2017 Social Media Forecast

With 2016 winding down, we’re looking ahead to the 2017 social media landscape. Some things are sure to remain the same — Facebook isn’t going anywhere — but we see a few changes on the horizon. Here are a few of our predictions for the coming year:

Video will take up even more of your Facebook feed

Does your Facebook page seem like a never-ending stream of recipe videos? Ours too. That’s only going to increase, as video clickbait becomes the hot trend. Expect to see videos of all types filling up your news feed and blaring loudly at awkward, quiet moments.

A new era of relevancy for LinkedIn

LinkedIn has always been THE platform for B2B social marketing, but after being purchased by Microsoft for $26.2 billion, we expect big things from this oldie-but-goodie in 2017. Clearly the tech giant sees huge potential in the platform’s abundant wealth of data. Will we see new data mining technology? Increased ability to target the exact audience for your business? We’ll have to wait and see, but expect something big. In the meantime, the network will continue to be a powerful tool for B2B marketing and networking.

Twitter may finally find its groove

Twitter has always been hugely popular with its audience. The problem has come in trying to monetize that popularity. After struggling with several attempts to make itself profitable, we’re hoping that 2017 is the year Twitter finally discovers its unique value to users. The other option would be a buy out by a larger firm (rumors swirled this year of a possible takeover by Google). The platform is too deeply embedded as part of the mainstream media, so don’t expect it to fold any time soon. It just may make a pivot one way or another.

Social media spending will only increase

Companies are spending more and more of their ad budgets on social media, and we expect to see that continue. In fact, we expect to see social spending nearly double over the next few years, from 10% of marketing budgets today to an estimated 20% by 2020. Marketers are realizing that they can reach a huge audience in a much more cost-effective manner than traditional mediums like TV and print.

Mobile, mobile, mobile

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: If it doesn’t work on mobile, it doesn’t work. Internet access through mobile surpassed access by desktop last year, and it has only increased since then. Make sure you are advertising on mobile, and that your tech is mobile responsive.

These are just a few of the things we expect to see, and of course there will be surprises along the way. We can’t wait to see what the social media tsunami brings in 2017. We wish you and yours a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year, and we’re here to help you make it happen!