Digital marketers identify top three social media trends to watch for in 2020

Top digital marketers have highlighted the important trends that brands and companies have to keep in mind as they prepare plans for 2020.

Nix Eniego, VP for Marketing of GetCraft, believes that brands and companies should focus on knowing their audience.

"The Number 1 rules is to know your audience, the deeper you know them, the more you know about what makes them tick," Eniego said during the recent Manila Marketers Meetup.

He noted that many marketers often get confused on whether they should have a presence on a particular social media platform.

Eniego highlighted three growing trends brands should be aware of: TikTok, LinkedIn Personal Branding, and sponsored content with micro-influencers.
 

Nix Eniego, GetCraft's VP for Marketing, discusses the top three digital marketing trends that brands and marketers have to keep in mind during the Manila Marketers Meetup last October 29, 2019. Photo by Philstar.com/Gerald Dizon

TikTok is a fast growing platform on mobile phones that already has 1 billion users; more than microblogging platform Twitter.

"New platforms are generous to early adopters so they can help you push your content to audiences," he said.

Eniego discussed LinkedIn Personal Branding as the second top trend. It's about officials or representatives of brands and companies doing the content sharing on LinkedIn and acting as experts in their field.

"Personal brand is the new corporate brand. Humans are hardwired to engage with other people and not logos," he said.

The third trend that Eniego said was important for 2020 was sponsored content with micro-influencers.

He said that micro-influencers get 2 to 5 times more views, engagements, and conversions than traditional celebrities.

"You need to find a micro-influencer who is creative and is a very good storyteller. You can be more collaborative with them and they can also provide you with their marketing insights and ideas," he said.

Some cons to consider

There are a few cons that Eniego said marketers should be careful regarding the top three trends.

TikTok requires extra tuning if brands want to create content that is relatable to their audience. LinkedIn takes time to learn how to do proper marketing and personal branding. For sponsored content with micro-influencers to work, brands need to find the right influencer that fits their brand, which could be difficult and take a lot of time.

Other resource speakers during the event were Vonn Vincent Tanchuan, Digital Content and Communications Officer, AIA Philam Life and Jeano Cruz, Head of Social and Associate Creative Director, GIGIL.

Tanchuan shared his experience of reaching out to their audience through digital channels and bringing forward their brand's message of providing "total wellness" to Filipinos.

"It is important that you first educate and teach your audience about the importance of financial education or health and well-being before they can appreciate what you are offering," he said.

"As a business, it is crucial for us to be aligned with our business objectives. You can talk all day about what is trendy but you have to look again if it is aligned with your objectives," he added.

Cruz, who rose to fame after he posted photos of a trip to Korea with witty captions, emphasized the importance of ideas instead of new technology.

Jeano Cruz, GIGIL's Head of Social and Associate Creative Director, emphasized the importance of having great ideas when implementing campaigns. Photo by Philstar.com/Gerald Dizon

"Your brand should consider going back to prioritizing ideas," he said.

Cruz shared three points that companies should consider for 2020: Ask for bigger ideas, have higher standards, don't be wallpaper—that is, don't be the content the audience ignores and keeps scrolling past.