Social Media Trends That Will Boost Your Business Campaign

social media trends. Social media campaign | Blog Post | Internet Ideators Digital Marketing Agency - Buffalo, NY https://internetideators.com

Note: 30 Social Media Campaign Secrets was updated to reflect the latest Social Media Trends


Social Media Trends are ever-evolving, and they improve the way we connect with the everyday world.

If you are a social media marketer, then you will agree when I say that you can’t have a successful social media marketing campaign unless you can keep up with the latest social media trends.

This can seem like a daunting challenge at times, since social media is always changing.

  • How do social media trends start?
  • Do you know how to monitor social media trends?
  • What about how to analyse social media trends?
  • Where do you find social media trends and useful statistics on them?
  • Do you know how to follow social media trends?

Well, we are here to help you answer all of these common questions!

Now, you are probably worrying how social media campaign trends has effected the success of your plans. You poured a lot of time, energy, and efforts into it, but it’s failing because your social media marketing tactics quickly became dated.

That’s because you are not keeping up with the latest social media trends and news.

If that sounds like you, then keep reading.

It’s vital that you understand how to create a social campaign. This requires staying updated on current social media trends. You can only do this with extensive research on the fundamentals of social media marketing, and by keeping your ear out for changing social media trends and issues.

In this article, we’re going to discuss 11 social media trends that willimprove your social media campaigns. Also, we will explain what are social media trendswhat’s a social media campaign, and how you can use it to grow your business by keeping up with the latest social media trends for the future.

Additionally, we’re going to reveal technical secrets that will help your business keep up with your competition and improve your business in a dramatic way.

Here’s the deal:

You need to know why social media trends are important for marketing.

Understanding current social media trends will help you reach your audience better. Obviously, that will improve your social media marketing campaign.

Most importantly, applying these practices will help you find success, building a base that will serve your customers, your brand, and of course, your bottom line.

Let’s begin!

Simply put, social media trends are popular tactics that are used to capture audiences.

Throughout this article you will discover the latest social media trends.

So keep reading if you want to know what are some social media trends that can help your business.

What is a Social Media Campaign?

A social media campaign is a marketing effort that aligns with the latest social media trends and assists with a business goal, using one or more social media platforms. Social media affects fashion trends, and social media influences food trends.

Today, social media trends for millennials aggregate opinions, beliefs, hopes, fears and buying habits better than any diagnostic tool in human history, due to the willingness of young people to share both their most simple and most important thoughts.

Social medial campaigns differ from everyday social media efforts, because they are rooted in old-school marketing and focus more on targeting and data.

Many of your clients are online right now. They are fooling around online, in social channels with their friends, colleagues, and other brands. They are also defining new social media trends as we speak.

Naturally, these potential customers are in search of entertainment, amusement, reviews, and more. They also want events and products to consume.

Of course, if your company is not around to answer, then a rival certainly will be. In doing so, your competitors will most likely take away the client at hand, along with anyone else listening.

This is why you need to stay on top of the latest social media trends, and work them into you social media campaign. We are here to show you how to spot social media trends, and incorporate them into your plans.

social media campaign for social media trends

Capture Your Company’s Voice and Share it With the World

Because so many of us use social media, social media marketing (SSM) allows any business to spread their voice and grow, because they can easily reach all parts of the world.

Using social media tools opens unique opportunities in all other channels of inbound marketing, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), branding, public relations, sales, and more.

To get the most out of social media, make the friendships you build with it your end goal.

You see, the bonds built with clients are the base upon which all other aspects of your business can and will flourish, through the use of a social media campaign.

Of course, we cannot just send you down to the social media store and have you stock up on social media trends. So, how to find social media trends? Fortunately, they are all around us. Unfortunately, they are difficult to discern until they are full-blown and viral, or even passed and subsiding.

Currently, some say there users are trending away from Facebook, but the company has begun an aggressive campaign to attract newer users among older, non-tech baby boomers. Who can say what trends that trend may lead to.

Now that we covered the basics, let’s review those social media trends for business. 

Social media is trending and isn’t going out of style any time soon. As the need for social media in business and marketing becomes stronger over time, more and more firms are hiring teams of people to manage their social media, create campaigns, and stay up to date on the latest social media trends for marketing.

Setting up a social media campaign is easy. However, managing a good social media campaign requires some hard work.

Social Media is based on Engagement. For that reason, it is time-consuming.

Managing a social media campaign is a full-time job. Therefore, you may need a full-time employee or an internet marketing agency that’s competent in copy-writing content, photography, video editing, design and graphics, and data analysis. These are some of the social media tools and skills that you’ll want.

In addition, managing a good social media campaign means you must know your audience, so you can maximize your marketing efforts. You also need to Be Human. It probably sounds obvious, but this is an important part of today’s social media trends.

Certainly, human engagement is where the magic is. In fact, keeping that in mind as you’re developing your brand will help you craft a voice that’s solid and cohesive. Consequently, that voice is what users can connect and build relationships with. You know, like people.

Because of this, you must stay well-versed about social media trends and tactics, so you can manage a successful social media campaign and grow your business. Be on the lookout for social media trends that died, so you can avoid outdated tactics.

2. Mastering All Platforms is Out (Less is More)

Since there are many types of social channels, it was a trend for entities to have a presence on every social platform out there. Of course, you probably know why this trend is no longer popular. Social media trends change all the time and this is a great example of that.

It’s a lot of work, using all social media platforms to promote your business or website.

Therefore, it doesn’t make much sense, unless you have decided to fully invest in each one of them. In most cases, the input is not worth the output.

social media campaign

Instead of having many social media accounts with little or no activity, what’s trending now is companies working with only 2 or 3 social media platforms to best reach their audience.

This works better, because a business can engage with their audiences better. With a little research, companies are finding where their audiences like to hang out, and focusing on the top 3 platforms that best reach their target audience.

This trend will likely stick around for a while. We think this is one of the social media trends that will dominate in 2019 and beyond, since most companies are averse to using resources without some payback or benefit. By streamlining their digital footprint, companies get more bang for their buck.

Listening Skills

Additionally, you must take a monitor and listen approach when managing a social media campaign. Specifically, you must audit social channels as often as you can, so you won’t miss meaningful conversations across the web. As you monitor, genuinely listen to what your customers say. This is the only way to stay abreast of social media trends for each day.

A silly joke or meme about air travel is normally harmless. However, it would have been insanely cruel, and probably harmful for a business, on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, for example. Effective listening will prevent mistakes like this.

Social listening data provides endless insights for brands and companies who are willing to listen. This can be your product feedback channel, and your customer service hotline. It may even act as an early warning system, if things go awry.

Today, people only seem to care about content that is valuable. It make sense, right? Why would you waste your time reading something that’s not worthy of your time. Valuable content is trending. Until recently, people would create meaningless, spam-like content, just to rank higher in search engines. They didn’t care about the reader’s needs or interests, and search engines today filter out such content. This applies to social media, too. Crappy content doesn’t get far.

Why was valuable content not a part of social media trends from the beginning? It really improves the end user’s experience on social media. This is one of the biggest social media trends to work on, since we do not expect it to go away any time soon.

The greatest value of a social media campaign is its ability to attract and engage other people, especially if something goes viral. To do that, you must offer your audience valuable, free content.

4. Online Social Media Communities are Sprawling

Businesses are building communities and adding followers at an increasing rate. This trend happens because companies are getting to know their audiences better, by finding their interests and adding valuable content.

“Did THIS work? Do more of THAT.”

Firms today have access to authentic resources related to their niche, in their audience’s favorite hangouts like Facebook. Audiences love this because business can now create great places for engagement, and they are making news-feeds more valuable and interesting. The social media trends toward more entertaining content has no end in sight.

Think about it: How much time would you spend on Social Media if it was only filled with meaningless memes?

Building online communities also build up authority for your brand within your industry. Why wouldn’t this be a trend since it’s valuable for growing businesses.

Over time, you’ll find your customers increasingly trusting what you say, and coming back to you for resources that can help them solve their own challenges. Heck, you may even find yourself lending a hand to a competitor in your posts.

With that said, you can always ask for help. This is especially true if you want your community to help or participate in a particular way. Sometimes asking is a simple solution. If you’ve earned their allegiance by building value into the relationship, then you can ask for almost anything. Surveys? Ratings and reviews? Fans enjoy engaging with the brands that they love. Maybe you need help supporting or sharing a new program or piece of content. If you’ve made the relationship investment, then they will often gladly reciprocate.

We’re not through yet. Up next is another tip to help marketers boost their social media campaigns. If you have no interest in marketing, skip ahead to 5 and continue reading social media trends.

You Must Earn Familiarity, Trust, and Likeability in your Online Community

Building a name around these three qualities is part of what goes into building brand loyalty. However, let’s think about this in a different way. Overall, how do you build a rapport offline or in person? By and large, building them online for your brand is not all that different.

How to Build Social Media Credit

Show up. Just being present is the first step. But it doesn’t stop there. Next, you must continue showing up. You must give people a reason for returning. If you don’t prove you’re going to stick around and post at least regularly, they don’t have any reason to connect with you.

Be human. Kind. Real. Funny. Respectful. Empathetic. Be all the things you would expect someone to be toward you in every interaction. No one can easily relate to a bland personality. If your effort feels automated and heartless, then you won’t come across as very friendly or believable.

Also remember, when you’re engaging with someone on social channels, it’s best to assume all interactions are completely public. Don’t be exclusionary. This creates balance in your relationships. You don’t want to treat a select few special and alienate others. Any outsiders, those new to your brand or account, will feel as if they’re on the outside, looking in. Strive to make every individual you interact with, and those watching, feel like they are special. Your customers ARE the in-crowd.

Go off-topic. This is closely related to being human. It is definitely okay to go off-topic now and again. If every Tweet or Facebook post is only your marketing info, people will tire of it, and then your audience will shrink. Turn it off occasionally. Post something that’s relevant, but perhaps only tangentially. Enjoy a joke now and again. Celebrate the holidays, sports championships, the passing seasons, and world events. No one likes constant, heavy-handed sales tactics.

All brands start in a similar unknown place, and the more you give, the more authority you’ll get back.

5. Integrating Email Marketing with Social Media

As you can see, social media trends right now are quite diverse, and this one is no different. Integrating email marketing with social media is also trending for many reasons. Just when you were thinking Email Marketing was dead, well, it’s not. Business gains more subscribers than ever today, by integrating email marketing services with their social media campaigns.

Email services like MailChimp have partnered with Facebook and other platforms, allowing your business to improve their marketing strategies. The best part? MailChimp is FREE to start!

This is great, because your business not only gain more subscribers, but you extend your email reach by having your followers share your emails, which can lead to more connections, clicks, and conversions. If you haven’t integrated email marketing with your social media campaign yet, you should start today. You’re missing out on all the fun!

If you are already wearing many hats, you can find someone on Fiverr who will help you manager your email marketing campaign, and even link it to your social media accounts, for an affordable price. But first, you need to know what email marketing service you are going to use.

We recommend that you read Best Email Services with a Free Trial to get started.

6. Social Media Jargon is Changing Our Communication

social media campaign

Okay, so almost every social media platform has its own language. Because of this trend, social media is changing the way we speak and communicate. The rules of engagement may differ slightly from site to site, as will the semantics, perhaps, but the fundamentals will remain unchanged regardless of the platform.

For example: You don’t Tweet on Facebook and you don’t “Like” on Instagram.

Imagine how uninteresting a social media site would be if it didn’t have it’s own language. Would you use Twitter if you couldn’t Tweet short sweet messages to your followers. Or Instagram, if you couldn’t fill your profile with selfies of yourself?

Probably not, and MySpace would still dominate many aspects of social media if these aspects weren’t developed.

If you want to be a successful social media marketer, it’s important that you keep up with trends, and use the appropriate language. Seek out a reputable social media trends blog. Find a social media trends newsletter you like. Print and hang up a social media trends infographic that will remind you of the basics. Practice makes perfect.

On that note: make sure you practice your social media etiquette. Do not spam hashtags, because brands have embarrassed themselves for this in the past. It will cast your brand in a disrespectful and distasteful light. Don’t be too pushy or forward, since you want to make a good first impression.

7. Building Brands Via Social Media

social media campaigns

As you may already know, branding is everything. Your social authority is vital, and effective branding can go a long way toward establishing your authority as a brand.

Doing this via social media is gaining popularity, because it provides you with exciting possibilities to express your brand and improve brand impressions. Through the use of great marketing and valuable content creation, you have endless opportunities to get your brand recognized by millions across the globe.

Sounds alluring enough, right?

This social media trend only requires that you make sure you place your logo on everything you create, from blog covers to videos.

Here is a bit of branding advice for Social Media Marketers, if you just want to keep reading social media trends, skip ahead to the next section.

Make Sure You Have Consistent Branding and Voice

Social media marketing and social media trends are an important component of branding. As you will see, there are many elements that go into a brand, both visual and otherwise.

Ultimately, what it becomes is your promise to your customers.

You define their experience of what your product or service tries to fulfill. A “brand” can feel like a very amorphous concept. You should consider the fact that your company’s brand adds tangible value to your organization.

When managed appropriately, it can help you protect the investments made in your business over time. How one determines the value of a brand is a somewhat complicated endeavor.

Most of us aren’t trying to compete with the most valuable global brands. However, there sure is a lot you can learn from them.

Sample Guidelines

  1. How your logo is represented.
  2. What fonts and colors can be used and in what manner.
  3. A full brand description and what it stands for.
  4. How the brand can and cannot be used in what Situations.
  5. Tone, voice, and manner guidelines.
  6. Other topographical and structural elements (primarily for advertisers).

If you do not already have brand guidelines developed, you’ll want to start there.

Once you have finished those with your marketing team, you’ll next need to address how they translate into social media. Most of the visual components (logos, colors, etc.) will remain the same. Most likely, you’ll want to make sure your social profiles have access to any relevant creative assets.

Engagement is Vital

Lastly, remember that engagement is important, because it is critical for a brand to be very present and active. Of course, that means responding to most user commentary and all questions. However, the volume of posts at this stage in the game should be manageable for most.  Most importantly, engagement means that you come from a solid, data-driven content strategy, applied to your social media campaign.

By looking at search queries and social conversations, you can begin to build the base of a solid content strategy. As you’re sharing this content throughout your community, you should collect data on how your audience reacts to it and engages with it. Consider all this data to be feedback on how you’re doing. You might re-evaluate the timing of your updates, and even the type of media you’re using. Perhaps the format or sentence structure you use (are you asking questions, making bold statements, etc.) aren’t effective. Therefore, you must keep striving to examine and refine your message.

Now back to social media trends.

8. Updates don’t last long.

The lifespan of a post is shorter now than ever before and this has been trending for some time now. This social media trend happens because it allows news-feeds to stay filled with fresh content. It also allows others to easily get their voice heard.

For most users, the lifespan of a tweet is around 18 minutes, and that is similar across other social media platforms. This number doesn’t suggest you should post more frequently. Instead, it reminds us that an update won’t remain visible for an extended amount of time. Users move on to more recent items in their news-feeds quite quickly.

Given that, the takeaway here is to keep an eye on how long your users are engaging and sharing something. More than anything, this is indicative of the quality of your content.

Again, though, it all depends on what is appropriate for your group. For example, news and media sites will update many times per day. Conversely, a clothing retailer cannot match this rhythm, and it would certainly turn users off. You don’t want to talk just for the sake of talking. If you don’t have anything of value to add, don’t post updates just to meet a quota. That said, you will need to make sure your account updates regularly enough to entice users to follow along. Out of site, out of mind. Also, you want them to know they could be missing out on some good stuff if they don’t stay in the loop.

9. Post are Simple

Trending in social media since the dawn of Facebook are simple posts. This social media trend has paved the way for many other social platforms to emerge, such as Twitter and Instagram.

Too many options may as well be no options.

Today, people just don’t have long attention spans, nor the patience to read more than a few sentences at a time. This is why simple posts will remain popular for a very long time.

10. Cross-Promoting Content Builds Awareness

Companies and marketers are cross-promoting their content. This allows their users to keep up with their products, and businesses can maintain brand awareness. Since social media is known to grow businesses, this trend isn’t going out of style any time soon.

To keep up with this trend, make sure you publish your content across platforms, because there’s nothing worse for a user than not being able to find your content.

Cross-promotion is an easy way to help keep that from happening. Just make sure you change things up every once in a while.  Think about it. Why would a customer need to or want to follow you on Twitter, if they already follow you on Facebook? Make sure you give them a reason.

Additionally, write content about what you’re doing that is interesting, and highlight it on your blog.

11. Gamifying – Mixing Game-Like Elements with Social Media

Lastly, this social media trend is recently becoming popular. That is because people enjoy competition and being rewarded for achievements. Therefore, adding game-like elements into your marketing mix may win followers.

When it comes to social media trends, gamifying the way we interact certainly changes the “social media game,” making it a more fun experience.

Foursquare is one example of this, moving its users through mayorships and badges. It’s quite popular with their users.

You can identify ways to inspire your own community that align with your business goals, making your brand fun. This can be a great way to increase the number of answers your community is providing in a help forum. Add levels and achievements for answering questions, for high-quality answers, or for sharing out unanswered questions. Match up behavior and goals with reward systems.

Companies like Badgeville have products that can help you use virtual rewards. These efforts can build on your existing social marketing campaign, increasing sentiment, retention, and loyalty, all while decreasing churn, acquisition expense, and customer service costs.

Because social media trends come and go, we’re going to have to keep an eye on this one.

Further Advice For Managing a Successful Social Media Campaign

Make sure you set goals, and measure them.

One thing is certain: the assessment of useful, measurable data leads to better planning and more efficient budget allocation. Solid data is what makes your case compelling. Without it, you’re basing decisions and pitches on assumptions and instinct. Those can be helpful, but by measuring first, you can take your social media campaign to the next level.

Metrics and Measurements

You should know that there are two kinds of data that you can look at, quantitative data and qualitative data. How, you might ask, do you strike a balance? The key is finding the right things to measure.

Let us help you out.

When you’re measuring quantitative data, you should look for numbers, since quantitative reporting (quantity) is generally numeric in nature. Look for the things you can count in numbers. For qualitative data, we are talking about observations and evaluation. We can Quantitatively track how many comments were made, and Qualitatively ask how many were positive vs. negative.

Here are Five quantitative measurements you must track on social media to gain success:

  • Increases (or Decreases) in Followers/Fans: This is one of the most common metrics we see brands tracking. Be sure you’re not placing too much weight on this one. It may be gratifying to see growth, but if it’s not tied to something more meaningful, then it’s just a number.
  • Engagement: This metric is incredibly meaningful, and perhaps one of the most important in measuring your own efforts and successes. Engagement can measure a host of different items. These different metrics combine to give you a sense for how well your audience is responding to your contentEngagement tells you how well you’re doing, having conversations with your community, and how interested your audience is in the content you create.
  • Timing: Look at the timing of your community’s activity compared to your own. You want to ensure that you are active when they are. This is often overlooked, since many accounts are only active during business hours, but that isn’t always when your customers are listening.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Click through rate is a familiar metric for most Internet marketers. It can be valuable for your social media campaign as well, especially if one of your goals happens to be driving traffic back to your website.
  • Share of Voice: Between you and your competitors: Share of Voice measures how much of the conversation with target consumers your brand owns, versus your competitors. Naturally, looking at Share of Voice over time will show who has gained or lost ground with your consumers.

Of course, these are just a few types of quantitative measurements that can be taken. One of the great things about social media is that, because it happens online, many things can be tracked and measured in a quantitative form.

Qualitative Data

Qualitative data is just as important. It’s based on observations, and it often takes the form of hypotheses that stem from smaller sample sizes than you’d normally need for a true scientific study. These hypotheses can then be tested using quantitative data. Think of “quality” when collecting qualitative data, and look for things that add meaning and value to your hard numbers.

Quantitative reporting might tell you how many times your brand has been mentioned in social media, but qualitative reporting will look at “why” your company was getting those mentions. What were people saying? Was the message consistent with your brand’s desired image? These are the questions that Qualitative reporting answers.

Here are three qualitative measurements you must track on social media to gain success.

  • Influence: This one’s a bit controversial. Everyone wants to find their community’s influencers and authoritative voices, but there is currently no universal standard for measuring influence or finding those people. There are several tools available that offer “influence scores.” (Klout and Social Authority are popular ones.)
  • Sentiment: Attempts to measure the tone and tenor of a conversation around a stated topic or item related to your brand measures Sentiment. In social media marketing, this is largely used to tell if people love, dislike, or are neutral about your brand or campaign.
  • Conversation Drivers: With the right tools, such as text analytics, we can look at nearly any platform (or all of them for that matter) and see what people are talking about. When it comes to your brand, you’ll want to know the topics and context of conversations about you, your competition, and your niche.

With any data you’re collecting, whether it be quantitative or qualitative, the most important things to ask yourself are “What can I do with this?” and “What are the insights?” If you can’t do anything with your data, and you’re not gleaning actionable business takeaways from it, then you should question why you’re measuring it in the first place.

Crisis Management

We hope that you are never faced with a crisis as a business. Certainly, social media can add an extra layer to such situations. Unfortunately, a real-world incident can be amplified by social networks, casting a shadow over everything you say. Customer service issues can smolder and quickly spread through social platforms, leading to “bad press”. At the same time, though, social networks can be a wonderful way to practice transparency. As a matter of fact, the best way to fight chaos is with clarity. When Buffer, a social sharing app, was hacked in late 2013, they implemented this type of response. Their blog, and the comments below it, are a testament to the benefits of open dialogue through social channels.

When thinking about crisis management, all companies should always be in one of the following four stages:

Preparation: Understanding risks, building out escalation processes, draft responses, roles and responsibilities, training, etc.

Response and measurement: Responding if necessary, following up, measuring and monitoring reach, volume, etc.

Recovery: Typically consists of more measurement, follow up, case-studies, and knowledge sharing throughout the organization.

Prevention: Analysis of crisis and existing procedures, to identify opportunities for improvement, and acknowledge what worked well.

When in crisis mode, first you must work to find out the level of severity. Secondly, you must find potential risks, and escalate accordingly. In essence, you must work through the crisis by listening intently, showing empathy and transparency, and correcting whatever had been done wrong. Later, examining the impact and pulling insight from the situation can help the organization heal, move forward, and gain traction toward a strong preventative posture.

That was our list of social media trends. We hope that you are able to apply what you learned here today to your own social media campaign, so that you can improve your marketing skills and grow your business.

Using social media trends to improve your social media campaigns is the best way to connect your business with your clients and fans in an immediate, intimate way.

This can exponentially increase traffic and sales. As shown above, finding the right sites for your business to make a push on should take careful consideration. However, you must plan to post at least daily, if not several times a day.

Finally, with a solid strategy and steady execution, you will see great gains from your social media campaign.

None of this will happen for you overnight. Basically, an investment in these relationships is ultimately a long-term investment in your community and brand. Therefore, keep it up, and be patient. The more you invest, the more you’ll get back from your social media campaign .

We hope you found this article insightful. Do you apply any of these social media trends to your campaigns?

How do you feel about integrating email marketing in your social media campaigns? 

Either way let us know what you think in the comment section below.