Among the four major social media platforms, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, Facebook is still the biggest platform in the world. With 2.07 billion active monthly users (which includes a 17% spike in two years), as of the third quarter of 2017, Facebook is the most reliable channel for your business, brand or enterprise company.
Here, we discuss the top five Facebook marketing trends to follow.

1. Video sharing:
Facebook video ads are one of the best ways to spread brand awareness. It is a strategy that works to engage and convert website visitors, to push leads down the funnel in email marketing campaigns and to fuel engagement across multiple social channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Periscope. On an average Facebook user watch 100 million hours of video every day. Facebook videos get 135 percent more organic reach than photos. According to Hubspot, 53% of people want to see more video content from marketers.

The videos may range from lightweight animated formats including GIF, Slideshow, and Cinema graph formats, to automated videos. The users can watch the videos, comment, tag, and share them. Facebook videos allow advertisers have proved as more effective for marketing, without spending much on budget or time. According to a recent Adobe report, shoppers that view videos are 1.81X more likely to purchase than non-video viewers.

Multi-product ads allow advertisers to showcase multiple products within a single advertisement. Viewers can scroll through the images and click on individual links to each product. You can also promote blog posts, e-books, or webinars, through Facebook. These ads can be created in the Facebook Power Editor.

This is reason enough to explain why most brands have invested heavily in videos and 46 percent of marketers still plan to add Facebook video to their digital marketing plan in 2019.

2. Going live:
Facebook live has been gaining tremendous momentum ever since it was launched in April 2016. Search Engine Journal found that their average Facebook Live engagement was 178% higher than their average post engagement. The average reach of live posts also increased up to two times. Facebook Live videos have a better organic reach and it allows for real-time interactions between publishers and audiences, one of the primary reasons for its increasing popularity.

With reactions, comments, and viewer numbers being available in real-time, you can get prompt responses by asking and answering questions in your broadcast. Bigger brands like Starbucks, Trey Ratcliff, Martha Stewart, and Mashable are using it to their advantage.

In September 2016, Starbucks organized its first live event at Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, NY for National Voter Registration Day, and broadcasted it over Facebook. Broadcasting this event Live brought attention to Starbucks’ involvement in the community and allowed viewers who could not be part of the event, yet wanted to learn about its importance and its cause.

To cite another example, Sephora invited Jen Atkin of Ouai Haircare and Christophe Robin Paris for a 30-minute video where they would casually talk about makeup tips, trends, and beauty products. The guests in the informal discussion could answer questions posted in the live feed and advertise Sephora products. The live video chat had viewers researching the recommended products online, reading reviews, and purchasing them.

3. Image posting:
Though video posts are often outperforming image counterparts in Facebook, visual posts are 40 times more likely to get to get shared on social channels (according to the data provided HubSpot). Image posts are also growing in variety, memes and infographics, included. Photo posts are still one of the best ways to connect with users and sure shot ways of generating a response. With more than 37 million fans, the Starbucks Facebook page is ranked among the top 10 brand pages. Starbucks has been winning more users by asking for tips to use their products, for more innovative concoctions. Users are encouraged to post pictures of the products in usual settings (say for example vacation sites)or personal snaps (of sipping coffee in the balcony) for organic reach.
Qatar Airlines, on the other, posts pictures taken during the soccer season in America. Their fans are very responsive to questions and post regularly on the company’s page, for more engagement.

4. Chatbots:
According to Facebook records, there are over 100,000 monthly active bots on Messenger, providing an instant connection between brands and customers. Customer service remains the main realm of chatbots, addressing basic queries and issues, and providing an automated interaction to drive sales. Chatbots, as in most social media channels, are built as networks to converse, discuss and share content.

Mastercard created two chatbots: one for banks and one for merchants. The bot for merchants is designed to facilitate transactions right in Messenger. Consumers can place orders and create accounts and also employ Masterpass to make each transaction easier.

Trulia, a real estate company, has introduced a chatbot for renters, to have live updates on real estate properties, once they become available. The users can search for “rentals in Chicago,” for example, or get more specific information with keywords like “four-story condominium for sale in New York.” The Trulia bot then returns applicable listings.

5. Advertising:
Small businesses prefer paid ads on Facebook for better organic reach. There are now over 4 million businesses paying for Facebook advertising to promote their products or increase brand awareness. According to Contently, 78% of marketers using the platform are satisfied with how their Facebook ads have turned out.

Simplilearn, an online education platform wanted to increase awareness, consideration, and enrollments, by using Facebook’s ads, tracking, Insights, Custom Audience, and Lookalikes. Simplilearn created Facebook video ads with a targeted audience of 24-45 year-olds in India and Indian expats in the U.S. It engaged them with video ads, serving them photos and carousel ads, which contained a linked to registration, that highlighted Simplilearn’s major benefits. The results were amazing! Simplilearn doubled its leads, increased reach by 50%, decreased lead cost by 60%, and reached 10 million viewers, all in five months.

Which of these trends, do you think, can be integrated into your Facebook marketing strategy? You may try experimenting with a few of these elements, and find out what works. We always love to hear about any new Facebook ad tactics or tests you ran that really paid off for your brand or organization.

Share your thoughts with us. Reach out in the comment section below!