Welcome to January! While the holiday season is fantastic, it always feels good to get back to regular life; daily routines, fewer social commitments, and of course, work! So, on that note, let’s get the year started with a look at some social media marketing trends to watch in 2019.
Video Tops 2019 Social Media Marketing Trends
Video, video, video! It’s predicted that 80 percent of ALL internet traffic will come from video in 2019. And, by 2021, 13 percent of that video will be live. Video really should be 2019’s word of the year!
Here are a few more impressive numbers that illustrate why video is big and getting bigger:
- Video on landing pages helps increase conversions by 80 percent.
- Including “video” in your email subject line increases open rates by 19 percent.
- Sixty-four percent of consumers polled have purchased a product after seeing an online video about it.
- And consumers doing research are four times more likely to watch a video about a product than read about it.
Whether following up with a customer, giving them a positive shout out, or answering questions and concerns, brands will incorporate more and more video, especially on mobile. Video will eventually begin to replace live-chat, emails and phone calls, be deeply personalized, and more often than not, streamed live.
Social Media Means Business
Mary Meeker’s yearly internet trends report is usually bang on when it comes to identifying what social media marketing trends to watch in the coming year. And this year, expect social media marketing to be a driving force behind sales and purchases.
Social media marketing has definitely matured. And for business owners and brands, it’s become valuable real estate beyond simple outreach. Today, it’s about selling. And not surprisingly, Facebook and Instagram lead the pack. In fact, Mary Meeker reports that more than half of people polled said they bought a product after finding it on social media.
And you don’t need to adopt the hard-sell on social. Rather, keep it as friendly and conversational as you have been doing. It still remains a place for community building. But remember to keep posts visual, add video, images, and consumer generated content, and find creative ways to highlight products in your posts.
Generation Zed Is Not to Be Ignored
If you think Generation Zed (kids born between 1995 and 2005) are too young to be your audience, think again.
The offspring of predominantly Generation X parents, Gen Zed are as hard working and pragmatic as their parents. They’re socially diverse and much more frugal than Millennials. And they’re the first generation born into the digital age.
Being early adopters of smartphones, social media platforms and streaming websites, they live and breathe tech. In fact, their phones are glued to their sides. Whether web surfing, video sharing (and streaming!), doing product research, comparison shopping, or leaving brand reviews, they are tuned in and mobile.
How does Gen Zed fit into social media marketing trends? Consider this from SmartBrief.com, “As Generation Z(ed) ages and their buying power grows, it will be important for brands to think about their story and how to connect with this new consumer group. To effectively connect with Gen Z(ed), brands will not only have to authentically convey their values and purpose but actively live it and prove their commitment.”
Almost 20 percent of Canada’s population are Generation Zed. And by 2020, a whopping 40 percent of American consumers will be Gen Zed (or Zee, in their case! LOL). Are you falling behind when it comes to digital marketing? Then you run the risk of missing out on a large group of hard working, money saving, grown-up-life-just-starting, tech savvy consumers!
Self-Care is Here to Stay
The age of “crushing it” is over. Sure, many people still believe you have to work 24/7, 365 in order to succeed, but a recent study of 5,000 managers and employees shows otherwise.
The study found that top performers maintain a healthy work/life balance and avoid burnout by embracing two simple work philosophies. First, instead of taking on more and more work, they focus on a few key areas and make every effort to excel in those areas.
Basically, they learned how to say no, and figured out what they do best! As Morten T. Hansen, a professor in the school of information at the University of California Berkeley who conducted the study wrote, “…many top performers were able to maintain a healthy work-life balance and not burn out on the job. That’s because they embraced smarter ways of working, practices that allowed them to extract more value out of every hour on the job. They got more done, yet had more time outside of work to rest and recharge.”
Match Passion With Purpose
The study also found that another way to avoid burnout and practise self-care is to match passion with purpose. There’s an old saying, “Find something you love to do – and do it – and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I’m paraphrasing, but you get the gist.
People who love what they do “…go to work excited about what they do every day, exerting more effort per hour worked, as opposed to piling on more hours. They’re more energized about their work and less burned out than people who lack passion or purpose, or both. They also perform significantly better.”
I practice self-care, and feel it’s incredibly important to business success – you can read more about that here.
So, there you have it. What social media marketing trends do you think will best benefit your company this year? Which ones are you keeping your eye on in 2019? I would love to hear your thoughts!
