5 Marketing Trends to Elevate Your Social Media in 2019
Social media constantly evolve as audiences' interests change, new technology is developed, and fads become outdated. In order to keep up with the fast pace of social platforms, it’s important to update your strategy regularly and integrate popular trends. This ensures your social media channels are still relevant and effective. Because it’s the start of a new year, it's an excellent time to revamp your social media marketing and implement new ideas! Here are five social media trends you should consider incorporating in your social media strategy in 2019:
Video content is becoming increasingly popular on social media. Users prefer the dynamic, authentic quality of video content over the static monotony of photos. A great way to incorporate video is with social media stories featuring vertical videos. In these vertical videos, you can highlight your product, spotlight things happening in the office, or post time-sensitive content.
Social media users prefer natural, personal, and meaningful content rather than highly edited, over-produced posts. For authentic content, "go live” on social media! Live content is considered more trustworthy and genuine because of its spontaneous and ephemeral nature.
A big trend for 2019 is to focus on the personality and people behind your brand. People prefer to connect with other people rather than with companies trying to sell them something. To do this, you can take the audience behind the scenes: focus on content that highlights team members, show people working mid-process, or post "behind-the-scenes" photos. Representing this vulnerable side of your brand will also create a more authentic and appealing social media presence.
Consumers want to see that other consumers trust and purchase a product from a brand. An easy way to encourage user-generated content is by asking people to “share their photos” with your product or ask users for videos using your product and offer a reward. This increases brand awareness, engages your audience, and creates budget-friendly content.
Micro-Influencers are users who have influence in niche groups because of either their job, their well-curated social presence, or their passion for a specific industry or topic. Although micro-influencers have fewer followers than major influencers (numbers in the thousands rather than the millions), their audience trusts their opinion and the brands they endorse. In 2019, brands should take advantage of micro-influencers to promote their product or service. In less than a month, we've been able to gain over 1,000 followers for our client, Clearsource, on their newly created Instagram account as well as increase awareness of their products to their exact market of RVers.
All 2019 social media trends have one thing in common - they focus on improving trust between brands and social media users. Due to the recent data-sharing controversies of 2018, people are wary of companies and obtrusive advertising. Embrace the authentic and vulnerable side of your brand this year to better connect, engage, and build brand loyalty with your social media audience.