2018 has been a year of refinement.
We’ve been hooked to improve 2017’s social media trends.
We witnessed continued uptick in augmented reality, video content and influencer marketing.
And now when 2018 is one-fourth of the way over, you may find yourself wondering –
“What does 2019 have in store for us?”
We can’t be 100% sure yet, but being engaged in the social media strategies previously, we have set out a few predictions for the upcoming New Year.
Before going with these predictions, let’s look back at 2018’s stats that can influence your entire 2019 social media marketing strategy.
- The number of social media users worldwide has been 196 billion in 2018, up 13% year-on-year
- The number of mobile phone users in 2018 has been 135 billion, up 4 percent year-on-year
- There are now more than 2 billion users spread across the major social networks in the world today,
- 58% B2B brands fail to measure social well.
Here are some 2019 social media predictions with valuable stats. Unveil them and discuss how the ever-changing digital marketing trends may be likely to look in just a few moments.
Internet to take over TV
Internet will catch up television. According to internet service consultancy, PwC, internet advertising revenue will reach $260.4 billion by 2020 and the internet will take over television in terms of hours watched by 2019.
According to another report, it is being estimated that people will spend as much as 2.6. hours a day online.
On an average, every individual will be spending more than 40 minutes on the internet watching mobile video.
With this effect, it’s not wrong to say that businesses will tend to spend less money on television ads and more money on social media, videos, and web ads in the New Year.
Influx of Smart Speakers
This may sound strange on digital marketing landscape. But that’s among what 2019 has in store for when it comes to digital media trends. During the last couple of years, there has been uptick in smart speakers like Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple HomePod. They have deeply influenced the consumer technology market. People love them.
The point is how this is going to be connected with digital marketing?
In future, more and more online publications will be using voice and publishing audio content to these devices. Their aim will be to land a sport on listener’s ‘Flash Briefing’ and engage their followers to follow daily.
Besides, there will more ads on smart speakers.
Google, Amazon and Apple are very likely to launch their own advertising platforms for this, making it easier for companies to buy and sell space. So come 2019, and there will be a rise in smart speakers.
Social Media Integration with Other Services
At the space LinkedIn and Facebook are integrating to third party service; Social media are expected to be more deeply integrated into other services.
In fact, the big social media organizations will express their desire in integrating their services into third-party applications.
Like today, LinkedIn and Facebook are allowing users to sing up for third-party services using their accounts and sharing data with them. This trend will be in vogue for social platforms.
There will be close integration between social media apps and third party apps to share more user data with audience and create a more seamless experience.
This allows social media companies to retain their dominance, gain more information about users, and provide better services for smaller websites and apps.
Continued Rise in Live Videos
Continued rise in live videos will be another digital marketing trend in 2019.
It’s an open secret that Facebook, YouTube and Instagram’s live video services took the world by storm in 2016. And this wave continued during 2017 and 2018.
As per these resources, more than 80% of internet and mobile audience watched more live video in 2016 than 2015. It’s due to the influx of more modern streaming services.
As much as 80% of people would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog. And 82% tend to watch live video from a brand instead of social posts.
Since no business will ever wish to let their brand be late to the live video bandwagon, there will be more use of live videos in 2019.
These days, a large percentage of live viewers are more interested in purchasing a concert ticket when they see a band. An equal number of people tend to attend an event if they’ve already seen a live stream of a similar event online.
Video and Video Ads
Like live videos, traditional video will not be left behind. It will keep pace with live videos, and grow too.
Experts predict video to be accountable for a whopping 80% plus total internet traffic by 2019. Every month, 54% of internet users are already watching videos on a social media platform.
When compared with a photo Tweet, a video Tweet is 6x has more probability to be retweeted than a photo Tweet.
This number is anticipated to rise in the upcoming years. With this, videos ads will be in demand too.
Watch this Facebook Video Ads Tutorial by Nick Arapkiles.
According to a report, Instagram’s ad impressions have been the outcome of video content. So, marketers would look forward to adding video content to their 2019 social media strategy.
They may do this by the following ways:
- by running video ads on YouTube and Instagram
- creating video content in-house
- associating with influencers for paid product placement
- Endorsement in their videos.
Chatbots Will be Normal
Chatbots are a new territory for both audiences and brands. They are giving the finest two-way communication platform. 57% of consumers are interested in chatbots because of their instantaneous response.
The demand for chatbots will be growing in 2019 as well. They’ll turn to be even more normal for consumers.
According to experts, chatbots by 2019 will become the first place people will use to order pizza, select mobile plans or even book online accommodation. That’s because it is does all these things without putting people into so much of hassle of downloading a native app.
Study done by LivePerson has found, only 19% of the 5,000 people had a bad insight of chatbots. 48% are indifferent so long as their problems were resolved. 33% had a positive view about chatbots.
So, start developing chatbot for your brand to stay ahead of the curve in 2019 is necessary.
CEOs to go Social
In an era of fake news and dirty politics, it’s vital for CEOs and other top executives to be social for the sake of boosting company’s reputation, building trust with users, and even making your company more appealing to job applicants.
The data revealed by OkToPost, only 40% of CEOs were active on social media in 2016.
Of those users, 70% only used LinkedIn.
However, this number will grow. That’s because distrust in the media will continue, making people want to hear news right from the source.
CEOs must post to the company blog, write on Medium, Tweet from a personal account, or write blog posts on LinkedIn be social.
Shield Yourself!
These are the 7 social marketing trends with proper stats that will dominate 2019. Even though the New Year is nearly one month ahead of the game, apply these trends to future proof your business against the ever-changing digital marketing landscape.
Your competitors have already jumped into.
When will you?
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