Social media is rapidly changing, and there are a lot of trends, ideas, and unspoken rules that are added every year. Social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are always coming up with the latest innovative features.

Chances are, these changes aren't just being made to engage users in a variety of ways with their favorite brands online. They're also giving digital marketers a chance to captivate their audiences by utilizing a variety of tools and tactics.

So let's dive in, shall we? In this post, we'll talk about the top social marketing trends that will boost your sales this 2019:

1. Social listening

In its most basic form, social media listening (monitoring) is the crawling of social media channels to track down all the mentions of a brand, or any other keywords associated with it.

It usually includes various mentions from blogs, news sites, forums, as well as industry keywords that specifically signal interest to buy a particular product. One of the main goals of social listening is to improve a brand's reputation and overall customer service.

This 2019, social listening is expected to hit it big especially in the aspect lead generation and social selling. While only a handful of brands utilize it, the numbers are rising. More and more marketers are finding out that they can quickly look for people that are searching for the same services that they're offering on social media.  

Think about it ‒ a lot of people are sharing their ideas, recommendation, and even frustrations online. Social listening offers brand new possibilities and will continue to grow over time. 

2. Video content

Video content continues to grow each year and this 2019, and it's expected that it will continue to reign over the market.

Take live videos for instance. While it's always have been popular over Youtube, this trend has spread even to Facebook and Instagram, and even up to the point that users are notified when someone is going live. 

Live videos are authentic in nature. That's the reason they come off as more meaningful to most social media users. It increases the overall relevance and trustworthiness of a brand, aiming to deliver highly compelling and exciting content. In creating viral videos, you can always ask for the best Facebook advertising agencies that can help you strategize your video content. 

3. Micro-influencers

Influencer marketing is another trend that you shouldn't ignore. Social media influencers can make thousands just by paid sponsorships, and brands are always seeking for the best influencers out there for their campaigns.

But as influencer marketing continues to flourish, big influencers are becoming increasingly costly, especially for small or medium-sized brands. Micro-influencers are there to fill in that gap. 

For those brands who want to try influencer marketing, but couldn't afford big influencers in their niche, micro-influencers are perfect. While they don't have millions of followers, they present a more significant influence over their followers.  

Even an influencer who have at least 40k followers can already be excellent for a brand, given that they chose the right influencer with the right target audience.  

While it doesn't require a big budget to work with these micro-influencers, you need have to take your time to research so that you can partner with the right people who can work with your brand.  

4. Personalization

Given the massive amounts of information that's being uploaded by different users every single day, it's becoming more convenient to gain insight into all kind of information about users that are sitting behind the screen. As a result, it has paved the way for enhanced personalization and has increased customers' expectations.

Everything from content, products, emails can now be based on a user's clicked links, customer history, posts on social media, and other related behavior. For instance, eBay or Amazon shows you associated products that you've searched or bought before. Netflix offers suggestions of shows that are similar to your taste. Booking.com and Agoda notify you of deals on locations you've explored previously.  

It's true that personalization marketing can be unnerving, considering how much information companies have over users. However, it creates a hassle-free customer experience for the user, and most people aren't ready to give up these benefits anytime in the future.  

Most marketers believe that personalization marketing improves their relationships with customers. It’s true that most people still worry about these vague privacy risks. However, they always appreciate receiving notifications about their favorite online shop or products or coming across a suggested product similar to what they're looking for.  

That's why personalization is essential for marketers who want to boost the overall performance of their campaigns.  

5. Timeliness

Today, real-time communication is the future of marketing. That's why social media trends such as chatbots, real-time social selling, 24/7 customer support, and continuous monitoring for any social media crisis continue to gain traction.

Think of it this way ‒ social media is something that never sleeps. Customers can buy new products at any given moment. They may continuously use your products and talk about them online. 

Luckily, there are tools today at your disposal enabling you to schedule and publish your posts at the time you choose. Chatbots are also there, to answer queries. 

In the world that we live in today, nobody has the time to wait. People want their questions and complaints to be dealt with, immediately.   

Over To You

The social media landscape is changing at a rapid pace these days. That's why it's best to keep up with the top trends every single year to make sure that your existing strategy remains effective.

So, now is the perfect time to review your current social media strategy. Find out what works well for you, and evaluate the ones that need to be improved.  

While 2019 can prove to be a challenging year for marketers, it's always crucial to develop a growth mindset. Be proactive and seek out new ways how you can adapt to these changes. Constantly seek out new tools and incorporate these trends so that you can improve customer experience, land new leads, and boost your sales.