Tuesday Tidbit: Social Media in 2016 According to Experts

Welcome to 2016! I promise this will be an actual tidbit, rather than last week's 2016 marketing predictions...um...LONGbit.

When a new year rolls around, I like to read predictions by experts in various web marketing fields to get an idea of where the year might take us. These articles are insanely easy to find, because everyone seems to write them! The ones you find from trustworthy resources/publishers are, of course, the best.

That brings me to this week's tidbit: an article I'd like to share with you from Social Media Examiner called 2016 Social Media Marketing Predictions From the Experts. The article itself is a little long, so just scroll through andfind the predictions that pique your interest and read those. If you don't have time to read it, here's what stood out to me. 

Get another tidbit next week automatically by clicking the yellow button below this article!

Prediction: Companies Adapt Social Strategies Around People

This particular prediction by Neal Schaffer (founder of the Social Media Center of Excellence, among other things) is especially important because so many brands/companies aren't good at this yet. From his prediction:

Adaptive social requires responsive thinking based on the fact that social media was made for people, not brands. For businesses to remain relevant, they’ll truly need to adapt to these foreign communities of people we call social media users. Some companies have already found success in utilizing this principle. Will yours be next?

Prediction: visuals Customized By Platform Become Critical

This prediction by Peg Fitzpatrick (co-author of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users) resonated with me because I already see the importance of this happening in my own social media usage. From her prediction:

Creating anchor content for your website and breaking it into contextual pieces to natively post to each platform will be essential. For example, one long video will be embedded into a blog post, tweeted with graphics, and a tip from it will be shared as a graphic on Instagram and a Pinterest quote. These will all lead to the blog content.

Prediction: Instant Content Becomes More Prevalent

Yes, social media platforms want you to have content right there on the platform, so users don't even have to click to your site. Scary? Maybe. Rife with possibilities? For sure! From Antonio Calero's (he's a well-known social media strategist) prediction:

...the rationale is to keep users in the network by removing the hassle of visiting an external site, where traffic could be lost as users are exposed to distractions or affected by connectivity issues. This trend will continue in 2016, as most networks aim to offer more content more rapidly, bringing more users to their platforms and keeping them engaged longer.

There you have them, the 2016 social media predictions that stood out to me from Social Media Examiner's article. There are many more in the article, so give it a perusal if you've got the time.