The top 8 social media trends in 2016 (INFOGRAPHIC)

Imagine a world where you get to “socialise” with 1.49 billion monthly active Facebook users, network with 200 million or so active users from Google+, trade tweets and updates from more than 320 million active users from Twitter each month, swap pictures with friends and a host of more than 400 million Instagram users, rub shoulders with 400 million registered LinkedIn users, and be amused, irritated, appaled, inspired, bored, excited or any other emotions conjured by the billions of videos uploaded by at least a billion YouTube users.

Sounds like a bigger-than-life scenario from the next blockbuster movie? Guess again. This is what the present world has come to – thanks to the awesome influence and tremendous hold social media has on most people online.

There is no denying the inevitable truth that social media has finally matured, is present at the right here and the right now, and is a crowd-swaying digital marketing force to contend with.

Heck, it might even help you convince your target audience to (finally) take notice of your brand, products or services, and perhaps even convince them to buy.

Wouldn’t that be a neat idea?

Of course it is! But it won’t materialize on its own. Reaching out to targeted customers through the power of social media ain’t gonna happen by simply posting a few status updates now and then on your otherwise mundane social profile.

Get to work and get your digital marketing juices flowing with the following trends, new features and strategies that are about to hit the social networking world this year.

The Top 8 Social Media Trends to Watch Out For in 2016