Top 10 Social Media Marketing Trends that Help You Ace the Social Media Game in 2020

Trend #1: No More Data Breaching

From the past many years, data privacy has been the prime concern on all social media channels.

This may be shocking, but the reason behind this is the user itself!

Let’s consider an example of Facebook. To access Facebook, the user needs to fill out some basic information about him or her including email id, mobile number, date of birth, interests and much more. As the user keeps entering all information, several prompts keep coming up requiring more information like education, marital status, hometown, present location and more.

Unfortunately, all this data collected stays vulnerable and may accessed by data hackers anytime!

Despite that, people don’t bother and use these social platforms ardently without following any security settings.

It’s high-time they understand that anything is expected out of this, we are living in a digital age of instant exposure!

Social media incidents accounted for over 56% of the 4.5 billion data records compromised worldwide in the first half of 2018. (source: Thales)

Considering the valid concern, the security on social media platforms will be stringent in 2020, with certain changes in privacy policies. People need to understand the importance of maintaining privacy in a much better way. Thus, social media networks may tighten their norms and policies in the upcoming year.

With enhanced regulation as proactive efforts from major social media channels towards data security, social media will be a trustworthy marketing partner for businesses and brands.

Trend #2: Ephemeral Content On Further Rise

Ephemeral content is something that is only accessible for a brief period and evanesces afterwards.

You may be aware of stories on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. These stories are the perfect example of ephemeral content.

These days, people want to engage with more and more with content but for a shorter span. That’s the reason behind the popularity of these stories, that stay there just for 24 hours and then vanish. These are engaging, short and compelling in a way that a user can spend hours rolling through one story after another. Apart from this, ephemeral content has the FOMO which means Fear of Missing out, and this arouses users to take action faster.

Do you know, according to this recent report by Hootsuite, 64% of marketers either already have integrating Instagram Stories into their strategies or they are planning to.

In 2020, this will become more popular, thus it’s high time to jump in the bandwagon.

Trend #3: Videos Becoming the Trend

People love watching videos instead of reading blogs. Students like to learn by watching videos instead of reading books.

That’s what makes YouTube the second largest search engine in the world.

Videos are an adaptable and engaging type of content that is easy to share across multiple platforms. People like them because they are easy to understand, engaging and entertaining. The major social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are pushing hard for videos. This is where professional video production services come into significance!

A study by Cisco says that by 2020, 75% of the mobile traffic will be video.

Well, now you may know what type of content you should create on social media right?

Trend #4: Like Counts May Hide

Instagram and Facebook are the two largest social media networks. Any changes executed here can change the entire social media landscape.

In 2020, there is a possibility of a dramatic shift in both these major social platforms. There’s a possibility of removing the ‘like’ counter for published posts.

Recently, Instagram has tested to hide ‘likes’ in some countries, and may soon apply this change globally. The logic behind this is to prevent users from comparing themselves to others, and possibly feel skimpy if their posts do not get as many ‘likes’, as they had expected.

Some people delete their posts if they are not getting enough ‘likes’. The dismissal of ‘like’ counts may stop users from deleting their posts.

According to TechCrunch, Facebook may soon begin eliminating ‘like’ counts to protect users from envy and dissuade them from self-censorship.

A change quite worth it, right!

Trend #5: Influencer Marketing on the High

Influencer marketing is in fashion now!

These days, social media is ruled by influencers, who are getting paid with a huge amount to promote brands.

Do you know, 45% of buyers depend on influencer recommendations!

As the cost of paid ads on social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube continues to rise, businesses have to find out a way to survive in this competitive digital space. That’s why influencer marketing steps in.

Investing in influencer marketing can be cheaper and better than running paid ad campaigns on social media channels. Influencer marketing could generate up to 11 times of return on investment.

Furthermore, influencers help marketers accomplish their marketing goals with great results. However, involving influencer marketing is not just collaborating with 1-2 influencers, it may rather be about working with the whole network under your niche.

By 2020, the influencer marketing space is expected to hit $10 billion.

Trend #6: It’s the Time for VR/AR

Since a very long time, virtual reality (VR) has been connected with Hollywood movies and the gaming world. Most of the marketers don’t even know about this and so, may underestimate the power of virtual reality.

However, virtual reality represents a huge opportunity for tech-savvy marketers. It may help increase engagement, build brand awareness, and also enhance conversion rate.

Have you seen those amazing filters on Snapchat that add bunny ears, makeup or sunglasses on your face within the blink of an eye? It’s quite amusing, right! That’s the implementation of augmented reality for social media. This trend is popular mostly on Snapchat and Instagram. Going forward, virtual reality will not be bound to the photo filters stories.

Even businesses can use virtual reality to offer a better shopping experience to their consumers. By utilizing virtual reality, you can provide your customers with a lifelike experience with the products or services before leading them to purchase.

It may be a powerful weapon in the landscape of digital media and more practical applications of VR/AR in marketing will climb up the ladder, in 2020.

Trend #7: AI is the Future

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the future of humanization.

This is because it minimizes the workload of humans quite intelligently!

In recent years, major social media channels have executed AI into their algorithms.

The algorithm is responsible mostly for understanding the audience, ranking social posts, determining what content to display, to what type of users, and much more.

So, you should understand how AI works and how you can take more advantage of it.

In the future, it is expected that AI will replace humans at a maximum level.

Trend #8: Social Commerce is all Set to Take Off

Social Commerce means eCommerce on social media.

These days, brands are using social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to sell their products. Social eCommerce is now becoming a new retail avenue for businesses or brands.

In future, this trend will get stronger as social media platforms are introducing pro-selling features such as shoppable posts which can be beneficial for brands and businesses, that sell their products online. This may become the most important part of the sales strategy.

Facebook is even going to launch its own cryptocurrency, Libra. In 2020, social eCommerce may take off as people prefer buying directly from social media rather than heading directly to other shopping sites.

Know about, Influencer Marketing Tips for Business Owners

Trend #9: Local Targeting Will Become More Popular

As a digital marketer, you may be aware of local SEO.

Likewise, local targeting in social media helps you to target an audience based on a certain location.

Social media platforms like Instagram, provide an option to search for location-specific posts.

You can attract the local audience by geo-tagging your stories and posts. If you add a location to any of your social media posts or stories, it will automatically get displayed to the audience of that particular location. Geo-targeting also worked great for promoted posts or tweets.

Have you seen that “boost post” option on Facebook?

You can boost any of your posts in targeted locations and Facebook will showcase your post to the audience of those locations. In this way, you can also promote local events and branch-specific deals on social media.

Apart from this, there are many advantages of location-based posts on social media. You just need to understand how to leverage them.

Know about, 5 Interesting Facts You Should Know About Social Media D2C Marketing.

Trend #10: Social Media Communities will Continue to Spring Up

Social media communities are like social groups created by the brand to connect with their customers.

Facebook groups are a great example of social media communities. These communities help brands to bring all of the suspect and prospect customers together and engage with them in a meaningful way. In such groups, members can ask questions, discuss topics or share their experiences.

Businesses or brands use social media communities to understand their customers’ thoughts, seek feedback and introduce new products or services. In 2020, this will become more voguish than ever.

The Inference

Social media is a dynamic space that is always changing, and is set to come up with more trends in 2020 as well.

To stay ahead in the social media game, you need to move ahead with these changes, experiment them, learn about them quickly for faster adoption, and great benefits!

So, be ready for these upcoming trends!

Need some help? Connect with our social media experts! The social media team at Tarika Technologies livens up the social media presence of brands and businesses and get them the recognition they need to grow.

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