Social media usage hit an all-time high in 2019 – who would’ve thought otherwise? This year we expect much of the same and we’ve compiled a list of a few trends to keep an eye on in 2020.

From the ever-growing focus on social media influencers, dynamic ads, stories and video content. Social media has given us a lot to take into consideration when running businesses.

Removal of the “Like” button on Instagram

Last year we saw the start of the purge of the Instagram “Like” button, with batches of users receiving the much-anticipated update. This year, we can expect it to roll out platform-wide.

Removal of the “Like” button comes from a growing outcry towards fake likes. With many users happily awaiting the new landscape of Instagram – 2020 holds a huge year in store for marketing and social media usage.

We think it’s a great way to depressurize an already congested platform of fake likes and followers. But this will mean influencers, brands and marketers will need to adapt and find new ways to co-exist with the changes.

Social Media Influencers

Influencer marketing has taken the world by storm, with many smaller brands given the platform to compete with bigger brands by easily tapping into large target audiences. Although social media influencers have recently come under the microscope and are being scrutinised for promotional content on sites such as Instagram. We still expect partnerships with social media influencers to rise this year.

The vast amount of social media influencers have now given birth to a new range of smaller micro-influencers, who seem to the perfect match for smaller brands to kick start their products and brand presence. 

As we said before, losing the “Like” button will have a huge effect on influencer marketing. However, we do expect the quality of user engagement to increase as a result of this, as influencers will have to back up their price tags and rates with data. Marketers will have already found savvy ways to better target potential customers and help make the transition as smooth as possible.

Stories

Introduced by Snapchat, Stories are now available on Facebook, Instagram and even YouTube. Stories allow an extra channel of communication to audiences. With polls, questions and exclusive content appearing on them, they offer an extra layer of marketing.

More and more companies are now utilising Stories and we expect the trend to continue in 2020. Could we even see updates to the current stories platform? New features that we haven’t seen before. We won’t bet against it, that’s for sure.

Video Content

Following up from Stories… Video content has proven to be the powerhouse of social media. According to Social Media Today, video content will make up 82% of all internet traffic in 2020. This means more creative content for us to view every day. Businesses know this is the content their users want to see.

We can’t talk about video content and not mention the disruptor that is TikTok. The Chinese-owned social media/video app boomed to heights of popularity that no one could’ve foreseen. With creative content (and some outright silly) TikTok’s popularity cannot be ignored. This just shows us how important video content has become in this day and age.

We do hope we’re wrong and this is the year TikTok finally goes away. (Here’s to hoping…)

Shopping/Purchasing on Social Media

In 2020, we expect a big shift toward shopping on Instagram. We have recently seen the opportunity to see something we like and purchase it without even leaving the social media platform. All in a few clicks we are now able to purchase items and goods from Instagram.

There’s something appealing about the ease and speed of being able to check out all from a social media platform, which let’s face it… has become people’s hubs for their daily lives. We believe a large number of companies this year will help take Instagram shopping to new heights.

Get in touch with us today and find out how we can help with your social media needs.