Top 5 Marketing Predictions For 2020

As the year comes to an end, as marketers, we come to reflect on the things we’ve accomplished throughout the year and the things we hope to achieve for the next. Based on the activity in 2019, here are 5 key marketing trends we’ve identified that will take off in 2020:

THE INCREASE OF MICRO INFLUENCERS

Over the past few years, we’ve seen how important influencers have become when it comes to showcasing a product and getting it in front of an audience, with the likes of mega popular celebrities like the Kardashians or famous Youtubers. Now there’s been a shift from contracting influencers with larger audiences to those that the right audience for their products. With Instagram removing the number of likes shown on each post, it has become more important for companies to adjust their focus from the number of followers an influencer has to what kind of audience the influencer engages with. 

Without likes for Influencers to demonstrate their approval rating of their audience, there may be a need for both the Influencer and brands to work more intimately in order to ensure their products are being properly showcased. Brands will need to consistently work alongside Influencers for longer periods of time to gain the attention and trust of their audiences.

At the same time, ads have increased and consumers are now looking for more authentic and reliable reviews of business services and products. They look to those who they follow, whether it be friends, artists, or experts in their field. Many small to medium sized businesses have been able to compete with larger ones by partnering with “micro” influencers that have less followers but still maintain an engaged audience. 

There will be a growth of micro influencers in 2020 as more businesses look to micro influencers as a solution to more accessible influencers and targeted advertising for finding the right audiences. 

THE RISE IN POPULARITY WITH TIKTOK, LINKEDIN, AND PINTEREST

It’s no secret how important social media has become, but in particular, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have been rising in popularity with marketers as well as users.

TikTok has proven to be an excellent way to attract and engage with younger consumers as it has exploded with over 500 million active users on a daily basis. The ability to create short and engaging videos from 15 to 60 seconds long allows it to remain a highly entertaining app that allows users to share a less formal yet more intimate side of their lives. It’s predicted to only gain more attention and followers while advertising to younger crowds as it continues to rise.

LinkedIn maintains nearly 575 million users and has been used to help recruiters connect with potential candidates for their company while growing to fulfill even more needs for users. Now they provide articles on how to prepare for interviews, the ability to create articles and share with one another as well as follow business leaders in your area of interest. Particularly for B2B marketers, it remains an excellent source to find leads and incorporate more marketing strategies as some have claimed it to bring in more than 80% of their social media leads.

Pinterest has become a popular search engine for those looking for inspiration in the early stages of planning for their projects, making their users particularly receptive to ads for specific products. They become even more inclined to make a purchase once they begin saving individual product images. Now, Pinterest is introducing a new tool to allow users to search popular searched terms from the past 12 months. It will show trending searches and other topics similarly to how Google does this. This new tool is expected to help brands improve content for users and have their content more likely to be found by those searching for them. This new tool will be particularly useful and profitable for advertisers since they will be able to use trends to help increase awareness of their product or modify phrasing to align their product with a new trend.

THE EVOLUTION OF VIDEO CONTENT

In 2020, social media will converge to video. “IGTV, Instagram’s standalone video app, will be at the forefront of this pivot”, according to Social Media Today. They continue to say that “there will be such a huge push for educational content, with most viral content becoming funny quotes or meaningful graphics… video is going to quickly follow this trend.”

According to Hubspot, 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video, so it’s no surprise that video is sticking around. With so many benefits, more businesses are turning to video as a method of communicating their messages, but just cranking out videos, for the sake of it creating content, won’t create a favorable outcome. When it comes to video, quality over quantity is the answer. 

THE PUSH FOR ORIGINAL CONTENT

While creating content still remains one of the most important factors in establishing yourself as a credible source and company, the quality and diversification of that content will need to be carefully considered as we march into 2020. Considering different ways you attract and engage with your consumers, by changing the method of communication, such as creating more video or interactive content, is an excellent way to branch out. It’s also important you maintain traditional ways of marketing by ensuring your SEO is up to date, keywords are implemented, etc., that way you’re guaranteeing you’re covering all your bases. However, mixing up your methods, preserving the quality of your content, is extremely important during this time of an oversaturated information market. 

THE INTEGRATION OF SHOPPING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media is no longer just a visual representation of a brands image, it is now a virtual shop that lets you locate and purchase any item you may be viewing from any video, story, or post. This is a trend that began in 2019 and will only continue to grow due its feasibility, cutting the sales funnel nearly in half. All businesses will have equal opportunity to utilize this tool, giving even small startups the ability to convert a customer with the least amount of clicks possible. Shoppable posts have proven themselves to be a prosperous feature in social media that it will surely become a standard tool marketers use to advertise their products in the future.