Some days, it seems like an impossible task to keep up with the ever changing world of social media. No sooner has your business perfected its marketing for a particular platform than a new one pops up or starts gaining popularity and you are back to square one. To add to it, the makeup of your internet audience is also shifting and changing constantly. So, how do you do plan your social media marketing? The best way to figure out what to do for your summer 2018 social media marketing campaign is to be on top of the latest trends.

Here are the top 10 social media trends to prepare for as 2018 draws near. Rise of augmented reality At the first-ever event hosted in the Steve Jobs Theater, Apple announced the iPhone 8. Stories have been one of the biggest social media trends of the past couple of years and 2020 looks to be no different. The dominance of Instagram Stories speaks for themselves. However, also note that Facebook Stories are on par in terms of engagement with approximately 500 million daily users.

Top social media influencers of 2018. See who Influential considers to be some of the top-performing social media influencers of 2018. Is a social media personality, actor and entrepreneur. The best way to figure out what to do for your summer 2018 social media marketing campaign is to be on top of the latest trends. Highlighted in this post are the top social media trends that will dominate this summer and should be included in your marketing strategy.

Highlighted below are the top social media trends that will dominate this summer and should be included in your marketing strategy:

Events will be important

One way that businesses can boost their presence on social media is to figure out what holidays and events in the summer can be connected and related to their industry. The first thing you can do is to take note of the popular holidays such as Fourth of July and Memorial Day. Apart from that, you also need to take major global and national events into account like the Summer Olympics. Once you do that, you can then piggyback off the marketing of these occasions by running your own specials for these occasions or using a hashtag.

Strong images

While beautiful and big images are not exactly a new trend, it is essential to mention them because they are an important part of any social media marketing campaign. If you look across the board, you will see that social media posts with quality images tend to get shared more often than those without or with poor quality images. For instance, a post on Twitter is most 150% more likely to be retweeted if it has an image.

Local Trends

In recent years, the value and influence of local SEO has become evident and lots of businesses have come to understand this. A business can take advantage of this by tying into a local event. For instance, if there is a local festival in the area where the business operates, a booth can be rented and the images can be shared on social media. When you are able to figure out how to attract and reach people locally, you will be able to drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar store as well as websites.

GIFs and Emoji

GIFs and Emoji are widely used on social media networks, particularly by millennials. If your target audience is in this age range, you need to use these icons for expressing yourself. These images can be included in your posts in new ways. For instance, rather than writing a lengthy post, you can simply use emoji to replace words like combining the symbol of money with a happy-face emoji to indicate an ongoing sale. Including GIFs and emoji will help your business in engaging the millennials during the summer as they are primed and ready to interact.

Keeping it light

There is not a lack of problems and serious issues in today’s world. But, when summer arrives, everyone is looking for a bit of relaxation and fun and your business needs to keep that in mind when marketing on social media. Therefore, lightheartedness will be more well-received by the people, especially when there is a hint of adventure and fun involved. Make sure you post about interesting and light stuff that will appeal to the audience.

Bear these trends in mind when creating your social media marketing for this summer and enjoy the success you see.

In the past year, a number of significant stories involved social media: Facebook lured Snapchat users to Instagram, the president of the United States communicated official policy positions in 140 characters and Apple announced plans to alter the way we interact with our mobile devices.

Next year, social media is poised to create even more disruption as a number of new technological advancements go mainstream, and as social norms related to social media change. Here are the top 10 social media trends to prepare for as 2018 draws near.

1. Rise of augmented reality

At the first-ever event hosted in the Steve Jobs Theater, Apple announced the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. Both devices incorporate a new chip that allows the phones to provide users with extraordinary augmented reality experiences. While augmented reality will have its initial impact on mobile gaming, it is likely that social media platforms will find ways to incorporate the new technology as well.

For example, it’s conceivable that Snapchat or Instagram will soon support filters that allow users to take a selfie with a friend or celebrity projected via augmented reality. Similarly, brands could soon project their products into the homes of social media users through special filters.

Related: Expecting Revolutionary Innovation From Apple's Reveal Event? You're Missing the Point.

2. Increasing popularity of Instagram Stories

Over 200 million people use Instagram Stories each month, which is over 50 million more than those who use Snapchat -- and Instagram Stories is just one year old! At this rate, nearly half of all Instagram users will be using Stories by the end of 2018. This means that brands interested in connecting with Instagram users must take the time to master Instagram Stories.

Related: The Low-Down On Using Instagram Stories For Your Business

3. Continued investment in influencer marketing

Over 90 percent of marketers who employ an influencer marketing strategy believe it is successful. Companies like North Face, Hubspot and Rolex use social media–based influencer marketing strategies to connect with new audiences and improve engagement with existing audiences.

This year we saw that brands that opted for traditional advertising strategies struggled to connect to social media users. Next year, it is likely that more brands will embrace influencer marketing as a way to connect with audiences who tend to ignore traditional strategies.

Related: Why Brands Big and Small Continue to Fail at Influencer Marketing

4. Focus on Generation Z

A recent study conducted by Goldman Sachs concluded that Generation Z was more valuable to most organizations than millennials. Today, the oldest Gen Zers are 22 years old. They are just beginning to enter the labor force, and will have increased buying power for some time.

Brands will begin to recognize this, and will shift their social media strategies accordingly. Expect great investment in platforms loved by Gen Zers like Snapchat and Instagram.

Related: 4 Marketing Tactics for Appealing to Generation Z

5. Increasing brand participation in messaging platforms

Over 2.5 billion people use messaging platforms globally, and yet brands are still primarily focused on connecting with consumers on pure social networks. In 2018, expect brands to invest more time and money in connecting with consumers on messaging platforms. Artificial intelligence, voice assistants and chatbots will enable brands to offer personalized shopping experiences on messaging platforms like Messenger, WhatsApp and Kik.

Related: The Future Of Native Advertising for Brands and Publishers

6. Expansion of live streaming

What was once a novel gimmick has become a mainstream part of social media. Today, brands big and small have started using live streaming to capture the attention of followers.

GORUCK, a backpack manufacturer and the organizer of extreme endurance events, is one example of a medium-sized brand that has grown its reach by live streaming compelling content on Facebook. Thousands of followers tuned in to watch 48-hour coverage of a recent endurance race.

In 2018, more brands will begin to realize the power of live streaming, and will incorporate it into their monthly content plans.

Related: 12 Live Streaming Video Tips to Build Your Brand and Business

7. Rethinking Twitter

Twitter has failed to grow followers significantly in 2017. In fact, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram all have more social media followers. This year, Twitter also lost access to streaming NFL games (Amazon won the rights). In 2018, it is likely that Twitter leadership will aim to rethink how the platform operates.

Possible changes to Twitter include selling the company to private investors, changing the platform to include some subscription element and/or revamping Twitter advertising options, which have fallen behind other platforms.

Related: 15 Tips to Grow a Social-Media Audience for Your Startup

8. Digital hangouts go mainstream

Houseparty is a video hangout platform used by over one million people each day. It is primarily used by Gen Zers as a way to hang out with friends digitally. The platform is so successful that Facebook is reportedly investigating ways to create a similar functionality within their platform.

We have already seen video become increasingly important on social media, and live video group hangouts are a natural next iteration of this trend. It is conceivable that in 2018, Facebook will announce a similar product to Houseparty that will win over users, just as Instagram’s introduction of Stories did.

Related: 4 Steps to Give Your Business a Digital Presence Overhaul

9. Facebook Spaces goes mainstream

Biggest Social Media Trends For Entrepreneurs In 2018 2019

Facebook isn’t just interested in live video streaming; they’ve been working on a project called Spaces that is designed to allow friends to connect in VR. Given that Facebook owns Oculus, a virtual reality hardware and software company, it is no surprise that the social media giant is developing a platform to make use of this new technology.

Facebook is poised to scale Spaces in 2018. When they do, it is likely that it will be the first successful VR social media product at scale.

Related: 3 Ways Facebook Spaces Could Revolutionize the Business World

10. Social platforms embrace stronger governance policies

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After a series of controversial decisions during the 2016 presidential election, social media platforms have embraced a more hands-on approach to governing conduct on their platforms. Facebook recently turned over thousands of ads that seem to be connected to Russian meddling, and has invested in new AI and human forms of monitoring.

Given the wide criticism that Facebook and Twitter received during 2017, it is likely that these platforms will embrace codes of conduct and governance policies that protect the brands from future criticism.

Conclusion

A number of new social media trends that will impact users and brands alike are strengthening and accelerating. It is likely that video streaming and virtual reality will go mainstream. Additionally, brands will turn to newer social platforms like Instagram and Snapchat as Gen Zers increasingly spend their time there.

With the announcement of the new iPhones, augmented reality has a chance to become a part of social media in ways that were unimaginable only a few years ago. Lastly, Twitter and Facebook will most likely adjust their policies to protect their brands from political criticism and to provide users with better online experiences.