Anna Viggeborn
Sep 23, 2019 2:00:00 AM
We have done a deep dive into the trends of 2019 and tried to predict where we think the industry is headed both in terms of social media trends and trends within influencer marketing.
On the following page, we break it all down for you. We provide insight into influencer trends and how they differ from the trends that companies and brands are following, and we take a close look at some of the hottest trends re-shaping how we use videos, both on YouTube and other social media platforms such as Instagram Story.
So without further ado, here are most prominent the social media trends of 2019.
What Are Influencers Up To?
We started by looking at the trends that influencers are following and that is affecting the content they’re creating, both personally and professionally. Naturally, this can be done in a few different ways, but we decided to focus our energy on some of the biggest, and more importantly, influential trends right now.
Aperol Spritz
We could write a list with hundreds of products that have made it big on social media in 2019, but instead, we’ve chosen to zero in on one of the products that really sticks out.
One of the hottest trends in food and drinks, as well as in general, during 2019 has been Aperol Spritz. The classic Italian summer drink has experienced an unprecedented upswing this year, and it’s almost impossible to open Instagram or Facebook and not be greeted by pictures of the orange drink. People are sharing all sorts of Aperol-related content from stories and images to staged dinners and even festivals.
In our opinion, there is no doubt that Aperol Spritz has been one of the hottest trends of 2019.
Authentic Content
Maybe an even bigger trend in 2019 has been authenticity, and this is a trend that most experts had predicted. In fact, the shift has been going on for a while but it wasn’t until earlier this year that it really took off. Slowly but surely, perfectly edited images are getting rarer, and influencers are becoming increasingly more comfortable with the thought of publishing real and genuine content on social media.
The reason why authenticity is so important is that consumers are getting more picky about who they trust and what content they prefer.
One exciting trend connected to authenticity is something called, “Do you actually use that product?” This trend is where influencers have started sharing images of empty containers and worn-out products to prove that they’re actually recommending and marketing products that they like and use.
AI Influencer
As the extreme counterpart to genuine and authentic content from real users, we have AI influencers - a trend that has completely exploded this past year. A trend that started off as sort of a social experiment run by tech companies in Silicon Valley has now changed the way we think of marketing. Today, AI Influencers are used for everything from promoting music festivals including Coachella - the festival of festivals to Italian fashion houses selling new styles.
Names such as Lil Miquela, BermudaisBae and Blawko22 are now considered household names in influencer marketing, and we’re excited to see where the trend leads to.
What Are Brands Posting?
Naturally, brands and companies are following and often times controlling the trends of influencers. For example, brands are ordering more authentic content since it is proven to be the most efficient type of content. In addition, brands have been responsible for introducing AI influencers to the rest of us. But there is more to it than that.
User-generated Content
We’ve talked about user-generated content on the blog in the past since it’s a highly efficient way of reaching new customers with minimum work and effort. It’s a great strategy that’s perfect for brands and marketers that don’t have enough time to be creating new content on a regular basis, but it can be applied by anyone.
As the name entails, user-generated content is content that has been created by users and that gets re-published by brands. It could be ordered content, i.e. ads that a brand orders from an influencer and then later re-posts on their own channels. But it can also be content that customers publish because they love a brand or a specific product. The best part about this type of material is that it works equally as good on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as it does for videos and stories.
If you haven’t tried using user-generated content, we highly suggest you do so as soon as you get a chance. You can read more about the concept here.
Micro and Nano Influencer
No one has missed the rise of smaller influencers with as little as a couple of thousands of followers. The reason for this is closely connected to the need for more authentic content because consumers like nothing more than ads that feel real and that are published by people they can connect with.
A micro-influencer is a concept that’s been widely used for a few years, and you’ve probably heard of it before, and you’ll hear about it again because the market will continue to grow.
That being said, nano-influencers is a newer concept that is about to once again change the way we experience marketing. A nano influencer is considerably smaller than a micro-influencer, and they have proven to be incredibly efficient in maximizing ROI, especially for companies that aren’t afraid to hire several of them at once.
What’s Happening to Videos?
Perhaps one of the biggest trends in video marketing during 2019 has been vertical videos. This comes as a natural result from our increasing use of mobile devices and the practical aspect of recording videos with the camera vertical.
Now, we understand that this might not sound like anything major, but anyone who has worked with video knows that vertical videos have been frowned upon forever. That being said, in the past couple of months we’ve seen established professionals from food bloggers to major fashion brands publishing marketing videos in this rather unusual format.
Lastly, there is a major power shift underway on social media. Snapchat has been losing plenty of their millennial users in favor of Instagram after Instagram managed to perfect the concept. In addition, IGTV and live videos are more popular than ever before.
And let’s not forget YouTube, which is another platform that’s also growing at record speeds thanks to the unique marketing solutions it provides influencers and brands. In fact, some marketers claim that YouTube will soon be one of our main marketing channels.
Conclusion
That was our conclusion of the hottest social media trends so far in 2019. As mentioned earlier, this was far from all the trends but rather just the most relevant and biggest as well as the ones we considered the most influential.
Moreover, as the need for authentic content increases and the number of smaller influencers follows suit, we should expect to see major changes in the market and the methods used to promote online. Naturally, we’ll be following along with this development, and we promise to continue reporting on the progress.
What do you consider to be the biggest social media trend in 2019 and where do you think the industry is headed? Don’t hesitate to change your opinions on the matter.