Social media is an ever-changing phenomenon, with different consumption habits observed among different users. From Facebook to Instagram, and WhatsApp to Twitter; social media networking sites have gradually emerged as a powerful resource for the people of the world to connect with each other, irrespective of time and distance. With innovative features such as smart sharing, location tagging, story updates and chat filters; communication has not only become easier, but it has also become interesting and advanced from every aspect.
This is the reason why 94% of marketers in today’s world use Facebook and other social networking sites for advertising and communication. Talking of trends and research opportunities for social media advertisers, based on a survey of 1,000 adults, it has been found that a brand’s transparency on social media is based on several factors such as honest responses to customer requests, admitting mistakes, marketing/manufacturing practices and more.
In addition to these revelations, the latest social media market research has brought forth a plethora of opportunities and amazing trends for marketers to embrace in 2019 and beyond.
1. Facebook’s ever-changing news feed algorithm might disappoint a few marketers
Podcaster Michael A. Stelzner shared that marketers feel frustrated due to Facebook’s ever-changing news feed algorithm. 53% of survey respondents are of the opinion that their news feed exposure has declined over the past months.
It is said that Facebook has admitted they are running out of ad space for advertisers. As a result, consumers’ news feeds might at times appear to be cluttered with too many ads. Consequently, the click-through-rate tends to drop when visitors see too many ads multiple times. Chances are that they won’t pay heed to those posts after awhile.
As a remedial initiative, Facebook has apparently planned to start offering mid-roll ads to video publishers. This will give digital advertisers another option to capitalise on video advertising, instead of merely investing in click bait and CTR marketing.
2. Facebook Watch and IGTV might intrigue a young audience
According to the latest report, it has been found that IGTV (Instagram Television) views are suddenly skyrocketing. Some brands have excelled and invested heavily in IGTV production. Most interestingly, with IGTV fostering in-stream video ads for marketers, social video ads are not only the rise, but they are also providing advertisers with a platform beyond traditional marketing feeds for ad placement.
In addition, Facebook Watch has now more than 720 Million monthly users and 140 Million daily who spend at least a minute on Watch.
This, as a result, might cause advertisers to move out of their conventional ad spaces and discover more online video streaming platforms like IGTV and Facebook Watch to place brand slogans and stories in creatively engaging formats.
A 2018 report also revealed that 70% of the audience between the ages of 18 to 24 watch long-form TV shows on various platforms. Marketers should consider utilising such opportunities by pitching video ad ideas and executing the same in the form of 30 second ads between web series and the like.
Here’s a graphically enriched chart for marketers to refer to and develop ideas.
3. AI-driven customer service is here to stay
From social media optimisation to chatbots, digital platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have been quick to adopt artificial intelligence in order to enhance customer engagement and interaction. According to a prediction made by Hootsuite, more than 85% of customer service interaction will be powered by AI driven bots by 2020.
Millennials are likely to be the quickest adapters of chatbot-driven customer service experiences. Talking of AI powered bots in advertising and communication, WhatsApp is predicted to become a major player in the realm of social media customer care service.
With chatbots making their presence felt in the domain of marketing, many online businesses are gradually leveraging its potential to the fullest. To cite an example, Andrew Rockford, associate customer care executive at a reputed assignment help portal says, “AI-driven chatbots powering our automated customer care portal have been a blessing for us. Our clients, irrespective of whether they are travelling or at home, or even if we are not personally available to respond… the technology makes sure that a seamless flow of communication is never interrupted, thanks to auto-generated messages. “
This precisely sums up the power of Artificial Intelligence infused in chatbots for enhanced communication. Thus, it seems that new-age marketers won’t be slow to utilise its potential to the fullest in 2019, and years to come.
4. Change in organic reach on various social media platforms
In addition to each of these aforementioned market research trends, the changing organic reach on social media platforms is also a major trend to watch. With businesses across the globe utilising advertisements via search engines, 2018 was quite competitive. Statistical data reveals 67,000 searches are performed on Google every second of every day.
And, 93% of digital experiences start with a search engine. This makes it all the more crucial for social media marketers to prioritise organic search results as one of the key driving forces behind successful marketing and communication.
As a result, marketers around the world have geared up with strategies to:
- Build digital presence and authority
- Publish videos natively on Facebook and other social networking sites.
- Use organic post targeting by narrowing down the audience for posts by audience, age, gender, location and language.
To Wrap Up
Now that you are aware of the market research trends that will impact social media advertising in 2019 and beyond, here’s a quick glance of the key points we have discovered so far.
- Marketers will look for ad space alternatives on Facebook.
- Online streaming platforms such as IGTV and Facebook Watch will make an impact.
- AI-driven customer service will enhance customer experience and interaction.
- Social media advertisers will take organic search results more seriously.
Cheers!
