For social media marketers, it’s a jungle out there. Amid the continuing challenges of the decline of organic reach across the board, fatigue resulting from more, more, more tools and tactics, and ever-changing challenge of social media ROI metrics, the landscape can look daunting. As we continue to navigate for our clients, GMS always has an eye forward for what’s next.

Here are the top trends GMS clients are addressing this year. The challenge in each area is the same: Staying real and relevant. There’s an old saying about good advertising being the best way to kill a bad product. A variation of that is at work here. Even if you’re employing the latest tools and technology, if your message and your service aren’t on point, you’re wasting money and other resources. Don’t just get the followers, win their loyalty.

TREND: “Broadcasting” Video
Even the late adopters are seeing the value of video. Cisco Visual Networking Index predicted that 86 percent of all web traffic will involve video by 2019 and live video will grow 15-fold from 2016 to 2021. Now, we’re seeing the rise of “brand broadcasting.” Effective ways of using video for mobile social audience is requiring new ideas and strategy. Video content, much of it livestreaming, is now taking on a serial aspect. This approach requires more planning and promoting but the payoffs are big!

TREND: Peer Influencers, Still
Influencers, advocates and peer communities continue to bring credibility to brands employing them. As customers’ mistrust of corporate executives and official spokespeople continues to grow, finding other advocates to tell the story is essential.

TREND: AI Marketing
The artificial intelligence (AI) movement began sneaking in last year and is now a big part of many marketing strategies in 2018. Of course, this isn’t just an online social phenomenon. The technologies have evolved and the presence of Siri, Alexa and others in our lives is making AI use in social marketing accepted and even expected. Customer service, content optimization and analytics are just some of the areas ripe for increasing AI technology.

If you want to hear more about these and the other trends we’re interpreting and navigating, go to https://gmsthebestold.wpengine.com/contact-us/. We’re not just keen on following the latest trend or using the newest technology. We’re dedicated to finding the best way to make it work for our clients. Helping keep them relevant in their clients’ mind. We’d love to work with you.