Since 2004, social media usage has been steadily increasing. More and more users sign on each day, and more and more platforms are being created to match the demand. However, the increase in popularity in some social networking sites means the decrease in popularity in others, so social media strategies must change with the trends. Today, the top three platforms used by brands are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, respectively. Other platforms, however, are riding closely behind. Being a pioneer on these smaller sites as a company may ultimately pay off with your audiences. Here are our predictions on sites that will thrive in 2020, and the ones that will die out.
Those That Will Thrive: Instagram, Twitter, TikTok
Visual social media sites have been the pinnacle of the digital age, and continue to rise in popularity. As the attention span decreases with each generation, people become heavily reliant on visual stimuli to create interest and get messages across. To succeed on these sites, your brand will need to have a strong visual relationship with its brand identity to translate a message in less than 140 characters.
Despite its rapid growth, TikTok is difficult for brands to utilize, given the quick-fire nature of the videos. However, if a brand aimed toward Generation Z were to try to utilize TikTok, it may be wise to put a funny and personable CEO behind the camera and generate press about that, rather than make it the face of the company. Using TikTok as an informative and fun platform to share your brand expertise may also be a great way to generate a fanbase.
Those That Will Die: Facebook, Snapchat
The platforms that rely on attention-focused content, like videos and text, will be least successful for brands in 2020. Facebook has continuously ranked as the most popular social media platform worldwide in terms of users. However, in terms of active users, it is one of the less effective social media sites for brands to use. Same goes with Snapchat, which lost a dramatic amount of users in 2018, and TikTok.
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