Tis the season for making resolutions and predictions for the year ahead of us. We typically write about all of our digital marketing trends in one post but decided to treat everyone with even more insights this year. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be tapping the talent and expertise of our team at Spyder Trap to provide you with a glimpse into next year’s digital marketing trends. We begin with the top social media trends for 2016:

The obvious social trends coming out of 2015

Live-streaming

We talked about how Meerkat screamed onto the scene back in March at SXSW. It wasn’t much longer until Twitter unveiled Periscope. And now we have Blab. Easy live streaming has become immensely popular in a short amount of time and doesn’t appear to be slowing down in 2016. I’m not personally sold on the staying power of live-streaming apps on their own. As extensions of existing platforms like Twitter or Facebook, there’s no reason to think the live-streaming movement will be fading away.

Buy buttons and social commerce

2015 was a good year for social media marketers. We saw social media platforms make large strides towards making businesses happy. New advertising tools and functionality were huge for almost every social network. Snapchat, Pinterest, and Instagram became mature social advertising platforms while Facebook and Twitter continued to expand their marketing options. Calls to action and buy-buttons are two of the most prominent features that will continue to pervade 2016. Marketers want to remove as many steps as possible between the customer and the purchase of their products and services. Social media networks are clamoring to help marketers achieve that.

Mobile dominance

Almost 40% of Facebook’s users access the app on mobile. That’s a large number, but It’s also one of the least mobile-centric social platforms. The majority of social media users are using mobile. You already know this, so this is just a friendly reminder. Social advertising, image design, copy, and more should all be optimized for the mobile user in 2016.

Social networks transforming into much more

Virtual assistants + search

Facebook saw Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Echo and said to itself ‘we should be in that business,’ unveiling its own assistant platform. Digital assistants are starting to come alive (hopefully not sentient) this year and that momentum will likely continue in the New Year. This is part of the social networks’ moves to get users to stay within their apps longer. There’s no need to leave Facebook when M can get you the info you need and the timeline can give you the pet pictures you want. It’s also part of social networks’ focus on improving in-app search features. Whether it’s Pinterest improving image search or Instagram indexing emoji hashtags, 2016 will see social media continue to provide users with easier ways to find content outside of their established audiences.

Balancing short and long-form publishing

For a long time, social media was all about quick, real-time messaging. Twitter made its name with it. Snapchat took it to extremes with disappearing messages. But, long-form content isn’t dead. It’s actually thriving. Medium is thriving, LinkedIn publishing tools have been a big success for users, and Facebook’s Instant Articles are intriguing. So which wins in 2016, short or long-form? Twitter has tinkered with removing character limits yet Medium wants to be more like Twitter. I think social media networks will test out having ‘something for everyone’ next year—before settling into their own niches and core capabilities.

Customer service platforms

Social media users have been sharing their complaints and questions with brands since the very beginning. But, companies rarely have had the time or teams to take it seriously. With almost half of consumers expecting a response from a brand within one hour on social, 2016 needs to be the year brands start focusing on social customer service. Facebook has implemented tools to make responding easier and metrics to show you how you’re performing. I wouldn’t be surprised if other platforms court small businesses and marketers with similar functionality in 2016.

Too soon to call it a top social media trend

Twitter’s demise

The Atlantic published Twitter’s eulogy early in 2015. Many think the platform is dying, especially Wall Street which is laser-focused on decreasing active users and a slowing growth. But, I love Twitter. It’s my favorite platform. Twitter’s problem is that it’s always been pretty niche. New users have a hard time getting adjusted to its inherent weirdness. Twitter is moving to make things easier on newcomers with things like Twitter Moments. It’s a feature I will likely never use because it’s not for heavy users like me; it’s for the casual user. If Twitter can build that casual user base without alienating its power users and media relevance—it’s not going anywhere.

Social virtual reality and wearables

There are some really cool things on the market. Virtual reality is picking up steam and watches are getting as smart as phones. But, despite their cool factor, these things haven’t expanded beyond early adopters. Virtual reality could become the next big thing in social media. Wearables with cameras could fuel the Periscopes, Instagrams, and Snapchats of the world to further heights—especially if the Apple Watch 2 cameras are true. It’s still too early for these technologies. Certain products will take off in 2016 for sure, but these industries as a whole still have to work out better UX/UI solutions for widespread social adoption.

It should be an interesting year for social media in 2016. Leave a comment with your thoughts on the upcoming year and then check back into the blog over the next couple weeks for more digital marketing trends from the experts here at Spyder Trap.