Another day, another new feature/algorithm/scandal; as a marketer or business owner, trying to keep up with the fast-paced world of social media can feel overwhelming.
To help you stay ahead of the curve, we crowdsourced ideas and advice from our quuumunity at our most recent Twitter chat.
Here are the highlights from the Qchat:
Q1 How do you stay up to date with industry news?
There’s a whole bunch of ways to get red hot stories these days, without having to sift through articles on traditional news sites. Check out our Qchatters’ favourite sources:
Q2 When does a trend become a trend?
Now we know where to get our news, how do we identify passing fads from major, industry-wide trends? Essentially, if your mum knows about it, it’s a thing.
Q3 How do you go about testing and implementing new trends in your social strategy?
Let’s say a particular trend has caught your attention and you think it could work for your business. Where do you start?
Q4 Is following a trend necessarily the right social strategy for a business?
Jumping on the bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it can be risky for business; social media marketing takes time and money. Our Qchatters had some words of caution for those considering implementing a new trend in their strategy:
Q5 What do you think has been the biggest social media trend of 2018 so far?
Since we’re over halfway through 2018 already (terrifying), we thought it would be nice to reflect on the trends that have dominated our social feeds over the past few months.
Q6 What do you think will be the biggest social media trend in the next year?
Right, so what’s next? Our Qchatters studied their crystal balls and told us their predictions:
To recap:
- Good sources for industry news: Twitter, Twitter chats, Facebook groups, blogs, influencers, newsletters, podcasts, alerts, Sip, Feedly, webinars, offline events, Reddit, Slack groups.
- A trend is a trend if even your mum knows about it.
- When implementing a trend in your social strategy, you need to test, measure and repeat. The ideal testing period is 3 months.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with new trends, but think carefully about how they will benefit your business and, crucially, whether they are relevant to your target audience.
- The biggest trends of 2018 so far: video content (particularly Instagram Stories and IGTV — although many of us are still watching from the sidelines to see how brands use the latter), entertainment based ads, paid promotion and influencer marketing.
- Our predictions for the next biggest trends: micro-influencers, automation/AI, bots, voice search and personalisation.
A big ThanQuuu to Sabrina Cadini, ljsedgwick, Matthew Spurr, Alexandra Sebben, Annicken, Richard Sink, RocketBrand, Daniel Kempe, Ruben Richardson, Maiten Panella, Marijana Kay, Roxanne, Ann Gynn, Amy Murnan, Gabriela Cardoza, Michele Heyward, Georgia Burgoyne, Web Sense Marketing, Claire Trévien, Josh Garofalo, “N.G.” Gordon AKA DearMishuDad, Carol, Kelly Mirabella and Leah Hunt for joining ❤️
Want to tell us your answers to these questions? Reply to this story or tweet us @quuu_co using #Qchat.
