Well, here we are at the beginning of another new year. One of the great things about having a career in Social Media is that you’ll never be bored! It’s impossible–things move and change way too fast.

But the downside is that it can be really tough to spot trends, and in so doing, predict what’s happening next in the industry.

I found this great infographic for you today that outlines some social media predictions for 2016.

What’s not going away:

• “Pay to Play.” Yeah, in fact, even more social networks are going to try to monetize in this way that has made Facebook billions of dollars. The upside of pay to play (at least in the case of Facebook) is that Facebook ads are a great value–they’re cheap, and they work.
• Video. It’s weird, because YouTube is now 10+ years old, but it just gains steam. Video is now more important than ever. Don’t neglect it when it comes to your social media marketing.
• Snack-sized content. Yup, keep it short, sweet and snappy. We have short attention spans, and all content should be designed to look good on mobile, as well (think of people consuming your content while riding the bus).

Some 2016 predictions:

• Live streaming video: 2015 was the year Periscope, Meercat and Blab came online, and they aren’t going anywhere! They’re great for marketing, so start to plan and schedule some live streaming content if you haven’t already. Facebook also has a new tool called “Facebook Live,” and Periscope can now stream live right inside your Twitter timeline.
• Delivering longer-form content through social media. LinkedIn Publisher and Medium started it… now Facebook has a built-in blogging platform as well. The advantage of using something like this is that it often gives the reader a better experience. My concern with it is that it’s not “owned media.”
• Short video: Snapchat, Vine, Instagram. About a month ago, I decided to really put work into Stnapchat. It’s growning like crazy, and is already at 200 million active monthly users, as compared to Instagram’s 300. Snapchat is growing, and so are its user’s demographics. No longer just for millenials, Snapchat is now being used much more by 25-40 year olds. I have a future post in the works about how you can use Snapchat for marketing.

And here’s today’s infographic!

Infographic courtesy of CJG Digital Marketing