SOCIAL MARKETING TRENDS TO WATCH OUT IN 2019

In today’s fiercely competitive market, CMOs can no longer afford to remain ignorant of the ins and outs of social media or high-converting digital marketing funnels. The globalized marketplace requires CMOs to possess digital marketing skill sets and take the time to master the art of building (and selling to) massive social audiences

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However, there are a lot of marketing trends in today’s digital landscape, and everyone seems to have an opinion about what brands should be doing. With so much noise, it can be difficult to differentiate fads from important patterns. To help CMOs achieve their marketing and sales projections, let’s take a look at five actionable trends to watch out for this year.

2019: THE YEAR OF THE DATA-DRIVEN CREATIVE

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2019 just might be the year of the data-driven creative. Savvy companies have already begun pulling data from multiple sources (including social media) to help them get a more unified view of their target audience. Although this data is indispensable when creating customer experience, industry experts posit that great CX is a mix of data-driven intelligence and creativity.

A McKinsey research shows that companies that integrate creativity and data drive twice as much growth as companies that manage the two capabilities separately.

To gain valuable insights into the ever-evolving behaviors of consumers (both offline and online), creative teams should work more closely with their data analytics teams and bring them into the conversation from the get-go. Marketers who take a data-driven approach to creativity will work more productively, rapidly create more relevant content and deliver said content through the right channels, to the right audience, at the right time.

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USERS ARE ACCESSING SOCIAL MEDIA MAINLY FROM THEIR PHONES

Currently, 87 percent of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile ads, and studies show that by 2020, 59 percent of users will access the platform exclusively through mobile. This shows the increasing progression of mobile-only in the social media space.

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Although savvy mar`ong since added mobile optimization to their digital marketing strategies, 2019 will see an uptick in the use of mobile for accessing social media platforms, making mobile optimization indispensable.

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THE MOVE TOWARDS MORE VIDEO CONTENT, ESPECIALLY LIVE STREAMS, WILL CONTINUE

The immense popularity of video content, especially on social media channels, has made it a vital marketing media for brands. On Facebook, videos receive higher engagement with more likes, shares, and comments than other media types, with experts predicting that video will only become more valuable for building followings and generating engagement in the future. With one-third of all online activity spent on watching video and over 500 million people watching videos on Facebook every day, it’s clear that CMOs who are able to create and effectively leverage engaging video content in the coming year will be lightyears ahead of the competition

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MORE BRANDS TO ADOPT SOCIAL LISTENING

Social listening has become a mainstay of social data analysis techniques. Through social listening, CMOs can keep track of the kinds of content being developed and shared by competing brands on social media platforms and also monitor the reactions of audiences to them. Monitoring social mentions can also help CMOs determine the likes, dislikes and inclinations of people in their target audience

Research shows that when customers receive good service on social media, they are more likely to recommend the brand to others. As such, brands should leverage social listening solutions to deliver better customer service and gain valuable insight into areas where they can improve their organization’s content marketing strategies.

CHATBOTS: AUTOMATING MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE ACTIVITIES

The advent of chatbots has facilitated the successful automation of many customer service activities. Today’s chatbots enable brands to quickly interact with their audience in a personalized way. CMOs can customize such chatbots to reflect their brand voice and also send personalized content directly to users.

Statistics show that over 2 billion messages are exchanged between brands and audiences every month.

To enable the automation of such interactions, improve the quality of their audiences’ customer service experience and ensure the best marketing results on social media platforms, savvy CMOs should be looking to leverage chatbots functionality in the coming year.

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CONCLUSION

Social media platforms present CMOs with a golden opportunity to connect with their target audience, create and distribute more relevant, personalized content and build their brands’ reputation and following.

By positioning their organizations to leverage these key trends in 2019, CMOs would have taken a giant step towards improving brand recognition within their target market and securing their place in the hearts and minds of consumers.

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Stay tuned for our next insight and connect with us on social@cogentinfo.com