Shall we go on a quick trip ahead of time to consider the future of social media marketing? First, let us start with statistics. Currently, there are about 6.84 billion people who own smartphones in the world. That is 85.5% of the world’s population, putting into perspective that there are about 8 billion people in the world. That, however, does not mean that each person from the figures above owns a smartphone. It is on record that some individuals own more than one smartphone, while corporate organizations are not left out.  

Exploding Topics mentioned that there has been a 5% increase witnessed in the last five years, and if the trend continues, the figure is certain to remain the same or go up in the next five years. Though, to have any effect on the future of social media marketing, the number of people who have access to the internet, which is currently 62% (4.9 billion), according to Zippia, needs to go up. The reason for this is that the more smartphone users who have access to an internet connection, the better for social media marketing outreach. 

Recent Trends on Social Media

In very recent times, social media has evolved, and many platforms are coming on board that fascinate people and are likely to endear users to it; Examples are TikTok and Some new features that just came up on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. And marketing on these platforms has taken a new turn, and if you do not explore and adopt them now, you might struggle when innovations are introduced shortly to social media marketing. 

Another important reason you need a glimpse into the future of social media marketing is to help your business develop Social Media strategies that work and jettison those that do not. The effect is that you can optimize your social media post and the upscale marketing for your business. Here is the future of social media marketing trends for 2024. 

Future of Social Media Marketing 

• Live Videos.

YouTube introduced live videos into social media, and soon Facebook followed suit. Now, almost all social media platforms are following the trend. Thus, projection says live video or video marketing is the future of social media marketing.  

Live Video can help you market your product or service directly to your audience. People appreciate seeing real people talk about a product or service rather than cartoon graphics. And so many explanations and demonstrations that can help convince your target consumers to purchase your product are seen through your videos.  

You can belong to the 95% of businesses whom BrandLive, through a study, stated are willing to leverage video marketing into their social media marketing strategies. 

• Engagements. 

The importance of engagement has come to the forefront of advertising and is a prospect going into the future of social media marketing. Facebook algorithms now favor social media posts that are engaging. It is worth noting that engagement goes beyond asking people to like, share and comment on your post. Shane Barker says your post must have started meaningful interactions.  

In addition, you must change your game going into the future of social media marketing. How do you do that? That is by producing quality content that is engaging and not the bait type of engagement we have around social media at the moment. 

• Personalization

Do you recall the last time you saw content you have not subscribed to or liked appear on your newsfeed on Facebook? The reason is that social media is getting more personalized, and the one-size-fits-all is outdated. And the effect on marketing is that you are able to reach your target audience easily and feed them personalized content. That, according to Ignitesocialmedia, is a form of target marketing. 

• SEO and Keyword Research 

RankTracker in one of its recent publications, noted that 40% of the Gen Z rely on TikTok and Instagram to make search queries about some budding topics in their minds. A business that focuses on these social media platforms for their marketing must focus on SEO and keyword Research and produce SEO-rich content to satisfy these search requests and get more leads. 

If you can get your Keyword research and SEO strategy on track, you are bound to reap the benefits of what the future of social media marketing has in store. Plus, you can do this organically without spending a dime on advertising. 

• Influencer Marketing

Many brands are very skeptical when you mention that they can use influencers to reach more of their target audience and raise sales. And that reservation is duly founded on the ground that there are now many fake people masquerading as influencers when they are, in fact, just wannabes. 

The right influencers can help you reach your target audience and impact your business unexpectedly. But they are often costly. Top influencers who have larger following are reputed to cost $10,000 per post (They are called the Mega Influencers.) What is the fate of small-scale businesses and Startups that cannot afford such huge fees? 

The answer is to approach micro-influencers. Though they have fewer followers when compared with other influencers on the ladder. DigitalDoughnut claims that their high engagement rate makes up for follower deficiencies because they are able to reach more audience who are willing to “Take Action”  

• Groups and Close Friends Feature 

Many social media platforms are now including Groups and Close Friends among features users can enjoy, and your business is not left out. Facebook Groups have become effective in getting feedback from people who purchased or want to purchase your product. You are also generating engagement from it. Likewise, Instagram’s “Close Friends” feature allows you to segment your target audience and share exclusive content with them.  

Audience segmentation, as shown by these two platforms, is envisaged to shape the future of social media marketing in 2024.  

• Authenticity

Start building personalized and original brand content if you must because the future of social media marketing is projected to accommodate brands that churn out content. And their product and services are what they say they are.  

Social media has become porous and there are many businesses and content everywhere. Standing out amongst the crowd should be your main strategy from now on.  

Sprout Social says consumers have become aware in the era of social media that many brands are only interested in selling their product/service, and they can sense honesty and integrity more easily by some things you as a business may consider trivial. Therefore, it behooves you to keep to whatever values, missions, promises, and a lot more you portray to your target customers. Ensure you are not the reason your competitors are winning and making more sales than your business.