Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2018. The whole article is a forecast for 2018. Its figures are from then, including Facebook with just over 2 billion users (about 3 billion by the mid-2020s), organic reach below 10% and physical shops still outselling online stores.
Did social media sales strategies pay off in 2017? What social media trends should we be ready for in 2018? We look at the changes that have taken place, and are still taking place, in the way business is done online.
For now, purchases in physical shops still beat the ones we make online, but the growth of online sales shows it’s only a matter of time before e-commerce overtakes bricks-and-mortar retail.
The social media trends from 2018 onwards
Facebook has passed 2 billion users. That means a third of the planet is on the social network, making it the biggest and most important one when it comes to drawing up a sales strategy. In fact, ad spending by advertisers who want to reach users’ feeds has multiplied, giving the social network the power to raise ad prices.
In other words, the clear trend is rising costs for Facebook Ads, because in a sense they have enough demand, and we’ll see why in a moment.
The future is video
Facebook knows it, and that’s why it is betting on bringing video into its social network, in an attempt to compete with YouTube, the biggest video platform around right now and the second most used search engine after Google.
Teenagers want video. And teenagers make up the largest share of social media users today, as well as being companies’ potential customers of the future.
See also: YouTubers are losing millions because of Facebook
That’s why companies’ strategies involve “manufacturing” videos that reach users and get shared. And that’s why firms that produce and edit videos for companies are undoubtedly among the businesses set for significant growth.
Cisco estimates that more than 80% of internet users will be users looking to watch video. In fact, video is starting to dominate on Facebook, as it is on Instagram and even on LinkedIn and Twitter.
The future is mobile
Every website should be designed for mobile devices far more than for desktop computers, because the trend is clear. The mobile phone has already become the most used device for browsing, so any business that wants to sell online needs a site perfectly adapted to smartphones.
We’ll need to trade beauty and decoration on our websites for simplicity and usability.
Facebook becomes a pay-to-play platform for businesses
Say goodbye to organic reach on social media. We have noticed for some time how Facebook’s algorithm has been adjusted to the point where posts no longer organically reach even 10% of a page’s fans.
It’s very likely that in 2018 the organic reach of posts will only get to 2% of users, and it’s said that Facebook’s plan is to take it down to 0%. In other words, to put an end to organic reach in the feed.
Put another way: if you want to reach your followers on Facebook, you’re going to have to pay for each one of them. This could spark a good debate about whether Facebook is doing the right thing, since it’s something that could come back to bite it later on.
Facebook doesn’t distinguish between companies that use it to sell and media companies that only use the platform to share their articles.
Will users be happy that posts from the pages they want to follow no longer reach their feeds, while a whole stream of posts that only try to sell them something does?
But Facebook is still the most profitable platform for an advertising strategy
Most companies don’t have the budget to put together a good Facebook advertising strategy, but the truth is they are probably spending money on other, less effective kinds of advertising.
Facebook is very effective at reaching specific users by interests, gender and age. In other words, if you want your product to reach 1,000 people in your city who have cats, like football and support Real Madrid, Facebook is ideal for getting your product in front of that kind of user. Right now, money invested in Facebook, when you know what you’re doing, is money well spent.
So entrepreneurs have an excellent business opportunity here too: setting up a company with expertise in creating effective ad campaigns for small businesses.
Marketing in milliseconds
These days, basic social media tasks are usually automated already. Many of these tasks involve scheduling the best moment for a post so it has a better chance of being shared.
But in 2018, artificial intelligence and other tools are expected to boost sales and customer conversion, not only by picking the ideal moment for a post but also by finding the exact words that make it more appealing.
What used to be laid out on a table full of creative people, who took days or weeks to shape the final idea, can now be done by an algorithm in a few seconds.
All we know is that change will be constant
It’s hard to predict trends accurately, but if there’s one thing we can predict accurately, it’s that the trend will be constant change and the ongoing need for companies to adapt for their business to survive.
The mission of social media
What was once a mission to communicate with people and bring the whole world together has turned into something that goes beyond the values of sharing and adding value.
The mission of social media is now simpler: to take as much money as possible from advertisers. Facebook has gone from being the world’s biggest social network to becoming the world’s biggest commercial network, which matters to you as a company or entrepreneur, and you should see it as an excellent business opportunity. The return on your advertising investment will be higher than ever.
And those are the social media trends that big companies and small businesses alike need to keep an eye on.
See also: The businesses of the future and the industries that will create jobs
