By now you will all have read some social media predictions for 2018. Robots will take over the world (AGAIN) and Twitter will die a dramatic death, forced out of the market by virtual reality millennials. Yawn. In this article I’m going to give you five funny social media predictions for 2018 and tell you how social media managers can prepare for them.
Before we begin, it’s worth noting that while most of the social media predictions I have written over the years have come true, they don’t happen instantly. Change creeps into our social media platforms and we adapt as we go along. Therefore, no need to panic or stock up on torches, water and food supplies. Let’s head into 2018 with the confidence that we can handle this as we handled everything else.
1. Ephemeral content will drive social media managers crazy
Ephemeral content literally means disappearing content and it’s already been seen through Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook stories. Most ephemeral content lasts for 24 hours and then disappears making it plenty of fun for end users. And also a massive headache for content creators and social media managers.
The advantage of course is that you will tap into the FOMO market and in theory make your content more valuable and grabable. In reality, this will mean brands may need to have a completely separate strategy for ephemeral content. Ephemeral content cannot replace your usual social media posts, tweets and updates because if it did, your channel would look permanently empty. It also cannot be relied upon as a way to drive consistent traffic to your blog. So it will be fairly worthless in terms of its SEO contributions. Of course, it goes without saying that it’s not evergreen so cannot be considered to be a part of your overall brand reputation. I’m complaining but I know it’s coming.
Content managers and social media marketers will grimace when their organisation excitedly suggests ephemeral content. Amid my social media predictions, I would also add that the person suggesting it as a strategy will not be the same person creating the content.
SOCIAL MEDIA PREDICTIONS TAKEAWAY
Joking aside, ephemeral content is coming so we need to learn how to handle it without losing our minds along the way. So, when your boss says the word ephemeral think scheduling. In the same way that we use Agorapulse to schedule our content in advance, so too we can use it to schedule and manage our ephemeral content in one hit.
As the content will disappear in 24 hours, there will be no need to think deeply about keywords or SEO either. Think short, punchy pieces of content with eye grabbing images, gifs and videos. You may also want to use scheduling to repeat your ephemeral content to different time zones or demographics. However, repeating it in the same time zone will detract from it being original, valuable and unmissable.
2. Social media will not dethrone TV
My second of the social media predictions for 2018 is that social media will not dethrone television. Yes it’s true that users can now stream live TV through the major social media networks. However, it’s also true that Facebook is budgeting more than $1 billion in 2018 to produce programming for Watch, a new hub for television shows. Snapchat is partnering up with NBC to promote productions from ESPN, ABC, and Discovery, among others.
So, why then will social media viewing fail to dethrone TV? It’s simple. Social media predominantly takes place on smartphones and iPhones, sometimes tablets but rarely desktops. In fact, 90% of Facebook users access the platform from a mobile device. But to those 90 % REALLY want watch their favorite series on a mobile device?
SOCIAL MEDIA PREDICTIONS TAKEAWAY
As social media managers, we need to be aware that the technology is there and there are new avenues for us to explore. However, we are not talking about full length films or series. Mobile television is meant to be viewed on the go so think about short and punchy clips, shareable bite sized video updates and sponsored video ads.
If you haven’t…
