Social Media has become an integral part of our lives today. Be it the young millennial or the senior citizen, everyone spends a good part of their day on social media. It’s safe to say that social media has become an addiction today and is hence adopted by marketers and businesses to reach out to their consumers in large numbers.

As social media is being used by almost all the top brands of the world, it is very important to have an ideal social media strategy in place for your brand to sustain in the market. There is an overload of content in the world of social media and your content must stand out.

Being in loop with the current social media trends can help you fuel your strategy and set your brand apart. Here are 5 social media trends that one must look out for in the year 2020:

1. Gaining popularity of ephemeral content:

Instagram and Snapchat Stories are the best examples of ephemeral content. It is nothing but content that is available for a short span and disappears thereafter.

Today, the way people consume content has changed. Due to the short attention span of consumers, content formats like Stories have become popular. They are short, engaging as well as addictive and hooks the consumer to watch the Stories in loop.

The modern day marketers have made note of this and engage their audience through ephemeral content. According to a recent report by Hootsuite, 64% of marketers either already have incorporated Instagram stories into their strategies or plan to.

2. Improved performance of niche Social Media platforms:

The world’s largest social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, have been the kings ever since social media came into existence. However, smaller social media platforms are gaining popularity today.

TikTok is a good example. Established in 2016, the launch of this social media platform gained immediate stardom among the youth. Several B2B companies prefer LinkedIn for their promotions on Social Media while the gaming sector prefers Twitch. Many such social media platforms are going to be in demand of marketers in 2020.

3. The rise of Social Media communities:

Although Social Media communities have been around since a while now, it is something that is gaining popularity now than ever before! Social media communities are basically social groups that are created by brands to provide a networking platform for their customers. These are usually private groups that like-minded people can join to talk about their shared interests.

Facebook groups are in trend today. Various brands use such communities to bring together customers with similar interests. These groups are also used to receive customer feedback, launch new products and seek important customer insights.

4. Continuing domination of Video Content:

In today’s day and age, video content has become extremely popular. Whether it is short videos on TikTok and Snapchat or long videos on YouTube, video content is a clear winner among all forms of social media content. According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content. This clearly indicates that if you haven’t incorporated video content in your social media strategies, now is the time! One can start by incorporating video content on Stories and can also add video to their social media platforms, even if they were originally dominated by image or text content.

5. Increasing use of Social Media for Customer Service:

Years ago, the introduction of Social Media was done primarily for the purpose of developing social network and sharing photos and videos. However, today the scenario has changed. The biggest brands in the world turn to social media for the sale of their products and services. After sale services are also catered to through social media.

This remarkable transition happened gradually when brands started to notice that customers reach out to them more often on social media. This may be because of delayed response on other platforms or simply because it is a direct way for consumers to reach out to the brand.

Another important reason for social media being one of the most important customer service channel is the repercussions faced if a customer is not handled well. Social media platforms have millions of eyes on them at all times, which compels brands to handle their consumers well in terms of customer service in front of other users.

Social media has made its place in the marketing and advertising world long ago but its time for you to leverage the latest trends in Social Media to your advantage and incorporate them in your strategies.