Five social media trends you need to know about in 2016

Think social media is all about Twitter and Facebook? Think again! There's lot more out there you need to think about if you want to engage your audiences where they're hanging out online. Drew Benvie, founder of social media agency Battenhall, shared five social media trends at Vision Bristol and here's a summary of what he said.

Vlogging

YouTubers like Zoella and her boyfriend Alfie Deyes are the new media superstars as are the Vine micro-vloggers (video bloggers) and the Periscoping live broadcasters. They command audiences of millions and get one of them to promote your products or services and the sales will likely come flooding in. But they don't come cheap. You're looking at a fee of £100,000 a day for one of the big stars, Benvie said.

Don't despair though as you still can benefit from these vlogging celebrities. "Find your audience through the right kind of influencer," Benvie advised. Go to the middle ground between the expensive superstars and the people whose videos no-one looks at, he said. Search the web and you're likely to find video influencers in the specific sector your business operates in.

The social media experts shared an example of English Heritage which worked with vloggers to promote castle visits to children. Harnessing the popularity of individuals who publish videos about Minecraft, the computer game which allows you to use blocks to create 3D worlds, the charity encourage some to create some of their castle attractions in Minecraft form. English Heritage put the videos on their website with tips on how to find the real castles. Millions of views were achieved.

Generation K

You've no doubt heard lots about the millenials, a generation of young people who've grown up with the web. Well now we have Generation K. Living their lives inspired by Katniss Everdeen, the main protagonist of the Hunger Games, they have, Benvie said, "grown up with angst, hate brands, troll and live their lives on Snapchat.

Snapchat is a mobile app that allows users to send and receive 'self-destructing' photos and videos and is massively popular among the under 30s. It's also the one of most pre-eminent news channels for teens.