Social Trends Are Changing in 2020

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The social media marketing landscape is so fast changing these days that it can be really difficult to keep up with all the changes and trends going on.  Social media marketing is now highly integrated into various workflows, and increasingly technology-driven, and those very same innovations are disrupting the way consumers discover and buy products online, influencing purchase journeys, and changing the way that customers interact with brands.
In order to remain competitive, every brand needs to keep on the latest tech trends and innovations. I was surprised to find that in this new year, 2020, trends in how people view social media is quickly changing up as well. Here are a few things I found that I wanted to share with you.

1. Storytelling is quickly becoming the big leader!

Stories have become an increasingly popular social media format.

• Instagram Stories is used by more than 500 million people every day
• WhatsApp Status, that app's own version of Stories, is also used by 500 million people daily
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Stories were on track to "posts in Feed as the most common way that people share across all social apps" 
• And importantly, a quarter of Millennials and Gen Z users now look for Stories for brand and content information

Given the above data, it makes sense for brands and businesses to make the shift.
But while the Stories format does provide new engagement opportunities, brands do have one significant challenge to overcome. With such a fast-moving and crowded content format, how do you stand out? How do you create memorable Stories that will halt users from immediately swiping away at first opportunity?
One major key lies in utilizing the right tools to create your stories. There are few out there for your business to try. Some cost and some are free to use in limited forms.

 2. Direct content is replacing the “Hey stop what your doing and check this out!”

Traditionally, social media marketing has been about interrupting whatever a user is doing at any given time (scrolling their feed, watching videos, etc.) to try and prompt them to engage with your brand. But interruption by content tactics are losing their impact - in the modern world, consumers have more control than ever over which ads they allow in their feeds, what content they engage with, and with so many messages competing for their attention, winning their time is key.
Advanced and omnichannel personalization tools cater to this, by providing more integrated marketing tools and tapping into data to customize messaging.
There's now a select number of tools such as Duda and others that make it easier to gather, analyze and implement campaigns based on advanced customer insights. 
But, of course, when utilizing people's personal data, privacy concerns also need to be considered. You don't "own" someone's personal data just because they agreed to buy something from you, or registered at your site. In order to justify your data collection and utilization processes, you need to be able to provide value in return - so while gathering more insight may seem like the best path, gathering functional, helpful data, that will enable you to build better systems, is what you really need.
Consumers are usually willing to give companies their personal information so long as they see value in it for them (e.g. tailored experiences, ability to customize products, and personalized deals). Real-time personalization (i.e. data-driven personalization completed in less than one second) is another fast-growing trend powered by machine learning and imagine your site changing in real-time based on how a user is interacting with it. 

3. Augmented Reality (AR) is offering more chances to connect

Augmented Reality (AR) is about overlaying virtual objects on top of a real-world environment, most often facilitated (these days) by using the camera on a smartphone.
But unlike virtual reality, which shuts the real physical world out completely, AR enhances your view, which can also make it a more effective tool for marketing, as it enables consumers to see things in a real-world context.
AR enables brands to create one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences, which facilitates even more connection and brand-building opportunities. With AR, brands will eventually be able to provide virtual tours, hold virtual events, and enable customers to try their products without ever living the comfort of their homes.

The future is unlimited
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Social media marketing is entering the new era, which, as noted, is increasingly being driven by technological development. In order to accommodate these new technologies, brands need to build a cohesive marketing technology stack. The good news is, social media marketing technology is advancing at a fast pace in order to meet the demand for smarter, more integrated, cross-platform and machine-learning-enhanced marketing software.
-Roy

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Tags:  #socialmedia, #contentmarketing, #socialtrends