Top 5 Social Media Trends of 2019

TOP 5 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS OF 2019

With social media platforms evolving into fully developed channels of communication, there has been an increase in brands relying on these platforms to reach their target audience.  The attention of consumers is spread across many social platforms and apps. Brands need to keep in touch with how their audiences use these platforms in efforts to capture their attention.  As trends continue to evolve on social media, the marketing needs to do so as well.

Here are the top 5 social media trends we found to keep an eye out for in the coming year:

1. Social StoriesPermanent posts currently rule social media, but a new format is coming for the throne: stories. The temporary, vertical-oriented slideshow shown on a users profile are growing faster and seen more than images that are being liked.  Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, shared his belief that, “the stories format is on path to surpass feeds as the primary way people share things with their friends” in 2019.
2.  Quality and creativity over quantityWe know how important it is to be posting about your brand, product and offers, but often we scroll right past much of the advertisements because of the boring format or content being shown.  There has been an increase in the threshold for gaining customer attention and trust. Brands must be purposeful. Having less content that is thoughtfully created and well-positioned, will have a greater impact than content that is heavy and uninspired.
3. Putting a human face to your brandPersonal branding is a must on social media.  Having a real, human face connected to a brand is key in building loyalty.  This is especially important for small or relatively unknown businesses. This kind of personal branding gives a business a human element that naturally connects its customer.  This can be done by blogging, interviews with the company leader, or even podcasts!
4. Engagement with customersConsumers notice how brands are providing support through social media and online platforms. To provide high-quality and responsive customer service on all social platforms, brands will set themselves up for success not only in 2019, but to keep these customers coming back years later. Focus on engaging and replying to every comment (reasonably) that customers/followers make on your posts and highlight tagged pictures (Instagram).
5. Influencers outgrowing platformsAs influencers continue to grow their communities, their marketing strategies will develop over multiple platforms rather than just being attached to a single one.  These social media figures have defined communities around them and they can be incredibly effective as salespeople because we genuinely trust them if we follow them on social media.  Influencer marketing gives a human voice to brands and as it may be less direct than a traditional form of advertising, it can successfully create authentic ways of communicating to potential customers.