Year 2018 is about to end, but social media is still booming. Here are 5 dominating trends of social media marketing in 2019. Some of these trends are still in the budding stage, but are expected to grow in 2019. Some of them are already major trends in 2018, and will have a even greater presence in the coming year.
1. Social Media Listening
Businesses can regularly practice social media listening or monitoring with web crawlers. It scans the Internet for keywords that concern the company, such as untagged mentions of the brand and from the media. Companies can also set their own word list. For instance, expressions indicating an interest to buy specific products or questions related to the industry.
The objective of this practice is usually about providing better customer service and managing brand reputation. But in 2019, the trend will be focusing on using social monitoring for lead generation and social selling. Since people vent their frustrations about bad product experience online, competitors then can suggest better solutions to win these customers. Similarly, consumers frequently ask for purchasing recommendations, receiving almost no response from their followers, hence companies can seize this opportunity to reply and advertise their services.
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2. Video Content
Without a doubt, videos will be the most consumed format in 2019, accounting for 80% of the online content. Among all formats, live videos will be the mainstream, as reflected by its popularity in YouTube, and now in Facebook and Instagram.
Social media users find live videos particularly appealing because of its authentic but short-living nature. Brands appear to be more trustworthy in the eyes of followers with real-time transmission and lack of editing. Like any other type of content, live videos also have to be interesting in the eyes of the target audience. But companies should also be aware of technical problems since live videos cannot be cut off in the middle of the stream. Read our guide on implementing live streaming for more information.
3. Micro-influencers
Accompanied by the maturing social media, influencer marketing has become the principal marketing strategy nowadays. Involving macro-influencers with mass followers allows brands to instantly present their products to millions of people—more than traditional marketing can ever achieve. However, the price of macro-influencers has also escalated, making companies turn to alternatives like micro-influencers.
Although micro-influencers have less than 20K followers, most of their fans are legitimately interested in the content. These micro-influencers are present in every market niche, so brands can discover knowledgeable KOLs even if the product is uncommon. Since this group is not the main target of marketers, businesses can still explore more of their potential in 2019.
4. Customized Content
Whenever consumers purchase online, click on links, post on social media etc., all these information are used for personalized marketing. They receive video suggestions based on watch history, or deal alerts according to their purchase record. Moreover, Facebook and Google collect all kinds of data from their users, ranging from their taste about music, to the ads they clicked on. With big data, companies can easily segment customers for targeted ads.
Users might worry about online privacy, which is reasonable as tech giants like Facebook has information on IP addresses and locations from the time people open their Facebook. Yet, consumers still enjoy the enhanced experience brought by customized content and ads. Missing the sale of one’s favorite shop or spending long time searching for look-alike products are no longer a problem. Thus, personalization continues to be appreciated in 2019.
5. Well-timed Content
One marketing trend for sure in 2019 is real-time communication. Round-the-clock customer support, instant replies, timely social selling and continuous monitoring of possible social media crisis will become something ordinary. This is a result of the never sleeping social media. Consumers will buy, use and comment about products non-stop.
The demand for real-time communication has been going on for a while, but technology just started to catch up recently. Customers will be expecting an immediate response to their complains and inquiries in 2019, so businesses should begin their search on tools that best fit their needs. Companies that failed to respond immediately will gradually lose their clients to other competitors, as nowadays no one has the time to wait.
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