By Judith Lee

It’s not too soon to take a look ahead to social media trends for 2017. January 1 is only 2 ½ months away!

Social media has become part of the routine all over the world. It is estimated that globally, 66% of adults log on to Facebook every day. Considering that the global population sits at a hefty 7+ billion people, this is a huge opportunity that companies can make use of.

Social media has grown into a marketing juggernaut that puts most other methods of sales to shame.

Social Media Growth

Networking through this medium has seen a meteoric rise in the past decade. Forecasts support even further growth in the coming years. Humans are social creatures and this push to connect has been the key to social media developing at this pace.

Employees are Beacons for their Brand

Truly “connected” companies are encouraging employees to share business updates. This is because brands have now started turning to employees as brand ambassadors to further their brand image. Using employee social advocacy programs has grown about 191% since 2013

This is because employees already have a connected audience. When you pull this off correctly, it can be much more effective at enticing engagement. Consider utilizing tools like Social Toaster to turn your team into a passionate group of social advocates.

Real-Time Engagement

Companies are running effective client support programs through social media – and consumers expect this. Statistics show that 72% of Twitter users expect responses from brands they follow within the hour.

Not surprisingly, major brands are investing heavily into cross-functional social media teams that can keep abreast with the increasing number of client pings every day. Eventually, most brands will have shifted client service entirely to their own social media accounts.

Analytics Drive Decisions

Much earlier, social media was more of a hit-or-miss when it came to marketing aspects and relied on “gut feeling” a lot. These days though, social media analytics has gotten more powerful, comprehensive and easier to use for the average Joe. Statistics will play an even more important role in the days to come.

There are a variety of different social analytics tools that can cater to several popular social media platforms like Buffer, Followerwonk, Iconosquare and Google Analytics to name a few. Most of them are free – and you KNOW I love free!

Social Video Wins Again

Get this – Snapchat has over 10 billion daily views on its video content. This exceeds even YouTube, a website that is built on showcasing video content and straight double of their last year numbers. Mark Zuckerberg has predicted that in just a few years, all Facebook content will be video.

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Judith Lee is a marketing and communications professional who focuses on social media and email marketing based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a SCORE Volunteer and the Chair of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at 610-368-2058 or via email at judithlee@epix.net.

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Top photo credit: Visual Content Social Media Butterflies via photopin (license)