Social Media Trends 2020

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Content
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You Will Harness The Power
Of Data Privacy And Rein In
Fake News
TikTok Will Be Part Of Your
Marketing Strategy
You Will Use Artificial
Intelligence, And Love It!
Your Influencer Marketing
Will Go Small To Go Big
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42
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Social Media Wellness Will
Be An Essential Part Of Your
Consumer Engagement
Defining What’s Relevant, Or
Just A Fair-Weather Trend
AR & VR Will Be Used
Effectively In Your Marketing
Generation Z Will Only
Engage If You Pivot Your
Strategy
You Will Invest In User-
Generated Content
The Biggest 2020 Trend You
Need To Know

4 5
Talkwalker and HubSpot have gathered industry
experts, PR professionals, social media gurus,
and our favorite influencers, from the US, Europe,
MEA, India, APAC, and the rest of the world
to define the trends you need to make your
marketing win in 2020.
For the first time ever, Talkwalker has included
our own trend-data analysis. By combining our
social listening insights and industry expertise
from working with the biggest brands on the
market, we’ve compiled the leading analysis. So
you don’t have to.
From the rise of TikTok to the growth of video,
from the growing significance of brand trust,
to the acceptance of AI - these trends are what
every marketer will be discussing next year, and
for years to come.
TikTok Will Be Part
Of Your Marketing
Strategy
• In 2019, we saw Instagram hit
1 billion monthly active users1
,
cementing it as the 5th largest social
media channel.
• TikTok is catching up, with 500
million monthly active users in June
20182
, now believed to be closer to
750 million3
.
New social media platforms manipulate
the media landscape, with marketers
having to adapt to the fluctuations of
popularity. Do new channels offer greater
ROI or a more suitable audience? That’s
what marketers will be investigating next
year.
The increase of social mentions for
TikTok tells a story. In January 2019,
Talkwalker found 1.6M mentions of the
app, growing 62.5% to 2.6M mentions by
June. This is especially important for the
younger generations, as 66% of TikTok’s
users are under 304
.
Why the change for 2020? Barely anyone
in the industry is discussing new channels
in relation to social media marketing
opportunities. Only 1% of mentions
related to new social media platforms also
mentioned social media marketing.
The trend is bucking though, signifying
that it will be important for 2020 onwards.
For 2019 trends, 0.01% of mentions
discussed the raising importance of the
new social media platforms. For 2020,
that number is already at 0.27%.
Defining What’s Relevant, Or
Just A Fair-Weather Trend
The NEXT Generation of Social
The growth in mentions of TikTok through 2019.
1. TechCrunch
2. BusinessOfApps
3. CaixinGlobal
4. Mediakix
June ’19 - 2.6M
MentionsGrowth
62.5 %
Jan ’19 - 1.6M
Mentions

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What does this mean
for marketers?
The rise of unique and niche networks
shouldn’t come as a surprise. People are
no longer looking for large communities,
but the relevant ones. Less noise, more
genuine engagement.
Yes, it’s still untested ground with limited
opportunities for marketers. TikTok only
started testing ads in January 20195
. And
of course, marketers love tried and tested
methods.
But fortune favors the bold. With trends,
you can’t wait for others to mark the road
first - you have to be a pioneer.
Big brands like Pepsi, Nike and Sony
Music are building communities on
TikTok, aligning with new influencers to
create content and a dedicated brand
following. Pepsi India is driving great
user-generated content through their
#SwagStepChallenge, with zero marketing
spend on the platform.
The diffusion of innovations means that
early adopters will benefit more from new
technology. This has been proven when
it comes to brands engaging with social
channels first6
. It’s a risk, but one that can
pay off in the long run. Expert
Insights
Pepsi India is driving great user-generated content on TikTok.
5. Digiday
6. Business Insider

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“The social media trends for
2020 will be “Dark Social” - fewer
public interactions and more
private interactions on Messenger,
WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, and
more.
Social media is returning to its
roots — away from a mass-
marketing vehicle, and back toward
a personal, communication-driven
approach.
2020 will be the year we see
consumers start to use public
social media LESS even as social
media usage per se, continues to
rise.”
Lilach Bullock, Professional Speaker,
Lead Conversion Expert, Content
Marketing & Social Media Specialist,
lilachbullock.com
“The emerging players in social
media marketing right now are
definitely having a considerable
impact on consumers and the
relationships they have with
brands. As for the trends, I’ve
noticed the most?
Being socially conscious, getting
involved in various issues,
leveraging lots of user-generated
content and trying to appear as
real and as genuine as possible.
I don’t know if it’s really a case
of them changing users – or the
new generations of consumers
changing them and shifting their
approaches.”
“The actual usage of social media
continues to grow with new
platforms like TikTok making
huge gains over rivals such as
Facebook. The shift appears to
be more of where people choose
to be social online, and how they
engage, rather than any significant
decline in total time spent using
social media.
The use of private groups and
communities, messaging apps,
and ephemeral ‘stories’ has risen
sharply in the past two years,
with many of the major platforms
building their core products
around this change in how people
now prefer to engage with others
digitally.”
Onat Roldan President and CEO
AdSpark Inc.
“Social is moving beyond
mainstream social. Social media
patronage is constantly changing,
especially with the younger
generations.This is, and will
continue to be, a challenge for
those of us who wish to have a
clearer understanding of these
emerging consumers.”
Jay Baer CPAE, Founder of Digital
Marketing Consultancy Convince
& Convert, Hall of Fame Keynote
Speaker and emcee
Matt Navarra Social Media Industry
Commentator & Consultant.
Previously Director of Social
@thenextweb & digital comms
@govuk
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Tim Soulo, CMO & Product Advisor,
Ahrefs
“I see an emerging trend of “micro
blogs” and I’m 100% confident that
it’s going to be big in 2020. Take a
look at social media platforms like
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram - all
of them are adding functionality
that allows people to share longer
pieces of content.
And all these platforms are
clearly rewarding “content only”
posts (with no links) with higher
engagement and reach. Facebook
even lets you format your posts
with headlines, lists, bold/italic and
such.
As a result, more and more people
will be becoming “bloggers” and
sharing their thoughts/knowledge
online. Which I guess is a good
thing.”
“Fundamentally, we see the
continuation of a trend that began
several years ago, but has picked
up in earnest: the continued
rise of velvet-rope social media
communities, private communities
and collectives.
In short, people want to spend time
with people more like them, with a
common interest, rather than in the
general public where discourse has
descended to rancorous incivility.”
“If anything, it’s about time
marketers consider private
messaging platforms like
WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger,
Telegram and WeChat; or what is
referred to as Dark Social.
For a while, everyone has been
relying on social media, buying
ads, without realising we have
been neglecting the medium
closest to us.
Back in 2016, Dark Social
contributed to 84% of online traffic
and in 2018 it became the largest
referral platform, surpassing
Facebook, as a platform that
consumers use to share content.
So imagine the potential it can
bring for 2020.”
“For me, the trends are all
pointing to slowing down – doing
more with less. The size of the
marketing pizza hasn’t changed,
we are simply cutting it into more
and more pieces, and for many
of us it’s become overwhelming.
Yes, TikTok is blowing every other
platform out of the water at the
moment. But does that mean you
need to be on it? Definitely not.
We need to get back to basics
and think about our why. Stop
focusing on the MarTech and
start thinking about what we’re
really trying to achieve, and how
best to tell that story.”
Adrian Liew, Chief Executive,
Beknown Pte Ltd
Chris Penn, Co-Founder and Chief
Innovator at Trust Insights
Meg Coffey, Managing Director,
Coffey & Tea
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“Communication styles will
become more personal. Content
will be tailored to more specific,
relevant topics. Now, more than
ever, brands are viewed as living,
breathing beings, as opposed to
just products.
Brands are viewed as entities with
a belief system and articulated
opinions, one that is passionate
about its chosen causes and
an organization that knows its
consumers and target market on a
personal level.”
Javier Piedrahita, General Manager,
Marketing Directo @mkdirecto
“Video will remain to be the
main social media player and
advertisers should focus on this
format in order to capture their,
already saturated, audience.
Whether Instagram, Twitter or even
Pinterest, let’s not stop making
videos.
Beyond trends, social networks and
formats, it’s going to be interesting
to see how the brand-influencer
relationship evolves from brand
awareness objectives to marketers
now requesting specific conversion
metrics. Lastly, we have to keep
an eye on GenZ´s social media
consumption, those who take a
pass from Facebook and have an
immense purchasing power.”
Prasad Sangameshwaran, Editor,
Campaign India
“The relatively newer entrants
in social media like TikTok and
Likee have revealed a new side
to Indian users. People are
not afraid of showing off their
modest surroundings, as many
of the TikTok videos will show.
There is also an amazing display
of individual quirks, awkward
dance steps being one example,
something that Indians would
probably have shied away from
displaying, a few years back.”
Harry Hugo, Co-founder of The Goat
Agency
“Recent shifts in digital have led
to opportunities for platforms
to better engage with users.
Emerging players such as TikTok
are working with users to support
and advance cultural trends that
develop from the platform.
This not only offers platforms
a deeper connection with their
users, it also allows brands to use
the trend to connect with new
audiences that they may not have
reached in the past.
It makes sense for marketers to
use the platform to ensure their
brand is reactive with cultural
trends and resonates with an
evolving audience.”
Rosario Juan, Social Media Strategist
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Social Media
Wellness Will Be
An Essential Part
Of Your Consumer
Engagement
• There have been 78,000
conversations surrounding social
media wellness so far in 2019.
• National Day of Unplugging gained
3,300 mentions this year.
The awareness of the impact of social
media on our mental health is increasing,
with platforms changing their approach,
to make their communities friendlier
and less toxic. Social media addiction is
now a recognized affliction, changing the
perception of the social media landscape.
People are becoming more aware of how
social media can impact their mental
health, and taking individual actions to
decrease their online hours. It isn’t a
crisis but more a social movement driven
by consumers, with the vast majority
of social media addiction mentions
happening on Twitter (63.9%) rather than
in news headlines.
Look at how #DigitalDetox is invigorating
users to balance their social media usage
with their mental well being.
The joy associated with the hashtag
shows that people aren’t moving away
from social media, just learning to manage
their time on it more effectively.
We’ve seen an increase in mentions of social media addiction this year.
The #DigitalDetox movement is a significantly joyful
movement, helping people manage social more mindfully.
“#DigitalDetox is
invigorating users to
balance their social
media usage with their
mental well being.”

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What does this mean
for marketers?
Any change in consumer habits can be
a cause for alarm for marketers, but in
this case, there’s nothing to be concerned
about.
If hiding likes become commonplace,
there may be a subtle drop in engagement
rates at first, but consumers will adapt
quickly. People will find a way to
express their appreciation in some way,
and we may find an increase in active
engagement, such as comments, instead.
Make sure you’re monitoring your
competitors to see if any change in
engagement is a brand issue, industry
issue, or part of a consumer trend.
You should also be aware of your
consumers’ social media wellbeing. Avoid
toxicity, and engage them with ways to
escape, sparking their interest in real
world opportunities.
Lush UK has moved away from posting
on social channels, instead focusing on
joining the conversations that matter
within their community. Allowing ‘all the
voices to be heard’7
.
If you can’t engage the trend, consider
how your consumer consumption habits
are changing. Focus more on quality
messaging over quantity— if people are
cutting down on their social media usage,
you’ll have fewer opportunities for them
to bite. Give them something worthwhile
everytime.
Porsche jumped on the Digital Detox trend
to drive over 4K engagements for this post.
7. Econsultancy

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Expert
Insights Karen Freberg, Ph.D, Social Media
Professor
“Digital wellness is going to be
more emphasized and added on as
key components for social media
professionals to acknowledge
not only for their own purposes,
but for their own community and
audiences as well.”
“Social media wellness and
digital detox are fast becoming
prominent issues for discussion
particularly within industries
where employees are expected
to be constantly connected.
Techniques for self-care and
digital detoxes are set to become
more common within workplaces
that have a focus on employee
health and well-being, including
within the education sector.
It is a duty of care when
preparing our future social media
professionals.”
Dr. Karen Sutherland, Social Media
Educator, Author and Researcher,
University of the Sunshine Coast,
Australia, drkarensutherland.com
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Tiankai Feng, Global Voice of
Consumer Analytics, adidas AG
“Digital Detox comes from a
place of information overload
– consumers are tired of the
immense amount of diversified
content they are exposed to
on Social Media. Consumers
deserve a break, but it’s the
brands responsibility to make the
consumers’ time worthwhile when
they are online - through timely &
relevant storytelling.”
Julia Bramble, Unique combo of
PhD Forensic Scientist, Empathic
Communicator & ‘spectacularly
popular presenter’
Bramblebuzz.co.uk
“The increased awareness of the
link between social media and
mental health means users
are being more mindful of what
they allow to influence them and
are more sceptical than before.
In order to attract attention and
engagement in this evolving
world, you need to model
your social media posts and
behaviours on those of your
audience’s friends, rather than on
accepted marketing wisdom.
Share stories, tell jokes, let them
know you care, ask
questions, show an interest,
share what you believe in, create
impromptu lives, make your
audience feel valued and that they
belong.”

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You Will Harness
The Power Of Data
Privacy And Rein
In Fake News
• 3.1% of news stories related to brand
trust were related to fake news and
disinformation.
• Fake news mentions dropped by
10.2% in H1 2019, compared to H2
2018
Social media has suffered a trust issue
in the last few years, due to two major
issues: data privacy and disinformation.
In 2020, social media channels will adapt
to tackle these issues, and rebuild their
brand trust.
Data privacy is not a new trend— it’s the
right to privacy, framed in a different way.
Data privacy is now a story that drives
stories.
Privacy has always been an issue. Identify
theft and the right to privacy, existed
long before the internet. Since the world
became more digital, privacy became
digital too.
News stories are very interested in data
privacy, forcing the topic to trend. In
the first 6 months of 2019, 39% of the
mentions of data privacy came from
news, broadcast, and blogs— a significant
increase from the previous 6 months.
Fake news also remains an issue.
Comparing H2 2018, to H1 2019, fake
news mentions have dropped by 10.2%.
Improvements from brands and the social
media platforms have helped, but there’s
still work to do.
What does this mean
for marketers?
Your brand trust could be destroyed
if you’re linked to anything that puts
customer data at risk.
In 2020, the big trend will be brands and
platforms working hard to counteract the
distrust perceived in social media. This
will probably incorporate some form of
regulation. Mentions of social media and
regulation increased by 39% from January
2019 to June 2019— even Facebook
believes there should be government
regulation to help manage social media.
This regulation is helping already. In
Europe, 31% of 15 to 24 year olds trust
social media, compared to the average
of 19% across all age brackets8
. Trust is
growing from the generation that matters
most - the next generation of buyers.
How does this impact
brands?
Expect a savvier level of consumer in
the coming year. You’ll have to balance
a fine line between data privacy and
personalization (more on the rise of that
later). The privacy paradox9
shows that
consumers have less trust in brands when
it comes to data privacy, but are still more
likely to give companies data in exchange
for more personalized services.
In the coming months, learn to walk
that line carefully. Shape the privacy
laws to work for you, while keeping well
within the guidelines. Monitor fake news
effectively to keep your brand out of those
conversations.
8. European Commission, Media use in the EU report
9. Gartner
“I believe we need a more active role for
governments and regulators. By updating
the rules for the internet, we can preserve
what’s best about it – the freedom for
people to express themselves and for
entrepreneurs to build new things – while
also protecting society from broader
harms.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Chief Executive

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Expert
Insights
“The biggest trend that marketers
will need to deal with in social
media is the growing distrust and
dislike of social media.
To combat this trend, marketers
will need to rely on advanced
analytics and AI to quickly analyze
the volumes of data their efforts
produce to determine how they
can best reach the specific
consumers that they need.”
Eva Taylor, Sr. Manager, Social
Marketing, Hootsuite
“Powerful forces — like
personalization and privacy —
are changing the rules of social
media. As social dominates
how people communicate and
spend time online, it’s clear it
now plays an important role as
a high performing channel in
customer-facing communication,
leading the future of customer
engagement.
Brands today are entering a world
that will change how they interact
with customers, a world where
building relationships matters
more than ever. Organizations
need to learn how to harness this
in a unified way and measure
holistic customer engagement
practices that include social
alongside other digital channels.”
Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO, Paine
Publishing, LLC.
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“Companies must decide how
they want to show up and what
kind of relationships they’ll build
with customers. For trusting, loyal
relationships, it starts with defining
a culture of ethics, focusing on
marketing practices and upholding
a higher standard of transparency
and truthfulness.
Marketing ethics and good
judgment go far beyond the
PR department, penetrating an
organization at every level, and
from the top down.”
“You’ve probably been targeted
by people selling ‘get rich quick’
courses on social media.
These Marketers prey on those
who are looking to cut corners
when it comes to making money
online by selling ‘the answer’ in
a course with a price tag that
normally ends with a ‘7’.
Credible Marketers/business
owners like Mike Winnett, Dennis
Yu and Daniel Doan who are
making an effort to expose these
snake oil salesmen. Hopefully
exposing these fraudsters will
prevent others from being ripped
off. If something sounds too good
to be true, it usually is.”
Deirdre Breakenridge, CEO, Pure
Performance Communications
Dan Knowlton, Co-founder, Knowlton Colin Anstie, Chief Executive Officer,
RD Consulting
“Will social media data be used
for the greater good or system
failure? The data that social media
platforms have collected on
individuals and organisations is
now up for grabs.
As marketers and
communicators, this data can
be used to create beautiful,
personalised targeted experiences
that consumers love, or it can be
used to taint, sway or influence
users for nefarious purposes.
Is your data protected, and how
will you identify, collect, analyse
and utilise data to grow your
organisation? Be the change you
want to see, and invest in making
the data work for you and your
customers.”
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28 29
“It has become more important
than ever for businesses to rely
on their first-party data for precise
targeting.
However, many businesses aren’t
putting their first-party data for
good use, and this is mainly due
to their existing infrastructure that
doesn’t allow them to crunch their
data for deeper insights or easily
integrate with digital advertising
platforms. Although it’s a big
investment for businesses to
upgrade their existing CRMs, it’s
become a crucial step to drive
higher effectiveness of their
marketing efforts and compete in
today’s world.”
Keith Keller, Twitter Video Marketing
Specialist, www.KeithKeller.com.au
“Messaging is private & personal.
This is becoming a huge theme
now. With the ongoing privacy
concerns we are no longer so
inclined to share everything in the
open forums, so messaging will
start to play a larger role in how
we communicate.
This is an enormous opportunity
for us to invest in managing the
messaging components of our
social channels better and maybe
even investing in new technology
options to scale the process for
better efficiencies.”
Yazan Al Tamimi, Social Marketing &
CRM, Spotify
“The business world has been, and
continues to be shaken by data
privacy regulation — impacting
marketing not only directly, but
indirectly (as a result of heightened
audience focus on this area, due to
its proliferation).
A closely related NEXT Gen privacy
trend to be aware of here? Cookies
— and blockchain.
Blockchain encryption makes
it possible for visitors to safely
be verified without a password
— while also allowing pinpoint
accuracy for marketing
segmentation, without the
guesswork and pitfalls of cookies.”
Julian Frundt, Strategist & Content
Writer, FTRGZM
“Thanks to a bunch of different
data privacy scandals, social
media users worldwide are
becoming suspicious of what
companies are doing with
their private conversations and
information. Combine that with a
trend towards ‘unplugging’ more
often and you have a group of
people who are starting to wonder
‘is what I’m getting out of social
media worth what I’m losing to it?’
More and more consumers
are starting to create their own
ways to socialise online: private
Patreon groups, encoded Signal
chats, even email is back on
the table! Unless brands can be
truly transparent with what they
are offering (and taking from)
consumers on social, they will
begin losing the younger, more
tech savvy demographic to DIY
solutions. Don’t become the Bing
of social!”
Sam Hurley, Founder of OPTIM-EYEZ
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30 31
AR & VR Will Be
Used Effectively In
Your Marketing
• Augmented reality and virtual
reality conversations had 13.2M
engagements in the first half of
2019, up 0.5% from H2 2018.
• 5% of those mentions were in
conversations relating to marketing.
Augmented reality and virtual reality are
the next big developments in technology,
having integrated into our apps and social
media channels. In 2020, we’re expecting
this growing trend in tech to be picked up
by marketers, to boost user experience,
and engage through gamification.
VR has 8.6 times the share of mentions
relating to trends for 2020, compared to
trends conversations in 2019. While AR
has 7.03 times the share.
That’s due to the rise of 5G in 2020. 62K
mentions of VR or AR were linked to
5G. In 2018, experts still considered the
technology behind AR to be too discorded
for practical use10
.
But now, with 5G at hand, and the latest
handsets with tech like 3D-depth lenses,
2020 looks to be the perfect time for the
tech to finally take off. Big time.
The NEXT Generation of
Technology
10. VentureBeat
The key trends that link VR and AR to marketing. The future has arrived.
A viral tweet showing the potential of 5G (47.1K
engagements). People are excited for this next stage
in technology.

32 33
What does this mean
for marketers?
Start thinking what VR and AR can do to
maximize your user experience, and the
environment they will be most effective in.
AR will be integral to boosting fleeting
numbers of bricks and mortar stores,
offering interactive shopping experiences.
From dinosaur hunts11
to playing against
soccer pros12
, you’re giving customers
interactions that can’t be experienced at
home.
Brands like Coca-Cola are integrating
augmented reality into all aspects of
their digital transformation, particularly
targeted towards the generation that
“doesn’t see a line between “the online
world and the offline, the reality and the
augmented reality.13
”
If AR helps improve the user experience
instore, VR will be essential for boosting it
online.
Japan Airlines is allowing customers to
pre-experience trips as easily as trying
on clothes, with their JAL xR Traveler14
.
While Lowe’s Holoroom allows customers
to learn new practical skills in a virtual
environment. If you have a blockage in
your buying cycle, due to selling high-
ticket items that aren’t readily available
(because they’re tailor made), VR will help
customers pre-experience them.
2020 will be the year that AR and VR
takes off. If you haven’t invested in the
technology yet, now’s the time.
11. Warrington Guardian
12. Campaign Live
13. The Drum
14. Asahi Shimbun
Example of Coca-Cola’s AR cans

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Expert
Insights
“As marketers we are always on the lookout
for the ‘next big thing’, and many sense both
AR and VR have major roles to play.
But full implementation is not here yet - we
still need well priced and socially acceptable
AR glasses, and VR headsets (and content/
benefits) that make you want to ‘dive in’.
In the meantime, our mobile devices are our
best AR portals, and for VR the adoption
seems to largely be ‘gamers’, but both the
health and educational market remains an
obvious play.”
Martin Shervington, Organisational Consultant,
PlusYourBusiness.com
Janet Machuka, Marketing Director,
Sparks Corporates, and Founder
#AfricaTweetChat
“Tourism is the biggest industry in
the world today and virtual reality
has become the latest attraction
point in tourism industry. 2020 will
experience more in virtual reality
tourism that will allow tourists to
maneuver through the websites
of places to visit before they make
decisions on the destinations.
This pegging will advance the
tourism industry as people
can now ‘tour before they buy’
destinations. The same way
Realtors use VR to sell apartments,
they give you a chance to view
the property before you get to the
location, this trend will be a major
focus because clients will want to
believe before they commit.”
Yosuke Noguchi, General Manager
of Social Media Business Dep., Opt
Inc
“One of the biggest themes in
2020 for technology industry is 5G
will be available. When it becomes
possible to send and receive large
volumes of data at a different
level than before, we expect social
media that has evolved with text,
images, and videos to enter the
era of VR and AR.
In order for companies and
brands to exert influence on social
media, we recommend that you
put an antenna in this field as the
first movers can take advantage
of it.
User will set VR goggles and enjoy
various contents with people all
over the world by manipulating
their own avatars on social media.
Surely such a future is right there.”
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36 37
You Will Use
Artificial
Intelligence, And
Love It!
• Artificial intelligence was our most
discussed trend in H1 2019 with
more than 4.7 million mentions—
more than double the others in total.
• Through social listening, 50% of
emotion around the topic of artificial
intelligence was negative.
In the last few years, marketers have
struggled to think positively about AI.
When we look at the emotional responses
linked to the conversational data
surrounding it, just over half is negative.
That is about to change. The net
sentiment flipped into the positive from
June 2019 onwards, and steadily remains
there. While more people are associating
joy with the conversations.
People are accepting AI and
understanding its potential.
The biggest issue previously was
technophobia, and rightly so. A report
in 2017 predicted 800 million jobs were
threatened by automation15
. But in 2018,
early 2019, that story evolved.
“I expect AI to change
100 percent of jobs
within the next five to 10
years”
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty16
Note the difference— we’re talking
about change. People are now seeing
the potential AI can bring to the table,
handling tasks that humans can’t, freeing
up people to focus on the jobs machines
can’t do. We’re starting to see the
integration between artificial intelligence
and human intelligence as digital
transformation kicks in.
Hands-on AI experience, from automation
to chatbots, is changing people’s
perception, meaning the tech is now
accepted in the workplace.
15. McKinsey
16. CNBC.com
Joy is now the primary emotion in AI related
conversations
What does this mean
for marketers?
It’s time to adapt. Invest in the available
AI technologies to maximize your results,
either to speed up your marketing efforts,
manage more data effectively or to
improve your consumer experience.
Chatbots are a significant investment,
providing 24/7 customer support, while
managing incoming customer data. As
brands become more global, consumers
fed by the need for transparency, demand
always-on customer service. Chatbots
help provide that service constantly— no
wonder chatbots have a higher sentiment
value than other AI techs, at 57.3%.
Visual search, like Google Lens, will be a
major disruptor in the coming year. People
will change their searching habits, so
marketers will have to learn how to adapt
their SEO strategies. You will have to think
visually instead of textually.
Visual analytics will make it easier to
monitor your brand. With video analytics,
you can detect 300% more brand
mentions than text monitoring alone. In
a video and image driven world, led by
Instagram and TikTok, visual analytics
within social listening, will reveal not just
how your customers talk about your brand,
but how they exploit it.
Then, there’s the creative potential from
using AI in your marketing concepts.
Ogilvy used AI to help detect similar
global images for German Rail, to
create customized social media ads for
travellers.
An impossible task without the use of
machine learning, the campaign had a
6.61% conversion rate, driving a 24%
increase in revenue.
2020 is the year to stop fearing AI, and
instead, engage it in your marketing
strategy to maximize your brand’s
potential.
17. Contagious
German Rail’s AI-powered campaign helped identify German destinations similar to popular ones abroad.

38 39
Expert
Insights
Ankur Warikoo, Co-founder and CEO, nearbuy
“AI becomes a key component here, because
it allows the tech to learn and reflect our
emotions. All the data being generated today,
thus needs to be duped into the learning
algorithm, to closely replicate our world.
AR/VR will begin to appeal to our senses in a
way that humans will find hard to distinguish
reality from virtuality. At that point, I expect a
matrix-like world, where experiences will be
gathered virtually rather than in reality.”
“The social media landscape
will increasingly demand that a
successful marketer knows how
to curate content assets that
allow the target consumer to
invest emotional equity into the
entity being marketed (be it an
individual or organisation) and
simultaneously facilitate a two-
way relationship between the two
parties amid a sense of communal
connection.
The challenge for most marketers
is that this required capability
somewhat defies traditional
marketing thinking. Social media
will continue to distinctly define
what the future of marketing looks
like. Successful marketing is no
longer led by affordability but is
instead led by authenticity.”
Tiankai Feng, Global Voice of
Consumer Analytics, adidas AG
“Through deep learning and the
vast amount of data available to
learn from, data-driven decision
making for successful Social
Media Marketing will become
even more important – and
targeting even more powerful to
the deepest level of consumer
micro-segmentation.”
Sally A Illingworth, Content
Marketing Strategist,
sallyillingworth.com
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40 41
“In 2019, the AI objectives in
marketing are clear: optimization
of marketing automation,
individual personalization,
“customer centricity” which will
allow marketers to delight the
consumer, optimize revenue and
detect potential BZB leads, thereby
signifying the end of laborious
marketing tasks.
Trusting specific marketing
technology providers to handle
the AI will allow you to ignore the
technical side of things, as the end
user.
Focus your energy on training your
team, and teach them to clean
data – once this data is clean,
structured and trustworthy, you will
truly have mastered the basis of
artificial intelligence in marketing.”
Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Senior
Content Strategist at HubSpot
“AI is already impacting social
media on multiple levels. To start,
some platforms use machine
learning to determine how content
is ranked in people’s news feeds,
depending on the quality of the
content, whether or not it was
shared by a person in the user’s
immediate network, et cetera.
Others use that type of AI to
determine how interested a user
might be in a certain post or piece
of content, and therefore where
it might appear in that person’s
feed.”
Jean-Philippe Cunniet, MarTech
Trainer & Advisor
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42 43
Generation Z Will
Only Engage If
You Pivot Your
Strategy
• By 2021, mobile search advertising
spend will exceed desktop
advertising spend in the US for the
1st time.18
• Social media advertising CTR is
down from 2.6% in Q2 2018 to 1.9%
in Q2 2019.19
Advertising is getting tougher. In the
last 13 months, the conversational data
around the topic has dropped significantly
in net sentiment— people no longer want
to be sold to.
84% of millennials say they don’t trust
traditional advertising20
. With that
generation owning significant spending
power, new disruptive technologies will be
needed to shake up marketing strategies.
New methods, like voice search and
social media e-commerce are driving
more conversations, with 172K and 226K
mentions respectively.
Millennials and Gen Z are tech savvy
generations demand innovation, creativity,
personalization, brand purpose, and
transparency. In 2020, if you want to drive
engagement and find new ways to reach
your customers, you need to consider just
what these generations want.
The NEXT Generation of
Marketing
18. Statista
19. Statista
20. HubSpot
We’ve seen an increase in mentions of social media addiction this year.
What does this mean
for marketers?
Understanding your audience and taking
measured risks are the two main tactics
you’ll need in your marketing strategy. As
your market changes, change with them.
Learn which channels they’re using, when,
how and why. Be part of that conversation.
Whether that means switching away from
SEA to more social led marketing, voice
search to meet the IoT generation, and
everything in between.
Maximize usage of these channels, with
all their features. Instagram introduced
shoppable posts with in app checkout
feature in early 2019— we’re expecting this
trend to be huge for the coming year.
There are many new opportunities coming
that will eventually overshadow the
staples of SMA and SEA— invest in them
early. This new technology allows your
brand to be innovative.

44 45
Expert
Insights Toby Daniels, Founder of Social
Media Week, Co-founder and CEO of
Crowdcentric Media
“We’re facing a crisis in human-
attention and marketers need to
recognize that reach, engagement
and time spent online are dying
metrics. In 2020 and beyond, we
must take a human-first approach
to digital marketing and focus on
how we solve real-world problems
for our consumers and create
experiences that change their lives
in meaningful and positive ways.
There will never be a more
important time to make this
shift and history will judge those
marketers who, much like the
propagators of cheap fast food, will
wish they had chosen to be part of
the organic food movement.”
“The #1 trend in 2020 will be
hyper-personalization and
hyper-targeting. Both of those
techniques will allow brands the
opportunity to help their followers
feel as though the content was,
in fact, created with their specific
interests in mind.”
Jamie Turner, Author, Speaker, and
CEO of 60SecondMarketer.com
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46 47
“As video and live streaming
content continue to dominate the
social media space, more brands
are embracing video to customize
their services to their audiences
and communities.
In other words, videos will be used
beyond raising brand awareness
or practicing push marketing; they
will be used to offer one-on-one
personalized video responses
and assistance on customers’
questions, needs, and issues.
Receiving customized videos in
your email inbox, messenger, or
pop-up chat boxes, for example,
will become more common.”
“The world has definitely changed
since content marketing and
social media became prevalent
in both our personal and
professional lives. We used to
jump on every new platform and
play around with it until we ‘got’
it. We figured we had to create all
the content to stay relevant. But
not only are both of those things
impossible, they’re not necessary.
Stop trying to do #allthethings.
Instead, focus on getting deep
and significant with one. Your
audience, prospects, community,
and customers will thank you.”
Ai Addyson-Zhang, Ph.D., Founder,
Classroom Without Walls; Educator,
Speaker, Digital Learning Consultant
Gini Dietrich, Founder and Author,
Spin Sucks
Joe Martin, VP of Marketing,
CloudApp
“‘Hey Google, show me a video
on how to make cookies’ , is a
legitimate phrase with a desired
outcome in our current tech
sphere. Britney Muller, SEO expert
as MOZ, has continually harped
on voice search being the next
big thing for brands to watch out
for with their content strategies.
When you pair voice, with visuals,
and programmatic ad buying you
will probably see the near term
future for technology as it relates
to brands.”
Dan Willis, Consultant Speaker,
Millennial Motivator
“In 2020, with social media
networks abandoning vanity
metrics in the hopes of
encouraging a renewed focus
on conversations around quality
content, the trend in online
presence is most definitely going
to be centred around the concept
that engagement is everything.
Gone are the days of viral
viewership!
The future is in the hands of those
who create community focused
content that brings practical value
and creates conversations. Video
is going to be a major part of
this shift but all mediums need
to dial in on the importance of
conversation creating content that
engages!”
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48 49
Mireille Ryan, CEO, Social Media
Marketing Institute
“I think social media marketers
need to start preparing for voice
search. With the rise of different
voice assistants and their
increasing usage, brands need to
be prepared with a voice focussed
strategy. The way we speak versus
the way we write are inherently
different. We will need to write
more conversationally in our posts.
If we want our content to be
found by voice search, we need
to communicate in a way that
optimises for this type of search.”
Sotirios Seridis, Digital Marketing
Instructor, www.sotirios-seridis.com
“Evergreen social is the way to
go. The continuous expansion of
the social media landscape has
already led to increased audience
fragmentation. Users are now
jumping from platform to platform
throughout the day while social
algorithms are biased towards
non-commercial content.
As a result, attention spans are
sharply decreasing, allowing
marketers very little room for
meaningful engagement. Passive
social media posting is no longer
producing ROI for brands.
To counter these developments,
companies will have to rely heavily
on either paid advertising or
‘discoverable’ evergreen content
hosted at indexable social
media platforms, raising brand
awareness by capitalising on
consumer intent.”
“Social media in 2020 will influence
more than just the way we shop. It
will influence every
human transaction from the
careers we choose having a
minimum requirement of social
impact in a focus on being a force
for good to the way we empower
ourselves to be more in
control of how we make, manage
and transact on a day to day basis
with money.
We are the most connected now to
our external world and the rest of
the planet then we ever
have been in the entire history of
humanity.”
“The renaissance of podcasts
represents a strong opportunity
for brands to harness their
communities on social media as
part of their overall promotional
strategy.
Whilst this is far from a new
medium, it is now in vogue, but
brands entering the podcast
sphere are entering a space where
they are ahead of the curve. They
are becoming publishers. And to
maximise the value they need to
show bravery and commitment to
the long term.”
Ming Johanson, Mother of Unicorns
& Social Nerd, mingjohanson.com.
au/scale
Cheryl King, Managing Director,
markettiers MENA
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50 51
“We should be watching out for
the convergence of not only social
buying but social media platforms
with wallets built in and tokenized
currencies for peer to peer trading.
Facebook’s Libra could be one
version of this silver bullet, I predict
we will see others emerge that
allow for smooth and fluid trading
of ‘currency’ between buyers and
sellers.
2020 will see a lot of
experimentation, with some new
players emerging. Let’s see who
wins the next highest growth
award that TikTok owned globally
in 2019!”
Cheska Teresa, Group Strategy &
Integration Director, Lion&Lion
“E-commerce on social will boom
in the coming years, especially
in mobile-first and emerging
markets where consumers mainly
use social to search for products.
Instagram’s new sales-driven
feature is a great example of
social’s role in e-commerce.
To drive sales on social, brands
need to ensure they have an
effective and mobile-friendly
“online storefronts” that help
consumers towards purchase
coupled with brand activities and
influencer engagement that can
drive traffic.”
Aryeh Sternberg, Lead Consultant -
KENNA, Red Communications
“With the advent of social media,
the ways in which we reach our
customers are evolving rapidly.
Just a year ago, search used to
comprise 95% of our spend while
currently, search accounts for
barely 60% and the rest is made
up by social media. In today’s
environment, brands need to have
a robust social media strategy,
which includes generating
engaging content and video.
Emerging markets, however, paint
a different, interesting landscape.
Based on our presence in over
30 cities across Indonesia and
Thailand, we observe that while
customers are increasingly
embracing digital touchpoints to
discover new brands, traditional
media still wins in these markets.”
Laura Prael, Founder & Director, LEP
Digital
“In 2020, more than ever, sparking
curiosity through clever content is
what will drive action and ROAS.
What a company stands for
and how they tell that story will
become crucial to cut through.
Successful marketing agencies
are increasingly hiring copywriters
to immerse themselves in the
world of their customer to
become the very fans that they
want to attract. Why? Customers
want to know that they are
uniquely understood before they
can develop trust. We need to
speak their language and play
on their terms if we expect
consideration.
Here’s to the death of boring
creative.”
Manisha Seewal, Group Chief
Marketing Officer, Carro.sg
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52 53
“User’s voice is now have a big
impact to brand formation.
In addition, with the advance
of technology, everything is
connected on the network, and the
target in marketing is shifting to
services that instantly fulfill each
customer’s needs.
Every brand now has to optimize
the way to approach with their
customers to make sure they will
impress them with unforgettable
customer experiences. Daiko
is implementing this “brand
activation” through our strategy.”
Hitesh Rajwani, CEO, Social Samosa
“We live in the age of minimal
attention spans and consumers
are exploring new avenues of
Media consumption everyday.
When it comes to Digital, Brands
need to embrace the outside in
strategy.
Follow the consumers where they
are. Understand their behavior,
triggers and derive actionable
insights. And lastly focus on
creating value basis these
actionable insights.
One of the mantras which I
recently learnt from a well known
CMO in the Indian Circles ( Be the
voice of the consumer, NOT the
consumer).”
Nobukazu Ochi, CTO, Daiko
Advertising Inc.
“Your business likely has favoured
channels that support your
inbound marketing by generating
new website visits for customer
acquisition. It’s essential to have a
sustainable source of high volume,
high ROI visits, online leads, and
sales that you can rely on!
This is the ‘70%’ in the 70:20:10 rule
for online customer acquisition.
You need to monitor this source
and protect these traffic sources.
However, you likely won’t be able
to rely on them forever – digital
changes fast.”
Francisco Rojas, CEO NEO
Communications and NEO
Magazine
“I see the indexing of voice
content through AI technology
as one of the major trends. This,
with the objective of increasing
its efficiency in the near future.
I also see a come back to the
marketing basics, and influencer
specialization.
Beyond followers influencers are
going to focus on engagement
and interaction with their
audiences. Lastly, I believe
software companies will offer
greater depth on data analysis so
brands can truly “humanize” and
make sense of it and ultimately
transform it into specific actions.”
Dr Dave Chaffey, Digital Strategist
and Co-founder of Digital Marketing
Learning Platform Smart Insights
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54 55
“Before assessing your 2020 marketing strategy and plans, understand
the underlying Seismic Marketing Shift disrupting the content, information
and data ecosystem.
This Seismic Marketing Shift consists of the convergence of three
concurrent trends: Voice-first, Marketing AI & Content Saturation.
These three trends remain undetected until use exceeds the tipping point
acceptance by the public. So you compete now and into the future with
any and all content, information and data to answer these three micro-
moment dependent questions:
1. Give me the information I want and/or need (Includes personalized
financial and health data);
2. Entertain me (Includes movies, television, music, books, and gaming);
and
3. Help me to buy, go or do (Provides “near me” search).
To succeed in 2020 and beyond, marketers must focus on developing
owned audiences to grow Share of Audience Attention (or SOAA).”
Heidi Cohen, Chief Content Officer of Actionable
Marketing Guide and Managing Partner -
Riverside Marketing Strategies heidicohen.com “As influencer marketing continues to gain traction, and Instagram and
Facebook looking at removing likes, we are finally (hopefully) going to
abandon vanity metrics and determine the real ROI of social media.
Look for:
• More trackable options and referral programs for influencer marketing
• a shift in Facebook’s ads. If likes are removed, people will realize
they need to jump into ads manager and create more strategic ads.
Friends don’t let friends boost content
• More and more ad spend is shifting to digital opportunities. You need
to continue to test and optimize what works for your business.”
Christina Garnett, Strategist, ICUC
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56 57
Your Influencer
Marketing Will Go
Small To Go Big
• Conversations around influencer
marketing have dropped by 42% year
on year.
• Inversely, mentions of fake
influencers are on the rise, driving
over 9,000 engagements in the first
half of the year.
Influencer marketing is a double-edged
sword.
9% of consumers depend on influencer
recommendations before making a
purchase, which is why 61% of marketers
increased influencer marketing spend in
2019.
However 38.5% of marketers say they still
don’t have a framework for measuring
influencer campaign success. It’s easy to
burn money without a tangible ROI.
In 2020, we predict there will be a
revolution of how marketers manage their
influencer campaigns. Micro & nano
influencers (500 to 10,000 followers) will
help mitigate the potential risks. These
are influencers who have built smaller,
more enthusiastic audiences. Not only
do they help brands avoid the potential of
fake influencers, but they often drive more
authentic engagement.
2020 will see brands building networks
of these smaller influencers, with more
groups arising to manage them effectively.
Conversations around influencer marketing are on the decrease.
21. Digital Marketing Institute
22. Talkwalker
What does this mean
for marketers?
When it comes to influencer marketing,
success can be found in large numbers.
Instead of one influencer with large reach,
you can invest in 100 micro influencers for
similar cost. You can:
• Focus on specific audiences.
• Improve your engagement.
• Minimize risk.
• Ultimately, spend less for potentially
better returns.
Samsung’s new #greendontcare campaign
aimed to build a community of people to
counteract the negativity of not owning
an Iphone. Using a variety of types of
influencers, it drove 1.2K mentions with
16.2K engagement within 1 month.
Micro influencers were gaining more
engagement than some of the macros.
This tweet from Ben Soffer gained 5,000
engagements from his 7.4K followers. A
micro influencer, Samsung was able to
target a very specific audience— young
people with an interest in meme-based
content. They even supported the
campaign with custom memes for their
influencers and communities to share.
It was a great success, with 63% positive
sentiment, with particular engagement
from the younger generations. 82% of
people that engaged with the hashtag
were 18 to 34.
Wendy’s also knows the power of micro
influencers. Their summer campaign from
July 2019 used around 50 influencers
to celebrate lemonade in the park, the
vast majority of which had under 30K
followers.
Micro influencer marketing is a numbers
game, so while each influencer didn’t have
a large audience, by working with a group
of creators, the campaign was able to
potentially reach 723K people within the
month, engaging 20.1K of them.
2020 is the time to turn your influencer
marketing strategy on its head. Think
small to get big!

58 59
Expert
Insights
Joe Martin, VP of Marketing at CloudApp
“I think martech is much more the future
as we see influencer marketing possibly
reaching a peak in authenticity with younger
demographics. Brand who can find authentic
voices from a user generated perspective
and an actual user from an influencer
perspective will be best off over those who
look for one time hired guns at $500k a pop
for an Instagram post.”
Samantha Kelly, Sprinkles
#Twittermagic everywhere! Owner
@WomensInspireIE, Board Member
@Bitaireland, tweetinggoddess.com
“I’m always saying it - people buy
from people. And finally brands are
realizing that they can’t just sell to
one big pot; they need to get others
who are active and influential in
communities to help them reach
their audience. People buy from
people they know, like and trust.
And it’s not just Instagram.
The micro influencer and nano
influencers will finally get a piece
of the pie, as brands start to see
results.”
Neal Schaffer, Author of “The Age
of Influence” (HarperCollins, March,
2020), NealSchaffer.com
“In order to build trust in an
age of declining organic reach
and distrust of ads, more and
more companies in 2020 will
understand that social media is a
place for collaboration - not just
marketing - and will begin to think
more strategically, long-term, and
personalized in the relationships
they will continue to build with
influencers.
Influencer marketing will not just
be seen as a campaign vehicle or
a way to engage with consumers
but also with other businesses,
constituents, and supporters.”

60 61
“The inflated egos and
megalomania of celebrity
influencers and micro influencers
will soon burst with the eventual
demise of “likes” and “one-off”
postings in social media platforms
and will give rise to a more
and better personal authentic
conversations in brand building.
This is through nano-influencers.
Their stories are a wealth of
untapped and unsaturated
potential market which have
not been exposed to brands.
More often than not, the nano-
influencers encourage offline
conversations which is good for
brands.”
There’s nothing new about
Influencers, KOLs and
Ambassadors and in fact they’ve
become a part of our social media
wallpaper. However, there’s a new
wave that’s taking hold across
social. Influencer engagement is
starting to wane – uh oh!
How do we navigate this as
marketers? We need to start
tapping into the micros (otherwise
known as Nano’s) - those
who have a smaller following
yet they authentically use the
product or service and whom
will truly encapsulate the brand
personality.”
Ron Jabal, CEO of PAGEONE Group Melanie Spencer, Managing Partner,
Socialites
“Influencer marketing is
increasingly moving towards
greater transparency with brand
associations & measurement
of deeper metrics. Brands are
extensively using social listening
to understand if any brand
associations are being faked &
to measure the overall sentiment
towards influencer associations.
The right choice of the influencer
plays a key role in driving the
desired impact. He/she should
have an image that is in line with
the brand values & positioning.
Hence, it is not just about the
popularity of the influencer, but
about the fitment of the individual
for the brand objectives.”
Arturo Martínez, Country Manager
Mexico | TikTok (Bytedance Group)
“Influencer marketing has a pivotal
role into more disruptive and
engaging marketing strategies.
Powerful matches between brand
and influencer is fundamental to
deliver more authentic and long
term collaborations. Influencers
need to feel part of the brand
strategy and even accountable for
their performance that will unlock
more creativity and commitment.”
Anvesha Poswalia, Digital Marketing
Lead, L’Oreal Professionnel & Declor
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62 63
You Will Invest In
User-Generated
Content
• 90% of purchasing decisions are led
by user-generated content.23
• The most liked image on Instagram
is of an egg.
In February 2019, a new Instagram star
was born. The world record egg24
. In a
matter of days, that one picture gained
over 53.7M likes, cracking the record of 18
million previously held by Kylie Jenner.
But it also marked a turning point. When
the cult of celebrity influencers faded, to
be replaced by content that was created
by regular people. User-generated content
now generates 6.9 times the engagement
than brand created content.25
It’s authentic, cultivated, easily shared,
cost effective, and created outside of the
brand sphere.
Brands to build a sense of community
within their consumer base. Millennials
don’t just buy into a product, but the
experience it provides. Starbucks doesn’t
just sell coffee, but a lifestyle.
Create a community that your audience
loves, and it will bring results.
80% of brands say
that their community
building efforts have
resulted in increased
traffic.26
23. Turn To Consumer Study
24. Instagram
25. Mavrck
26. HubSpot
What does this mean
for marketers?
Now is the time to start building that
community. Though it can’t be built in a
day, the sooner you get started, the better.
• Build a community. LinkedIn or
Facebook groups are an ideal place to
start, with the infrastructure in place
to easily nurture an audience, with
effective admin tools at hand.
• Incentivize. Though the opportunity
to create may be incentive enough for
some people, anything extra you can
add to sweeten the deal could make
all the difference. Product discounts,
prizes and special events are minimal
cost for what is discounted content.
• Make it shareable. Make it easy for
your customers to share. In this visual
world, consumers want items that
will make great visuals. If your brand
products look good, people will be
more willing to use them in UGC.
• Plan a content strategy. There’s
no point in getting extra content
from your users if you don’t use it
effectively. Share it on your channels,
to bring the best content to the
forefront of your audience.
User-generated content is going to
be big in 2020. Make it one of the
most valuable investments (and also
one of the most affordable) for your
marketing strategy next year.
27. HubSpot
Starbucks are masters at making Instagrammable
products. This tweet about their new reusable cups
led to 240K engagements. From one piece of UGC.

64 65
Expert
Insights Lilach Bullock, Professional Speaker,
Lead Conversion Expert, Content
Marketing & Social Media Specialist,
lilachbullock.com
“One social media trend that is
definitely having a huge impact on
users is user-generated content
and its rising popularity. This
massively changes the relationship
between customers and brands,
effectively turning customers into
brand ambassadors and allowing
for a much closer, much more
intimate relationship between the
two.”
Klime Mickovski, Acting Head of
Product/Head of Data & Insights -
Digital at Sky News Arabia
“The number one short term
commercial trend is monetizing
UGC. I still don’t think big brands/
companies have fully understood
the trend behind UGC. The true
opportunity in UGC is raw and
honest content created by the
average Joe like you and me,
super powered by new cheap,
advanced micro tech.
What UGC content has over any
other content is true engagement
and a lot more brand loyalists.
This is due to raw, uncensored
content accompanied by
character and believe of the
content creator itself.”

66 67
Tim Hanslow, Head of Social and
Community, Preface Social Media
“Decades of data leaks, product
recalls and false advertising
primed the world for real
authentic user voices. The mega
influencer movement rose from
it and has begun to fall. UGC is
becoming more and more critical
for businesses to demonstrate
social proof and a trustable voice.
Influencers like brands are too big
and broad. Consumers want and
need to hear many voices to know
which product to choose.”
Chris Strub, Sought-after millennial
Keynote Speaker. Uber driver w/an
epic back story.
“User-generated content has
long been a crucial piece of any
savvy B2C marketer’s creative
arsenal -- but a gradual shift is
afoot. For years, brands focused
on collecting and authoritatively
curating users’ content, feeling
a need to establish ownership.
But as overall trust in brands has
declined, savvy marketers are
empowering their customers with
opportunities to create their own
content, to be distributed to their
own networks -- cutting out the
proverbial middle man. Looking
ahead, success will be measured
in conversations about the brand,
not just with it.”
Anthony Khan, Digital Transformation
Specialist, Head of Digital at Julphar
“I strongly feel the area smart
brand managers will focus on
in 2020 when it comes to social
media marketing is User Generated
Content. TikTok is the biggest
emerging platform on the planet
right now and consists entirely of
UGC.
These content creators are
what we today would call micro-
influencers. Look at the most viral
content on the traditional social
platforms like Facebook and
Instagram. They’re almost entirely
made by the general population
and not by agencies. This is what
audiences want. By extension, this
is what customers want too.”
“2020 will be a battle of influence
on the social media sphere. The
rise of the age of authenticity
prompts brands and organizations
to look for strategies that drive
brand affinity and loyalty. As
the authenticity of influencers
continues to face heated scrutiny,
audience generated contents
(AGCs) will play a vital role in
solidifying -- if not building -- brand
and consumer relationship.
These contents mirror consumers
journey and/or experience and
authentically amplify the message
that the brand wishes to convey
to its audience. AGCs disrupt
the traditional matrix of brand-
consumer conversation.”
Ana B. Pista, Founder and President,
Ardent Communications Inc., and
DBrew Inc.
Click for more

68 69
Shubho Sengupta, Consultant
“Content marketers are realising
they cannot create authentic,
original content on tap. And with
faster internet speeds, you’re
either in or out - if you can’t create
content fast, you might as well stay
home.
Which is where UGC is plugging
the gap - great content, esp
regional, and thanks to faster
internet, 24X7 delivery.”
“The role that UGC will take to
build GenZ-focused brands,
it ́s going to be increasingly
predominant. Brands won´t be
able to fully control what is being
said or created around them.
However, they will be able
to shape their creative and
conjunctural framework as it
relates to the content they would
like to generate around their
image.”
Noel Nuez, Country Manager Spain
& South America | TikTok
Throughout these social media trends there’s one trend that overshadows them all. Digital
transformation builds in some of the trends we already spoke about—from AI integration
to brand-building.
Digital transformation is the evolution of businesses through the use of new digital
technologies. To maximize customer experience, facilitate new processes, and ultimately,
improve company revenue. Digital transformation allows you to empower data-driven
decisions through comprehensive gathering of data, and ensuring that information is
behind all their actions.
At the start of 2019, 66% of businesses hadn’t started a digital transformation program.
Over over half that number of businesses did not have a plan to start one before 2020.
“The previous three years has seen
a tipping point of the role of data
within organisations. Previously data
had been relegated to the geeks
in the corner, but with advanced
technologies, the realisation
of AI, clustering and predictive
technologies has seen firms evolve
their view of data from a USP
to and being a differentiator to
pervasiveness and it being the new
normal. But with this investment
comes a cost.
The C-Suite are looking for a return
on their investment and providing
soft metrics will not be good enough
– unless we can categorically link
what we have found using tech to
increased revenue then money can
be better spent elsewhere. Previous
attempts to justify this via vanity
metrics (such as impressions or
reach) or bullsh*t ones such as
AVE do not do the trick. Instead
technology needs to align with the
customer journey and illustrate
how smart use of data can show
the movement of prospects from
awareness to purchase.
This is available in silos but now we
need to see this come together not
just as an evaluation tool but as a
planning one as well.”
The Biggest 2020 Trend You
Need To Know
28. Smart Insights
Jonny Bentwood, Global Head of
Data & Analytics, Golin
Click for more

70 71
All data and sources were identified using Talkwalker Analytics and Quick Search.
Mentions of topics were gathered from a variety of media including news sites, social
media channels, blogs, and forums.
Data was taken from the first 6 months of 2019. With some exceptions gathered
using Quick Search, which collected from 13 months of back data from the time of
production (Aug 2019).
Sentiment analysis, video analytics & image recognition are powered by the Talkwalker
AI Engine. Sentiment analysis is performed with an average of 90% accuracy, with the
ability to detect sarcasm and snarky comments. Images are compared to a database
of over 30,000 brand logos, to help identify brand images in social media photos and
videos.
Queries were used to identify the topics discussed. In some cases, these may have
been improved using Boolean operators, to help remove false positives.
Methodology
Now you know the trends that matter most in social media,
what about your trends? How do you find what’s trending in
your industry? And how do you turn those trends into actions?
Talkwalker’s 2019 Campaign Playbook is the solution. Showing
you exactly how to create more brand engagement, identify
influencers (including nanos), find exciting campaign ideas, and
jump on the trends that matter most.
Bonus!

72 73
Impact starts here.
contact@talkwalker.com @talkwalker talkwalker.com
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+352 20 33 35 343
Deutschland - Frankfurt
+49 69 254 745-500
APAC
+65 3 165 0692
US - New York
+1 646 712 9441
US - San Francisco
+1 415 805 7240
Get started with
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media tools for
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