Social Media Marketing Trends Digital Marketers Should Watch Out For In 2020

The number of people using social media is constantly on the rise and has grown substantially over the past few years. According to We Are Social and Hootsuite’s latest collection of Global Digital reports, the social media users worldwide have increased by 9% since 2018 to a total of 3.5 billion. Considering that approximately 45% of the world population is now on social media, brands and advertisers all around the world have started focusing on improving their social media marketing strategies.

As they grow and adapt to changing consumer behavior, preferences and technological advancements, social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving.

Given the fact that the world of social media is fast-paced and continuously changing, it is very tough to understand which trend will deliver results and which trend is just a hype. That’s why, in this article, we will take a look at some of the promising social media marketing trends that we can see emerging in 2020.

1. Building social media communities: While building social media communities is not a new concept, the way they will be built by brands in 2020 will change. More and more brands are encouraging their teams to strengthen their own social media presence to promote content and build overall brand trust. It is also important for brands to focus on building real-time conversations with potential and current customers through meaningful engagement.
2. Word-of-mouth marketing through social media influencers: Big social media influencers no longer have the same impact they used to have. As a matter of fact, more than 61% people trust smaller influencers over celebrity endorsements because they are more honest. They also have a better and more personal relationship with their followers which can influence their purchasing decision. That’s why more and more marketers are now turning to nano or micro-influencers to promote their brands and will continue doing so in 2020 as well.
3. Alternative social media platforms will come into focus: Many users are growing fatigued of the core social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. Come 2020, more companies with a younger target audience (aged between 16 & 24) will turn to platforms like TikTok and Snapchat to encourage engagement with them. Similarly, retail brands are likely to turn to Pinterest to influence the buying decisions of their customers.
4. Social media as a form of customer service: Social media as a form of customer service is going to be a big social media marketing trend in 2020. Because the response time on social media is faster, usually within a few hours, more and more users are turning to social media as an alternative to customer service.
5. Growth of Instagram Stories: Instagram stories are going to be a big part of the social media strategy of brands in 2020. Battenhall – a UK based communications agency – conducted a research that found that 98% of the Instagram accounts use Stories and roughly, 400 million users watch these Instagram Stories on a daily basis. Its because of these statistics that more brands are favoring Instagram Stories to connect with new & potential customers.
6. Live video: Video, especially Live video streaming on Facebook and Instagram is expected to rise significantly in 2020. On an average, users watch live videos on Facebook and Instagram 3x longer than recorded ones. The daily watch time for Facebook Live videos has increased fourfold in just 1 year, and they also generated 6x as much engagement as traditional videos. And when you record videos with you new smartphone, you can be sure to get stunningly sharp and high-quality 4K videos.

Final Words

While many businesses and brands understand and appreciate the fact that social media marketing continues to evolve in leaps and bounds, only those who are willing to adapt and change will continue to engage superior customers in the digital world. To ensure that their social media campaigns in 2020 are a success, marketers will need to incorporate these social media marketing trends in their annual social media strategy.