Every year the social media marketing community turns into fortune tellers \u2014 we collectively try to predict what trends, features, and innovations will take place in the upcoming year. Of course, trying to predict social media trends is much more trustworthy than fortune-telling even if you\u2019re using <\/span>astrology as a framework<\/span><\/a> for that.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Most social media predictions stand on the\u00a0<\/span>existing trends<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>research<\/span><\/a>, which makes them highly likely to actually be accurate.\u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s a common truth that social media platforms are constantly changing, they come up with new features, change algorithms, review their respective policies, and it all affects the way we do marketing on social. But it\u2019s not like these changes come out of nowhere \u2014 they are all the results of social media company\u2019s vision and business model or external circumstances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To identify trends that will dominate social media this year we need to consider all of these internal and external circumstances. And that\u2019s exactly what I did to make up this list of five major trends that will be prominent in 2020. In addition to simply describing what to expect in 2020, I also give some recommendations on how to use these trends to your brand\u2019s advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Source: Screenshot from social listening tool, <\/span>Awario<\/span><\/p>\n Knowledge is power, and social media companies want to empower their users and brands, or rather attract more investments. That\u2019s why they are giving social media managers more and more access to insights and data analytics. Facebook is constantly expanding Creator Studio\u2019s and Facebook Insights\u2019 functionality, Twitter is adding more insights to Media Studio, and Pinterest is <\/span>adding Pinterest Trends<\/span><\/a> to inform brands on user behavior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This year we are likely to see more ways to access user trends on different platforms and tap into this data for marketing and social media research.\u00a0<\/span>At the same time, due to trend number three on this list, brands might have to change the way they used to\u00a0<\/span>do social media marketing<\/span><\/a>, especially with targeted advertising. There are ethical and unethical ways to use data, and the upcoming year will probably be the time to rethink these terms. That may encourage brands to get more involved in the research of the publicly available data with the help of social listening, for example.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2019<\/span> Mark Zuckerberg claimed that \u201cthe future is private\u201d<\/span><\/a>. This was a surprising turn of events for the company which started out as a service to meet people and connect strangers. Facebook\u2019s CEO announced that from now own the platform will prioritize ways to build and sustain smaller communities and tet-a-tet communication meaning more focus on Groups and Messenger as well as WhatsApp.\u00a0<\/span>And it\u2019s not just Facebook, social media apps have been introducing more privacy-driven features lately including Instagram\u2019s \u201cClose Friends\u201d list, various updates to DMs functionality for <\/span>Twitter\u00a0<\/span><\/a>and\u00a0<\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a>, more ways for brands to manage social messaging.<\/span>\u00a0With the upcoming redesign of Facebook feed (expected to be fully rolled out in Q1 and the new ability to limit replies to your tweets, it\u2019s obvious that 2020 will be the year of private social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The turn to private communication is, of course, motivated by user behavior. People simply got much more into messaging their friends and interacting in small interest-based communities. Social media companies took notice of that and are now giving people what they want. However, taking into consideration how many privacy scandals we had in the last couple of years, it\u2019s easy to imagine that the turn to privacy was also prompted by the intent to improve ones\u2019 reputation, especially when we are talking about Facebook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Source: Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n This will probably be the most prominent theme in the news coverage of social media companies for 2020. Once again, it\u2019s not a new trend \u2014 the pressure to sort out the issues with spamming, misinformation, manipulation of the algorithm, and the social media impact on users\u2019 mental health has been there for a while.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2020 we can expect more regulations on ads, more sophisticated algorithms for discovering spammers and bots, and more ways for users to control what they are seeing on the timeline.\u00a0<\/span>In 2019 we saw some actions taken not just by the platforms themselves but also by the state \u2014 there were several <\/span>court cases<\/span><\/a>\u00a0around creating fake engagement and selling followers and likes that could become precedents for creating legislation around this matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Both Facebook and Twitter CEOs publicly stated that the ultimate framework for dealing with misleading ads and handling users\u2019 data should come from the governmental actors and independent expert committees, not the social media companies. California Consumer Privacy Act is the first attempt at such legislation. This will certainly affect the way brands advertise on social and conduct marketing research (see trend number one).<\/span><\/p>\n Social media companies also face a bigger challenge \u2013 how to avoid locking people in their own social media bubbles and creating echo-chambers that skew their view of the world? Admittedly, this is a broader challenge for our society in general. However, we can\u2019t ignore the fact that social media contributes to exacerbating the political and social divide between people, and it might be the time for platforms to rethink the core functionality and algorithms behind them. <\/span><\/p>\n Another area where social media companies are encouraged to take on more responsibility is mental health. By now it is obvious (and confirmed by\u00a0<\/span>research<\/span><\/a>) that social media can have a negative effect on users\u2019 self-esteem and mental health, especially among teenagers, and social media companies need to take notice of that. Some platforms have already made steps in the right direction by informing users about how much time they are spending on the app. The next big change will concern vanity metrics (see below).\u00a0<\/span>In 2020, it\u2019s expected that there will be more platform regulations that aim to protect users from abuse and bullying and more ways for users to filter the information they don\u2019t want to consume.<\/span><\/p>\n Hiding vanity metrics from anyone could eliminate the pressure of competition people feel and make social media less stressful. <\/span>Instagram has also revealed that during the tests they discovered that discarding like count leads to more content on the platform and that\u2019s what any social media company wants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s the logical outcome of the previous point, if people feel less pressure to get the most likes, they will feel more at ease with posting. <\/span>All in all, prepare to say goodbye to like counts in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n Source: Screenshot from social listening tool, <\/span>Awario<\/span><\/p>\n In 2019 TikTok became one of the most downloaded apps in the app store. The swift rise of the social media app drew a lot of attention from social media marketers, and will surely draw even more attention this year.\u00a0<\/span>The greatest thing about TikTok is its feed algorithm which allows you to reach a significant number of users right from the get-go, without having to gain followers for a long time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The platform is tailored for viral content: easy sharing, trends, and challenges enable you to easily create videos with a huge potential reach. Moreover, the platform is constantly developing its business capabilities, just recently TikTok <\/span>rolled out the ability to run ads on the platform<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n TikTok is the app to keep an eye on, as it is one of the fastest-growing social media networks, it surely has bigger plans for the upcoming year.<\/span><\/p>\n Social media trends don\u2019t just pop out of nowhere and it\u2019s not difficult to predict what will happen in the upcoming year. However, knowing something is only half the battle \u2014 you need to actually adjust your social media strategy to the ever-changing circumstances to get the best results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this article, I tried to demonstrate the broader trends but also shared actionable tips to implement in your work. Some of the trends that will play out in 2020 may seem like an impediment for social media marketers, you can\u2019t use targeting, you can\u2019t see how many likes an influencer gets, and people are getting harder to reach since they are all hanging out in private communities. But it\u2019s actually a chance for building genuine and trusting relationships with your audience \u2014 and you can do it by using these trends to your advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n Aleh is the\u00a0Founder and CMO at\u00a0SEO PowerSuite and\u00a0Awario. He can be found on Twitter at\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n \n If you’re looking to take your marketing to the next level, we\u2019ve got the six best ways to get more out of your marketing campaigns. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n Dig into four areas that often uncover digital growth blockers and explain how to assess the opportunities that overcoming them would present. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n1. Let data analysis lead your strategy<\/h2>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/social-media-trends-using-data-for-social-listening-1024x632.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\nHow to be on-trend<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
2. Make your communication more private<\/h2>\n
![\"Making](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/making-social-media-more-private.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nHow to be on-trend<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
3. Take up more social responsibility<\/h2>\n
![\"Taking](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/taking-up-more-social-responsibility-will-be-a-social-media-trend.png\")
<\/p>\nHow to be on-trend<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
4. Focus less on vanity metrics<\/h2>\n
![\"Less](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/less-focus-on-vanity-metrics.jpg\")
<\/span>
This trend is partly related to the previous one. In 2019, we saw several experiments around hiding vanity metrics, mainly like count, on\u00a0<\/span>Facebook and Instagram<\/span><\/a>. Twitter\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>CEO has also been vocal about his desire to move away from vanity metrics<\/span><\/a>. Moreover, both Instagram and Twitter have slightly tweaked their design to put less emphasis on the number of followers an account has.\u00a0<\/span>The rejection of like count is probably motivated both by moral and practical reasons, comparing your number of likes to someone else\u2019s is proven to damage one\u2019s self-esteem. <\/span><\/p>\nHow to be on-trend<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Share](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/share-of-voice-of-top-10-uk-universities-calculated.png\")
<\/p>\n5. Try TikTok<\/h2>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/social-media-trends-tiktok-advertising.png\")
<\/p>\nHow to be on-trend<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
In conclusion<\/h2>\n
Related reading<\/h4>\n
![\"Six](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/six-great-ways-to-get-more-out-of-your-digital-marketing-campaigns-in-2020-120x90.png\")
<\/a>\n <\/div>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-identify-and-address-the-four-biggest-digital-growth-challenges-120x90.png\")
<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
![\"Is](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/is-seo-dead-in-2020-120x90.png\")
<\/a>\n <\/div>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/23i69d6p0gw1zwz4y3smspc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-blockchain-will-dominate-the-digital-advertising-industry-in-2020-120x90.png\")
<\/a>\n <\/div>\n