12 Jun Checking In On 2018 Social Media Predictions
Now that we’re about halfway through the year, we thought it would be a great time to check in on our 2018 social media predictions to see how we did. Was our crystal ball accurate or were the results hazy and we should ask again later? Let’s take a look at our top five predictions as shared in January:
“Retargeting is crucial to the customer journey. Not only is it a cost-efficient way to reach users who’ve already expressed interest, but it’s essential in understanding where your customer is in the journey, and tailoring your approach to meet them where they are.” – Jen Burns, Senior Community Manager
I’ll say we’re one-for-one so far. We’ve seen more than a handful of brands increase their attention to retargeting users on social. Especially for those with a well-established sales funnel, retargeting has proven to be beneficial in driving tangible results.
“Marketers will start using messenger ads and chatbots more frequently for more 1:1 communication.” -Vanessa Williams, Manager, Strategy and Marketing
Not only are we seeing this one come to life, we’ve received a lot of questions and interest in chatbots this year. So much interest, in fact, that we hosted a webinar to talk about the variety of potential applications of chatbots for brands.
“Clients and agencies will become more sophisticated in tracking socially attributed sale as tools such as Facebook Offline Conversions continue to be fine-tuned.” -Brandi Royal Washington, Director of Client Services
With the increase in implementation of Facebook pixels and product catalog ads it become much easier to track these types of numbers. It seems like Facebook will keep moving more in that direction in the future as well.
“Video content is going to be more important than ever. With its prioritization in Facebook’s News Feed, growing popularity of Instagram Stories, and the increasing number of options for livestreaming, brands are not only going to have to think social-first, but social video-first in the coming year.” -Kathleen Loescher, Senior Content Producer
We have certainly seen that video content remains the undisputed king on social media in 2018. Not only is it popular, but according to Social Media Today, video can help increase conversions.
“Reach on Facebook will continue to decrease and Snapchat is going to struggle to bring in advertising dollars.” -Ryan Sweeney, Director, Analytics and Reporting
Unfortunately, this one is more right than we feared. Organic reach on Facebook continues to fade, and saying that Snapchat has struggled this year is a bit of an understatement.
So far, so good on our 2018 social media predictions. Here’s to seeing what the second half of the year has in store for us. I just hope to never see the words “Cambridge Analytica” again.
