It’s no secret that social media is a huge part of any business’ marketing strategy, and it’s not going to be changing anytime soon. Digital marketing dollars have been expected to pass traditional marketing dollars for some time now, and 2017 is predicted to finally be that year. Establishing a social media strategy is an important component of your brand, so we thought it’d be good to take a look back at the big happenings in the social media world in 2016.
Facebook has a record-setting year and continues to grow
A $7.01 billion Q3 along with another 1.79 billion monthly users (up 16% from Q3 2015) is quite the year, to say the least and it’ll only get bigger as more companies invest in Facebook Ads to attract their target market. Some big tools that were added to Facebook in 2016 included:
- Marketplace - Discover, buy, and sell items easily with people in your community
- Instant articles - They load up 10 times faster than the mobile web, and are a great tool to create a faster and more interactive experience
- Reactions - Now you can do more than just “Like” a post, use the other five emojis and express yourself on posts.
- Facebook Live - Anyone, anywhere, anytime. You now have the power to broadcast to anyone in the world with the help of your phone and Facebook Live.
Instagram is only getting bigger
Along with a number of newly released product features, Instagram hit 500 million monthly users.
Big happenings:
- Stories - Users can post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours, much like Snapchat Stories
- Business tools - New business profiles, analytics and the ability to create ads are all included.
SNAPCHAT CONTINUES TO INNOVATE
Snapchat continues to foster a large audience, and be the main social platform for the youth of today. Big happenings:
- Memories - Snapchat users can now share photos and videos captured outside of Snapchat to your stories.
- Spectacles - Sunglasses that snap, they let you capture the moment and then relive it later on Snapchat.
TWITTER SHIFTED FOCUS
No longer a social network, Twitter has shifted their focus to being a primary news source for people looking for the latest information on the world. Big happenings:
- Moments - Users put together multiple tweets into a slideshow to create stories.
- Customer Support Features - Simplifying the process of customers getting support from businesses on Twitter.
These tools have all been created to improve user experience. In 2017, take advantage of these new tools to maximize your business's online presence. Check out our resource here and start enhancing your social media presence.