The Growing Trends of the Top Social Media Platforms
In the world of technology, we have become accustomed to the dynamic nature that exists within our products and services. Consumers are always searching for the next best thing or awaiting the newest update. Just as style and fashion have their ever-changing trends; social media too has its trends that are constantly altering with its users. For social media companies, like Bright Age, it becomes vital to stay up to date with these trends in order to use each platform to its full potential.
Facebook as the Most Popular
It comes as no surprise to learn that Facebook is ranked the most popular social media platform for marketers, considering it is the largest of the platforms and therefore has the most reach. While Facebook is a great tool for social media companies to utilize and should remain a priority, many marketers report being interested in experimenting with other, less popular marketing platforms like Snapchat. Of marketers who spend at least 40 hours per week on social media, about one quarter report using Snapchat for marketing purposes, while only 3{bfa23e0adf5035fdfa71191ffe91e54dd073cdba85c1f10af47dda85ac37f507} of people who use social media only 1-5 hours per week use the app for marketing. The more time a company devotes to the use of social media, the more likely they are to stray from a sole focus on Facebook and experiment with other non-traditional methods of marketing, like Snapchat.
The Emerging Platforms
While many social media companies plan to maintain or increase their Facebook marketing practices, many other platforms are gaining prominence among the marketing community. This year, one of the biggest contenders to Facebook has been Instagram. This may be due to the fact that consumers are more attracted to visual posts than text posts. Apps like Instagram and
Snapchat are mainly visual platforms, so they can be used to appeal to viewers much more than a site like LinkedIn. Video and the newer live video features are becoming increasingly popular as a marketing strategy, with blogging beginning to trail behind. According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 63{bfa23e0adf5035fdfa71191ffe91e54dd073cdba85c1f10af47dda85ac37f507} of respondents plan to post more content onto Instagram in the coming year. Additionally, 23{bfa23e0adf5035fdfa71191ffe91e54dd073cdba85c1f10af47dda85ac37f507} plan to increase activity on Snapchat, which has almost doubled in the past year. However, while 55{bfa23e0adf5035fdfa71191ffe91e54dd073cdba85c1f10af47dda85ac37f507} of respondents say they will increase Twitter usage in the upcoming year, this number is down from past years, showing the rising prominence of the visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
Paid Trends
In terms of paid advertising, Facebook is the dominating platform. With 90{bfa23e0adf5035fdfa71191ffe91e54dd073cdba85c1f10af47dda85ac37f507} of respondents saying they use Facebook ads for their companies, Facebook has multiplied its revenue per user by six times in in the past few years, averaging about $20 per user. For advertising, Facebook will continue to maintain its place as companies claim they will up their paid social media use with the site. Although Facebook is leading the pack for social media co
mpanies, Instagram has doubled its amount of advertisements from last year. We are seeing huge growth with Instagram this year and a decrease in ad spend with Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Although Facebook has remained the strongest of the platforms for some years now, trends are showing that it may soon have a big competitor—Instagram.
