In social media marketing, change is the only permanent characteristic. But where does change come from? For the largest part, it is influenced by the way people react to marketing messages and communicate with their favourite brands. Also, the way major brands choose to invest their advertising budget also tips the balance from one social media platform to another.
What Will 2020 Bring for Marketers?
There is one major prediction that we can make from the start: advertising costs will keep rising. As more brands invest in social media marketing, the competition for the envied advertising space on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn becomes harsher. More money gets thrown into the marketing game, the stakes go higher…you know the story.
But the second part of the story is the interesting one – and the key topic of our article. This refers to what you can do, both in terms of organic and paid reach, to find more qualified leads and keep your customers engaged.
Let’s Look at the Key Social Media Marketing Trends for 2020
Alright, no more introductions, let’s move straight to the core of this article:
1. More Marketers Will Join TikTok
This social media platform has grown in just two years from 2.6 million users to 14.3 million users. As a consequence, TikTok becomes more and more interesting and attractive for brands and marketers.
Although advertising possibilities are limited at the present, we know what happens when businesses become interested in a social media platform. That’s right, its owners start developing paid traffic and reach programs for them.
2. Micro-Influencers Become More Important in Social Media Marketing
Top celebrities are no longer influencers in the sens of persuading people to buy products. Instead, approachable micro-influencers take their place in this role. They have the appeal of the “guy next door” – someone your followers can relate to.
It is important, thus, to find those influencers who offer a good balance between their number of followers (that is, their ability to influence) and approachability. And, once you find them, to nurture a long term and mutually profitable relationship with them.
3. Ad Costs Explode so Video Content Becomes Even More Valuable
As we said earlier, advertising costs will keep going higher. Thus, marketers and brands will focus on video content to attract organic reach more than ever. Live video and native videos will be more and more prevalent.
Thus, you should focus your efforts on producing engaging videos for the social media and going live instead of writing a post when appropriate.
4. Disappearing Content Is Going from Strength to Strength
Facebook and Instagram Stories, Snapchat videos – all these forms of ephemeral content is increasingly attractive for social media users. Thus, as you might expect, the popularity of disappearing content means that this social media format is now open for advertising.
We have already stressed the importance of diversifying your social media marketing strategy by targeting new types of content and ad placements. In 2020 it will be more than an option – it will become a key part of a successful social media strategy for brands.
5. Template Content Is Dead
Social media marketing in 2020 must look less like marketing and more like genuine social interaction. People are fed with videos, posts and lists that promise to be educational or entertaining but actually promote a product.
So, throw away all your templates for sales content disguised as social media posts and focus on what your followers actually want to see and read on your accounts.
Last but not least – any social media marketing strategy is successful if you identify the right metrics for your posts and ads and measure them all the time.