Social Media Is Evolving at a Staggering Rate: Are You Keeping Up?
Find out how social media has evolved and how you can stay ahead of the curve. Get the latest social and Tech update with BlueCheckStars
Humanity’s insatiable need to connect, fueled by technological progress, has allowed social media to grow into what it is today. According to Merriam Webster, “social media” refers to websites and microblogging services used for social networking. Users build a virtual world of communication and contribute their thoughts, ideas, and material to these social networking websites using various channels and means. To a large degree, the tale of social media is one of building and nurturing human ties.
The Beginning of Social Media
In only a few short years, social media has gone from a simple means of exchanging electronic information to a virtual reality trading platform. As a result, marketers, small company owners, artists, and other professionals are increasingly turning to it.
However, how did it all begin? Find out what’s going on.
Present State of Social Media
A wide range of social media platforms are available, and a record-breaking number of users have embraced them. Why? Let’s find it out:
1. Facebook
Facebook now has more than 2 billion active users globally when first established in 2004. Online chat, media sharing, marketing, and launching pages are just some of the capabilities available to users of this platform. In addition, no fees will be charged for any of these services.
Influencers and Businesses use Facebook to:
Read: What is Facebook Metaverse
2. Twitter
Twitter its inception in 2006, Twitter was conceived as a microblogging network by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. In terms of active users, Twitter has more than 1 billion. Because it offers a retweet function, which enables users to spread the message with its originality without any strings attached, it has been a popular choice among the general population.
Influencers and Businesses use Twitter to:
3. Instagram
A year later, it was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion. At first, it was only a picture-sharing website, but now it is the world’s most popular photo and video-sharing website. Brands love it because it allows them to connect with their customers even when they can’t meet them. The craze for Instagram likes and comments on everyone’s mind who wants to become famous on the photo-sharing app. These days, everyone wants to be an Influencer, so why not join the craze? Is what I’m saying correct?
Influencers and Businesses use Twitter to:
4. Snapchat
In 2011, three Stanford students founded Snapchat, which has now become a popular social media platform. A video-sharing platform in the form of “stories” was all it was back when it first launched. Personal filters are extensively praised and popular among users of this social networking program.
Influencers and Businesses use Snapchat to:
5. Tiktok
ByteDance, a Chinese internet company, developed Tiktok in 2016 as another futuristic social networking site. Short video clips may be shared on the Musical.ly app, combined with this app in 2018. It’s gaining traction in almost every part of the globe. More than 1.5 billion people have signed up to utilize this site.
Influencers and Businesses use Tiktok to:
Read: The Truth About Social-Media Influencers & How They Earn Money
What You Should Know about Social media
The fashion industry’s gatekeepers used to be editors, seasoned designers, and big stores. Magazines were still revered ten years ago as a source of fashion inspiration and information on the latest seasonal must-haves. However, since the advent of Instagram in 2010, a great deal has changed in photography.
Instagram has more than 100 million active monthly users and approximately 1 billion active monthly users. It’s hard to put into words how powerful these photographs are. Celebrities and entourage influence three-quarters of purchases, and many firms work with them. For example, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish were featured in Gucci’s new lookbook, which placed the company at number three on Lyst’s trendiest brands for Q2 2020. On the other hand, Instagram makes it easy to buy products since marketers provide direct links to their online stores in their images.
However, according to a survey by HelloSociety, influencers with fewer than 35,000 followers had the most effective engagement rate at 5.3 percent. Rather than following the advice of well-known social media influencers, consumers will often turn to individuals in their social network who they know and trust. Thus, according to the same study, 91% of users have faith in their other users’ viewpoints. Eighty-four percent of consumers use social media before making a purchase, giving it a powerful platform for spreading and purchasing new trends. Smaller influencers and word-of-mouth advertising seem to have a more significant impact on advertising than any other method.
Millennials and Gen Z-ers aren’t only using Instagram to influence the fashion business; Weibo, Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube have a significant impact. Customers increasingly use social media to voice their ideas regularly, which has changed the industry’s focus from one of exclusivity to one of inclusion. Consumers’ conduct on Instagram has paved the way for a new generation of fashionistas.
Read: 10 TikTok Fashion Trends to Watch Out For
Is the “Follower Game” All That Important?
In 2019, Instagram’s growth reached new heights. Many companies and influencers alike question whether or not getting Instagram followers truly matters in the face of rising saturation. There are occasions when an Instagram follower count may make a company or an influencer seem more credible, but lately, it has done the exact opposite.
Many firms and influencers take shortcuts in the race to develop an Instagram following by acquiring phony followers that artificially inflate the page numbers. Unfortunately, if a company or Influencer uses this strategy, they may be setting themselves up for disappointment in the future.
Companies and influencers who want to make a name for themselves should focus on engaging with their followers in meaningful ways when it comes to Instagram.
Read- Power of Instagram Influencers, the new gold mine for businesses?
How do Influencers Make it Big?
1. Engagement – Key Metrics for Social Media
Instagram is an anomaly in the social media landscape. When users see a brand post or story in their feed, it breaks down the boundaries between companies and people. Because it’s real, aesthetically appealing, and relevant, this material attracts attention from viewers.
More than seventy-four percent of Instagram users are eager to build connections with companies that care about more than just making money, as indicated by the content they generate and their integrity over time.
This tendency for authenticity suggests that customers are both at ease with brand storytelling and are likely to convert interactions into possible purchases due to this preference for authenticity.
Brands and influencers have the chance to benefit in a competitive market by doubling down on meaningful interactions on Instagram, which has more than 1 billion monthly users.
2. Power of Research
Nano influencers, people with fewer than a thousand followers, have become more critical of marketers’ work in 2018.
According to the New York Times, hyper-niche users have more true connections with their following and are simpler to deal with than more prominent influencers. A post from a micro-influencer may have a lower reach, but it may be more effective at converting readers. Nielsen showed that 83% of customers favor recommendations from friends and family over other types of advertising, and nano influencers effectively conduct a heightened form of word-of-mouth advertising.
The development of this subcategory indicates that businesses are starting to fight for smaller and smaller swaths of consumers and that influencers have a more significant opportunity to work with brands in the process. In addition, the use of excellent micro-influencer content by businesses on their platforms may also increase interaction.
Nano-influencers, above all, demonstrate how authenticity can help sponsored content engage with followers and may serve as a pattern for postings in the year ahead. They’re like word-of-mouth advertising on steroids. If you want your fans to stick with you, don’t become involved in any collaborations that don’t make sense for you.
In 2019, marketers should broaden their usage of nano influencers to reach a wider audience with highly targeted content throughout the year. Brands should also create a shoppable Instagram for each Influencer to maximize the effect of these collaborations.
Read in Detail: Quick Tips to Increase Your Social Media Followers
TikTok’s impact
If you’ve been online in the last year, you’ve heard of TikTok, a video-sharing app. With 850 million downloads, TikTok has surpassed Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as the most popular app of 2020, a distinction previously held by a few.
Like its predecessors, TikTok allows users to record and share a 60-second video about anything they choose with the rest of the TikTok community, allowing them to be seen and heard worldwide. While this isn’t a groundbreaking idea, TikTok’s inclusive algorithm favors its simplicity, so even the tiniest accounts may become famous in hours.
We shouldn’t be surprised to see the fashion industry embrace the world’s newest favorite app since it has always been receptive to recent trends and cultural changes. However, perhaps no one predicted precisely how much the app would affect fashion – and in a positive way, of course!
What’s the Future of Social Media?
Future developments in technology can only tell us what will happen to social media. It’s more probable that existing social media platforms will be replaced by newer ones that provide better functionality. Is there a way for these websites to generate money and satisfy their customers? How will these platforms’ end users adjust to the new changes? How will companies fulfill the requirements of their customers and attract new customers?
Social media’s future will be predicated on the answers to the aforementioned issues.
According to studies, end-users of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are likely to choose services that suit their following demands.
- Everyone will be able to get more tailored material.
- There should be less hate and strife on social media.
- Privacy is protected, albeit with a more narrow emphasis.
- Improved user experience with a focus on mobile devices
In favor of developing community rather than creating an environment of division
When predicting social media’s genuine future, all users’ demands and wishes must be addressed. Thus, these platforms may begin to provide paid memberships and premium features shortly. Marketers will have the most challenging task due to the change in demand from their prospective clients.
Read 5 Ways To Improve Your Social Media Channels
New Metaverses Are Emerging
Today, the Metaverse is a shared virtual realm where computer avatars represent humans. Society in the virtual world directly impacts how it develops and evolves. In the future, humans will be able to interact with elements of the Metaverse via augmented and mixed reality and enter the Metaverse entirely using virtual reality.
In a recent address at the VRARA’s Global Summit, Nokia’s Head of Trend Scouting, Leslie Shannon, mentioned the relevance of the Metaverse, or spatial internet. She said: “The spatial internet is the conclusion of everything that augmented reality and virtual reality are producing right now. In other words, it’s the concept of identifying knowledge about objects, places, or historical events in the real world.” You’ll be able to view this information layer in augmented reality and virtual reality.
The Metaverse is the next frontier for online engagement, and marketing and communications professionals need to watch it. The Metaverse will transform internet marketing in the same way social media has. Even though we don’t now have a single common metaverse, firms are positioned to create one.
Even while games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing are still in their infancy, their fan bases, universes, and the amount of user-generated material have already grown significantly. In addition to the virtual reality social networking platform, Horizon (now in development) and Live Maps, Facebook also positions itself towards the Metaverse. Several other companies, including Microsoft, Magic Leap, and Niantic, are working on it.
The outbreak has also caused a cultural change in the internet realm due to the virus. Family get-togethers on Zoom have grown commonplace, like graduations in Minecraft, and virtual outfit fittings. “It’s inevitable that brands will play a large part in the metaverse” as online social gatherings become more common and online video games increase their world-building.
1. Metaverse Economy
To survive in the shared, virtual economy, companies must change their marketing strategy from online ad buying. Customers in the Metaverse will need market research. People’s behavior and shopping habits in the Metaverse may be quite different from those in the actual world. Incorporating a layer of virtual assistants and robots in the business-to-consumer connection helps make everything make sense.
While there are sure to be advertisements in the Metaverse, businesses may help shape it. Even in the film Ready, Player One, who created the Metaverse there??” says Frederic Descamps, CEO of Manticore games. It’s going to be all about the creating process.” Companies should tackle this responsibly and ethically rather than turn the globe into one giant advertisement. I can’t stress enough how important this is.
2. Culture in Metaverse
CMOS must be aware of the culture in the Metaverse, just as in the real world. Brands may benefit from digital clothing, world-building, or marketing. In December 2019, GTA V featured dress choices that resembled those worn by protesters in Hong Kong. ‘Players disguised as Hong Kong demonstrators flocked to the streets of Los Santos,’ according to the game. During the game, players rioted in black and yellow hard helmets and gas masks. After seeing the demonstrators’ costumes, Chinese players retaliated by dressing their avatars as police officers and engaging in combat with them.
In the Metaverse, no one will be going about on their own. Their choices will be influenced by the connections and relationships they form with autonomous NPCs, holograms, or other individuals. Brands will have to keep up with the ever-changing ways people connect and play with one another in their relationships. Customers will be able to communicate with companies in 3D form, not simply on social media.
3. Shopping in Metaverse
In the Metaverse, it’s normal to do your grocery shopping online. But there’s more to it than just allowing consumers to try on items before buying them. There will be a market for virtual clothing, avatar “skins,” and real estate in the Metaverse. Companies will have to build their brands to appeal to a wide range of consumers, regardless of their financial status. In addition, there may be chances to collaborate with firms that don’t exist in the actual world for those that spend extensively in the Metaverse.
Creating a character or being represented by an avatar involves many dressing up. As a result, digital-first apparel has opened up a new market for virtual fashion firms and designers. In previously unimaginable ways, the Metaverse is all about identity.
4. Entertainment in Metaverse
Fans of the video game Fortnite have the opportunity to interact with real-world celebrities and become superstars of their own. Streamers are more valuable since they are more like the friends gamers already spend time with in real life, according to a Reach3 Insights report from 2018. Using pre-made advertising, commercials, and items in the Metaverse will no longer be an option. They will need to be kind and approachable themselves.
People flock to Wendy’s Twitter to participate in the roasting of the company’s employees. People in the Metaverse will seek out companies with which they have an emotional connection rather than because they have a pressing need for the services or products offered. For example, Wendy’s has already begun testing the Metaverse.
Fortnite’s “Food Fight” objective was live-streamed on Twitch in November 2018. Durr Burger, a parody of Wendy’s competitors, is the only in-game business that Wendy’s asked gamers to go after. As a result, Wendy’s gained more than 7,400 followers on Twitch and received over 43,500 comments during the game.
When asked why Wendy’s didn’t pay for Twitch or Fortnite advertising, senior director of social media and media Jimmy Bennet said that the effort of pursuing sponsored promos is more draining. Bennet added that because the experience was so natural, “we didn’t have to do so much hard work and invest so much money to support it,” Bennet added. CMOS and brands will require a metaverse-ready attitude.
John Legend’s recent Bigger Love virtual performance, which utilized Wave XR technology to broadcast a virtual John Legend and collect donations for charity, was another fantastic example of how the Metaverse is beginning to present itself in entertainment.
Read more articles for in-depth coverage on Metaverse:
- Facebook’s Metaverse: A New Dimension
- Cryptocurrency in the Metaverse is called what!! Nail the basics
- Metaverse Explained!! What’s Next!
Dominate the Social Media Game
Are you an Influencer and want to dominate Social Media? If yes, then you should read:
How to be a Social Influencer and Dominate the Game?
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