2017 was a pivotal year for social media, marked by the desire of the most popular to reinvent themselves and take even more space in our lives

As we entered the year 2018, they have evolved so much that it now seems impossible to give them the label “social” or even to call them “media”. Even the term “digital” seems reductive, while pure players redouble initiatives to break down the barriers between physical and digital in a new world “phygital”.

In the past, new entrants were trying to compete with established social networks. Now the competition is elsewhere, it comes from other actors: let’s mention Amazon, among the notable examples. The launch of Spark, Amazon’s commercial social network, or its powerful advertising service that directly competes with key players like Facebook, are striking examples. FAMGAs (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon) become so ubiquitous that unless you live cut off from the world you can not escape!

In this ecosystem where every day or so brings its share of innovations, what trends can marketers count on?

Influence marketing, the age of maturity

Today, a large volume of original content on social networks is created by Internet users themselves, non-professionals. In short, the “micro-influencers” have literally taken the helm of the social media marketing … But the rise of the phenomenon of adblocking has forced many marketers to rethink their marketing and advertising techniques. In this context, the marketing influenceappears more and more to brands as the real alternative.

There are many ways to integrate influence marketing into your branding strategy: social account takeovers are about giving control of your social account to influencers, who can then infuse different energy and moods. to the content of your brand. For example, the luxury brand Gucci has been a resounding success by entrusting the reins of its communication to the movie star Jared Leto.

Influencer programs are gradually taking precedence over affiliate programs. Amazon’s influencers program, for example, seems to have replaced its affiliate program of shutdown stores. The influencers, approved by Amazon, expose the articles and testify their experience, and receive a small commission on sales triggered.

With product testing and co-creation, the year 2018 should mark a turning point in the use of these tactics and shift marketing influence from a stage of exploration and experimentation to real expertise.

The video, superstar format

Live streaming, generation media “millennials” such as Brut, Kombini, Buzzfeed …: the popularity of video format, engaging format par excellence, is well established. Facebook would also think to spend in any video in 5 years … Does this mean that marketers must have to bet on the video? Probably not …

Interactive formats and GIFs of all kinds (morphing gifs, looping gifs, split depth Gifs …) are also a good alternative to the video format in terms of commitment. These animated images that can be easily shared and added to your posts are very popular, with brands that even launch their own gifs. What is fascinating is their diversity and the creativity they allow. Cinemagraphs, also called “living photographs”, are another example. And the list could go on and on …

The lesson to remember here? Video is not the only engaging format at your disposal! Diversify points of contact, test and learn and consider any interactive content that can bring your storytelling to life.

The end of the wild west of the data

If you thought that social media announced the end of private life, you will be surprised: the younger generation Z generation express the strongest desire to protect their personal data! Many of them use aliases to search the web without being spotted.

They even create “finsta” accounts on Instagram (“fake” or “friendly-only” accounts) in addition to their “rinsta” (real) accounts. These teenagers concerned about their intimacy also use more and more social networks “incognito” as Sarahah and TBH, the famous social network of the “benevolence” which arrives soon in France, to express itself anonymously!

In short, 2018 promises to be a decisive year for the protection of personal data. In May, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in Europe. Fines for non-compliance are severe – they can reach 4 per cent of your company’s annual worldwide income! GDPR regulations, among other things, protect user-generated data such as social media posts.

Also Read: 4 steps to an effective social selling strategy

What are the consequences for brands? First, they will need to be vigilant about how they use social data and how they manage it (in a CRM or otherwise). On the other hand, they will have to find alternative methods to engage younger users of the networks: for example, using messaging applications where interactions are more private and personal (one-to-one).

The alternative proposed by a company like Snip, the French alternative “Private by design” Alexa of Amazon or Google Home, is to “forget the technologies.” Also capable of voice recognition and understanding of natural language, it offers a 100 per cent embedded technology that goes without connectivity, and therefore without sending personal data to a cloud.

Fake News , the dark side of the social web

The fake news are always topical, and it turns out that social media have been greatly weakened by this trend. Kantar’s “Trust In News” study shows that social platforms are the least trusted source of information, with only 33% positive ratings. As a result, the development of algorithms able to fight fake news in our news feed has become a “top” priority for social giants in 2018.

In 2018, Facebook also plans to double the size of its team dedicated to moderating posts. Bots and artificial intelligence also proving to be sources of fake news , investments announced in more sophisticated machine learning technologies appear as a wise decision … There is a risk, however: the creation of “false reality” , or “fake” content that could override the ability to detect them, and again generate mistrust of the networks.

There is also the question of “non-brand-safe” content, such as illegal, adult, provocative, discriminatory, and / or violent content. Social platforms will have to hire companies to monitor “media quality”.

Convergence, integration, social empire

The Chinese model inspires the West.

The convergence of social media and user experience has reached an unprecedented level of prefection with Chinese social media. According to Kantar Media’s “China Social Media Landscape” study, several platforms like Weibo, WeChat and QQ go even further in integrating social commerce, mobile commerce and “pan-entertaining”.

For example, Weibo and video sites are now more integrated with e-commerce platforms, while gaming platforms include video sites and BBS forums (electronic newsletters system).

With more than 800 million monthly active users, WeChat is one of the best examples of mobile internet penetration in the world. Many brands and brands interact with their consumers directly in the social app, skipping all other mobile apps.

Gap, or Coach have embedded their loyalty programs inside WeChat, and since then they have engaged their customers and managed customer relations (CRM) directly from the platform. And most importantly, Chinese social media uses cross-platform traffic conversion to … drive sales!

Also Read: Social networks: 5 strategic mistakes to avoid

Unlike Western social networks that typically rely on a “distributed” architecture – Facebook, Messenger, What’sApp, Instagram are standalone applications – Chinese social media more closely follows an “integrated” model. Why ? Because the Chinese consumers themselves favor a holistic approach where everything happens inside centralized applications (WeChat, QQ, Weibo, etc.) which they accept the ability to fully integrate into their lives.

In terms of integration, an application such as WeChat is finally far ahead of the giant Facebook … and the social behemoths of the Middle Kingdom recover extraordinary success stories . Although this integrated architecture is not always adapted to Western consumer habits, more than a model, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration

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