Social Media Trends for 2020 and Beyond

These days, the majority of people in the world spend a significant amount of time using their phones or other digital devices, and social media apps are some of the most widely used apps all over the world.

Social media in 2020 has become all-pervasive. According to recent statistics, the internet has more than 4 billion users and there are 3.725 billion active social media users in the world. The average daily time spent on social media is 142 minutes every day.

Social media marketing is extremely valuable for brands these days as the reach of social media is huge and brands can use very specific targeting.

In this blog, we’re going to take a look at the latest social media trends that will affect the social media landscape for this year.

Latest Social Media Trends

#1 – Ephemeral content will keep audiences hooked!

Ever since its release, there has been a meteoric rise in the daily active users for Instagram Stories. In Oct’16, there were 100 million daily active users and as of Jan’19, there were at least 500 million daily active users on Instagram Stories.

This trend is indicative of the fact that ephemeral content, i.e content that disappears, keeps audiences hooked more than any other type of content. This ties into the concept that a lot of audiences are influenced by the force that is the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

#2 – Niche social media platforms will keep rising.

The biggest social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been dominating social media in recent years. However, in recent times, there have been several other niche social media platforms that are gaining significant numbers.

For example, TikTok is an excellent example of an alternative social media platform that is hugely popular with younger demographics. Other niche social media platforms that have considerable attention in the world currently include platforms like LinkedIn, Twitch, WeChat, and QQ.

While niche social media platforms might lose a segment of the population, these platforms are extremely effective when it comes to reaching their intended target audience. As these niche platforms keep rising, digital marketing strategies need to be reimagined to harness the benefits of niche social media platforms.

#3 – Instagram will remove the concept of likes.

One of the biggest social media platforms all over the world currently is Instagram. Any change on Instagram will surely affect social media in 2020 in general. And a change is definitely coming as Instagram is experimenting with removing the likes feature on their app.

There are two major reasons why Instagram is considering removing the feature – one of the major reasons is that it is a step to reduce the amount of stress and negativity that can result from determining one’s worth over their social media value, a trend that is dominating the Gen Z demographics. Here are the marketing trends for Generation Z.

However, it is also speculated that the reasoning behind removing the feature might be something that is related to Instagram influencers. Influencer marketing is a huge field right now and none of that money goes back to Instagram. By removing the likes feature, Instagram is removing the ability for brands to track their influencer campaigns in a straightforward way. This can ideally force them to use Instagram ads.

#4 – Social Commerce will expand.

Along with social media marketing, social commerce has also become a trend that has stuck over the years.

For social media in 2020, social commerce is going to be a huge and vital part for most brands and entrepreneurs. With major social media platforms creating features that aid social selling, it is only a matter of time before social commerce becomes a major retail channel.

Over the next few years, social commerce will definitely keep growing and brands and marketers will try to leverage these features and implement strategies that have social selling as a very important part.

Also Read: Best Social Media Campaigns of 2019

#5 – Video content will continue to dominate.

Video content has emerged as a clear winner over the years when compared to all other types of online content.

Short-form video content on TikTok or Instagram Stories and long-form content on platforms like YouTube are very popular among consumers of online media. According to studies, 82% of all online content will be video content by 2022. This represents a huge opportunity for digital marketing professionals who can employ video to reach and engage more people.

Social media in 2020 and in the next few years will be dominated by video content.

#6 – Influencer marketing will continue to soar.

Influencer marketing is not really a new concept and has been around for a while now. As per the trends of social media in 2020, the influencer marketing model is here to stay for a long time.

Some signs that the marketing model is still blooming are the ever-increasing number of social media users and the increase in the influencer marketing spend for most brands. Influencer marketing is also usually cheaper than running paid ad campaigns while providing a similar return on investment for most brands.

#7 – There will be more regulatory control and legal scrutiny for social media platforms.

Social media is yet to be regulated and in recent times, there have been certain negative aspects of social media such as data privacy and security that put major social media platforms like Facebook under the scrutiny of regulatory bodies around the world.

In light of such revelations, regulatory bodies around the world are likely to create policies with the intention of regulating activities on social media. Therefore the chances of more restrictions and regulations being attached to most social media platforms are very likely.

#8 – There will be a higher adoption of augmented reality. 

Augmented reality is a technology that enhances our reality by adding artificial and digital elements to it. Many major social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have been using AR to create interesting features.

As augmented reality technology matures, the use of AR will become more prominent across all social media platforms. Augmented reality is also heavily favoured by social media users as it allows them to experiment with new interesting ways of sharing their lives and stories.

Also Read: Top 3 Technology Trends in Marketing

#9 – Increase in the use of social media for customer service.

Social media platforms are great places for people to connect and share their lives. However, these days, due to the massive userbase on most social media platforms, there have been many other uses of social media and one of such uses is customer service.

By providing customer care directly on social media, brands can actually improve the experience of their customers which leads to a significant increase in the brand’s social value and goodwill.

Social media in 2020 will be used for various purposes and providing real-time, effective customer service will definitely be one of those purposes.

#10 – User-Generated Content (UGC) will still be very popular.

User-Generated Content (UGC) is also not really a new trend but one that has seen a considerable rise in recent years. Social media in 2020 is going to be very much about UGC as more and more brands are using UGC in their digital initiatives.

Some brands that have used UGC to its optimum effect include brands like Daniel Wellington, Olay, and Dove that use UGC as a major part of their online marketing initiatives.

Social Media Trends

The world of social media is constantly changing and every year, new trends emerge and some old trends perish. To stay in command of your social media marketing campaigns, you have to stay up to date with the latest trends in the industry.

Keep reading this space to get the latest in the world of social media and digital marketing in general!