5 Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch Out For in 2016

It’s that time of the year again when social media trends are being forecasted for the next year, and while I'm sure a lot of sites will provide many specific trends to watch out for next year, here are some that are on my radar. It's always good to keep these trends in mind when planning your budget for the coming year or draw up strategies for new projects and events. You can always play it safe and assume for the most part that things will stay the same, but being agile enough to lean into big, new waves will ensure your brand’s sustained success, as it changes with your audience instead of after it.

#1: Hacking:

In the wake of the Ashley Madison hacking, which was really just the most recent in a series of privacy scandals in 2015. users have never known their data to be more vulnerable than now, and any new platform must promise and live up to the promise to keep user data private. As much as a casual hack can be at least temporarily life-ruining, expect users to be more careful before going all in on a new app. 

#2: Live Streaming

Think Periscope, think Snapchat. In 2016, the obsession with live-streaming and live social will continue, especially as Snapchat adds new features, Periscope spawns competitors, and virtual reality technology becomes more mainstream. More and more, social media apps will aim to put the user at an event—virtually--as much as possible. Facebook is still great, but it can’t provide the kind of content which puts the user in-the-moment that live-streaming apps can.

#3: Online Publishing platforms:

Speaking of Facebook, their Instant Articles will be a feature to watch in 2016, as they set out to make a major mark in online publishing. Social apps will scurry to keep up, as every platform is angling to not only acquire customers, but keep them. Nothing keeps a user on your site longer than having a continuously updated stream of published content. Watch out for Twitter’s Lightning project as well as Snapchat’s move to more “story” content.

#4: No more Ellos?

Ello was like the Kony 2012 of social media last year, and hopefully we’ve all finally learned our lesson. The meteoric rise and equally fast fall of these smaller social networks prove the ADD-like attention spans of social media enthusiasts and also the way an ill-advised launch can be something your social network never bounces back from. Hopefully we’ve learned that the race to the top is more slow and steady than fast and furious, and it’s just not good business for an app to declare itself the anti-Facebook.

#5: The Continuous Rise of Mobile & E-commerce

With Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook introducing Buy buttons, expect to see other apps (Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc) and new apps focus on making mobile and social commerce seamless. In-app innovation geared towards online shopping will likely be top of mind for anyone in tech, and will be exciting to watch, at least for social marketers.