Why You Should Care About Social Media Trends
This article was originally written for the ViralHeat Blogathon hosted by VentureBeat, yesterday from 4:30-6:30pm. Unfortunately, the folks at SHARED did not anticipate having an additional WIFI network to allow all of the attendees to actually submit their work. Given the subject "Top Social Media Trends" (that was assigned to us), I figured it was worth sharing here.
When thinking about, (let alone discussing) what defines a 'Social Media Trend' the first thing you have to ask yourself is: Is this a trend that has erupted on its own?
I.G.
- Gangnam Style
- The Harlem Shake
- ..or most recently the discussion around Project PRISM.
OR
Is it a trend that digital analysts have simply told us is important in their latest report?
In either case. What's REALLY trending today and needless to say changing the nature of how we communicate with each other is the rise in production of two things.
What are these two things?
Good question.
The first, is the rise of visual media. People LOVE visuals.
- MEME's
- Bread Kittens
- Rappers and Cereal
Visuals.
The fact of the matter is, by 2017 consumers will expect the 'content' from content marketing to be more entertaining than educational any way, so why not get a jump-start on your competitors NOW, by making your content entertaining AND (just a little) informational.
One great example of a blog that does this is: Thug Kitchen. Thug Kitchen has got to be the funniest shit I've ever seen in a while. I mean, one look at one of their food meme's and you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about.
So where was I? Right..
Did you know that this visual epidemic has exploded to such proportions that both mobile and web developers are even trying to get their piece of the pie by creating platforms and apps that aid in the creation process? I even had one come talk to me today at this event. If that wasn't enough. Are you aware that company's like Marketo, Hubspot, and many others have already integrated "MEME Marketing" as part of their visual content strategy? No? Well you do now.
Let's jump into the 2nd thing that's really trending right now.
I'll give you a clue.
Videos.
People love to watch videos. I mean, just take a look at the App Store. 4/5 of the top downloaded apps are video apps. If that wasn't enough to convince you, how about the fact that YouTube is the 3rd most trafficked site in the world. Still not enough? One word: Snapchat
Snapchat alone epitomizes how much people LOVE to communicate in a visual and video format. So much so that the founding team has been in a legal battle for months over: who came up with the idea.
To summarize, we live in a fast paced world and there was a time before digital analysts fed marketers the answers as to: "what to be looking at". A time where experimenting and trying things out was the ONLY way. And you know what, if you live in the most innovative city in the world the data won't always be there to guide you. If you care to argue this point then perhaps you can also tell me what the engagement rate of visual media will be on the Project Glass compared to the iWatch.