Businesses must find a way to not only leverage existing tools but also find new ways to better communicate with the public through social media.
But what are the main social media trends for 2020?
1. Rise of alternative social media
Although the main social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will maintain or even increase their power, there is a rise in the popularity of alternative social media.
Tik-Tok is the most typical example. It is a platform where users create and share short videos, which are mostly humorous. It made its appearance recently (in 2017 for markets outside of China), but its growth has been rapid. It was recently announced that it is the 7th most downloaded app of the last decade.
It is a platform that is mostly used by the younger age groups, but is expected to slowly become popular among older age groups as well. A platform that brings differentiation in the kind of content users share.
In addition, other platforms such as Pinterest and Reddit, although older than Tik Tok, have seen their popularity increase recently.
2. Video Content
In previous years, social media content that included video was a good tool but not considered necessary by digital marketers. But now, if a brand does not include video content in its overall social media strategy, then it is left behind compared to its competitors, and in 2020 this trend is expected to strengthen even more.
The most effective video content tactic is storytelling. Businesses through a series of videos present a story about their brand as a whole or about some of their specific products (or services). In this way, they send their message to consumers in a more direct and accessible way.
This tactic has been proven to lead to greater consumer engagement with the brand.
As is obvious, a suitable and coordinated video content strategy is needed in all the social media in which the company is active, in order to achieve the desired results.
3. Micro-influencers
In recent years we have seen the impressive rise in the fame and power of influencers. But because the collaboration with the most popular influencers has become complicated in addition to being expensive, businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, are turning to another category of influencers, the microinfluencers.
They usually have up to 10,000 followers and specialize in a topic. A partnership with them costs less for businesses, and there is another major advantage. Because they do not have such a wide range of audiences to which they are addressing, they show an increased engagement rate with the specific audience.
So this means more successful targeting for businesses and lower costs.
4. No likes on Instagram
Recently, Instagram began piloting a major change in some countries: not being able to see how many likes other users' posts have.
In this way, Instagram believes that users, freed from the "anxiety" of likes, will upload more content and, by extension, will spend more time on the platform.
Be that as it may, it's a big change for users too, and the results are awaited with great interest.
5. Analysis of target audience preferences
Businesses are constantly making efforts to understand their audience.
They want to know not only what they like and don't like, but also why they like or dislike something. For this reason, they use tools that can interpret the behavior of their target audience on social media.
This way they can make corrective changes and optimize their overall advertising strategy.
This trend is expected to not only continue but also strengthen in 2020.
In conclusion, 2020 for social media marketing is full of challenges but it is expected to be very interesting.
What will be the Social Media Trends for 2020
