The only constant in the marketing world is change — and change is exactly what you need to expect in 2019. Even before the last holiday present is unwrapped and the smell of pumpkin spice coffee fades from the air for one more year, it’s time to start planning your strategy for the new year.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Our Top 3 Social Media Marketing Predictions For 2019

We spent some time pouring over our crystal ball for you in order to put together a list of social media predictions that you can use. Here’s what we saw when the mists cleared:

1. Platforms Will Be Prioritized Differently

Facebook has long been the mainstay for social media marketing. While it’s hardly dead, it is aging — in more than one way. Demographically, Facebook is static (at best) in most age groups — or even slightly declining. It’s become the main stomping ground for older consumers — Generation X and Baby Boomers while younger generations hang out in far more interesting corners of the internet.

It is no surprise that younger consumers are moving to Instagram, Snapchat, and even Twitter. That’s where you need to go if you’re trying to find the Millennials and anybody in Generation Z. Around 78% of “kids” between 18-24 years of age are on Snapchat and 71% are on Instagram. Twitter isn’t quite as popular, but it attracts a decent showing of consumers in every age group except for those over 50.

Focus your marketing efforts accordingly, my friends! You don’t want to abandon Facebook, but you need to get your brand out there on some of the other platforms as well or risk getting left behind!

2. Marketers Will Embrace Video

Why does a fortune teller peer into her crystal ball instead of just waiting on the spirits to text her the information she needs? Because the human brain just prefers visuals. Send a message in a text and only about 10% of people are going to remember. Send a video message instead and about 95% of people will retain it!

Consumers love visuals and video is undeniably on the rise. If you haven’t already started adding video content into your marketing, you’re falling behind. Videos are the number one thing that you need to be pouring into Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to be successful on those platforms.

Video traffic is expected to account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic in 2019. Get your vlogs, video ads, live streams, product demos, tutorial videos, and interviews going. Focus on giving your consumers a good story, inspiring them in new ways, and making them laugh. If you work with influencers, encourage them to get on Facebook Live or Twitter Live for better engagement.

Consumers like videos because they’re easily consumable. Chatbots offer bite-sized pieces of information that consumers can immediately use. Video also has an organic feel.  By design, video makes it easy to offer something the consumer wants — whether practical knowledge or entertainment — rather than just sell them on a product. Whatever videos you use — even ads — need to be organic in feel and nurture the relationship with the consumer. Don’t just make claims about your products — tell a story or entertain your consumers instead.

3. Chatbots Will Be Everywhere

While we were looking in the crystal ball a chatbot popped up and offered to send the next three predictions straight to our email. That way, we didn’t have to remember to check back.

Why not?

Chatbots are quickly taking over. Consumers like them because they can accomplish a lot of mundane, routine tasks rather quickly, like providing the answer to a simple question or resolving a complaint. Chatbots are also immediately available, no waiting necessary!

In 2019, consumers can use chatbots to check on an order, book a flight, refill a prescription and order delivery. Since bots are fairly new right now, this is your chance to leap ahead of the curve. Putting a chatbot in place could mean the difference between making (or keeping) a customer and losing one to a brand with a chatbot that makes ordering a pizza easy.

The Other Keys To Social Marketing Success In 2019

Before our crystal ball ended the service call, it offered one final image to guide you through the next year:

Let’s talk about what the crystal ball is saying here.

You can’t survive without making use of additional resources to guide your social strategy. 

What You Need In Your Toolbox

• A Content Development Team: You don’t have to have a large content team, but you do need a team that understands how to effectively create and distribute content for maximum engagement. If you don’t have the resources to handle the job in-house, partner with a company that can help you.
• Analytical Software: About 53% of marketers say that analytical software is a driving force behind their strategies — and we understand why! Data-driven decisions are the best decisions. Google Analytics, for example, can tell you how customers find your website. You can also make good use of tracking codes to check the power of every social campaign you create. The information you get back tells you what works.  You also learn what doesn’t work — which can keep you from investing too deeply into a failing strategy.
• More Content — You need new content in order to keep people interested. Influencer content is very important these days because consumers listen more to each other than they do advertising messages. Remember: it’s no longer good enough to simply make a great product and tell people about it. Now, you need to involve them in your story if you want to get noticed.
• Publishing Software — You know you need to publish regularly on social if you want to raise the level of engagement you get from consumers. But, who has the time? Publishing software like Sprout Social and MeetEdgar can get your posts out there at the correct times on each platform — and relieve you of the hassle. If you don’t know how to set publishing software up for yourself, there are small business marketing services like ours that can get you set up in a jiffy!  Reach out to Blue on any of our social sites to find out more.

The Takeaway

A lot of brands simply don’t put enough of their resources — financial or physical — into their marketing to be successful. Pulling together the resources for all of this when you’re a small brand can be rough, but you have to think of it as a necessary investment.

Before the magic mists close and hide the future from us again, take a good look at where you are now and where you want to be at the end of 2019. To get where you hope to be, you need to embrace the changes that are happening in social marketing right now. That includes the increasing need for video content and the growing importance of chatbots.

You also need to put sufficient resources into your social marketing efforts if you want to see results. Make use of as many free analytical tools as possible, but don’t overlook the value of professional assistance or a dedicated social marketing team of your own.