The first edition of Social Media Anti-Trends was released last year, and you can judge how accurate the predictions were by clicking here. We are more than curious what this year is going to bring… or rather, what it won’t bring!

Lilach Bullock, Social Media Marketing Expert: 2017 is not the year to…

Rely on a single content format; the world of content marketing is becoming very saturated and marketers need to step up their game and diversify the content they’re producing. Video is going to continue to be huge this year, as well as other types of visual content, such as images, presentations and interactive infographics. Another way of diversifying is by using more interactive content, both on websites and on social media.

Dan Purvis, Director @CommsAxis: 2017 is not a year of…

Digital transformation. Brands are frantically trying to jump on the digital transformation bandwagon without understanding what it is, how it can benefit their business, and why it is WAY more than just doing some social media marketing.

Mick Griffin, CRO @Brand24: 2017 is not the year of…

Si-fi social marketing. Si-Fi is our term for Set It and Forget It campaigns. It’s great to have your posts scheduled, and your ad campaigns running smoothly, however 2017 is the last year consumers will be still be pleasantly surprised your brand is engaging them individually on social, replying to their comments etc. In 2018 my bet is this will be the standard, so it’s your last chance to create surprisingly good connections with your social audience.

Pollyanna Ward: 2017 is not the year of…

Many factors on social media. Brands will continue to find ways to disrupt consumers’ lives, but at the end of day, we can’t afford to be wasting resources and assets in a ‘pay to play’ world. Social media feeds are heavily saturated; 2017 is the year Facebook will supposedly be at peak feed.  Brands should look to add value to consumers’ lives, for example the continuing development of AR shows how people want to be able to enhance their experiences, not add in extra layers and steps. The tools are there: exciting ad formats, large audiences, ecommerce options, proximity targeting, micro-influencers, the list is endless. 2017 is the year to be honest, open, and easy to use – consumers aren’t going to go and buy an Oculus Rift just to play your game.

Eve Mayer, CEO @Social Media Delivered: 2017 is not the year of…

Using all social media platforms for your business without figuring out the business goals first. Stop signing up for all social platforms and forcing people to do Snapchat if you are not going after young people. Stop doing LinkedIn if your company isn’t a professional brand with professional things to say. Choose your social media platforms wisely based on your business goals and who you need to reach. Focus on those platforms only and cultivate the relationships you need. Also, 2017 is the year to stop procrastinating on adding video to your content.

Callum McCahon, Senior Strategist @BornSocial: 2017 is not the year of…

Beautiful, polished, refined social content…2017 is the year of ‘Ugly Social’. With the rise of tools such as Facebook Live Video and platforms like Snapchat that value immediacy and rawness over production and planning, social media is going to get back to basics next year. ‘Ugly’ social content prioritizes reach at any cost over brand positioning at any cost – it’s the brands who are confident enough to let go of their strict aesthetic and create content that their audience actually wants to share, rather than advertising that they want to block, that will see success next year.

Ian Cleary, founder @RazorSocial: 2017 is not the year of…

Social platforms not generating any direct sales. We’re at a stage where sales need to start happening on the platforms.  I see Facebook being at the forefront of this where there is a big push to encourage more people to buy products within the feed.

Lukasz Zelezny, SEO Expert: 2017 is not the year of…

Yet-⁠another-⁠meme-⁠fanpage to gain likes. People seem to be less engaged with cheesy memes and low-⁠quality baits. There will be visible decrease of nonsense Facebook pages which were using this tactic to gain visibility. Which overall is going to increase the quality of content appearing on Facebook. Similar rules apply to Twitter or Snapchat.

Mary Nice, Senios Strategist @convinceandconvert.com: 2017 is not the year for…

Creating more content just to fill an editorial calendar. It’s not the year to create videos with no story just so you can get preferable reach in the algorithms.  It’s the year to start being smarter about what you are distributing in social and always leading from a place of service.

Dennis Yu, CTO @BlitzMetrics: 2017 is not the year of…

The Facebook marketing expert. Platforms like Facebook are so prolific that what matters is expertise in a particular vertical enhanced by some tools knowledge.  For example, one charlatan last week said he was the world’s best at Facebook ads. And when I asked him if he would be best at Facebook ads for a car dealer, professional sports team, industrial pipe manufacturer, or software company, he had no answer. Just because someone has Facebook ads expertise, without understanding the underlying business, they will fail.  They need GCT (goals, content, targeting) to proceed. It’s like trying to cook a 5 star meal but not having the key ingredients. Even if you have the best of knives, you’re not going to turn potatoes into ribeye steak. Expect that the Facebook marketing expert will continue to peddle their wares to the unsuspecting and unsophisticated– small business owners and non-profits, mainly. And the rest of the single channel experts (AdWords, Infusionsoft, SEO, email, etc) will die a slow death, too, for the same reason.

Marie-Helene Dibenedetto, founder @Moondust: 2017 is not the year where…

Chatbots will entirely replace human interactions for customer service on social media. Although the need for automation is understandable from the companies perspective, the level of conversations these bots are able to hold at the moment is still basic. And frankly, trying to explain your issue to a bot can quickly get very frustrating – which could be detrimental to your relationship with the brand. We might get there in the future, but from my experience, at this minute, chatbots are not yet 100% ready.

Catherine Alonzo, founding partner @JavelinaCo: 2017 is not the year of…

Polished perfect content. People want authenticity. You don’t need perfect lighting, editing and flawless scripting to make valuable content – you just need to be yourself. Capture your true self in video, images and written content and you’ll connect with others and grow your audience.

Jan Zając, CEO @Sotrender: 2017 is not the year for…

Having a separate budget, strategy, and agency only for maintaining a company’s social media presence. I guess that companies started to understand that their social media activity needs to be coherent and go along not only with other marketing activities (both digital and offline) but also P&L. So to make social media work for your brand, you have to regard it as a part of the whole marketing strategy instead of a separate one.

We are looking forward to 2017 on social media – and seeing if these predictions will happen or not. It’s why we’re already excited for 2018 and are preparing the right tools for it!

What about you? Do you think some solutions will be passe in 2017, or maybe you don’t agree with our experts? The comment section is all yours!