Key trends to follow for a successful year
As you create your marketing strategy for the year, don’t forget to include social media. And because the social media landscape is ever-changing (and often at a very rapid pace), it’s important to keep up with the latest social media trends every year to ensure that your strategy continues to work well. Here are some that deserve attention in 2019.
Video
Expect to see a rise in video content, including live video, in 2019. If this trend sounds familiar, well, what was important in 2018, is increasingly significant moving forward.(And video is also essential to SEO.)
Why is the use of video so critical today? Because it’s been delivering great success for marketers. According to Forbes, video is projected to claim more than 80 percent of all web traffic by 2019 and 90 percent of customers say video helps them make buying decisions. Further, one third of all the time people spend online is dedicated to watching videos.
While you’ve surely heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, digital marketing expert James McQuivey says that a mere single minute of video content is the equivalent of 1.8 million words.
With nearly a quarter of a billion new users jumping online for the first time in 2017, all these numbers are too big for brands to ignore. Simply put: there are a lot of people spending a lot of time watching videos. Additionally, as emerging social media platforms like Tik Tok surpassing YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, it’s becoming clearer that video is what today’s consumers prefer and are expecting.
It’s important for brands to rethink a text approach to social media and shift to a video-first mentality.
Narrowing focus
Now that social media has been around for a while, it’s no longer necessary to get on a platform (or every platform) just because everyone else is there. Social media marketing is a real dollar and cents investment. Use it wisely by focusing on the channels where your target market is engaging.
As Entrepreneur pointed out in a December 2018 article, the marketing funnel is shifting. It’s now more important for brands to focus on niche audiences that are relevant to their business. Stakeholders should examine their current social media marketing strategy, look at platforms and decide which ones bring the best ROI. Those are the ones that deserve attention moving into 2019.
Engagement
The social media 80/20 rule has been around for years. You’d think engagement would be second nature to brands by now. That’s not necessarily the case. But now more than ever, it’s important to listen and interact with your target audience.
Organic reach has become more difficult. Long gone are the days when you could simply tell customers to “Like” you on social media. The marketplace is more sophisticated. Even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg warns, “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media.”
With a decline in ways to “bait” users into engaging, brands need to start thinking about ways to improve engagement when considering a social media strategy. Focus on creating content that is interesting and appealing. Review posts and use social listening tools to collect data and identify patterns.
Micro-influencers
ZDNet reports, “Brands are investing heavily into influencer content and relationships. Instagram’s overall users have grown significantly over the last four years . . . and on YouTube in 2018, the number of channels earning six figures per year grew by more than 40 percent.”
While brands are constantly seeking the best influencers for their campaigns, the big names are becoming too expensive for small and medium-sized brands. Companies with much smaller budgets should look in 2019 to micro-influencers.
Trust is everything for brands and micro-influencers have a direct, personal connection with their audience and can create more authentic interactions than those big celebrities. As Entrepreneur points out, “While micro-influencers’ followers are fewer in number, the loyalty and engagement they inspire has been proven to be higher, averaging around 8 percent, compared to 4 percent for those over one million followers.”
Get social
At T.E. Digital, it’s our business to keep on top of trends and work them into social media strategies to deliver the best ROI. If your business hasn’t yet ventured into social media or if your social media isn’t delivering the results your want, give us a call. We can help develop a strategy that is relevant to your target audience. Seize the opportunity and benefit from all social media has to offer.
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