Social media is in a constant state of change. This has been especially true in the last year alone and it can be challenging for fresh produce marketers to keep up. At DMA, our social media specialists scour the web and social platforms year-round looking for trends and ways to improve how we connect our brands to their online audiences. From what we’ve seen and experienced in the past few months, these are the most important trends sweeping the social media space that we want fresh produce marketers to be aware of.
Live Streaming
Arguably the most eminent trend on this list is the adoption of live streaming on social media. Twitter’s brainchild Periscope is battling it out with Facebook Live and Meerkat for dominance in the field, with 10 million downloads in less than a year! Plus, Facebook picking up the live streaming trend gives a certain level of credibility to the movement. In the words of Wired, “Live video is must-see-TV in a unique way.” Marketers- take note. Live streaming appeals to the human desire to live out certain events vicariously through other people- whether that’s through a celebrity’s eyes on a red carpet or a new product launch. A major trend takeaway from this: ‘Real time’ is getting even realer.
Visual Search Tools
Ever fall in love with something on Pinterest only to realize you have no idea where to find it in real life, or even know what it’s called? Well, now Pinterest has a tool that lets users “find all of those things they don’t have words to describe.” With this new feature, users can find exactly what they’re looking for by simply tapping the search tool in the corner and zooming in on the product they want. Users can even filter their visual search results by topic, for added ease. With over 100 million active users on Pinterest, this innovative new ability will transform the way people Pin in 2016, and pave the way for more social platforms and search engines to follow suit.
Advertising
Advertising reached new levels on social media in 2015, and will expand even more in 2016. Advertisers on social media will continue to utilize native ads, which appear on social platforms just as standard updates from your followers would. The use of sponsored posts- key elements on Twitter and Facebook- are now available on Instagram (here’s how). This is a game changer for Instagram’s marketing prowess in 2016, and will ramp up the platform’s value in terms of driving web traffic for brands. Advertising will also become more throttled and targeted than it currently is, in order to accommodate the increasing number of ads.
E-Commerce
This year, e-commerce sales generated over $300 billion in the U.S. alone. In 2016, this number is expected to rise exponentially. In 2016, retailers are expected to begin staffing their online stores the same way they staff their physical stores- with virtual sales forces. These online salespeople will be trained to sell and assist customers with live help and questions before the customer even buys the product. Mobile e-commerce will be an especially hot topic in the e-commerce conversation in 2016. The Multi-Channel Merchant predicted that by 2017, U.S. customer’s mobile engagement will drive mobile commerce revenue in the U.S. to 50% of U.S. digital commerce revenue.
Social media is an effective way to reach shoppers for many retailers, so it’s no surprise that brands will strive to lasso these audiences into their online stores. With the demographics and location targeting features of social media platforms like Facebook, boosting e-commerce visibility through promoted posts, special deals and more is a no-brainer sales tool.
We anticipate that social media will change just as rapidly in 2016 as it did in 2015. We would love to hear about any trends you see emerge in the next 12-18 months! And if you’re looking for more ways to boost your social media performance in 2016, you can download this free guide to creating social content from our DMA experts.
