In 2017, social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube are established fixtures of the modern social landscape. Billions of people and businesses use these social media platforms to communicate, entertain and make sales, so it is only natural that they are at the forefront of digital innovation. There a wide variety of new technologies that will help make social media optimization easier, faster and more cost effective.
New Social Media Tools
Because of the immense popularity of social media apps and their rapidly changing nature, more companies are creating tools and services that improve user experience and make social media marketing more fruitful. Among the most popular of these among social media professionals are the following:
- Buffer—This is a powerful scheduling tool that is very popular among social media marketing experts. This service offers an easy-to-use interface that allows you to share content across networks and accounts. It also provides some really useful social media guides that are very beneficial for newcomers to social media marketing.
- Socedo—Another app that many social media marketing consultants love is Socedo. This service is an outstanding way to generate leads from social media channels. This automated system uses keywords and demographic guidelines that identifies potential customers on social media sites. The service also provides comprehensive reports on potential client engagement as well as assists in sales funnel optimization.
- Cyfe—As far as analytics tools go, Cyfe is one of the best. This powerful tool offers a one-stop manager for SEO, Google Analytics and social media analytics. This service also has information on your competitors, the broader industry and your advertising campaigns. You can now manage your content across networks like the top social media marketing companies.
- Nuvi—If you are looking for a fast and easy way to learn what people are talking about online, then Nuvi is the tool you need. In partnership with the human data intelligence tool DataSift, which works with Facebook;s firehose, Nuvi analyzes the latest Facebook posts and pinpoints key memes. This is an outstanding tool if you want to create up-to-date content that users are eager for.
The Evolution of Social Media
While third parties are creating their own add-on services to popular social sites, the social networks themselves are also innovating changes.
- Real-time streaming —More platforms like Facebook and Twitter are integrating features that allow live streaming by users. This not only creates a more exciting, dynamic visitor experience, but also helps satisfy the ever growing need for more content. Social media gurus will need to start utilizing live streaming events to meet this user desire.
- Virtual reality —2016 saw the emergence of many polished, powerful virtual reality products, and this should continue in the coming years. More social networks are going to gear their content towards VR users.
- E-commerce integration —Pinterest is the first major social network to install a “Buy” button on their content, but others could soon follow. E-commerce is a natural component of social media, so making it easier for users to make purchases seems inevitable.