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.
Daily Minute Master Series – April 22, 2019
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram Tests Hiding Like Counts to Reduce Focus on Vanity Metrics
Instagram is experimenting with the removal of like counts from posts, with only the creator able to see their total number of likes. It’s an interesting experiment – Instagram, in particular, has become known for the way in which users focus on portraying a perfect image of themselves, often distorting reality for the sake of likes and shares. Various studies have also linked Instagram usage to mental health concerns. According to a survey conducted in 2017, Instagram is “the worst social media network for mental health and wellbeing”, with the platform contributing to higher levels of anxiety and depression, among other issues. Given the evidence, it is worth the experiment – if Instagram can somehow reduce the emphasis on portraying only your best moments, that’s something to be encouraged.
For the full article click here
Snapchat’s New Creator Profiles are Now Appearing in the App
Some users have now reported seeing the new format of profile in the app, with influencers being given a different layout that appears when you tap on their profile name and/or image. Over the course of its existence, Snapchat has, for the most part, insisted that influencers should not get special treatment. Snap’s mission is to connect friends, and in that respect, it’s put a premium on “authenticity”, and treating everyone equally, regardless of their perceived status. But over time, Snap’s neglect of influencers has become problematic. For prominent users, social media has become their job, it is how they grow their personal brands, forge revenue partnerships and expand their footprint. The Creator Profiles are another way that Snap could look to improve on this front. At the Snap Partner Summit, the company showcased how Creator Profiles would be used to better promote digital artists who post new Lenses and visual tools. It may not seem like much, but this is a critical element for Snapchat’s future growth. Snapchat needs to improve on this front – and evidence would suggest that it is – but with other platforms offering better, more evolved influencer programs, Snap needs to work harder to maintain a better connection, and provide improved opportunities.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Google Posts can now highlight customer testimonials in some countries
Google has announced that Google Posts in select countries now supports the ability to highlight customer testimonials. Specifically reviews with 4 to 5 stars can showcase positive reviews left for your business. Google Posts are an excellent way to bring more visibility to your Google local listings in Google Maps and Google web search. It helps you showcase your business, highlight deals, new ideas, events and so much more. It is worthwhile for local businesses to check out Google Posts and now, with this new feature, you may be able to highlight your happy customers!
For the full article click here
AMP WordPress plugin now supports Stories
Google has just brought AMP Stories support to WordPress publishers via its latest AMP plugin update. Publishers looking to create AMP Stories will need to have the latest version of the Gutenberg plugin installed since the Stories editor relies on features not included in core versions of WordPress. Gutenberg is a page editor created by WordPress to make adding multimedia content simpler. It’s required to create AMP Stories because it makes use of Gutenberg’s rich media management architecture. Enabling AMP Stories to be created via a plugin allows content marketers and producers to take advantage of its visually rich, interactive format without the technical barriers of learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
For the full article click here
Advertising on Facebook vs Instagram
/by Corey PadveenWhen using Facebook’s ad platform, advertisers have the option of displaying ads on Facebook, Instagram, or both.
It may be confusing when deciding which ads should go on which platform. Today I’m going to focus on choosing between Facebook and Instagram for your next ad campaign.
What they have in common:
Facebook and Instagram share the Facebook ad platform and therefore have many commonalities when it comes to advertising. For both Instagram and Facebook, advertisers have the option to create 4 kinds of ads: image, video, carousel, and slideshow among others. They can also track engagement, click through rate, page likes/follows, reach, views, and conversions on both platforms.
Despite giving advertisers the ability to target by age, location, and plenty of interests among other metrics, the ad platform has removed some key features. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, Facebook removed third-party targeting abilities such as targeting by income, buyer behavior, health profiles, cars, they drive, and more. The loss of these key features lowers the platform’s advertising abilities however there is still plenty of targeting data available to work with.
Facebook’s advantages:
Given Facebook’s longevity, the platform has a high active user count. With over 2 billion monthly active users, no matter what target audience you desire, it surely exists on Facebook. The platform boasts high video engagement and is currently focusing integrating video ads to their Facebook Watch section of the platform. In terms ad style, Facebook ads can be informative and include text. As for the demographic of Facebook, the platform is seeing a shift from a younger demographic of 18-29, to an older demographic of 30-49. As for the younger demographic, more and more of them as switching to Instagram.
Instagram’s advantages:
Instagram has grown quickly in the past few years reaching 1 billion monthly active users in 2018. According to Pew Research Center 55% of 18-29 year-olds who use the internet are on Instagram. This is a promising platform for anyone who wishes to target a younger demographic with high disposable income. The Instagram platform is known to have users that engage frequently with content. When it comes to the style of ads on Instagram, the focus should be on the visuals first. Users come to Instagram to view images, not to read a novel. The audience will not be responsive to ads that are text heavy.
Facebook or Instagram?
Is one platform better than the other? Both platforms have their benefits, and the type of campaign you wish to run should determine which platform makes sense for you. For campaigns that are meant to inform and/or target an older audience, use Facebook. When it comes to a campaign with a short, actionable message and/or a younger audience, try Instagram.
Can Snapchat’s Recent Changes Save the Platform?
/by Corey PadveenSince its IPO launch in March 2017, Snapchat has been struggling with user growth and revenue which has been reflected in their stock price.
Over the past month, Snapchat introduced a few new features to the app as an attempt to grow their increase revenue and grow their audience.
In mid-March, Snapchat announced it would be creating a dedicated gaming platform for Snap users. Using artificial reality, users will be able to play games in which non-existent objects could be seen in the real world through the camera of their phone. Given the younger demographic that uses Snapchat, focusing on a new gaming platform makes sense for Snap and could create a new revenue stream for Snapchat from both ads and in-game purchases. This feature should be available as of mid-April 2019 and will be interesting to see how Snapchat integrates this new idea into the app. So, despite the inability to grow their user base, Snapchat is still finding new ways to grow revenue.
Snapchat has also been testing new features with their “Snap Map” to give users an easier way to meet up with friends. According to Social Media Today, this feature would allow users to check-into locations on their map and invite their friends to meet them through an open-invite system. Snapchat wants to focus on creating meaningful relationships through the app. This may give users another incentive to use the app and may increase overall engagement – a problem Snapchat has been facing frequently. Privacy, however, may come as a concern given the potential for anyone on a user’s friends list to access the user’s precise location through Snapchat. Given the younger demographic on the platform, this seems like an odd move for the company considering their settings automatically share a user’s location with their entire friends’ list by default.
To increase its visibility into other apps, Snapchat has also launched a new way for users to share their story and their Bitmoji in other social platforms. In terms of stories, the company has partnered with platforms such as Tinder and Houseparty which will now let users share their stories on these apps. This is an interesting move from Snapchat given that their stories concept was stolen by both Instagram and Facebook. By allowing other platforms to take advantage of Snapchat stories, it may prevent other companies from creating their own version of stories and instead, partnering with Snapchat. With Tinder’s older demographic, and Houseparty’s younger demographic, these two companies seem like a great mix for their initial “App Stories” partnership. As for Bitmoji, Snap has announced partnerships with both Venmo and FitBit which would integrate users Bitmoji character into these external apps. This is a great way that Snapchat can increase its brand awareness.
Despite these recent changes made to Snapchat, the company still faces one problem: its user base isn’t growing. These changes may be enough to keep users interested in the app however they don’t seem like enough of an incentive to attract new users to the app. Given the nature of the app, Snapchat lacks the ability to discover other profiles easily. The app needs a permanent place for users to display their images and videos which can then be discovered by other users.
Until Snapchat can learn to create a community within their app, they will continue to face growth issues and fall short of expectations. Increasing revenue streams is a temporary solution and will only work for so long. Snapchat will eventually be forced to find a solution to their underlying issue of growth and should place a greater emphasis on this problem rather than their next quarterly report.
A 3-Part Guide to Growing Your Instagram Page
/by Corey PadveenDo you want to run an Instagram page for your business or blog? It’s not as easy as it looks.
Coming up with an image, caption and hashtags that will generate attention and engagement can be difficult – but it’s not impossible. Here’s a short 3-part guide to growing your Instagram page.
Your Content
It isn’t hard to tell good looking content apart from the crowd of Instagram posts. Do a simple search for any hashtag and there’s bound to be a few posts that stand out. The most important thing when taking an image for Instagram is to have a vision, don’t just take images randomly. Have an idea in your mind before shooting an image. It can be tough, especially if you’re coming up with a new post every day. To get past this, look to the discover feature, or even browse Pinterest to find inspiration for that next post. You may learn a lot simply by looking at the work of others.
There are a few things to keep in mind when posting on Instagram.
#1. Your posts should be visually consistent. By keeping a running color scheme throughout your posts, your feed looks clean and professional.
#2. By uploading multiple images as a carousel can increase exposure and engagement. If a follower scrolls past your first image in a carousel without liking, the next time they refresh their feed, your second image will be shown for another chance to gain a like or comment.
#3. You should post frequently. By every day or two, the Instagram algorithm will give your posts more visibility to the community and in turn help grow your channel.
#4. Don’t add large amounts text within your image – save it for the caption. Instagram is for images first, text second. Studies show that adding a lot of text to your images lowers engagement.
#5. Don’t over-edit. Try to avoid using Instagram’s filters. Instead, edit your photos manually using the tools in Instagram. If you’re more tech savvy, consider learning Adobe Lightroom to edit your images more professionally.
Your Caption
Your caption should be just as interesting as your image, put thought into it. A caption can form the relation between you and your customer, give more insight into your post, or showcase your values and beliefs. Captions are often more difficult to execute than the image itself and a bit of creativity will help. Look to influencers or businesses to find inspiration. Often times Instagram pages have recurring theme or message that underlies all their posts.
Using a call-to-action in your caption is another great way to drive engagement on your post. Users are more likely to engage with you when you give them something to comment on. Asking a simple question, telling people to vote, or even asking them to tag a friend who would like your post is a great way to get people talking, and increase your visibility.
Once you get people answering your call-to-action, reply to the audience. Try to start a meaningful conversation with individuals to make a genuine connection. After all, people want to feel like there’s a real person behind your page. Let your personality shine through and show them why they should be a follower.
Your Hashtags
Hashtags are huge factor in the initial success of your post. Without using hashtags, your posts could go unnoticed to anyone that isn’t following you. Instagram allows for up to 30 hashtags, I recommend using all 30 for each of your posts. By doing so you increase your chances of getting noticed through Instagram’s ‘discover’ feature. Here’s a couple of tricks for getting the most out of your hashtags.
#1. Make hashtags relevant to your post. Some pages use hashtags that get frequent likes due to their popularity (#art, #funny, etc.) even if they have no relevance their post. This strategy may seem appealing to boost the likes on your post but will cause your page to suffer in the long run. By adding relevant hashtags to your post, you’re making sure it will reach people who are interested in your page’s topic.
#2. Diversify your hashtags. To optimize your post’s engagement, use hashtags that have different levels of popularity. By having an even amount of popular, moderate, and less popular hashtags, you will increase the probability of gaining likes, comments, and followers. Popular, relevant hashtags can help your post gain likes and comments quickly. Moderately popular post will generate engagement less quickly but will appear on the hashtag feed for longer. Less common, more specific hashtags will drive engagement slowly but are more likely to attract targeted users who are looking for exactly what your post is about.
Tip: To save yourself some time, have a list of 15 hashtags that are relevant to all the posts on your page. Use those hashtags for every post and come up with the remaining 15 hashtags based on the specific post.
By following this simple guide, you can step up your Instagram game and grow your account to reach more interested, engaged users. Remember creativity, consistency, and being genuine is key.
Creating an Effective Backlink Outreach Strategy
/by Stephen PadveenOver the years, backlinks have become an increasingly important element of SEO.
The organic nature of these links is crucial because it represents independent, third-party confidence in the content to which the link connects.
The Importance of Backlinks
Search engines see these links as legitimate confirmation of your content, and worthwhile and valuable in the eyes of potential customers or interested parties. As a result, search engines make the logical determination that your content is likely worthy of a higher-ranking position than, say, your competitor’s site with no backlinks.
In a perfect world, all of your third-party backlinks would come from high traffic, high-authority sites but in the real world these links are hard to come by unless you have something of real value or interest for these sites to share with their audience. For that reason, you shouldn’t discount less authoritative sites that have a good following and an engaged audience as part of your strategy to generate exposure that can lead to larger sites linking to you.
Granted, there are many other factors that come into play with respect to actual SERP and backlinks alone won’t get you to page one of Google but overall, backlinks will positively impact your ranking position. However, generating these valuable backlinks requires a clear plan and a well-defined outreach strategy.
Creating Your Backlink Outreach Strategy
Identifying Your Targets
Generating effective backlinks from third-party partners takes a commitment of time and resources. To begin, you’ll need to identify a series of sites that rank well for the keywords you are targeting. You’ll want to analyze other pages, blogs etc. that link to that site and determine how and why their information was worth linking to. A combination of manual search combined with the backlink identification features found in tools like SEM Rush or MOZ will deliver the best results when it comes to creating your own outreach targets and strategy.
The Outreach Approach
Once you’ve identified the sites you’d like to connect with, there are a number of key steps to follow if you want your outreach to be seen and given serious consideration. Without a clear plan of action, the likelihood of receiving a reply from your outreach efforts is slim at best.
When you reach out to a potential partner, be clear about who you are, the research that leads you to contact them, and why your proposal is good for both parties. An email that asks for a backlink only benefitting your site will end up in the trash folder every time.
It should be inherently obvious that if you are a fashion retailer you probably shouldn’t be reaching out to a car dealership to ask for a backlink, but many businesses take this approach – just reach out to as many web sites as possible and ask for a link. Keep in mind that Google analyzes your backlinks and they’ll know if the links make sense for the target audience or if they are more spammy in nature.
Take the time to determine the best way to communicate with the site you are trying to reach. Don’t just send a templated email to “info@” because it’s fast and easy. Figure out if the company uses a contact form or perhaps LinkedIn or social channel outreach are the way to go. You’ll see much better results with a personal approach.
If you are reaching out to a potential backlink partner, be sure to include all of your relevant contact details (email, phone, LinkedIn profile, social channel links) thereby making it easier for them to reply and verify the legitimacy of your request. And make sure your contact details are consistent. If you are connecting by email, make sure the business URL is the same as your email address and that all of your other contact details follow suit.
Overall, be genuine and transparent in your outreach. Start small and build credibility before moving on to bigger targets where you can then show proof of how your backlink program has been beneficial to both you and your partners.
Google Moves Into Real-Time Translation
/by Corey PadveenGoogle Assistant now offers the ability to translate conversations in real time. What’s next?
Google is no stranger to futurist initiatives. They have been consistently leading the way when it comes to artificial intelligence and virtual assistant technology. Recently, Google announced that Google Assistant will offer real-time translation capabilities for 27 languages. That on its own is pretty impressive. But when you think about what the applications are for this kind of development, it can lead to a major boost in Google’s Android platform edge over the competition.
Real-Time Translation
According to The Verge, “You’ll be able to say things like, ‘Hey, Google, help me speak French,’ or ‘Hey, Google, be my French interpreter,’ and Google Assistant will show text across a smart display that translates your words as you speak. Afterward, it will open the microphone for the second person to be able to speak in their language and words will be translated across the screen at the same time. Google Assistant also plays back the words in your native tongue.”
This is a big step towards real-time translation in speech, and that is where Android has the potential to further its position as the top mobile software platform in the marketplace today.
Real-Time Conversation Translation
Once Google opens up calls through Assistant with the ability to implement translation, users on both ends of the call will be able to have a full conversation in their native tongues while hearing responses in their preferred language. Skype unveiled a similar function, but if Google does it right, they will blow Microsoft’s attempts at this kind of translation out of the water – easily.
When this will come – and it is almost certain to happen – is still a mystery. But if some traction picks up with the use of these translation services, we can expect to see this new service offered sooner rather than later. The world is getting smaller and Google wants to be at the forefront of that process.
Google to Expand Worldwide Ad Blocking on July 9th
/by Corey PadveenGoogle has announced that it will be extending Chrome’s ad blocking functionality worldwide on July 9th.
This is a part of Googles ongoing effort to improve and enhance the user experience across the web from the perspective of those who provide content and those who consume it.
Ad growth and the resulting revenue streams have allowed websites to provide content for free, but the proliferation of onsite advertising has led to an increase in the use of ad blockers to prevent ads from being displayed. The ability to implement ad blocking impacts a site owners’ opportunity to generate revenues from online ads and ad networks and reconciling ad revenue generation with relevant ad content that meets user expectations has been an ongoing challenge for years.
While the majority of sites have taken steps to be in compliance, it’s important to note that Google’s ad blocking is based on the Better Ads Standards from the Coalition for Better Ads and not a random desire to replace third-party advertising with Google’s own ad networks. In fact, Google will also block abusive ads originating for their own platform if they are not compliant.
As explained on the Coalition’s site, “The Coalition for Better Ads will leverage consumer insights and cross-industry expertise to develop and implement new global standards for online advertising that address consumer expectations.” Overall, the intent of the Coalition is to improve the user experience when it comes to online advertising in the context of a website visit.
In order to know if your site meets these standards, you can use Google’s Ad Experience Report tool. This feature is designed to help site owners know if Chrome has identified any ad violations on your site and provide guidelines with respect to correcting them. Web site administrators who have been notified of ad violations have 30 days to fix the infractions and achieve compliance before ads are blocked.
Part of this expanded implementation is an effort by Google to reduce and eventually eliminate ads that are scams, phishing attempts and click-baiting while focusing on ad content that meets user expectations.
While this more aggressive move towards controlling the advertising experience may be seen by some as an infringement into a site owners personal or corporate assets, the large number of properties who have updated their practices (according to Google, two thirds of all reviewed publishers who were previously in violation are now complaint) indicates that there is widespread agreement and acceptance of practices designed to balance the ad experience with the on-site user experience.
Google’s overall objective is to create a better web experience for all users by incentivizing all content providers to offer improved advertising legitimacy. This ensures that organic and paid or sponsored content meet the criteria of relevance for the audience.
4 Statistics That Show the Potential of Pinterest for Advertising
/by Corey PadveenThere has been a lot of talk about Pinterest since 2017 as it has shown incredible growth year after year. Despite the buzz, marketers often don’t take the time to review the statistics and truly understand how powerful this new platform really is. Here are four statistics showing why you should consider Pinterest for your next marketing campaign.
People who use Pinterest spend 29% percent more on retail than the average person
Pinterest may seem foreign to advertisers on social media given its more recent rise to marketer knowledge. It may however be a hidden gem given the demographic which the platform targets. At a nearly 30% increase in retail spending, Pinterest users may be an easier demographic to market and sell to compared to Facebook advertising.
40% of Pinners Have a Household Income of $100k+
Given Facebook’s recent changes to the targeting capabilities of ads, advertisers are having a harder time targeting higher income users. For there advertisers, Pinterest may be worth taking a closer look. With 40% of users having a household income of 100k+ and 50% making 50k+ there is a unique opportunity with Pinterest to target a high-earning demographic.
Pinterest users plan twice as early as users on other social media platforms
According to Pinterest’s Possibilities Planner, users plan for holidays and events twice as early as other social media users. To potentially increase revenue, advertisers can being their event and holiday advertising a few months earlier on Pinterest before advertising to other social media platforms. This may allow them to capture a greater part of the market and at a reduced cost given the lack of competition for search terms such as “Christmas” in August.
250 Million people use Pinterest every month
Given the advantageous demographics of Pinterest users, it is even more convincing to note the number of monthly users on Pinterest. This number is growing quickly increasing from 200 million to 250 million from 2017 to 2018. If this growth continues, Pinterest will be hard for advertisers to ignore and will continue to become more mainstream in the eye of the public.
Pinterest is worth looking into for your next social media campaign. Despite it still being far behind competitors like Facebook with over 2.2 billion monthly active users, it is growing quickly. Try out Pinterest for as part of your next marketing campaign. You will want to be ready and knowledgeable when it becomes big enough to use regularly as an advertising platform.
The Three Biggest Social Media Changes in 2018
/by Corey PadveenIn 2018, the world of social media changed drastically. Social media companies fought to out-do one another by making relevant updates to generate more traffic and increase ad expenditure on their platform. The following are the top three biggest changes seen throughout the year.
Stories Become Mainstream
In 2018 we saw the launch and the increase of ‘Stories’ usage on platforms other than Instagram and Snapchat. YouTube Launched their stories platform to any creator with over 10,000 followers, which may be driven by the appeal of shorter video contentbased the success seen by other platforms.
Both Facebook Stories and WhatsApp status saw a rise in users with 150 million and 450 million daily active users respectively. According to TechCrunch, stories are growing at 15 times the rate of social media feeds and are projected to surpass them in the foreseeable future. We’re seeing a big change in the way people are viewing content. One conclusion could be that stories are the fastest, easiest way to consume the latest content on a user’s feed and people simply don’t have time to scroll through their feed to consume lengthy content.
New Video Channels Emerged to Compete with YouTube
A big reveal in 2018 came from both Facebook and Instagram with their own long-form video platforms. Throughout the year, YouTube was faced with criticism because they showed ads on videos which companies deemed inappropriate and were also been criticized for their lack of proper compensation to creators. YouTube has also been criticized by their own user-base for being disconnected from why users engage with the platform. In 2018 YouTube launched their annual YouTube Rewind video which was created to showcase the best creators of the year. YouTube rewind 2018 became the most disliked YouTube video of all time with of 15 million dislikes as it did not accurately represent YouTube’s community whatsoever. Both Facebook and Instagram saw an opportunity to find enter a new, lucrative way to sell ad space.
IGTV launched as a way for Instagram creators to create longer videos for their followers without creating multiple stories. Instagram has yet to release statistics for the new video platform however TechCrunch claims that Instagram’s IGTV launch partner creators are still getting around 6.8 times the amount of video views on their feed than on their IGTV.
Facebook Watch was launched internationally in early August 2018 and now claims to have over 400 million monthly users. Facebook seems to pose the biggest threat to YouTube; they have already begun to attract YouTube creators to their platform and can grow the platform quickly because of their current user-base of 1.6 billion.
Big Changes to eCommerce
This year, eCommerce became a greater focus for social media networks as they looked for new ways to generate income. In late September, Snapchat added Shoppable Snap adds which allowed companies to import product catalogs to create ads. With this addition, companies advertising on Snapchat were reporting up to 17 times more engagement compared to standard Snapchat ads. Snapchat expects the expenditure on their ads to grow to over 767 billion by 2020.
With the launch of shoppable posts in 2018, Instagram also integrated eCommerce into their platform. Users can now see price tags on a post and click through to purchase an item. The shopping feature is a great way for bloggers to sell their merchandise or for a company to sell more of their products. Instagram claims that they want users to have a seamless experience when using shoppable posts to purchase an item.
2018 saw some big changes in the world of social media in terms of advertising, new divisions of social media networks, and the way people consume content. In 2019 we will learn how these changes play out on a longer timeline. Hopefully we will continue to see social media networks making more creative, innovative decisions to stay relevant.
Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2019
/by Corey PadveenAs 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.