Now is the perfect time of year to review past social media content performance and perfect your strategy going forward. Check out these five trends that will have the biggest impact on your overall social media strategy in 2018.

Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has quickly evolved throughout the years and shows no signs of slowing down in 2018. With 71% of consumers more likely to make a purchase based on a reference from influencers, according to Influencer Orchestration Network, it is no surprise that more brands and companies will embrace influencer marketing strategies in 2018 in order to connect with new audiences. Influencer marketing continues to increase brand awareness and improve engagement with existing audiences and the overall focus in 2018 will shift to creating meaningful relationships with influencers and setting clear objectives with them.

Ephemeral Content
Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook Stories led to the popularity of short-lived content that goes away after the viewer sees it or after a period of 24 hours. Short-lived content provides an impulse for consumers to take quicker action and helps build excitement among users. With the increase of users watching Stories in 2018, it is essential for brands to have a complete, separate strategy specifically for ephemeral content in order to reach audiences in new and different ways.

Video
The rise in the popularity of video content is not slowing down and more brands will bring even more video-based content into their social strategy in 2018. As social algorithms keep evolving, it is essential to include video in your social strategy to help drive higher engagement and reach. According to Cisco, video will make up 80 percent of all internet traffic by 2019. One form of video content that brands will embrace in 2018 is live-streaming in order to capture the attention of their audience and to provide a personal experience for them.

Messaging Platforms
With over 2.5 billion people using messaging platforms globally, according to Statista, more brands will test out and invest additional time in connecting with consumers on messaging platforms such as Messenger, WhatsApp and Kik in 2018. Chatbots allow brands to quickly interact with consumers in a more personal way that could potentially lead directly to conversions.

Focus on Generation Z
Born in and after 1995 and growing up in the world of technology, there will be a bigger focus for brands to find ways to connect with Generation Z in 2018. A study by Goldman Sachs shows that Generation Z is more valuable to businesses and organizations and now holds a stronger connection to technology. In 2018, expect brands to adapt their marketing strategy to appeal toward this generation with a greater investment in platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram.