Five Social Media trends to look out for in 2019

Digital PR agency explores five potential changes we may see in the social media landscape this year

IF you’re not uploading a picture of your tasty Spaghetti Carbonara (#foodporn) that you’re about to eat at Giovanni’s restaurant, you’re snapping your friends while you wait for your food.

And if you’ve not tweeted about how aaaammmaaaazing the garlic bread was, did you even go?

That’s before you’ve given Gio’s place a quick like on Facebook and Whatsapped your pals to say you all HAVE to go and taste his Italian delights soon.

Like it or loathe it, social media is all around us.

For many, it’s a way of life. Telly has become a mere background noise as we scroll, watch and chat from our smartphones.

News is consumed for most via Twitter. The latest make-up trends are watched on YouTube. Your next job will be found through LinkedIn.

So, it makes sense that we tell you a little bit more about what to expect from social media throughout 2019

1. Rebuilding trust

‘You are Fake News’ as Donald Trump likes to say.

With the leader of the free world intent on telling anyone who didn’t share his opinion that they were lying, it shone a spotlight on the rise of untruthful articles and comments being spread via social channels.

People are growing increasingly wary of the information they consume online with more and more calling out clickbait articles that serve only to tell you that ‘a man hugs a wild lion – you won’t believe what happens next!’

Therefore, despite general doom and gloom around falling print figures, there has never been a more appropriate time to use a trusted PR agency to ensure your businesses’ stories are told through reputable media sites in print, online, broadcast and digital.

Similarly, the Cambridge Analytica data scandal rocked Facebook and despite the platform’s two billion active users each month, the firm still moved quickly to introduce more rigorous checks on what they can and can’t collect.

Expect this to continue in 2019 as other platforms remain wary of growing public concern about how their data is harvested.

2. Longer content for SEO goodness

It’s known that SEO experts say longer articles will give you an edge.

Google doesn’t penalise blog posts if they don’t reach a certain word count but common sense tells you that a 1,500-word quality article will outrank the same quality of article with 500 words.

Therefore, expect to see more social platforms hosting articles with a minimum of 1,000 words and if businesses find they aren’t getting SEO juice from short articles a trend of longer articles choc-full with information to attract readers and give Google a reason to rank them more highly.

3. The importance of video

Studies have shown that consumers understand products and services much more when there’s a video there to explain it to them.

This, coupled with the rise of live streaming, will mean 2019 will continue to provide a daily source of viral, personal and explanatory videos across our feeds.

Luckily, at Holyrood PR, we’re bang on trend and have our own in-house videography team.

Our show reel of content is already being shared far and wide across client digital streams and providing legacy content that also works brilliantly well on company websites.

Video gives businesses the chance to offer a personality and show their audience what they do – so expect to see a whole lot more of it in 2019.

4. ‘Pay to Play’ remains the way

Algorithms are being changed all the time to make it more and more difficult for organic content to be seen by potential customers.

Therefore, paid ad spend is still essential if you want to squeeze as much from your social profiles as possible for your business.

A good understanding of target audience will be key and trusted digital experts such as our team at Holyrood PR will be able to set up an ad campaign that will have your social media channels acting like a red rag to a bull for consumers.

5. Quality over quantity

As social platforms get more and more swamped, only the cream will rise to the top.

Therefore, expect a bigger focus on creative and attention-grabbing ideas to really make businesses stand out from the crowd.

Instead of the same, monotonous posts being dismissed by consumers, expect to see a rise in eye-catching content that goes the extra mile to win eyeballs.

These five are just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s sure to be a host of developments and tweaks that continue to improve social media and make us even more engrossed in our phones.

But don’t worry about that just now. Enjoy your carbonara – only AFTER you’ve chosen the right filter and bunged it up on Instagram.