Maintaining a strong Social Media presence can be one of the most important components of running a non-profit organization. But one of the problems with the world of social media, it seems, is that it is constantly changing. By the time you catch up, there is already something new to learn.

While it would be impossible to predict everything that is going to happen in 2018, we can at least take a moment to think about where things might be going. By taking a look at the direction of current trends, your organization can have a better forecast of where things might fall in the future.

Increased social media platform integration

While Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have seemed to be rivals for a long time, it appears their animosity is gradually evolving into a mutually beneficial relationship. Instead of trying to absolutely dominate the market on their own, these social media giants are learning to work together.

As social media platforms become more integrated, expect your organization to have to manage more platforms at once.

Instead of being expected to Tweet or post on Facebook, most organizations are now seeking to do both simultaneously. Numerous programs have developed to make it possible to be posting to several different platforms at once. Though this may help you reach a wider audience as time goes on, it also means you are going to need to keep up with emerging platforms in the future.

Longer posts on Twitter, more detailed content elsewhere

Twitter has just decided to expand the maximum length of their posts (tweets) from 140 characters to 280 characters. The potential for doubling the length of the tweet means that the entire function of the platform might change altogether.

What could your #nonprofit organization express with 280 characters that it couldn’t express with 140?
Click To Tweet

While 140 characters is usually only enough for a sentence (maybe two), 280 characters will allow you to communicate to your followers with a little more depth. Though you could still just ‘double tweet’ in the past, this would likely to hinder your communications because people are less likely to retweet two messages as opposed to one.

Furthermore, sharable content in general is likely going to increase in length. Google is actively changing its algorithms for which kinds of content ‘perform’ the best, and as time goes on, it has been expanding its standard for the ‘ideal’ length of an article.

More rigid SEO standards

Years ago, Google’s SEO (search engine optimized) standards were based off of a very simple ratio of keywords, readability, and other calculable factors. This means that even if an article was not very high quality, as long as it mentioned certain words in a certain way, it had a good chance of making it onto the front-page of Google.

But as time has gone on, Google has constantly been increasing its standards (along with other search engines). This means that in order to remain competitive, organizations of all kinds are going to want to look beyond simply satisfying a given formula, but towards creating sharable content that is actually good.

Taking shortcuts won’t keep you ahead in the game forever. The best way to establish yourself online is by creating quality content.

If you want your organization to thrive on social media, you are going to want to create content that isn’t just clickbait, isn’t just a catchy headline, but is able to actually engage your readers. Computers are getting smarter. People are (in some ways) also getting smarter. Your content ought to reflect these trends.

More opportunities for direct action

As people scroll through their social media feeds, they are likely going to be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of content that is being presented to them. Depending on who they are, many people will be exposed to literally hundreds of different images, gifs, videos, and paragraphs in a matter of minutes. Unless you stand out in some way, it can be almost impossible to get their attention.

If you want to succeed as a non-profit organization, you are going to want to make sure you are persistent. Furthermore, you are going to want to be sure that you give people an opportunity to do something that is relatively easy right now.

People are attracted to things that can benefit them in some way. Contests such as ‘share this post and be entered to win’ have been proven to be uniquely effective. Furthermore, people want to be recognized for what they do. If you can utilize something such as a special Facebook frame for your donors, you will be able to help them stand out.

Expect social media to continue to be relevant (obviously)

Social media is not going to be going away any time soon. One of the problems, however, is that as soon as marketers can firmly establish themselves on a given platform, they saturate the market and it can lose its ‘cool’ effect.

Social media platforms such as MySpace, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), and countless others have faded from popularity as time has gone on. But other platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat have risen and taken their place. The world of social media is constantly—and permanently—changing.

If you want to succeed in the world of social media, you are going to want to establish yourself on as many platforms as possible, create original and sharable content, and try to avoid sounding as if you are pandering to your audience. People do sincerely want to help—2018 can be the year you learn to take advantage of that.

The post Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch in 2018 appeared first on Ally 360 Blog.