Top SMM Trends of 2018

At the beginning of every year, we talk about the major trends that are going to dominate the SMM industry and how your business can benefit from being aware of them.

Now is the right time to add something new your arsenal of marketing tools and get ready to make it even bigger in 2018.

What Is SMM and Why Do I Need It?

If you have never used SMM before, you’re kinda… lucky! Largely because of the fact that you have all these amazing possibilities waiting for you just around the corner.

SMM stands for “social media marketing”. It is a set of activities aimed at increasing the popularity and visibility of your brand on social networks as well as increasing sales as a result of such activities.

For some, Facebook and Instagram are nothing more than just means of communication. For others, they constitute excellent promotion tools.

Here are just a few things SMM could bring to the table – with its help, you will be able to:

1. present your brand in a positive light and increase your brand awareness;
2. connect with your target audience;
3. attract clients to your website;
4. increase sales;
5. get a whole new marketing and promotion channel for future campaigns

If that’s what you’re after, then let’s get into more detail and talk about the top SMM trends of 2018.

Top 5 Social Media Marketing Trends of 2018

Social networks are the present and, most likely, the future. Every major company is represented on social networks and often has a whole department of specialists who handle SMM-related matters, implementing their own, unique SMM strategy. Much like any other technological fad of the 21st century, social networks are constantly evolving, making it even harder for us to stay on top of the situation.

Here are the SMM trends that will most likely dominate in 2018.

• MOBILE

According to the recent data, roughly 25% of Europeans browsed the Internet via their mobile devices exclusively. In the USA and Canada, the percentage is even higher - around 31%, according to the IAB Global data. These «mobile-only» Internet users spend anywhere from 3 to 6 hours daily browsing the web. That research suggests that 90% of mobile device users are highly receptive to the ads they see on social networks. Not only do they remember the ad contents, but they are also reported to have interacted with the ads (50% of the respondents).

It’s no secret that the biggest social network Facebook gets 80% of their profits from ad revenue. That’s why ignoring this important promotion channel is no longer possible for any business. Most industry specialists agree that the share of mobile traffic will only continue to grow in 2018 - you can’t afford yourself to miss out on that huge chunk of your potential clients.

Tip from ZWEBRA: your SMM ad should be brief, engaging, and straightforward enough for a user to make the decision instantly and proceed to target actions like purchasing, subscribing, following a link, leaving a comment, etc.

• VIDEO AND LIVE STREAMS

Videos are huge now on social networks. At least half of all mobile Internet user watch videos on a weekly basis. According to the data from Webmedia agency, video ad market is projected to grow 50% in 2018. Videos provide so much more than a regular text ad, and people seem to dig them.

Tip from ZWEBRA: we suggest you utilize live streams or reviews of your products. This will help you to introduce your brand to the potential customers in a quick and engaging way. Also, videos are an excellent means of increasing your brand loyalty and keeping in touch with your current fans and clients.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and go live - there’s never a bullet-proof strategy. Just go out there and show what you got. Remember to be sincere and passionate about what you do - people could always tell the difference between the fake and genuine.

• NEW TECHNOLOGIES: AR & VR

Contrary to what common users may think, augmented reality (AR) is more than just a nifty tool only worth for Snapchat selfies or mobile games. In fact, Facebook has announced the upcoming release of Facebook Spaces, a virtual reality (VR) social network.

Though it is unlikely to come out in 2018, it sends a clear message - AR and VR technologies are here to stay, and it’s a matter of time until we put them to proper use.

Tip from ZWEBRA: social networks are more than just a marketing tool - people use them for communication and entertainment. Don’t get too serious and allow some funny smileys and face lenses.

• INFLUENCER MARKETING

A US-based online marketing company Linqia has recently conducted a research suggesting that influencer marketing is going to be one of major SMM trends in 2018. Chances are you’ve seen influencer marketing in action when noticing how some Instagram blogger or celebrity more or less openly promoted a certain product.

Influencer marketing campaigns are often highly successful, and the trend is only going to continue growing - in the post-industrial world, consumers are looking up to other consumers when it comes to making their decisions.

Tip from ZWEBRA: if you have never used influencer marketing to promote your own products, you should definitely give it a try - the biggest challenge is to find the right influencer for your target audience.

• FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM

Facebook and Instagram are the two most popular social networks in the world right now as they have the largest audience. That’s why SMM specialists at our studio concentrate their efforts mainly on these networks.

Instagram Stories (a service released by Instagram in 2016) has garnered so much love from fans that by the end of 2018 almost a half of Instagram users are going to be posting their stories.

Now is the best time to integrate Facebook and Instagram into your marketing strategy to get access to the full range of promotion tools.

Tip from ZWEBRA: you should definitely use stories, run polls, and experiment with masks. Keep an eye out for anything new that’s released by Instagram.

Always keep track of your stats to get insights and see what interests your audience the most. All the stats are available in the business-profile (you can switch to it in Settings).

Facebook is right up there with Instagram inventing more methods of communication. The company keeps working on their photo recognition project, which is going to be able to recognize various objects on photos. Considering the fact that visual content always works better than texts, it ought to be a major breakthrough.

Many of the trends from the previous year have continued into 2018, including:

✓ Facebook is still the leader in terms of audience and revenue;
✓ Instagram is catching up pretty quickly - it continues to grow fast in North American and Europe;
✓ LinkedIn has been offering more advertising possibilities for its users;
✓ Twitter, on the other hand, is slowly losing its positions and trend is most likely to continue in 2018.

There are still a lot of new tools and technologies that are still being tested and have been released yet. Who knows, maybe, one of them could revolutionize the whole industry like it happened many times before.

When choosing a marketing studio to handle your SMM campaign, you should carefully develop your SMM strategy and break it down into several stages in order to make the subsequent promotion easier.