Today’s marketers can’t even imagine a digital marketing campaign without social media, given the phenomenal rise of the latter in the last couple of years.
Almost every digital marketing campaign includes social media as its critical component, regardless of the industry or the product in focus.Despite its growing importance, this one online marketing channel is highly dynamic. This means, what would have worked for you several months ago, might not be that effective for you now.
Social media platforms evolve, new platforms enter the market, and habits of social media users do change with time. All these factors not only contribute to how users respond to social media campaigns, but influence how marketers try to reach consumers.
This utter fact makes it even more important for digital marketers to stay ahead of the game when it is about social media marketing. To ensure this, they must have the right set of tools, the right strategy, and the right skillset to put social media to the best of their advantage.
Bearing this in mind, here are six trends that are likely to rule the social media marketing scene in 2020.
Video Content
Undeniably, videos are one of the most shared content as well as the most engaging type of content on social media. And, it is likely to dominate social platforms in 2020. Be it short videos like those on TikTok and similar apps or long videos on YouTube, videos are surely the future of content on social platforms.
A recent study revealed that by the year 2022, more than 80% of all online content would be video. This clearly depicts how critical it is to start using videos today to stay in the game. In case you haven’t started using it until now, it’s time to make video an important aspect of your overall content strategy. For sure, video will soon dominate the social world and anyone ignoring this now will possibly have a rough time in the near future.
To begin with, you can use features such as “Stories” either for advertising purposes or as social media content. You can also consider including videos in your posts, even on social websites where text or image are presently the most shared content.
Storytelling
Primarily a kind of news feed, social media stories are more visual rather than being text loaded. Initially thought to be a mere fad, the short-video format introduced by Snapchat has managed to become one of the fastest growing social trends of this decade, against all odds.
As a result, everyone now has their own versions – be it Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or even YouTube. Stories offer endless marketing opportunities which is evident with the following facts:
- Storytelling consumption has surged by over 800% since 2016.
- It is booming 15 times faster than normal feeds.
- More than 60% consumers become interested in product once they see it in a social media story
The disappearing format of Stories is certainly the best channel for you to build rapport with your social followers. Marketers can take advantage of people’s fear of missing out (FOMO) to drive them to make a purchase. Additionally, you can create polls and ask questions too to get important insights from consumers. This will let you create more engagement via interactive content.
Augmented Reality
When it comes to disruptive technology in digital marketing, augmented reality (AR) is currently the most exciting one without a doubt. By definition, augmented reality is an effort towards boosting reality with the use of digitally developed images and features. Snapchat filters and lenses as well as Pokemon Go are the best examples of applied AR in our daily lives.
Adaptation of AR with respect to social media is slow, but as the technology would advance, personalized marketing and product discovery will gain traction. Marketers and brands can leverage augmented reality to promote their services or products in 2020 in the following ways:
- AR virtual stores on social media
- AR videos
- AR-based live events
- AR for enhanced brand awareness
AR offers countless opportunities and as its potential will boost, you may expect it make big moves through 2020.
Chatbots
These will continue to be a critical facet of digital marketing in 2020. An artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology, chatbots use instant messaging to chat with your customers or site visitors 24/7 in real time.
Many people today prefer communicating with chatbots as they are available round the clock, very responsive, stores your entire buying history, and most importantly, never gets irritated. Chatbots offers exceptional customer service by meeting their expectations and automating those tasks that are repetitive in nature.
Many globally acclaimed brands are currently using chatbot technology and its use is likely to grow remarkably in 2020.
Influencer Marketing:
Experts suggest that influencer marketing is not going anywhere – in fact, it will continue to mature through 2020. A type of word-of-mouth marketing, influencer marketing emphasise on using opinion leaders to boost brand messages to a larger market (often the existing followers of such leaders on social platforms).
Influencers can be actors, politicians, or sportspersons, but they are usually YouTube or Instagram celebs with a massive following. They can help spread the word about your product or brand through their social handles.
Influencer marketing is generally deemed more genuine than commercial advertising because over 60% of consumers find influencers’ opinions about products more credible than what brands say about their own products.
At Alchemy Interactive, an award-winning digital marketing agency, we strive to keep ourselves abreast of current as well as upcoming trends in the online marketing arena. And, for this reason, our strategies never fail to perform, be it on social platforms or any other digital marketing channel.