Before the inception of social media marketing, brands used traditional marketing channels to reach out and engage with consumers. Online social networks make communicating with consumers a breeze. Marketing is also easier and highly targeted for brands.

By 2020, more than 5 billion people will use social media platforms—that’s roughly two-thirds of the world’s population. Now is the perfect time to get started with social media marketing if you haven’t been doing so already. If you’re already on track, the new year is a great time to evaluate and update your social media content strategy to stay relevant and get ahead of the competition.

Check out this overview of content trends that are anticipated to be popular across social media in 2020 and the coming years. See what could work for your brand and start planning ahead.

CONSUMERS WANT LOCATION-SPECIFIC SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES

As brands gain more followers on social media, more consumers will also reach out for product information or inquiries. If your business has multiple branches or retailers across different locations, local social media pages help in retaining customers, making communicating with them smoother.

Take Starbucks, for instance. They created local business pages on Instagram for every country they serve to make it easier to engage with customers. It also helps drive more in-store traffic via on-page CTAs. These days, marketing is all about making each consumer feel heard. Cementing your local presence helps you maximize your messages and connect with your target audience better.

Takeaway: Create location-based pages for your brand as a way to interact with your local community. You can publish local images, feature user-generated photos, and promote local events and deals. You can also acquire local insights to help you make better marketing decisions for each of your business accounts.

TAILOR YOUR CONTENT BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY OF THE USERS

Brands need to understand who their target audience is, what they care about, and how they manage their time to capture their attention. This is essentially monitoring sentiment. It’s how brands create campaigns that are designed to empower and engage the market. Content curated for this motivates users to participate in a brand’s advocacy or campaign in their own words. 

Takeaway: You can use an analytics dashboard to see which social networks your brand gets the most activity. Study and adjust your social media content strategy as per your followers’ behavior. This way, you can spend your time and effort in the right venues. You can conduct a Q&A on Instagram or perform Twitter Polls to get to know your audience better, or encourage them to use your hashtag to get featured on your page.

REAP THE MULTIPLE BENEFITS OF CREATING EPHEMERAL CONTENT

Research shows around 64% of marketers have either included Instagram Stories into their social tactic or plan to do so. Ephemeral content evokes an immediate response from consumers.

IG and FB Stories are great venues for impressing followers with your brand’s products or services, teasing blog posts and other content, and promoting deals. Moreover, it helps in increasing user engagement and encouraging user-generated content.

Takeaway: Humanize your brand and boost user engagement with IG Stories, FB Stories, and other platforms for your ephemeral content. Create visual content that is relevant and inviting. Encourage users to respond to your post or act on your behalf (e.g., ask them to use your hashtag). You can outsource your graphic design needs if necessary.

PRODUCT DISCOVERY WILL BECOME MORE VISUAL AND SOCIAL

A study found that around 28% of internet users utilized social media platforms during their online product research. This is especially true among mobile-first consumers who turn to social media as a research venue.

Instagram now has a shopping feature, which allows users to check out new products from brands in a few swipes. This shows that visual content is more crucial than ever—you can literally put a price tag on your photos on Instagram now.

Moreover, it is predicted at least 50% of all searches in 2020 will be through image or voice search. Pinterest launched a Lens Tool feature that makes product research all visual. It allows users to capture images of real-world items and find related matches for them on the platform based on image recognition technology.

Takeaway: Amp up your social media visual content, especially when it comes to product photos and graphic design campaigns. Users will likely follow you if they’re thinking about buying something from you. Make sure that you post your products, services, or campaigns on your social media channels to match whichever phase in the buyer’s journey they’re on.

VIDEO WILL CONTINUE TO GROW

Statistics show that by 2021, roughly 80% of all internet traffic will be video. No wonder, since video content performs excellently well in increasing traffic, generating sales, establishing brand awareness, and engaging with consumers. It has a way of getting audience attention instantly that it has grown to be a favorable medium for connecting with audiences and promoting products and services.

Takeaway: 46% of marketers say they are already including social videos in their content. It’s time that you jump on it, too. You can create video content like explainer videos, feature user-generated content, produce social cyclone videos (video content meant to go viral), and even go live (i.e., Facebook Live and IG Live) to introduce your products or services and engage with customers online.

GEN Z WILL DRIVE VR AND AR ADOPTION

The highly talked about virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies offer an immersive experience for consumers and are utilized to help users explore and try on products online.

Social networks know that this is the kind of novelty that boosts user engagement and advertising revenue. Social media titan Facebook is already looking into VR and the new world of connectivity it can offer. As mentioned earlier, Pinterest’s highly advanced Lens Tool uses AR technology to help users find the products they’re looking for.

Takeaway: You can use Facebook 360 to highlight your products and tour your audience around your physical store. Similarly, you can utilize Facebook Canvas for an interactive introduction of your product range as well as a demo of its features. This next-level advertising helps consumers make an informed decision via an immersive experience.

HOP INTO THE INFLUENCER MARKETING TREND

Research shows that 22% of 18-34-year-olds placed a large purchase after seeing an influencer endorse the product on their platforms. Influencer marketing is growing and it’s a successful contingency tactic when social media ads fall short.

Takeaway: Reach out to legitimate and credible influencers for collaboration to promote your product, services, and campaigns. Influencer marketing can bring quick sales conversions, build brand visibility and name recognition, and increase genuine customer engagement through the relationships these influencers already have with their followers.

LEVERAGE THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

No matter what trends come to rise, social media will continue to influence how we engage with our consumers. With this, it’s crucial for brands and marketers to continuously update their social media content strategy to remain on top of the trends and the game.