The Social Media Trends Of 2019

Useful, powerful, fast, and efficient; these are just some of the adjectives commonly used to describe social media. And they are all true. With approximately 3.2 billion users, or 42% of the world’s population spending an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, there’s no denying that when it comes to building your brand, social media has some of the best reach and results.

Yet, social media today isn’t what it used to be. The same way consumer behaviours have changed over the years, social media has evolved drastically. If you are looking to be at the forefront of social media marketing, here are some social media trends of 2019 that you cannot afford to ignore:

Twitter is not dead

Despite the claims floating around the internet that Twitter is either dead or heading towards its demise, 75% of business-to-business (B2B) and 65% of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers worldwide still use Twitter as part of their marketing efforts. This puts Twitter ahead of other platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

The State of Social Report by Buffer and Social Chain attributes this to old habits that die hard, but when you consider the fact that 9% more people are using Twitter on a daily basis and that people are 31% more likely to recall what they see on Twitter, it’s not surprising to see why Twitter is not dead.

Twitter remains be to one of the top social media platforms because it’s a great a source of real-time online content and a great place for customers to share their experience with your brand or service. On the other side of the line, Twitter is a great place for your brand to provide personalised interactions, and quick responses and assistance – something that 85% of small-medium businesses see as a important part of building their brand.

More and more marketers are seeking a social media plan they can implement

The saying that failure to plan is planning to fail has never had more significance. As social media rises in its importance to meeting your marketing and business goals, so does having a social media plan. Yet, more than half of marketers admit that they do not have a documented social media strategy.

According to Convince and Convert, businesses that adopt a publish and pray approach to social media marketing, risk losing their institutional knowledge and decision makers if key social contributors decide to leave the business. 

Not all engagement metrics are meaningful

What counts as a meaningful engagement to you when measuring the performance of content on social? If your answers are likes, comments and shares, then you, along with two-thirds of marketers, are singing to the same tune.

Unfortunately, not all social media interactions carry the same value. That’s because meaningful engagement depends on the goals anchoring your social media strategy and what outcomes you are working towards in your social media marketing activities.

Vanity metrics, such as the aforementioned likes, comments, and shares, will look good in your periodic reporting, but engagements that don’t translate to interest, intrigue, and interaction, ultimately will not move your brand’s bottom line.

Capitalise on social commerce

We live in a new era of buying and selling. Today, according to GE Capital Retail Bank, 81% of customers conduct online research before buying. Luckily, social media has tremendous influence over the research and interaction stages of any customer journey.

But what is unfortunate, is that over half of marketers that responded to the State of Social Report 2019 by Buffer and Social Chain say that they are not planning to increase the use of social commerce this year.

This paints a clear picture that businesses are on course to losing out on opportunities to drive purchases, especially with younger generations that make up Gen Z (those in and after 1996) where 85% use social platforms to learn about new products (Adweek) and more prone to impulse buys.

Capitalising on social commerce by having buy buttons, shoppable tags, and AI-powered checkout will no doubt rake in huge rewards in 2019.