Top Social Trends To Expect in 2017- Part 2

Story Telling Evolution

“In 2017, we’re going to see more emphasis on ‘social storytelling’ to help better engage audiences on social platforms. Now, storytelling is nothing new of course – it’s been a key part of how we interact since the dawn of time – but new uses of social, like Snapchat Stories, which add more context and immediacy to what we share, are changing audience expectations on how we communicate our messages. The trend is best exemplified by Instagram copying the Stories format – Instagram says 100 million users are already using their Stories feature every day, while more than 50 million use the same function on Snapchat. In addition to this, Facebook’s testing out ‘Messenger Day’, a similar social storytelling tool within Messenger, while Twitter recently opened ‘Moments’ to all users.

Right now, this might not seem like a big deal, but cumulatively, that’s a lot of younger users engaging with this format, and younger users are the ones who drive future trends. Given this, it would be beneficial for brands to start investigating and putting into action steps to add more storytelling elements into their social marketing plans – more immediate, multi-scene narratives that help better connect users to their brand story and purpose, which really works to enhance the ‘social’ element.” – Andrew Hutchinson

Virtual reality and Social Media

“In 2017 we will see the next phase of platform adoption in VR, including Facebook’s Oculus. We know this is 10 year plan for Facebook, and having been diving deep I think people will be surprised at the existing level of sophistication.) Add in HTC and Google to the mix, and we will have increased understanding of the potential of virtual spaces – including what it will mean for social and business.
Add in consumer 360 content to the mix, with a push from YouTube and Facebook too, there will be fun for consumers and producers alike. It’s time to get creative and ready to explore what we all know will be a big wave of change.” – Martin Shervington

Companies will have to learn how to sell on social

“In 2017, business will have to figure out what works for them in Social Media. There’s been a lot of new platforms distracting from the end goal – of selling. Rather than chasing shiny objects everywhere, centre on the psychographics (what your customer cares about) versus their demographics. These days passions are more powerful than statistical data.” – Ian Cleary

So now we know what the experts think, we want to know what you think! Where do you think social media is going? And what upcoming future trends do you detect?