You’re a marketing pro. You’re on top of seasonal trends and upcoming challenges as well as your competition. And of course you understand your products better than anyone else. With all that swimming around in your head, you may not be following the latest social media trends. Thankfully, we have a team here that does!

Social media trends change seemingly constantly. Here’s what you need to know to make the most of this ever-changing promotional platform.

 

Facebook Stories for Business

It’s all about Stories. In March 2017, Facebook introduced Facebook Stories for its mobile users. It’s nearly identical to Instagram Stories which debuted the previous August. Both use the format made famous by Snapchat: personal videos or photos (and of course, filters) which disappear after 24 hours. Similar to Instagram, Facebook stories appear on the top of your news feed. Keep in mind that Facebook has a much broader audience, so many of its users may be unfamiliar with this communication style. That doesn’t mean you should ignore this trend. It’s a smart way to share a limited-time offer on your personal account or business account without overpopulating your page with promotional posts.

Update: It took Facebook a while to make the feature available to businesses, but it is now. They are also heavily promoting it, and have a page in their Advertiser Help section dedicated to reasons to use stories. They’ve also announced that in mid 2018, Facebook stories had reached 1.5 million viewers per day. It’s not too late for you to miss out on this trend.

Here are three reasons to use Facebook Stories for Business:

1. You can share more often without cluttering your Facebook page
2. It gives your business a human element which helps increase trust in your services or products
3. It allows you to reach people more consistently

 

Lifespan of Social Media Posts

Everyone knows that what you post on the internet will be there forever (this is just as true for businesses as it is an average person), but in terms of reach, social posts have a very small window of opportunity. The lifespan of a social post is probably shorter than you think. The majority of Facebook engagement occurs within the first few hours after your post. And a Tweet gets cold in less than 20 minutes. Chances are, you’re not posting enough. We suggest most businesses increase their number of weekly posts to reach a greater percentage of their audiences.

According to LinkedIn, you need 20 posts per month to reach 60 percent of your audience. This number will vary based on the social media platform. 

On Facebook, the lifespan of social media posts will increase if people often engage with your content. This means you shouldn’t post solely for quantity, you need to focus on quality and engagement. This will maximize the future benefits of your social media presence.

 

Personal Sharing is Down

While social media isn’t getting any less popular, personal sharing is down. Your Facebook page looks different than it did a few years ago. This data shows that fewer people are posting personal updates. Instead, Facebook users are sharing links and stories they find on other websites. While this makes it harder to stay connected with your high school friends, it makes it easier to market your business. Make sure you are creating plenty of content that can be shared by your followers. Pro tip: The lifespan of these blogs, graphics or videos is much longer than a simple post – think months rather than minutes – so invest in quality content that has a viral bent. 

With less personal sharing also means that people are less likely to spread original hashtags on Instagram and Twitter. However, people are equally likely to search for hashtags. This means you should expect less engagement in terms of people using your hashtag, but shouldn’t be afraid to include hashtags in your own posts.

 

Nearly All Social Media is on Mobile

Nearly 80 percent of all social media time is spent on mobile devices

Mobile is driving the bus. It’s clear that most consumers are using their mobile phones to access social media. We see it in our clients’ analytics and in every data nugget revealed, such as Facebook announcing it now has more than one billion mobile users.  Some data indicate that nearly 80 percent of all social media time is spent on social media devices. So what does that mean for businesses? You better make sure that the action you want your followers to take is mobile-friendly. If your social media posts are meant to direct people to your website, you need a site that looks as good on a phone or tablet as it does on a computer. Nix any long forms and make sure your website is device-agnostic.  

This trend is also reflective of the growth of Snapchat and Instagram. These two forms of social media are made more mobile, which drives the numbers up.

 

Keeping up with social media can be a challenge. You may not have the time to give it the attention it deserves. You also may not be willing to hand it over to someone else. I have a suggestion. Meet with me and my social media team. We’ll work together to develop a no-nonsense strategy and implementation plan. We’ll take care of those tasks that cause you headaches – such as creating quality content or managing digital ad campaigns – while you can keep doing what brings you joy.

Knowing about social media trends is only the first step. If you need help executing on these trends, then consider us your social media helping hand. Let’s talk. Call us at 612-787-7483 or complete this form. But hurry: The first 10 people who respond will receive a free social media review.