Social media marketing and advertising grows in importance with every passing year, but what’s next on the horizon? The Scaling Retail Team sat down to envision what’s coming next, here are our social media predictions for 2020.
Trend 1: Massive Follower Counts Lose Meaning
There’s a widespread expectation of having many followers to show social proof. As such, it’s almost become a regular practice for brands to buy followers and use bots. However, it should be noted that the social media tides are shifting. There’s no longer as much of a need to have 100,000+ followers. Social proof and having a strong following are still important but having 1 million followers isn’t as relevant. 1 million followers is now the same as 0.5 million followers, meaning at a certain point, your follower count loses value.
Trend 2: The Maintenance and Integration of Instagram POS Platforms
As Instagram gets closer to offering brands the ability to close the entire e-commerce purchasing cycle on its platform, brands will require dedicated Instagram storefronts and specially-allocated merchandise for selling on Instagram.
Trend 3: The Integration of Existing E-Commerce Platforms
More tech companies will emerge, offering us the ability to integrate existing e-commerce platforms with each other. For example, the ability to directly use Shopify within Whatsapp. These tech platforms will offer integrations that have never been capable before.
Trend 4: The Proliferation of VR & AR
We predict VR and AR will become more commonplace than ever before, with a strong emphasis on industries including fashion, beauty, real estate and interior design. These visual-heavy industries will benefit by offering would-be shoppers the opportunity to “try before they buy”. Amazon, YouTube and Russia’s Yandex all recently introduced AR platforms for trying on makeup (the former companies) and accessories (the latter).
The gamification of marketing, a trend popularized by the Chinese market and Gen Z, will also add to this trend providing social users entertainment in addition to important pre-purchase information.
Trend 5: Live Stream Social Shopping
We’re witnessing the beginnings of the live stream social shopping movement and we’re sure to see more emerge next year. Already extremely popular for some time in China and other Asian nations, live stream shopping is still nascent in the U.S. This is about to change as consumers become more accustomed to shopping via social media and taking part in live streamed events. Major projects like Live Rocket New York’s upcoming 150-seat multipurpose retail studio will quickly start shifting the tides.
“In today’s world of technology, customization, unique product, small batch production runs are all economically feasible. Regarding multimedia, show me today’s customer or any age that isn’t watching shows on their phone, shopping on their laptop, interacting with their television. Multimedia for the first time is just that, multi mediums. Threadstone believes this is a unique retail opportunity, and with time we will look to raise capital for the venture,” shared William Susman, managing director of Threadstone Capital to WWD.
Next Steps: Fine-Tune Your Social Media Strategies
- “How to Find the Right Influencers Who Can Make the Biggest Impact on Your Brand”
- “Simple Facebook Marketing Funnels for Fashion Businesses”
- “5 Steps to Implementing Retarget Marketing on Facebook”
Need help tailoring your social media strategies for the latest tech and new features? Get in touch. We’ll begin with your complimentary 30 minute consultation session to see if we’re a great fit. Call 310-957-5264 or email us at hello@scalingretail.com.