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This is an engaging look at where social media marketing may end up over the next year. In particular, note the section about the “virtual reality” shift. Reportedly, Facebook is already making a substantial investment in virtual reality through its Oculus platform that enables people to interact with their virtual reality environments without gloves or controller. Facebook believes this is the next evolution of social messaging. One can see how virtual reality could be used to advertise for high cost products and experiences. Imagine the impact on the travel industry as potential buyers experience destinations in virtual reality. Fascinating and so fun!

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Would you believe that 92% of Millennials and 97% of Gen Zers reported using social media trends as their go-to source when making a purchase? Amazingly, this response was significantly higher than those who reported listening to their friends and family’s advice above all others. Times are clearly changing.  I can only assume that these younger generations want to be perceived as trendy. What is also interesting is that these same age groups report that celebrities and social media influencers have even less sway over their purchases. As someone from an older generation, this is all hard to figure out.

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This article confirmed what I already suspected regarding how age and gender impact social media usage. However, if you read down a bit in the article you will come across something truly thought provoking. The author highlights one of the darker aspects of social media usage, the “comparison game.” The tendency for people to compare themselves to one another based on social media posts with everyone attempting to post something bigger and better. Reportedly, teenage girls tend to be the most affected. As a parent of teenage girls, this is definitely something on my radar.

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The role of brand “influencers” in social media marketing has always intrigued me. However, I’ve been skeptical about whether their recommendations were truly genuine or motivated by enticing brand dollars. Well, it appears that I am not the only one who has been skeptical. According to this article, times are changing and traditional influencers are losing control to “organic” influencers or real people that already buy and support the brand. 

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I tend to think of email as an outdated mode of marketing. One reason for this is that I get a lot of spam messages. This article states that spam messages account for 56% of global email traffic. Wow!!! However, according to this author, we shouldn’t give up on email just yet. There are a number of creative ways to focus our email audience, content, messaging and approach that can still be very effective when conducting email marketing.

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This article highlights how social media can be used creatively to boost your business presence in the community by simply being top of mind. The author suggests some creative ways to build relationships and trust with people on line, and apart from your business, so that they remember you when the time comes that they need a realtor.

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Did you know that 81% of consumers trust the advice of family and friends over that from businesses? While that makes sense to me, I wouldn’t have expected the percentage to be so high. As a result, businesses have to think out of the box because traditional advertising and marketing is not as effective as it once was. This article makes some great points about how we can use LinkedIn to take advantage of these trends. 

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As someone who loves to eat out and try different restaurants, this is a great article about engaging restaurant customers using digital spaces. The author highlights the importance of basing your marketing around a website, and then scheduling social media posts using apps such as Tailwind, Hootsuite, Buffer, Social Oomph or Sprout Social. Happy eating!

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This article provides some interesting examples of how some are using social media to intentionally spread deceptive, misleading or manipulative information.  While I am not a conspiracy theorist, it is troubling to read that there are “armies of people, known as trolls, and so-called internet bots” currently conducting large scale disinformation campaigns.

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An interesting article on the dangers of relying on social media for an accurate portrayal of the facts.  Farrand notes, “The faster the form of communication, the less complete - and often less accurate - that information would be.”  While waiting for the full story can test our patience, moving to quickly to judgment based on false or incomplete information often leads to division and bad decisions.

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This is a great article on the importance of setting goals for your social strategy and knowing your audience.  Further, it highlights emerging social platforms that may one day replace Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  That is hard to believe, but have you heard of Vero, TikTok, and Viber?