5 Social Media Trends to Watch in 2020
Social media marketing is one key channel that businesses can tap into to boost organic traffic, increase brand awareness, and drive conversions. To successfully utilise social media to bolster business growth, companies need to understand how different social media platforms will fit into their strategic marketing strategy.
As we come close to ending 2019, Traktion has compiled a list of 5 our predictions into social media trends that will continue to evolve into 2020. Stay one step ahead by understanding the best channels to deliver organic, personalized content for your audiences.
1. Tap into Conversational Marketing.
Conversational marketing is the usage of targeted messages via intelligent or AI-powered chatbots, so as to better engage with our customers. Unlike the traditional way to capture "leads", i.e., customer data, through forms, conversational marketing is a new way that many businesses are using to engage customers. It is also one of the key tools to optimize your conversion rates once customers are on your platform, as you get a direct line of communication and can answer any queries quickly.
There is a myriad of chatbots out, working in different ways. One easy way to implement conversational marketing would be exploring through the Facebook Messenger chatbot. Chatbots allow your brand to reach your audience directly, customize messages based on their unique needs, saving time and money on customer care, and nurturing your customer-to-business relationship. Some of the well-known Facebook chatbot tools include Drift, ManyChat and MobileMonkey.
This is a new opportunity, with the field wide open for D2C, B2C, and even B2B businesses to tap into this.
2. Strong, concise video content.
Originally pioneered by Snapchat just a few years back, the ephemeral content format "Stories" (which lasts 24-hours) has become so popular that it amounts to 1 billion uses every day on just four social media platforms: including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and WhatsApp.
According to data from Buffer, in-the-moment content will win over highly-produced content. Many consider this to be because customers now value authenticity more and more in this digital age.
This format has now evolved with the advent of TikTok, a social media video app for creating short, amusing videos. It is the fastest growing social media app, and has found its niche amongst the younger teenage crowd.
3. Podcasting
Podcasting allows marketers to create self-owned media outside of social algorithms and amp up their media offerings. In a survey done by Ofcom, in UK, the number of weekly podcast listeners has almost doubled in a few years, from 3.2m in 2013 to 5.9m in 2018.
As more and more people begin to embrace the concept of voice-first, brands could start to strategize the marketing plan around it as well. Your podcast content can then be repurposed for your blogs, Stories, and into your overall strategic digital marketing plan.
Podcasts are powerful because audio can inspire a sense of awe and curiosity that other formats do not. With Spotify only just recently launching personalized podcast recommendations, embedded podcast-ads and/or value-added podcasts released by startups is a new way to tap into specific customer niches.
4. Selecting the Right Micro-Influencers
Influencer marketing is a field of much contention. Whilst many question the efficacy of influencers, and the prevalence of inflated numbers, Instagram "pods", and the over-commercialization of social media content, influencer marketing is continuing to evolve in 2020, and a powerful tool in your strategy to incorporate alongside existing performance marketing campaigns.
Micro-influencers are social influencers that have an audience of about 10,000 to 100,000 followers. These influencers hit the sweet-spot between mass-market, affordability (for your media budget), and having a niche following which would resonate with your consumer personas. Find influencers with values that are compatible to your brand's, and re-use and re-purpose content created on your channels to better engage your customers.
However, do your homework and due diligence before hiring an influencer to ensure that their followers are real, engaged, and within your target demographic because some influencers hire a company to buy Instagram followers. With Instagram recently announcing banning "likes" on Instagram, it is important that brands look beyond vanity metrics for true engagement.
5. Live Videos.
According to Facebook, the engagement on live videos is now over 3X higher than on previously recorded videos. It helps brands connect with audience on a human level, and it enables the audience to participate, which consequently enhances the engagement level. The biggest advantage of using live videos is that it forms a community of viewers. Brands such as Tesla and Airbnb are already using live video as their marketing tools.
To stand out in 2020, streaming live videos could be a unique way for small businesses to thrive and find their niche audience.
In conclusion, social media trends in 2020 will redefine the way businesses build their marketing strategies to increase brand awareness and get more ROI.
So, what are your social media marketing strategies?
If you'd like a digital marketing specialist to help run, execute and plan for your social media strategy, Traktion is here to help with our exclusive network of pre-vetted digital marketing experts.
Find your marketer here.
