Formerly viewed with suspicion or suspicion, social networks are now fully integrated into the marketing mix of companies. Direct channels of communication, they have transformed our relationship with brands and constitute an effective marketing lever, but a lever that evolves permanently. Every year, trends are born and die, new habits emerge, and marketing professionals face permanent challenges. 2018 will not be otherwise with social trends that will impact editorial, strategic and budgetary decisions. Overview of trends ...
TREND Nº1: AN ORGANIC REACH IN FREE FALL
Facebook is a juggernaut in the digital ecosystem with more than 2 billion active users. However, he does not hesitate to regularly modify his algorithm to define the display of publications on the newsfeed. The result is an organic reach that is constantly decreasing and an immediate consequence for brands. A drop in reach that Laurent Solly, CEO of Facebook France, estimated justified and offset by better targeting already in 2014: "While the reach has declined, but the commitment of those affected has increased, as evidenced by a study published by Adage. Simply because Facebook's performance in segmentation and audience targeting has improved. "
To be visible, you have to pay. And that's just the beginning. Facebook is experimenting in 6 countries with a separation of pages and profiles. It is a serious indicator of the desire to keep the publications of friends, groups and sponsored publications in the same environment, isolating others.
A phenomenon that does not affect Facebook, since Snapchat does the same by separating the publications of friends with those of brands in this latest version.
Another worrying phenomenon (or urban legend), the decrease in reach when third-party applications are used to publish content. Although the applications concerned deny, several users of tools like Hootsuite and Buffer, continue to complain about an effective decrease in the reach of their posts when they go through these tools. So, is the time saving worth it? Whatever the truth, we recommend carrying out your own tests knowing that many other parameters can also influence your results, especially the virtual disappearance of organic reach.
WHAT IMPACT FOR YOU?
You need to diversify your points of contact. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or others should remain only tools among others. Balance your social presence and alternate between organic and sponsored publications. Or, sponsor each publication to get a minimum of reach before validating if it is interesting to increase the budgets according to the reaction of your target.
TREND # 2: THE POWER OF STORIES
Concept invented by Snapchat and carefully duplicated by Facebook, the stories are a new editorial format in vertical format, exclusively mobile, which mixes photos and videos for a limited time.They are now more and more popular on Instagram and Facebook, whether on pages or profiles. Even the medium blogging platform is there. By creating a unique link with his community, the story involves authenticity, direct connection and personalization. A way of communicating that goes into the habits of the users.
For Julie Pellet, in charge of the development of Instagram for Southern Europe, the format is already a success, and a development axis probably unavoidable for brands: "This service was launched in the summer of 2016. Fourteen months later, it brings together 300 million daily users! Brands are not left behind. During the month of September, 50% of Instagram's Business Profiles created a Story and one-third of the most viewed Stories were branded. While the content of their permanent account is often very worked, the Story allows to publish the scenes of an event, the interview of a personality or a muse, the "live" of this or that operation. "
WHAT IMPACT?
Creating a story involves new thinking from an editorial and graphic point of view. What to say ? Why ?How can I say ? At what frequency ? The stories are a new format to incorporate into your editorial calendar with own production constraints.
TREND 3: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CHATBOTS
We talk a lot about it and the subject is hot, but it is still embryonic in relation to its full potential. According to a study published by Oracle, 38% of French brands surveyed have already deployed a chatbot and 79% will have done by 2020 as part of their customer interactions.
If machine learning develops, chatbots are still marketing tools that are built by hand, by humans and according to a predefined scenario. This does not mean, however, that they should be ignored, on the contrary. The chatbot is your sales department or your customer service accessible at all times. It's a new point of contact that can do a lot: confirm a reservation, track a product shipment, buy online without leaving the messaging app, and receive personalized alerts.
WHAT IMPACT?
By deporting commercial activity on platforms like Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter or Skype, chatbots are a growth relay in terms of digital performance and automation. A way to be where your users and future customers are. The implementation requires a limited time investment and if your company manages large volumes of contacts, your chatbots can even learn quickly from their interactions with your customers and gradually improve the customer experience.
Virtual Reality - impact on social networks in 2018
TREND 4: VIDEO AND VIRTUAL REALITY
Between Snapchat (10 billion), Facebook (8 billion) and YouTube (4 billion), 22 billion videos are seen every day. This is not a coincidence: all indicators attest to its strong power of engagement on social networks. It is a strong vector with many uses: product demonstration, promotional video, unboxing, tutorials, interviews, FAQ, live, 360 degrees ... In 2018, the video is protean in its formats and platforms. It is mobile, vertical, square, animated ... It can look dumb, integrate into an interactive storytelling and virtual reality gives it a new impetus.
WHAT IMPACT?
The production of video content is the new battleground of brand content managers and marketing managers. A trend that requires investments and new organizational models, to match your ambitions.
TREND 5: INFLUENCERS EVER MORE COURTED
According to the US Linquia 2017 survey, 86% of marketing professionals work with influencers. Growth drivers who are involved in brand marketing strategies and who thrive on social networks, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in mind. This trend is not new, but it is growing by structuring influence marketing between influencers, micro-influencers and ambassadors. Three different profiles that, directly or indirectly, contribute to the radiation of a brand. An unconventional, but very effective way to thrive online, since working with influencers offers a return on investment 11 times higher compared to traditional digital advertising campaigns (Tapinfluence study - Nielsen Catalina Solutions).
WHAT IMPACT?
While influencer marketing is very much present in the beauty, fashion and lifestyle sectors, its impact in more traditional sectors should not be underestimated. There are even agencies specialized in linking advertisers and influencers.
Interactive marketing campaigns with Qualifio
TREND 6: INTERACTIVITY OF MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Everyone can easily share inspirational quotes or jokes. Although these publications create engagement on social media, they do not always create interactivity with your brand. People will "like" and willingly share the content, but will not necessarily buy your products or even visit your site.
As a bottom-line trend in 2018, to attract the attention of their audience in a more efficient way, brands that want to differentiate themselves in an original way increasingly adorn their traditional content of interactive marketing campaigns . Quizzes, surveys, quizzes and other interactive formats become an essential pillar of brand communication and relay through inseparable social networks. As demonstrated in several performance studies, this type of content tends to generate 4 to 5 times more page views than static content. A Demand Gen Report study had already shown in 2015 that online shoppers were more than 90% to prefer interactive content.
WHAT IMPACT?
Your goal through the use of social networks is not limited to creating or improving the brand image of your company, it is also delivering concrete results that can positively impact the turnover. By 2018, in addition to the traditional content approach, using interactive content can not only create a stronger emotional connection with your audience, but also collect valuable information about their profiles, needs and interests for the purpose of retargeting, segmenting or customizing your future communications.
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