Tap Into These Five Hot Social Media Trends

  

With so much happening in the world, it's easy to fall behind on the latest developments in the fast-paced world of social media. However, anyone with a business needs to engage with their audiences on social sites, where people are spending so much of their time.

Let's explore some of the latest social mediafeatures and trends that can help you gain an edge for connecting with your customers.

1. Facebook Rooms

You've probably noticed that there's a new feature at the top of the page on Facebook: rooms. You're invited to click on a friend's image and create a new room. This is a way to start a chat with someone on Messenger. In a room, however, you can chat with as many as 50 people. Facebook likely created this feature to compete with Zoom, Skype and other popular chat services.

If you want to use rooms for marketing, you have to be careful because you don't want to spam people with promotional messages. One way to use rooms is to invite people within a specific Facebook group. That way, you'll only be inviting people who are interested in a certain topic. You can also send people the link to the room off Facebook, such as via email or on another social site. You might create a webinar-like room event in which you educate your audience. One way to build interest is to invite an expert or influencer to participate. 

2. Instagram Reels

With the rapid growth of TikTok, Facebook is looking to compete with its own short video tool. TikTok itself is having security issues and may face bans in many countries, including the United States. Instagram reels, which has been tested in several countries, launched globally in August 2020.

If you haven't used short videos for marketing, this is a good time to try them out because more and more people are embracing this format. With reels, you can easily create 15-second videos within Instagram stories. Keep a close eye on this feature and consider trying it out. 

3. IGTV

While Instagram reels promises to be a popular short video platform, Instagram also has a feature for creating longer videos. IGTV launched a couple of years ago, but in my experience, it is still not widely used. This feature allows you to direct your Instagram followers to your videos. You can show followers a preview of the video on your feed or within a story.

It remains to be seen whether IGTV will take off or fizzle out like Vine and other less-successful video platforms. However, IGTV provides Instagram users with a simple way to share full-length videos.

4. LinkedIn Live 

This feature was introduced in 2019, so it's not brand new. However, I've found that relatively few people and businesses are using it. There's a catch to using this feature, though. Livestreaming isn't available to everyone, and you need to apply to become a LinkedIn Live broadcaster.

The platform doesn't specify what criteria it uses when deciding who to accept. However, I do know that LinkedIn considers reaching 500 connections a major milestone, and it provides you with a badge as soon as you hit this number. So, this is at least one possible consideration for qualifying for livestreaming. 

5. Audio Tweets

Twitter announced in June 2020 that it will begin unrolling audio tweets for iOS. Everywhere you look, voice technology is getting more popular, from voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri to voice-powered GPS. Sending out tweets from your phone will make the process much more convenient.

An important aspect of this feature is that it will allow you to squeeze more words into your tweets. Rather than a 280-character limit, you'll be able to record up to 140 seconds of audio. You can say quite a bit in over two minutes. While audio tweets haven't gotten much publicity yet, they are almost certainly a sneak peek into the future of social media.

Reach Your Audience Where They Hang Out

Social media is constantly evolving, with new platforms and features appearing all the time. If you use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others for marketing, it's important to keep up with the latest news and trends. The above are some examples of new or underappreciated features that can help you develop stronger relationships with your customers.