Social Media Trends 2020

In our changing scenario, social media and its impact has never been as significant as it is now. It has reached and connected with large audiences in order for business to grow and flourish. As these trends are ever changing, at Truecode we have started to rethink the way businesses use these platforms. Social media is now a tool that businesses use to create meaningful relationships with their consumers as opposed to competing for the largest audience and following.

A major trend in this field is the emerging emphasis on quality over quantity. Wherein, before companies were always fixated on the number of likes, shares and reach of a single social media post, now they are more focused on social listening. Under this idea, companies and businesses are more focused on what consumers have to say about your business and the services, products that you offer. It involves an outlook that measures performance and gives you a much deeper insight into what customers think and feel about your brand.

Over the past few years, influencers and social media celebrities played a huge role in the advertisement of products and services. Now, along with the change in the way performance is measured, businesses are re-evaluating the type of influencers that are choosing to endorse their products. Influencers with smaller followings and genuine relationships with their followers are sought after rather than the ones with a larger audience. These nano influencers are more engaged with their audience and have better relationships with them. Businesses are benefitting from using a low-profile influencer by building relationships with these close-knit communities and having them share honest view of their brand. Opting for influencers with a smaller, open and honest platform may also help your brand image, by providing transparency and authenticity to your customers.

At Truecode, we believe that companies need to interact with individuals via social media in order to create meaningful relationships with consumers. This is a method that has evolved on social media platforms like Twitter, where large companies use their social media presence and engage with consumers that have mentioned their brand. Engaging individual consumers create a sense of acknowledgement for the consumer and in turn increases the value of your organisation. It leads to good discussions directly between the consumer and the company which can lead to brand recognition and enable you to gain valuable consumer insight.

User generated content, has created a large impact on social media. UGC is a method that companies use to engage their audience. Here, consumers will post content featuring your brand ad the company uses this content to share on their official social media handles. This method allows businesses to form deeper relationships with their customers and provide a sense of community. This method involves consumers to use company products to create and share content highlighting their products. Many business use a specific hashtag for customers to use when consumers create content.

Stories were a big trend in 2019 and are predicted to stick around for 2020. Instagram and Facebook stories are an excellent way to connect with your audience, allowing you to show what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ which can help you to appear to be more real and relatable to customers.

Market researchers at Truecode, depicts that interactive Instagram stories have recently blown up and are a fantastic way to encourage engagement from your audience. You can even use interactive stories to conduct market research by asking your followers questions or creating a poll for them to participate in.

Ultimately, there appears to be an importance on driving more intimate social experiences across platforms in an attempt to form tight-knit relationships with customers and increase engagement. Building long-term, meaningful relationships with your prevailing consumers is perceived to be more valuable than growing your following.