Social Media has been evolving each year with new improvements and technologies being innovated constantly. The look into the future for social media is very interesting based on past findings and knowledge.
Now, we call marketing and advertising methods we see on social media, “social media marketing”, but I do think it will just eventually be known as our new method of advertising. Social media accounts will not just be a form of promoting a company or a way to guide traffic to a website but instead, keep users engaged on the platforms. According to a Business 2 Community article, “The Future of Social Media: 32 Experts Share their 2018 Predictions”, Global Keynote Marketing Speaker and The Drum Columnist, Samuel Scott says that “there is no such thing as social media marketing or doing social media. Those phrases make as much sense as saying television marketing or doing television” (Abbott).
Looking back on my post on Influencer Marketing, I believe that the future looks bright for these new “celebrities”. Modern day consumers on social media, Gen Z’s and Millennials would now prefer content coming from sources they trust or follow on their platforms. A celebrity, influencer, or any person that is looked up to, has pushed major purchasing decisions with companies. More and more businesses will realize the power in these social media stars and influencer marketing strategies. With new technologies on the rise for the future, it will go into helping influencers use more tools to satisfy and appeal to their audiences. Influencers with blogs will continue to post more stories and sponsored posts as well as incorporate them into their everyday lives.
This Forbes video on Micro-Influencers, it explained the meaning behind the word and how important it is for the future. Ariana Pierce, states that she “believes micro influencers receive more engagement because they come off as more relatable”. People can relate to these people and can be apart of that connected group of community of whichever theme or subject the account is related to. Whether it is a mom blog, fashion instagram, makeup, fitness, etc. , they all have a related following of people that want to be connected and influenced in that group. They are smaller than someone with the higher title of an “influencer”, with over 1 million followers. Micro-influencers say that they have the ability to read all of their direct messages and respond back to most. Michelle April Carigma, a fitness micro-influencer has partnered up with Finish Line and Adidas to promote their activewear and film herself working out in their line. The future of micro-influencers looks very promising for brands to gain more trust from that authenticity and smaller following.
People enjoy viewing a review or a rating on a video, screen, or worn in a photo, before they purchase. This “try on” feature helps with purchasing and marketing entirely.
Companies like Ray Ban have already implemented this “try on” feature, but I think more brands will integrate this with everything on websites. Consumers want that reassurance to know if the product, for example, Sunglasses, will look good on them and suit their needs before purchasing.
Looking at social media networks, Pinterest also implemented the try on feature on January 28, 2020 to allow users to try many products before they shop from retailers. For example, it first started out with lipstick try ons before shopping at Sephora, bareMinerals, NYX, Lancome, etc. Pinterest users can open the “lens” in search, then click the feature, “Try it” to look through different shades.
Pinterest says the feature is meant to draw in users who come to the application for the mission of shopping and looking for products to buy. With all of the technology surrounding Snapchat and Instagram filters being created and used, I predict that try on technology will be implemented throughout all brands.
“Almost half of internet users follow brands they like or brands they are thinking of buying something from” – Social Video Trends Report
For an influencer’s brand presence in the future or for a brand to ensure the influencer is right for their company, they will both need artificial intelligence and machine learning. Machine learning will help for deep analysis on social medias to find the influencers that fit their brand’s mission and digital media presence. In the future, AI algorithms will grow for brands to look into what type of influencers their consumers follow or brand DNA.
More companies will be implementing storytelling in the future with their social media channels. Many influencers, users, and brands have used storytelling on stories that just last 24 hours to make it more authentic. It helps brands show testing and discoverability for products. For example, Everlane used this strategy by traveling with their products to locations around the world and testing them in a storytelling, chronological way. They had young filmmakers wear their new puffer jacket in Canada through ice caves to see how warm they were in the frigid temperatures. These filmmakers took over the Everlane’s Instagram stories and posts, capturing their adventures and shared (live) how warm they were inside the caves. It was fun, entertaining, and an effective style of marketing that connects the brand with its followers, consumers, and future customers.
It is also very easy to see how much video has grown over the course of a decade with an audience demand continuing to skyrocket. Video has become a medium for us to easily learn more information, much more effectively and faster. People are typing out less messages and have gone into sending videos, audios, facetiming, or sending each-other filters. I have seen much more live videos with influencers and brands, and the double live on Instagram. There will also be more IGTV content on Instagram for companies.
IGTV brings a change in the way people view the media and allows to transform how brands, influencers, and consumers interact on Instagram. It gives users the ability to upload videos that are much longer than a regular post and IGTV paves the way for its mobile video viewing besides the landscape view of Youtube. Along with the rise of influencers, demand of influencers for brands, comes a major rise and growth with IGTV content. After an update for IGTV that changed the videos to be in a preview mode on their feeds before viewing, Sephora’s videos went from 60 to 80k views per video to over 1.7 million.
According to Statista’s study of mobile e-commerce, 2020 is predicted to have mobiel eCommerce purchases made up 70.4% of all total e-commerce sales.
Consumers like the freedom of accessing what they want, when they want and the overall ability to engage as well. Video media is now in the hands of every single phone user in the world and has a foreseekable future for brands. Technology on Instagram, and many other social medias is helping companies with the business to consumer drive.
“We continue to see a shift toward live content that is composed through a camera. The camera keeps growing in important and the ability to see through other people’s lenses in real time is becoming a powerful force in social media (Chiaruain).” Jay Singh, CEO of PHL Venture Company Having a camera embedded inside every phone is now a given in 2020 and the access to this high quality capture is much easier. Here, brands like Sephora are going live on Instagram to create a sense of urgency, give users a chance to interact with the brand through the live comments, and have the brand feel closer to YOU!
Overall, more and more brands will incorporate vide, influencer marketing, and artifical intelligence strategies across social media channels, which will call for more technological advancements in the future. I truly believe that within each new year we all face, comes new advancements with social media that blows my mind. I look forward to seeing how social media interfaces will improve and change our lives.
Thank you so much for reading my personal learning journal! I am very sad that this is my last post but I truly enjoyed the experience of writing for you all and sharing my knowledge of social media.
Signing Off!
Maisy Cutler
Abbott, Erica. “The Future of Social Media: 32 Experts Share Their 2018 Predictions.” Business 2 Community, Business 2 Community , 11 Dec. 2017, http://www.business2community.com/social-media/future-social-media-32-experts-share-2018-predictions-01973207.
Chiaruáin, Anna Ní “What Will Social Media Look Like in the Future?” LogoGrab Blog, LogoGrab Blog, 15 Feb. 2019, blog.logograb.com/social-media-future/.
Social Media Maisy 