Facebook Marketing Predictions for 2017 From the Pros Part 2

#6: Facebook Live Embraces Advanced Third-party Tools

Kim Garst

Facebook Live is about to grow up. More advanced third-party tools will evolve to improve the quality of shows, integrate marketing functionality such as calls to action, and allow better community engagement opportunities.

Additionally, Facebook has announced that monetization of live video is coming! This means ads will be integrated into live video just as they are on YouTube, giving marketers an opportunity to monetize streams.

Kim Garst, co-founder and CEO of Boom!, is a bestselling author of Will the Real You Please Stand Up: Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

#7: Facebook Ad Targeting Deepens

Andrea Vahl

Facebook advertising is going to get increasingly granular with regard to whom you can target and retarget on Facebook.

Take for example the new Engagement feature for Facebook custom audiences. Using this feature, you’ll be able to target people who’ve interacted with your page in any way, or in a specific way, over the past 365 days.

Create a custom audience of people who have engaged with your page on Facebook.

The granular segments help you save money by delivering a specific message to only those who are already familiar with your brand.

Create a custom audience of people who have engaged with you via your page or Messenger.

As Facebook continues to lead social media sites in terms of advertising features, businesses that know how to use these features well will benefit with lower advertising costs and better ROI. Marketers can adapt to the changing advertising landscape on Facebook by:

• Making sure they’re tracking their conversions with Facebook pixels and optimizing their ads around their true goals
• Testing different techniques
• Watching the keywords and types of ads that work for them

Andrea Vahl is a social media coach, speaker, and strategist and is co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.

#8: Facebook Video Analytics Become Crucial

Nick Cicero

In 2017, we’ll see marketers demand greater transparency around their Facebook video and live video analytics.

With more brands paying to advertise, produce, and distribute video, it’s time for platforms, agencies, publishers, and influencers alike to start sharing more data.

Nick Cicero is the founder and CEO of Delmondo, a creative studio and technology company working with brands like L’Oreal, Red Bull, MTV, AT&T, and Lowe’s to produce and measure content on Snapchat.

#9: Facebook Improves Workplace Tools, Extends Search

Heidi Cohen

In 2016, Facebook and Google dominated 75% to 85% of the digital media advertising market. Furthermore, Facebook is positioned to be WPP’s second largest media supplier in 2017 (after Google) according to CEO Martin Sorrell.

To increase its profitable revenues, Facebook will look beyond increased video consumption in 2017. Specifically, Facebook will:

Facebook will improve workplace tools.

• Improve direct-to-purchase functionality. This will help it more effectively compete against Google and Amazon.
• Expand and enhance its workplace tools and functionality. This would help Facebook build the B2B side of their advertising business since roughly a third of workers use social media for a mental break.
• Extend search functionality beyond people and places.

Heidi Cohen is the chief content officer of Actionable Marketing Guide, where she provides marketing insights on social media, content marketing, and mobile.

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Facebook Marketing Predictions for 2017 From the Pros Part 1

Are you wondering what 2017 might look like for Facebook marketing?

If the Facebook changes in 2016 are an indicator, 2017 will be an interesting year for Facebook marketers.

To get a grip on what the near future may look like, we tapped the knowledge of 19 social media pros.

#1: Paid Ads Come to Facebook Groups

Ian Cleary

I think Facebook will reduce the reach that Facebook groups get and introduce paid ads for groups. I rarely interact with pages and quite often interact with groups. As we move away from pages toward groups, Facebook will reduce the reach. It’s a perfect opportunity for Facebook to grow an additional advertising revenue stream.

Ian Cleary is the founder of RazorSocial, one of the world’s leading marketing technology sites focused on social media and content marketing.

#2: Facebook Launches Messenger Video Stories That Publish to News Feed

Joel Comm

The release of Snapchat-like functionality in Messenger demonstrates that Mark Zuckerberg is taking Snapchat seriously. These tools allow users to embellish videos and images with drawings, filters, and text and are currently available only as direct messages to individuals, although that will change.

In 2017, Facebook will allow Snapchat-like stories to be created in Messenger and then posted as videos to a personal or page feed.

Look for video stories to come to Facebook Messenger and the news feed.

Their tools for live video continue to evolve as well. With scheduled live videos, broadcasting from desktop, and trimming finished videos for better replays all slowly rolling out, this is just a step toward Facebook’s overall video strategy.

Expect to see more studio editing and post-production tools offered to Facebook Live users with the app and on desktop. Facebook’s goal is to provide content creators with the tools they need to create professional and polished content that will receive many replays.

In addition, I expect Facebook Live to start appearing on Smart TVs next to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, as Facebook intends to position itself as a broadcast network.

Joel Comm is a live video expert.

#3: Facebook Develops End-to-end Sales Communication Tools for Messenger

Molly Pittman

Consumers now expect almost immediate communication with companies, and those who are willing to provide it will get the sale.

For example, I just signed a new apartment lease and guess what? All of my communication (setting up a tour to asking questions about amenities to signing the lease) was done through Facebook Messenger.

In 2017, Facebook will continue to develop and release products that facilitate the (almost) instant communication consumers are beginning to expect. The release of Facebook Messenger ads last November was just the beginning of the evolution.

Not only can these conversations be inexpensive to acquire, they also progress quickly because of the instantaneous nature of chat versus phone or email.

This Facebook Messenger ad campaign resulted in 300+ sales conversations for only $800.

Marketers who invest their time and human resources into educating prospects on these new touchpoints and overcoming their objections will be the ones who win.

Molly Pittman, VP of marketing at DigitalMarketer.com and host of the Perpetual Traffic podcast, is a leading expert on Facebook advertising and all things customer acquisition.

#4: Facebook Launches Its Own Cable TV Network

Mike Stelzner

With a news feed that’s nearly maxed out, Facebook will need to diversify into new media, much like Google has in recent years. Facebook has already indicated it will be introducing original programming on Facebook Live. All this is a setup for a much bigger media play.

I believe that Facebook will either purchase a major television network or start one of its own from scratch. They’ll target a high-profit niche like sports or consumer goods.

Facebook will develop a television channel.

If there was a Facebook channel on your TV, would you watch it?

Mike Stelzner is the founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner, founder of the Social Media Marketing Society, and author of the books Launch and Writing White Papers.

#5: Facebook Chatbots Centralize Sales and Customer Service

Alex Khan

More than one billion people are using Facebook’s Messenger every month, and my prediction is that Messenger bots will become a central part of customer service and sales processes.

Bots and AIs have typically performed a customer service role, answering queries and directing users toward helpful contacts and resources. Now they’re also used to facilitate or even initiate sales conversations.

In the near future, fans will only need to send a Facebook message on a company page to complete their purchase. For example, KLM Airlines uses a bot to help you book your flight, Fynd’s bot helps you buy clothes, and CNN’s bot gives you the latest news.

This Facebook Messenger chatbot helps customers find clothing to purchase.

Marketers should try to inform themselves about all that Facebook Messenger bots have to offer, and how to include bots in their customer service and sales strategy.

Furthermore, businesses should start convincing their fans to send them Facebook messages because as soon as contact is made, businesses are able to contact those people back at any time, and as often as they want. It’s similar to an email opt-in on a landing page, but the chance of someone reading a Facebook message is much higher than for opening a sales email.

To jumpstart the messaging process, brands should add a Message Us on Facebook button to their website or at least the contact page.

Alex Khan is CEO and founder of Attractive Media, a social and digital marketing agency based in Germany.

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