Social Media Marketing in 2020

Whether or not you are a fan, social media marketing is here to stay. Since its inception in 1997, social media has been a natural way for brands to interact with the public. Where interactions were previously relegated to paid advertisements, brands of all sizes could now reach their core audience and potential consumers through social media platforms. Of course, in the 20 plus years of social media’s existence, numerous details and functionalities have changed. MySpace is a sobering example of this, falling from the preeminent social media site to a cautionary tale.

Fast forward to today, and social media marketing is more widespread than ever before. With this in mind, we will be discussing social media marketing in 2020 by quickly defining social media marketing, identifying the top social media sites and apps in 2020, review how social media has evolved over the years, and finally identify the latest social media marketing trends. 

Social Media Marketing 101

Social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).” Marketing may be defined as any “activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses. Some marketing is done by affiliates on behalf of a company.”

Combine those two ideas and you get modern social media marketing wherein companies promote their products and/or messages via social media platforms. Yet this simple definition belies the complexities of brand and consumer relationships. 

Top Social Media Apps and Sites in 2020

To understand what social media apps reign supreme in 2020, let’s review some high level social media statistics:

• There are an estimated 3.5 billion social media users on earth, which accounts for approximately 45% of the world’s population.
• Facebook continues to lead the pack, with over two-thirds of American adults reporting that they are on the platform. Facebook currently has over 2.4 billion active users.
• While all demographics are on social media, Millennials lead the way with over 90% active participation. As a comparison, about 50% of Baby Boomers are active social media users.
• Over 500 million active Instagram stories are created each day.
• Some of the top social media apps/sites are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Weixin/WeChat, Instagram, Tik Tok, QQ, and Reddit. These are listed in order, ranging from 2.4 billion users at Facebook to 430 million active users on Reddit.

How Social Media Marketing has Evolved

The attitudes and behaviors surrounding social media have changed significantly in just the past few years. While certain axioms remain constant like brands wanting to go viral and hit certain benchmarks, the changing culture of social media marketing has changed brand behaviors. Here are some examples of how social media marketing has evolved.

Social media is now more conversational. While social media was always…social, it is now more accessible than ever. Brands posting Instagram stories or going live on YouTube can now see comments in real time either publicly or privately. Additionally, the more open platforms allow brands to fully display their personality to make deeper connections with consumers. 

Social media influencers are taking center stage. Another “you either love it or hate it” feature of social media are influencers AKA social media celebrities. These once fringe public features have gone mainstream and carry significant weight in social media marketing campaigns. 

The Latest Social Media Marketing Trends

Now that we understand a bit about social media and social media marketing, what are some of the biggest social media marketing trends in 2020 and beyond?

• Micro-moments: as consumers have more options and less time per interaction than ever, brands are focusing on micro-moment marketing. This type of marketing works perfectly with fast social media moments of opportunity.
• Targeted social media interactions/ads: social media algorithms have been much maligned, but the fact of the matter is that they do work as intended much of the time. Pinpointing consumers for social media interaction will only increase.
• Influencer marketing: as we discussed above, social media influencers are just as relevant as mainstream celebrities in 2020, and marketers are taking advantage of this fact.
• Interactive content takes center stage: stories, polls, and interactive graphics are all examples of social media interactions designed to get the consumer involved. Interactive content offers greater ROI than traditional posts in many cases.

Clock Tower Insight Helps Brands Make the Most of Social Media Marketing

Clock Tower Insight is proud to work with a wide range of B2C and B2B industries, including retail, CPG, food service, and advertising organizations. We believe in using powerful, cutting edge research to offer brand-specific insights. With this insight, we work with brands to turn the data into actionable information, and eventually into business growth. Our services include brand positioning, customer experience management, and much more.
Learn more about how Clock Tower Insight can help your business today.