Thinking Out Loud

Social Media Trends For 2018

By Keryn Nicolson

When Twitter decided to expand its character limit from 140 to 280 last year I think we all got a little excited. What we quickly remembered shortly after however is that but more is not always better. One of the most difficult things to do is to get your point across with the least amount of words possible. It's an art form. Take all that word jumble and filter it all down to one sentence that makes a valid point. That’s why it’s such a difficult task for grant writers to play within the funder’s word or page limits when putting a proposal together.

I took a grant writing course in grad school and one of the hardest things was putting a project proposal together and trying to narrow down your project’s purpose in a few lines. Or in our case, one sentence.

The same thing goes applies to social media posts, on all platforms. Look at how increasingly popular 5 second videos are becoming. If it’s any longer than that, the
“swipe right” ratio is way higher. Attention spans are far shorter. Therefore out content must be as well. Here are some social media trends to be aware of for 2018:

-There is a rise in augmented reality

-Huge increase in Instagram stories

-Continued investment in influencer marketing

-Live streaming is expanding

-Social media platforms are becoming more strict on governing content

-Keep it SHORT

“It doesn’t matter if you jave 50,000 followers, 100,000, or several million. It’s more how well your message resonates with your audience and whether your audience will take action” –Matthias Lufkens, managing director at Burson-Marsteller

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