How has Social Media changed in 2015?

As we’re coming towards the end of 2015, we’ve decided to take a look at how Social media has changed over the year and the importance of integrating paid media into your digital marketing strategy.

Live video streaming

During 2015, Twitter maintained the top spot for real-time engagement during huge events like the UK general election, but ‘in the moment’ video became a focus for social media marketers. Periscope by Twitter and Meerkat marked their territory in the live-streaming space, and in the same way that users are able to instantaneously share a moment of their lives, brands could tell their stories in new ways. Younger consumers already take part in the moment-sharing culture with Snapchat, but Periscope in particular leverages and engages a slightly older Twitter demographic.

Buy buttons

It’s not just about engagement though, and if they weren’t already, brands have become even more aware of the need to integrate social commerce into the sales funnel. Buy buttons introduced by Facebook and Twitter soon began to turn sponsored posts into ‘click to purchase’ sales drivers, making social channels part of a streamlined sales experience.

Shop now buttons

Visual sites such as Pinterest and Instagram also announced a shift to including shop now buttons for advertisers, meaning UK businesses can take full advantage of incredible product pictures to drive sales. Instagram also made its biggest photo update yet, allowing users to upload pictures of any dimensions. There’s now no need to make sure products are crammed into a square frame, but it’s clear going into 2016 that any good digital marketing strategy can’t just rely on incredible imagery. Online marketing strategies need to include paid media spend on social channels in order to amplify messages and get quality content to the right people.

Instant articles

If businesses weren’t already planning editorial as part of their social media strategy, they will be now, as Instant Articles exploded on Facebook. This allows on-board publishers to publish full-length articles, without readers leaving the social platform via external URLs. Facebook also deepened their search functionality by scanning the links within user posts, meaning editorially driven content can reach even more eyes than before.

What’s your take on social media in 2015? Did we miss anything?