Social Media Trends Expected in 2020

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Written By Robert Dunford
I am a Marketing Consulting in the Great Toronto Area with over 25 years experience in building and implementing marketing plans for small business.
Social Media Trends Expected in 2020

Social media trends can rarely stay the same every year. The main theme for brands in 2020: Rethink what “success” means for your social media marketing.

Companies today need to find a balance between making sense of their statistics while finding new ways to engage with the audience. There’s probably a no better time than now to reflect on your social media strategy moving forward.

Here are the best social media strategy steps to take this year.

Authentic Content and Social Selling

When it comes to promoting social media stores, people are more skeptical than ever. They want to hear opinions from real people before they purchase your product. This is where you need user- and employee-generated content, keeping in mind that they must be genuine.

User-generated content such as customer reviews can provide some proof about the product. Employee-generated content can include content such as images, videos, or blog posts, which may mention their company’s values and the general benefits of the product. Employees are usually viewed as insiders, and potential customers find those posts more believable than traditional forms of social media marketing.

Nano Influencers

Brands are beginning to look at influencers with a sense of skepticism, and rightfully so. Fake influencers are on the rise, and the potential death of the “Like” as an engagement metric means the need for influencers to back up their results with data.

What we said about the importance of authenticity rings true here. More brands are beginning to connect with nano-influencers, who only have a couple of thousand followers.

Diversify with New Social Media

Diversification should be the number one trend in social media marketing, especially in advertising. Facebook and LinkedIn are no longer the only recommended channels.

Younger demographics today prefer platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Every advertiser who starts using smaller networks now, such as Reddit or Snapchat, will have relatively low costs thanks to less competition.

Employee Generated Content 

Employee generated content helps build better relationships and brand trust. All companies should include it in their social media strategy, even if it means just sharing blog posts to their social media networks.

More Private Communication

As our social media “friend” lists and privacy concerns become bigger, more people are turning to private messaging apps to communicate. Apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger allow us to form more intimate groups where we can feel more secure about sharing our detailed information. This trend has the potential to become huge since messaging apps have outgrown social networks as the communication tool for many users.

Video Content

Video is no longer a hot new trend, but it continues to be an important trend in social media marketing.  A video tells a million words if a picture tells a thousand. Video content can help you tell your story in a more inspiring and entertaining way.  You need to get on board with video this year, if you haven’t already.

Leverage UGC (user-generated content)

Your followers find content posted by their customers far more trustworthy and influential. To get more (UGC), take these steps:

  • Encourage your customers to tag your brand in their posts by always reposting that content.
  • Create contests.
  • Interact regularly with your audience.

If you want the best social media strategy, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss your social media marketing strategy and help in any way I can.

Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Great Toronto Area.  He has over 25 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.

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