As 2018 comes to an end, marketers are looking to predict trends in 2019.

The following are promising trends which have begun in 2018 and look promising going forward into the new year.

E-commerce Trends

Many eCommerce marketers use Facebook ad targeting for its easy of use, powerful targeting abilities, and large userbase. Although Facebook is a powerful tool its eCommerce is not as well integrated as other social platforms. The following platforms may be worth a second look as their eCommerce capabilities have improved significantly in 2018.

Pinterest

In 2018, Pinterest increased their eCommerce potential with the addition of shopping tags. This feature allows users to click-through to a ‘Buy Now’ page when they see an item they would consider purchasing. Best of all, this feature is free. Shopping tags is a great way to start promoting products online without spending on ads. Pinterest also sells ad space, however, and the journey from viewing a product to reaching the ‘Buy Now’ page is virtually seamless. With a growing audience of 250 million active users, marketers are considering Pinterest as a viable option for their 2019 advertising campaigns.

Instagram

Instagram also announced shopping tags in mid-2018. Instagram shopping tags can appear on posts and stories and serve as an easy way for a consumer to reach the ‘Buy Now’ page of your website with one click. Instagram’s user base has over 1 billion users with the majority between the age of 18 and 34 – a demographic with a high level of spending power. As Instagram only continues to gain popularity, it is no wonder the social media platform is on the list for 2019.

Video Trends

Video has continued to be a successful part of marketing campaigns throughout 2018 with a focus on live video, and marketers use videos to engage and excite users. According to HubSpot, adding a video to a landing page increases conversion rate by 80% and adding a video to an email boosts click-through rate by up to 300%.

Video advertising is also becoming more common and more options are available. In 2018, YouTube added the ability for advertisers to target users who watch videos on their TV screen after reporting that their watch-time of content from TVs has doubled yearly. Furthermore, this year Twitter announced in-stream video ads on a global level rather than restricting it by region. Advertisers can now reach more users making in-stream Twitter ads a more viable option

Personalization Trends

In 2019, consumers will continue to demand personalized service and marketing. This can be challenging when your business communicates with an abundance of customers. With the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, marketers will stray away from manual targeting of specific user groups. With the introduction of Facebook Messenger chatbots, such as Chatfuel, marketers can begin to experiment with customer interaction.

Marketing Strategy Trends

By 2019, marketers should know there is no excuse for any guess-work when it comes to marketing strategy. Data is abundant, available, and ready to be analyzed. The only reliable, cost-effective way to market your company successfully in 2019 is through a data-centric campaign, specific to your company’s needs.

A concise, effective model to follow when creating a data-driven marketing campaign is the BEACON strategy. This encompasses Branding, Engagement, Audience, Content, Organization, and Network.

Branding

Brand awareness is important to grow any business. The voice of a brand should be consistent and the persona of the brand should be developed through generating content. Content should be optimized on-site and for search engines to ensure discoverability.

Engagement

Marketers should analyze data and set goals. First, benchmarks must be set to measure the outcome of your efforts. It is important to understand your analytics by looking at engagement ratios, conversion rate, creating a content-engagement correlation analysis, tangible metric analysis, etc.

Audience

Marketers should identify hyper-targeted audiences to zero-in on the unique customer traits that lead to high conversion. High-value audience identification is then important to understand which members of your audience have these traits. Once this has been recognized, marketers can then identify areas for growth and target new audiences that have not been reached. Once new audiences are identified, messages to the audience should be optimized to fit in well with the idiosyncrasies that make each audience subset unique.

Content

Marketers should make sure their message comes across clearly through content message optimization. Messages should have voice consistency and have clear calls-to-action. Content should also be as diverse as possible for discoverability and authenticity and should be optimized for your audience. Content strategies should be analyzed, revised and renewed frequently to maintain effectiveness.

Organization

Marketers should analyze their current strategies and question if they are both applicable and effective in different real-world settings. Workflow should be optimized in the most time and cost-effective way possible using marketing software. Marketers should also create more cohesiveness between marketing and the operations of the company to ensure the company operates as a unit.

Network

Marketers should conduct reviews and audits of their channels to improve the aesthetic and function of brand pages. Paid and earned media should also be monitored and audited to understand and improve its effect on your brand. Marketing channels and media should be interconnected and smooth to enhance brand experience. A mobile audit should also be performed to understand how mobile integrates into your efforts.

Following these trends can help you make the right decisions for your 2019 marketing budget.