Social media is utilised by billions of people all over the world, and it has quickly become one of our generation's defining technologies. It has become a powerful medium for the people in these times. People are looking to connect globally gradually utilising the potential of the platform for their different purposes like marketing, branding or engaging customers. The dependency of people, especially during the pandemic times, has increased at a rapid pace as people are usually taking this route for ecommerce businesses, promotions, and making connections, etc virtually. The different platforms are increasing the awareness as well as curiosity among the audience of different age group. The young audience, especially in the age group of 18 – 25 are more active on social networking sites as they get to interact with thousands of people.

It's hardly unexpected that marketers have embraced social media as a marketing medium, given the large potential audience that spends many hours a day on multiple platforms utilising social media. Academically, social media has been embraced as well, with a large body of study on social media marketing and related issues such as online word of mouth (WOM) and online networks emerging.

Future of Social Media, based on Consumer Behavior

The massive usage of consumers on social media sites are evolving, growing and connecting. It is ever-evolving. Social media as we know it today is not the same as it was even a year ago, and it will most certainly be different in a year from now. This is due to ongoing innovations in social media, both on the technological side (e.g., major platforms adding new features and services) and on the user/consumer side (e.g., people discovering new uses for social media). The changing consumer behavior is due to various factors as social media is receiving tons of information, media related content and brands being associated with sites leading to paid promotions and ads.

The omnisocial presence makes social media more powerful and more inventive for consumers. The users in this space can use the benefits as internet services are always available on phones and desktops have built-in social media integrations inside. The sites intersect with almost every aspect of human lives like travel, work, music etc. We get influenced by multiple aspects in our lives like beauty ads on video sharing apps, travel ads on different ticket booking platforms, etc. The continuous modification and enhancement in the sites are leading people to discover new ways as all their lives are revolving around the same.

The approach towards meeting has changed immensely as virtual interactions have made information sharing quick. Instant problem-solving helps in creativity at all levels making it convenient for different age groups. These sites provide a meaningful aspect to new relationships and kind of facilitate each other by providing a good platform where people could share their own thoughts and generate new ideas to bolster new relations in their own manner.

Social Media Marketing revolutionising consumer lifestyle

The surge in the usage and activities on the platforms is due to the pandemic as well as people are now able to launch new businesses on the platforms by using the power of networking. As the saying goes “Your Network is your net worth” it is great for the ecommerce businesses who are at a startup stage are now using their powers to utilise its own potential. The connectivity leads to the generation of business revenue at a higher pace as people's activity increases by visiting the sites and platforms which could help in increasing the reach of the business. The other benefits which are tagged along with the Internet boosting are contents are displayed in form of video, audio, ad popup, paid promotion content on different platforms available in different ways.

Prediction for Trends

Customer service via digital channels as we know it will change dramatically in the not-too-distant future. To date, many firms have used social media channels to provide customer service, respond to particular concerns, and resolve issues. Customer service via social media is likely to become even more personalized, individualised, and pervasive in the future. Customers will be able to interact with businesses at any time and from any location, and solutions to their problems will be more accessible and immediate, even preemptive utilizing predictive analytics.

Even today, we see the advantages that businesses obtain from using social media to communicate with clients for service or care-related purposes. Customer service is provided through dedicated smartphone apps and social media direct messaging. Companies, on the other hand, appear to want to make it even easier for customers to contact them whenever and wherever they need them. It can be a time-consuming process to require a customer to download a brand-specific app or seek through numerous social media platforms to connect with businesses through the appropriate branded account on a platform. Instead of communicating with the company to bring up any issues, customers may churn or participate in bad WOM in those situations.

Summing Up

The majority of social media posts were text-based in the beginning. Soon after, these networks permitted users to publish photographs and later videos, and independent platforms devoted themselves to these types of media. These alterations have had significant effects on social media usage and outcomes, with some experts claiming that image-based posts express stronger social presence than text-only posts. Importantly, a slew of new technologies on the market indicates that social media's future will be more sensory-rich.

Early signs also suggest that social media will feel different in the future. Companies and brands are researching ways to interact with users through touch, like mobile phones and wearable technology are held in one's hands and strapped to one's skin. Indeed, haptic feedback) is increasingly being used into user interfaces and applications for uses other than call and message notifications.

*The author is Rupal Sharma, Co-Founder, O’hi