E-Commerce is the final frontier for Facebook as it looks to entrench itself in our digital lives. The introduction of Facebook Marketplace this year is the stepping stone to Facebook’s inevitable push into e-commerce and online payments.
Native e-commerce capabilities will also meet Facebook’s overall objective to keep users within its platform and most importantly, is the final puzzle piece that Facebook needs to collect data on its user base. Once Facebook adds your online shopping behaviour to your data profile, it will have everything it needs to give advertisers unparalleled targeting options.
Live Sports will take Live Video mainstream
Major world events like Brexit and the US General Election were the perfect catalyst for Live Video to take a hold of our news feeds, as publishers jumped at the opportunity to relay news and events near instantaneously.
In 2017, expect to see the world’s biggest sporting leagues embrace Live Video as a medium to reach new users that have all but abandoned traditional broadcast channels.
Traditional sports will also look to replicate the success of e-sports like League of Legends, where platforms like Twitch have played an integral role to broadcast games to millions of concurrent viewers, but also serve as a hub for fans to discuss and cheer their teams on in real time.
Snapchat introduces an algorithm
An algorithm for Snapchat has always been an inevitability, and with more brands keen to jump on Snapchat, a cohesive way to curate and serve content will be necessary to sustain its growth.
One of the major weaknesses that Snapchat currently has is the difficulty for users to stumble upon new snaps or influencers outside of the people that they’ve added. With Instagram stealing so much of Snapchat’s functionality in 2016, I expect Snapchat to return the favour in 2017. The recent rollout of Quick Add is just the first step.
Snapchat are sitting on a goldmine of data from a very coveted demographic, and it will be a waste if we don’t see them harness insights from their users to promote content (and brand) discovery.
VR comes down in cost but AR is here to stay
Marketers are buzzing about VR, but there are too many hurdles that are preventing it from being adopted across the board. Price and technology will still hold VR back, given that VR headsets like HTC’s Vive costing as much as high end smartphones, and the mammoth computing power requirements to pump out fully immersive experiences.
AR, however will be all over the place thanks to Pokemon Go, which demonstrated that users are willing to explore and interact with their surroundings if given a good enough reason. Paired with Out of Home Advertising, the possibilities are endless.
AI community management
Automation isn’t only going to threaten blue collar and manufacturing jobs. Customer Service and Community Management will be shaken up by the rise of chatbots and artificial intelligence.
Machine learning will power the adoption of automated or semi-automated bots that will assist marketers when it comes to dealing with rudimentary interactions online.
The barriers to entry for these AI-driven services will also greatly come down as platforms such as Facebook rolls out more user-friendly tools to the non-developer crowd.
Marketers encroach on Facebook groups
The outlook for Organic Reach on Facebook will continue to deteriorate on Facebook, pushing marketers to innovate how they connect with their customers and audiences on the platform.
Facebook Groups have emerged as bastions for large communities of like-minded users to congregate at, something that marketers cannot ignore. The absence of the dreaded algorithm in these groups mean that engagement rewards content with visibility, just like the good old days.
With groups for nearly every niche or geographic location, social marketers will start looking to build relationships with admins and look into how they can add value to these tight-knit communities.
The rise and rise of micro-influencers
In addition to the rise of micro-influencers, 2017 will bring about a shift in how brands utilise influencer marketing. One-off campaigns will make way for longer and more mutually beneficial partnerships in lieu of reach and engagement.
Empowering superfans with the tools and access they need to champion brands will be vital as the influencer marketing industry becomes increasingly saturated with brands and sponsored posts.
Grassroots influencers will not only represent better spend value for brands, but also offer the potential of mutually-beneficial long-term partnerships.
Jay Ong is outreach manager at Scorch IProspect
No death of Twitter? Everyone else seems to be predicting that 2017 will be the year where it finally gets killed off or acquired.
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