Technology is constantly evolving within social media and the expectations for 2018 are great. As you look to the year ahead to start brainstorming on how to strengthen your social media strategy, it is key to have a pulse on what the trends will be.

Here are some of the top trends we plan to see in social media as we enter 2018.

1. Augmented reality will see an increase

Apple recently announced the iPhoneX and iPhone8 will come equipped with the ability to have an augmented reality experience. Not too far off will be platforms like Instagram and Snapchat having filters available that will allow you to have a celebrity or friend superimposed in a picture.  Brands are also very excited about this concept as they will be able to project their products into consumer homes with ease.

2. Instagram Stories becoming more popular

A few million people are using Instagram Stories every month.  That is more users than what we are seeing with Snapchat given the same time frame. With this type of usage already, you can expect at least half of Instagram users will be doing Stories by years end. With that being said, brands need to make sure they are getting on the bandwagon and learning how to properly utilize this feature.

3. An increase in Influencer marketing campaigns

Most marketers who have tried employing influencer marketing feel it was a successful venture. It is a great way to further that connection with your current audience as well as build that connection with new people. Throughout this year there were a few brands that implemented more traditional advertising techniques and turned out struggling with connecting to their core audience.  In 2018, we are sure to see more and more brands trying out this strategy as an avenue to connect with those that are not responding positively to the more traditional marketing strategies.

4. A shift towards focusing on Generation Z

Millennials have recently taken a back seat to a new group, Generation Z (the oldest age being 22), as the more  valuable target audience for many brands. This group is just starting out and will see continued buying power for years to come. Brands will start to see this and make the appropriate change in their social media strategies.  You can also expect to see an uptick in the usage of their most beloved platforms like Instagram and SnapChat.

5. Brands embracing messaging platforms

Over a billion people are using messaging platforms around the world. Even so, many brands continue to put their focus on just the social networks when it comes to connecting with their audience. As we enter 2018, brands are going to start communicating more with their customers through messaging platforms. Chatbots, Artificial intelligence and voice assistants will allow brands to offer customized shopping experiences on messaging platforms like Kik, Messenger and WhatsApp.

6. An increase in Live Streaming

Many brands have started to embrace the idea of live streaming as an attention getter.  As we move into 2018, more and more brands are going to start to see the potential of this strategy and will begin to include it in their content plans.

7. Changes with Twitter

As of this year, Twitter has not been able to keep up with the growth numbers all the other social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. As we enter 2018, we anticipate a shakeup in leadership at Twitter and they will begin to rethink the way in which the platform operates.

8. Video hangouts will become more popular

There is a very popular video hangout amongst Gen Zers called Houseparty.  Over a million use it everyday and we anticipate the likes of Facebook coming out with something similar in 2018.

9. The introduction of Facebook Spaces

Spaces is a new project that is in the works from Facebook.  It will allow you to connect with friends in virtual reality.  It is set to make its debut in 2018 and it will be the only virtual reality social media product to hit the market full scale.

10. Stronger codes of conduct for social media platforms

After what happened during the last presidential election, monitoring conduct on social media platforms has come front and center. Facebook had to recently turn over thousands of Russian ads to congress.  They have since invested in beefing up both AI monitoring as well as human monitoring of the Facebook platform.