Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms have experienced impressive user growth, some more than others. But growth across the board has slowed among what we think of as traditional social networks. Mobile messaging platforms are quickly gaining traction and building massive user bases.

Mary Meeker has predicted that “messaging apps will become the primary digital media channel for most consumers in many countries within the next two years, they will subsume social platforms in that social platforms will morph into messaging apps."

LINE, Snapchat, WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, KakaoTalk and other messaging apps are quickly gaining share of consumers’ time and attention.

A Shift in Time and Attention

This represents a major shift in how online social conversations take shape. They move from being open, public broadcasts to private, closed conversations. Sharing goes from one-to-many to one-to-one or one-to-few. Sharing goes from the likes of Facebook to the likes of Facebook Messenger.

This doesn’t mean the death of the Facebook Page or Twitter profile, but it does mean users may be spending less time where content from those channels can get in front of them. This certainly doesn’t mean a mass exodus from one platform to another, however.

It does mean adopting an approach that involves more one-to-one communication between brands and consumers, so assuming this trend continues, marketers will need to rethink their approaches from one-to-many channels (like Twitter profiles) to one-to-few platforms like Snapchat and WhatsApp:

Build Direct Interactions with Consumers: Snapchat has been used by brands to send out specific pieces of content to their advocates, such as behind-the-scenes content and product releases. This involves people opting-in to hear from a brand and the brand distributing messages to those fans.
Establish One-to-One Customer Service: Facebook Messenger is going to be used by other brands as a customer service channel. Instead of communicating with brands over email, they’ll communicate over the messaging service.
Create Opt-In Worthy Content: So much of mobile messaging is opt-in, which means content needs to be something people will not only engage with but welcome with open arms. GE, for example, used Buzz Aldrin to share interesting trivia and allow people to participate in contests.
Sponsor the Influencers and Publishers: Publishers and influencers are building audiences on these social platforms already—many in mass. As marketers move into this landscape, working with these influencers will be a smart play for advertisers looking to gain their footing quickly.

Social media marketing’s promise has always been to make brand interactions more intimate and personal. It’s done that to a degree, but at the end of the day, it is still very much a broadcast medium. Messaging has the potential to follow through with that promise. The question is whether or not advertisers will be ready to make the most of it.