People spent most free hours of their day on social media. Everyone is a consumer. In 2020, every type of content creator seeks to take advantage of these social media flocking herds.
There is only one problem: there are so many platforms that more time goes into marketing on social platforms than actual content creation. In a market so fierce, how is one supposed to segregate the advantageous from time-killers?
Hence, I went to look for the biggest Social Media Trends in 2020 that content writers can take advantage of without having to jump from platform to platform for marketing and promotion, all the while, saving time for creative work. So, what are these social media trends and how can writers convert them into profitable work?
Flock to Niche Platforms
According to Influence Marketing Hub’s website niche social media platforms have punched past the generalization provided by large platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Alongside niche platforms, niche influencers are rising too.
My advice in 2020 would be for writers to stick with Twitter for opinions, LinkedIn for connections, and niche platforms for expertise. People who are into game blogging or any sector of games have to be connected to Twitch whereas vloggers must keep your eyes on Youtube, Snapchat and TikTok. Same goes for influencers.
Keep an eye out for any platform that lands in your niche. Despite the popularity of the platform, make sure to have an account at ready because the niche consumers prefer to gather on portals that will reduce the hassle of filtering out unnecessary content for them. These platforms will drive quality on both end of the spectrum.
Via Commercial Content
Talking of niches, commercial, rather e-commercial, content isn’t far behind. In this day and age, every e-commerce website, irrespective of their niche sells on social platforms. If Kim Kardashian can sell a ‘fragrance’ exclusively online, anything is possible.
This 2020, take into consideration the content you write for any e-commerce site. Make sure to frame the content in a manner that does not require extra effort for it to be pushed on social media. Changing with the tide is necessary. Even with the rise of social media writers, businesses are still reluctant to hire multiple content creators for different expertise. The plus side is, writers can charge for two services packaged together instead of one.
If you are a social media writer, make sure to add the commercial angle or vice versa. Accommodate!
Be a Scriptwriter
With the incorporation of videos in Facebook and Instagram and rise of popularity of Youtube, the fact that video content consumption is at an all time high does not need a statistic. Instagram gained hype with IGTV, Snapchat and TikTok are soaring while Youtube and Amazon is starting to compete with digital television platforms like Netflix. People love mini-series and web-series.
Scriptwriters from every language, cultural background, ethnicity and geography are in demand. The larger the video content consumer base gets, the wider the choices need to be. To cater to every section and interest group, the video content creators need more inclusivity. No better time than now to explore this content channel.
The demand and scope of work for scriptwriters has expanded exponentially. This 2020, it is time for scriptwriters to take charge.
Provide Authenticity
According to Hoosuite’s report on 2020 social media trends, an intricate relationship of reliability and trust sits between employers and employees when a company’s internal work culture is exposed to the public eye via social channels. The consumers are ever eager to learn of the people that sit behind the brand and bring them their beloved content/product. The faces behind the name impart authenticity.
Authenticity has been a rising factor and will continue to grow this year. Hence, more and more brands are seeking ways to be relatable to their consumers. Keep up with this trend by incorporating conversational tones, short paragraphs, dialogue forms, inspiring stories and personal experiences.
Two of the perfect examples I can think right of the bat are, one, Dwanye ‘the rock’ Johnson’s Instagram feed that is always personalized, relatable and empathetic lending authenticity to his voice and second, the introduction of Google Bert which is a major step towards improved experience from giant like Google in an effort to provide authentic results for its users.
King of Quality
I have talked about authenticity and another measure to drive it is via quality content. While this has always been a prominent factor for creators year after year, in 2020, many social media trends like loosing ‘like’ factor on Instagram and emphasis on long tail keywords due to Google Bert have truly enforced creators to create, rather think, in terms of quality.
Freelancers will have to adapt to this shifting scenario. It is time to take a step back and focus on what goes in the product description instead of focusing on the keyword stuffing. Homepages can no longer be a paid per hour job if you want high quality in 3000 word long page instead of a 3000 word long page with high keyword density. Superficial engagement will no long be prominent. This will cause businesses to divert towards factors like landing pages and subscribers for meaningful engagement metrics.
This is an opportunity is for every freelancer to explore, in terms of creative freedom provided by the lack of ranking pressure.
Conclusion
Trend is the pattern or the flow of culture towards a particular sect. In this case, the 2020 social media trends are the predicament of where the consumers of social content are going to be interested. In order to stay contemporary in the long run, adapting to the flow of this social culture is vital for every content creator.
The above are by far the most advantageous trends for content creators to bank on, in the upcoming year. If there are any more trends that you have observed rising to popularity, do share and we can expolre ways of making it work for content freelancers.
It is time to adapt!
See you next blog.
Abhilasha Dubey 