Dear Reader: The year “2017” in the headline isn’t a typo. Halloween merchandise has been on store shelves for three months. Christmas merchandise started popping up right after Labor Day. So I’d say the time is right to be looking at Social Media Marketing Trends for 2017.

You might also ask, Why is the focus on Social Media marketing instead of traditional advertising? Because that’s where the audience is heading. Marketers are getting better at reaching that audience. And there are more tools to measure results.

So without further ado, here are the top Social Media Marketing Trends you can expect to see in 2017:

• The demand for professionally produced content for social media will exceed available supply. I emphasize “professionally produced” because many organizations now realize that — just as with traditional marketing — you can usually pay someone to produce Social Media content that is much better and more effective than you can produce yourself.

• Much more paid advertising on social media. Have you seen a lot of sponsored ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest this year? Well, as the song says, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive, aka BTO, 1974.) Expect to see even more — making it tougher to get your original-content posts noticed.

• If it ain’t visual, it won’t get noticed. Writing is still important, if not critical — but if your post doesn’t have a graphic to grab attention, that great writing will likely go unread.

• Much larger budgets for Social Media campaigns. Now that Social Media is considered legitimate, audiences are easy to measure and analytics are easily accessed, purse strings are loosening up.

• Substantial and measurable results from Social Media. Most Social Media platforms already offer analytics that make it easy to get a decent idea of who is seeing which posts. But now, there are also lots of third-party firms who specialize in finding and refining data that is relevant to your needs.

• Video, which already dominates Social Media, will blow up even more. Video will become a must-have for most programs.

• More native video and content specific to that social platform being used. There will be less traveling back to the main website to view content, including video, so more will be posted right on the Social Media platform.

• You’ll see more features of websites appearing on Social Media sites — including requests for quotes and even direct sales and e-commerce. There is both a problem and an opportunity here, and I’ll explain more about that in the future.

• Custom animated videos will get have higher viewership than talking head videos. Most of the animations we do at Farris Marketing are “explainer videos” used to simplify and get across what you offer — with impact — in less than two minutes.

• Live video will turn some marketers into heroes and some into zeros. Periscope and Facebook will make this off-the hook popular. But few will do it well.

• Many organizations will give up on Social Media Marketing because it doesn’t usually produce short-term results. It’s a long-haul medium.

• Many organizations will give up because it’s too complicated or difficult to produce good content that gets noticed. Too bad for them. Good for you if you stick with it.

That’s it! You’d be wise to consider these trends while planning your 2017 marketing. And if you haven’t done it yet, you better get that Halloween and Christmas shopping finished too.  gff