With 467 million users on LinkedIn, 2.07 billion on Facebook, 330 million on Twitter, and 800 million on Instagram, successful marketers will turn their Marketing strategies to where their target audience hangs out. These Social Media giants offer B2B marketers a wide range of opportunities in 2018 to help get their message in front of intended targets. And that doesn’t include Snapchat where 30% of U.S. millennials hang out.

What social media marketing strategies should you focus on in 2018 to capitalize on these numbers? Here is a look at the top social media marketing trends for 2018.

Get on the Chatbot Wagon

Chatbots are quickly becoming the preferred way to interact with your customers online. Many companies are creating intuitive and interactive chatbots because the technology is no longer robotic and clunky.

You can interact more quickly with your customers with chatbots. And your interaction will feel natural and personal, if done correctly. As bots become smarter, you can customize them with human-like capabilities like your brand voice and personalized messages to send directly to your customers and targets. For example, Facebook reported they see 100,000 active bots each month on Facebook Messenger.

Use Ephemeral Content

Ephemeral content lives for up to 24 hours on certain social media platforms and then disappears forever. Consider stories on Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook that are widely popular. For 2018, successful marketers will add an ephemeral content marketing strategy to their social media marketing plans.

For example, consider using transparent and impactful stories around your brand in your ephemeral content and high-quality, evergreen content in your social media profiles. This helps you build anticipation and excitement around your ephemeral content because it is only available for a limited time, but still allow your hard-hitting quality content to remain.

Focus More on Video

As mobile internet usage continues to explode, you need to use more videos to capture their short attention spans. In 2017, 90% of all content shared by users on social media was video. And it will be even more prevalent in 2018 across all social media channels. If you’re not yet using video as part of your social media marketing strategy, make it a priority in 2018.

Before you jump headfirst, you need to create a strategy for your videos. Just like with blogging, you cannot produce videos just for the sake of it. You must be strategic in how and what you present in video form, and it must be new and exciting content. Test your video content to see what works, and follow this rule: “Design for sound off, delight with sound on.”

Conclusion

Video, chatbots, and ephemeral content are all social trends you should incorporate into your social media marketing plan for 2018. Use each to develop personal, deeper connections between your brand and your target audience on social media. Focus less on automation and repetition, and more on real-time engagement. For more information on what you can expect heading into 2018, download KEO Marketing’s latest guide, “Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2018.”