It's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out in the virtual world of social media, but especially so if you're a late comer to new trends .
In 2012 it was easy to get your photos on Instagram's discovery page where you could get hundreds of followers within a few minutes. Today Instagram has over 400 Million active users - to stand out and get hundreds of followers is almost mission impossible.
If you spot new trends or fast growing social networks and quickly adopt them, your chances of building both reach and influence will be significantly higher.
On the other hand, if you miss an emerging trend and try to catch it later, your chances of success are a lot lower. Even with big marketing budgets it's quite hard to close the gap between early adopters and newcomers.
For example, Nike joined Instagram in its early days in 2011 and now has 43 Million followers and up to 700K likes per post without any paid media. Adidas joined he platform a few years later and is now struggling behind it's main competitor with only 8 Million followers.
There's so much noise in the digital world, and trendspotting is all about finding and adapting to the right signals that fit your business objectives.
The following video highlights some of the key signals that currently stand out in the ever changing world of social media marketing. It's a useful tool for anyone who would like to demonstrate the trends in an engaging format.
Key Trends
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Online video is growing fast and in 2016 it's going to be huge - 360 Videos, live streaming, virtual reality, augmented reality , Snap Stories, and even gif's are all fast growing trends. To adopt these trends, you need to experiment with these video formats and test what fit's best your audience.
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Social sales and social ads - You might have heard social ads are for awareness only. That trend is long gone.Social network ad spending will reach $29 billion worldwide in 2016. The main driver and winner is Facebook. The Social Network announced recently that they now have more than 3 million active advertisers on the platform.
- Customer interface - "Uber, the world's largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world's most popular media owner, creates no content. And Airbnb, the world's largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening" - Tom Goodwin
What about your industry?
How is your user interface doing? Are you providing best in class user interface to your customers? If not, prepare to be disrupted.
The world's fastest changing communication technology will keep on changing and continue to evolve. TrendSpotting should be a key ingredient in your social media and digital plans so you can leverage all of its benefits
Brands that know how to spot trends will become trendy brands. Brands that do not adapt to change will struggle.