(This is Part 2 of a look-ahead to social media trends in 2016. some social media trends content we’ve published on the Buffer blog. The Part 1 includes some cool trends like Social Media E-commerce, Social Media at Work, and Messaging & Chat Apps.)
Big, new things:
- Emoji responses
Instead of the simple “like,” we may soon be able to respond with haha, wow, angry, love, etc. Marketers should still be able to track interactions on their content (and maybe even get loads more interactions with this new world of possibilities).
2. 360° video
Video marketers rejoice! There’s this big new world of immersive video coming. 360° video is already a thing on YouTube, and Facebook is exploring other interactive video options. Here’s a sample:
3. Livestreaming
Periscope and Meerkat seem to have just been the tip of the iceberg. Most every platform is now looking toward livestreaming as a new type of content: Facebook has its own, Google+ is getting there too.
4. Social media customer service
Here’s a shocking stat:
A new study of 500 top retailers shows that only 20% answer questions sent via Twitter and 54% respond via Facebook. And the average response time ranges from 27–31 hours!
Expect a renewed focus on this in 2016, along with support-specific apps like SparkCentral and Respond (← a new one from us here at Buffer!).
5. “Everything platforms”
This quote from Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite, talks about a new concept of “everything platforms”:
Twitter isn’t just for blasting out 140-character updates anymore: It’s for one-on-one messaging, video-sharing, customer service and more. Facebook isn’t just about connecting with friends: It’s now (or soon to be) a workplace productivity tool, a video sharing and streaming platform, a place to shop, etc. Similar transformations can be seen across LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat, among other networks. Social media has become less a discrete thing that people do than a natural component of everything they do. And that trend shows no signs of slowing.
