This past summer we saw what could lead to the future of games and apps. Pokemon Go was a massive hit and although it has calmed down over the past few months, it showed that AR (augmented reality) games are something of the future and there definitely is a future in them. Now that companies see that this can be a success right now in the gaming community and possibly even more in the future, this is something we might see a lot more of in 2017. Along with VR (virtual reality) and AR games, consoles and headsets we could also end up with AR ads. There have been some AR ads in the past but not many where they have dominated to the market. This is what social media marketing might lead to in the future. AR advertising should be an interesting and possibly better way to connect with the consumers by connecting with them in ways that was impossible to do so before. There are endless possibilities that come with AR because even though they might not be there in the real world, anything can be seen in the virtual world. Overall I believe AR is a great way to market because of so many opportunities. Ideas to market to the targeted audience don't have to be simplified anymore and can now be literally out of this world when it comes to marketing to people.

Hashtags

Although hashtags have been around for a while now, they are still very popular. For people who don't know what hashtags are they are simply words followed by this (#). For example today people on twitter will say something like this (Thank you to all the troops who have served our country #veteransday). There are many purposes of this tool. For starters everyone who uses that hashtag with their tweet or message can be seen if you look up that hashtag. This is actually a very cool and useful tool because if you want to see everyone's opinions or comments on the topic all you have to do is search for the phrase and everyone who ever said something about it will pop out. Another purpose is to get a topic to trend. For instance if everyone tweets #mambaday which was a day to honor Kobe Bryant then #mambaday will be trending and everyone can see all the popular tweets about it. A lot of people used this when they were out honoring or celebrating Kobe's day. Lastly the most important way hashtags can be used for companies is to get whatever product or service they have popular with a cool hashtag in order to get people or their consumers/fans using the hashtag in order for it to get popular. This way it gets around to all of social media and everyone knows about it. Some hashtags can help companies out a lot while other hashtags could actually give companies a bad rep. Overall hashtags are a great tool for everyone but just make sure you know how to use them properly and to your advantage.

Last week in my Social Media Marketing class we had an assignment regarding buy buttons. Buy buttons are pretty much a shortcut on social media sites that allow you to skip all the little stuff and go directly to buying the item. These buy buttons were a trend in 2015. In 2016, not so much and are even failing in social media sites and apps. Buy buttons were turning social media into commercial media, and this is one of the big reasons why I believe they failed. If people wanted to go shopping then they would actually go shopping or surf the web on other websites. People go on social media for pleasure and to see what is going on in their lives or their friend's lives. This is where I believe social media such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter all made a bad decision, because I myself hate to see buy buttons promoting me to buy something when I am trying to keep updated on social media. Although I do believe buy buttons failed, I feel like they can be successful in certain situations and used limited, not being used everywhere harassing the users which in end make them ignore in all. It is a great strategy to increase revenue but at the same time it comes at a cost, which we have seen this past year with buy buttons falling out of the loop. Another problem that was encountered was the fact that most consumers are already use to going to Amazon for shopping. People are wondering what they really need Buy Buttons for and if they would really use them. Myself personally do not like using them either because I usually do not like my card information saved and rather take the extra minute to input my information in again then have it stolen and something be charged to my card. Overall I think buy buttons can excel in the right situations, but for the most part should be kept out of social media platforms such as twitter and instagram.

Snapchat is great for social media marketing, and it is here to stay in 2017. Before today I never really recognized Snapchat as a social media marketing tool, until I realized that...well they are. I myself follow many companies on this social media application. At first I only used Snapchat to talk to friends, then I started to follow celebrities and lastly companies started to use the it as well in order to deliver information about products, keep their fan base alert, and release updates. Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social media networks and has over 100 million active users every single day. So if you were thinking of marketing on any social media network, this would be it. In a way snapchat is all of social media put together, where you can take pictures of your activities, videos of live events (which many companies do) in order to get an insight of what goes on behind the scenes, or deliver private content to friends. Snapchat is easily my favorite and most used social media. There are several ways companies can use Snapchat in order to market. For example if I am Nike and I am in charge of their Snapchat I would provide live updates, insight to behind the scenes, hold contests in order to keep my fan base active and involved, and even partner with other companies in order to expand my fan base. There is so much to do on Snapchat that it would be crazy for companies not to be on it.

Just recently I found myself joining one of the biggest trends of 2016. I went to Best Buy to look for a new TV. When I was looking around, a relatively new technology caught my eye. I've seen them before and was amazed when I first saw what they can do. Instantly I wanted an Apple Watch. I was so caught up in everything it was able to do that I bought it when I didn't even go to the store with the intention of buying one. Apple watches and wearable technology have been taking over the past few years and rightfully so. They are the future of technology, being able to do everything at your wrist without even needing a phone. Some of the many things they can do are send text, make calls, access the internet, and use apps. There are even watches that look fancy like regular watches but are smart watches. They have all kinds of watches depending on what your style is . Although wearable technology is not a necessity I believe that it is a major upgrade from before. These watches can do more than you think and can come in handy for multiple things. I believe this is a look at what is to come in the future.

One of, if not the biggest trends of 2016 is live-streaming. I have experienced live-streaming first hand from Twitter. This year Twitter agreed to a contract with the NFL in order to stream 10 Thursday Night Football games. This has been a huge success for Twitter as they reach out and attract a bigger audience by doing this. Along with football, there is Periscope which is the most popular live-streaming platform where anyone can share what they are doing at the moment. This changes how social media works because people are use to posting what they are gonna do or what they did and now people can share with millions across the world on what they are currently doing. I have seen NBA players use this platform in order to show their workouts, or even concerts being shown. I believe this is a great new way to promote as long as companies find a way to utilize it in their favor.

Marketing Trends: Voice Search and Commands

Every year new advanced phones come out such as the iPhone and new samsung phones, which are competitors. A relatively new feature in both of these phones are voice search or assistants, such as Siri and Cortana. Siri and Cortana are the names of the digital assistants on these phones which help you with searches or pretty much anything you need. These digital assistants have become a big trend and now apple and samsung are fighting to see who has the better digital assistant and which is more responsive. When they first came out they were hard to use, weren't user friendly and hard to function. As the years have past they have gotten more advanced and are much easier to use and they actually come in handy a lot of the time. With these digital assistants every company is always trying to one up each other. The new thing included in these digital assistants are keyword search, which is searching for something based off a key word that you use to describe what you are looking for. It is important for every digital assistant to include this and much more if they want to stay at an even pace with the competitors as this is becoming a huge factor into which phone consumers purchase.