More and more brands are becoming wary of the marketing space, realizing the importance of having a good brand image for their consumers to associate them with. Whether a marketing agency is used or an internal marketing department, this has become a vital part of the value chain. Strategies over the years have adapted to the need of having social media while creating new touchpoints for customers to engage with them for the collection of marketing data to tailor their operational approaches.
The reality is that many firms in the same industry are competing for a piece of the market in very similar ways. The same pillars of marketing are used in any foundation of a campaign but to create organic growth and additional engagement that is unique from their competitors, new strategies need to be used. A new year comes new marketing trends, and 2019 has had some interesting ways to capture the hearts of consumers around the world. Depending on what your firm sells, there may be different value-adds but take a look so you can get a full picture of what the best marketing campaigns are doing today.
Artificial Intelligence Driven Content
Although gathering content and creating the ideas behind them are not fully automatable, artificial intelligence has become smart enough to provide insights on how to leverage the process work into final articles and blogs. News articles have become increasingly difficult to follow all at once in real time but with artificial intelligence, they are able to pump out that data into readable and usable information immediately.
Big firms that have international readers may find this tactic useful. Investing in the tech side of digital media allows companies to stay ahead of the game, with the most up-to-date information at all times. As artificial intelligence continues to grow, the opportunities in this field will as well.
The Features of Social Media
The standard of have profiles on all social media platforms have become a norm in all companies. Ensuring that you have touchpoints on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is enough on a social level. For B2B companies, this can incorporate LinkedIn and Youtube as well. As these platforms create updates and newer features, there are new ways to create content.
One of the biggest game-changers comes from Instagram’s story feature. With options to have your followers ask questions or get a poll answered, it encourages low commitment engagement and leaves your customers interested. As of June 2018, there is 1 billion monthly active Instagram users and over 500 million people use the Stories feature on a daily basis. It can be a simple question asked to your followers or a takeover from a local celebrity. Regardless, having an Instagram account is no longer the standard — but learning the engagement tools is.
Another interesting add-on by Instagram is the seller’s feature. With any product business account, you are able to tag the item’s website link onto the post for easy accessibility for your followers. This is extremely beneficial because it takes away many steps of the user needing to find the site or the time between when they see the picture and how quickly they can purchase it. It expedites the process, efficiently helping your operational flow.
For business companies looking for ways to engage both B2B partners and general LinkedIn members, the use of affiliated hashtags and tagging other organizations/individuals helps to entice people to jump on your page for more information. It is one of the harder platforms to use but LinkedIn has continued to create updates to help out. In addition to the content optimization, you are able to make groups on LinkedIn that can help you connect with other people in the same space and it allows you to promote heavily in an enclosed group of interested individuals.
Investing in Videos
Although graphic designs are good to look at, videos have been statistically known to create a bigger impact and leaving a lasting impression on their viewers. It has been predicted that by 2022, 82% of all internet traffic will be generated by video. People are no longer enticed by nice looking graphics. This raises the standards for your social media platforms, as well as these videos, would normally be featured on those pages. It helps to create more creative type content as opposed to the generic photo opportunities.
Micro-Influencer Marketing
Over the past couple of years, influencer marketing has been a large focus from start-up brands that have built themselves into multi-million dollar companies. However, studies have shown that the focus on macro-influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers may not be generating the same level of engagement as micro-influencers.
Although micro-influencers have fewer followers, their engagement manages to maintain better ratios and percentages. This encompasses the number of likes, comments, views, and clicks that they provide. It is a lot harder to estimate the exact reach a macro-influencer will provide. Micro-influencers are often cost-effective measures as they do not have as high of a reach so their influencer collaborations are often less than $300 per post. This is an ideal solution for smaller businesses as this will help to improve brand visibility and sales without using up all your budget in your marketing department.
Conclusion
Marketing trends will continue to change and adapt as new innovative technology and methods are created. The need to stay on trend becomes increasingly important as firms will always look into new ways of promoting to beat out the competition. Whether this be an in-house marketing team or utilizing a marketing agency, ensure that there is a focus on staying with industry trends.