Social media marketing has evolved rapidly over the past few years, alongside the growth and development of social media platforms. Because of this fast-changing environment, it’s essential to stay on top of the changes and anticipate expectations for effective marketing.
That’s why every business needs to be aware of the social media marketing trends for 2020. As a leading digital communication agency, we wanted to share what we consider critical areas where brands should focus their attention for higher engagement and more conversions over the coming year.
1- Increased e-commerce integration
Platforms will continue to integrate and improve their e-commerce capabilities. In 2019, Instagram added a great option to enable online payments without leaving the platform. This provides multiple benefits for the platform. Obviously, there’s the ease it offers customers for all-in-one shopping. In addition, it gives the platform access to more customer data that can then be used for future personalization of the shopping experience.
2- Creating higher-quality visuals
Generation Z (people born after the year 2000) and Generation Y (people born between 1980 and 2000) have both shown that they love quality visual content. You can make jokes about not liking to read, but it’s more a question of time and attention.
Younger generations move from one thing to the next more quickly, so the ability of good visuals to convey information quickly and effectively is essential. This means focusing spending on video ads and images, including infographics and other visual content.
3- Facebook’s dominance continues
While other platforms are experiencing growth and many have active user bases in the hundreds of millions, Facebook is still by far the king. That doesn’t mean the other platforms won’t be buzzing early in the year. Overall, Facebook won’t be surpassed in total number of users, so they should always be on the marketing radar. But businesses with younger customers need to identify the best-performing platforms and use a multi-platform approach.
4- Customer service on social media
In addition to platforms using social media for e-commerce, they’ll also become a go-to option for customer service. As more and more customers use platforms as a means of communication, the more you can expect complaints and issues to flood social media platforms.
Because of the explosive nature of complaints on social platforms, businesses will need to establish customer service plans that incorporate popular platforms not only to help their customers, but also to avoid marketing nightmares if an unanswered complaint ends up going viral.
5- The emergence of new channels for Generation Z
We’ll see new platforms develop, mainly competing to attract Generation Z’s attention. Snapchat has started working on e-commerce integration, and even Tik-Tok is experimenting with social commerce. Generation Z is a huge market, and so far there hasn’t been a single platform that has dominated this demographic. Keeping an eye on the smaller platforms is a good idea for any digital marketing aimed at Generation Z.
6- Influencers still thrive
Influencer marketing made itself felt in 2019, and this trend will continue in 2020. The main advantage of using an influencer is reach. They have an existing audience that can be tapped immediately, often very effectively.
This bond they’ve fostered with their audience then provides a baseline level of trust when the influencer promotes a product, which is a proven method for generating sales among young consumers. This is the case, for example, with the famous Cameroonian influencer Steve Fah.
7- More user-generated content
The internet has quickly proven that everything has a short shelf life. Just as influencer marketing became important because consumers trust brands less, user-generated content adds an unmatched level of value confirmation.
In the past, customer reviews were used to provide this level of trust; however, fake reviews poisoned that well. User-generated content is a similar endorsement showcasing real people and what they think of a brand, interact with it, or use its products and services.
The bottom line is that social media and marketing continue to change and adapt to customers’ needs as well as to how they use technology. Brands that want to succeed must stay on top of social media marketing trends to make sure they can reach their audience effectively and efficiently. Staying up to date is a necessity in our fast-changing world if you want to keep succeeding in a constantly growing market.
If you’d like to build a website that keeps you in step with new social media trends, don’t hesitate to contact us.