A is For Algorithm. 15 Essential Social Media Marketing Buzzwords To Learn In 2019.
Want to take your social media marketing to new heights in 2019?
Here are 15 essential buzzwords you’ll want to learn and put into practice over the coming 12 months.
1. Algorithm
If you are going to take advantage of social media for marketing purposes, you need to understand social media algorithms.
Algorithms now dominate the social media marketing discussion — almost everywhere you engage, within almost every platform you use, machine learning and data sorting is used to decide what it is you see. Social Media Today
Think of an algorithm as a formula — a set of rules Google or Facebook uses to determine what content shows up where. While Google uses its algorithm to determine which businesses and websites show up for certain searches, Facebook’s algorithm is focused on prioritizing posts that create meaningful conversations, especially those from family and friends.
Unfortunately, Facebook’s algorithm is constantly changing and it now makes it increasingly difficult for businesses to make an impact without paying for advertising.
Expect other social media networks to adopt similar algorithms as time goes on — both Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, though less advanced than Facebook already use their own algorithms.
Learn more: What’s an algorithm? Let an avocado explain
2. Clickbait
Clickbait is something designed to make readers click on a hyperlink which takes the reader through to content often has nothing to do with the “bait.” The most common form is a headline with a variation on “You won’t believe what happened next.”
This is a social media marketing practice you want to avoid at all costs! Facebook has made it explicitly clear that they will demote click-bait style content in its newsfeed.
3. Chatbot
A chatbot is a computer program that attempts to simulate the conversation or “chatter” of a human being via text or voice interactions.
More users use social messaging than actually the social media itself — especially younger millennials.
According to Leverage Marketing, 57 percent of consumers has shown interest in chatbots because of their instantaneous nature.
We can expect more brands to use chatbots in 2019 as a way to give their customers instantaneous interactions that could lead directly to conversions.
4. Content Shock
Mark Schaefer coined the term “Content Shock” to describe the phenomenon whereby as the volume of published content increases, we see a decrease in engagement in terms of social sharing.
A key challenge in 2019 will be to identify and create content for emerging areas of interest and to build an audience and authority before it becomes saturated with content.
5. Earned Media
Earned media is media you don’t have to pay for. It’s considered to be the most cost effective method of marketing. Online word of mouth recommendations; for example, social mentions, shares, reposts, reviews, etc. are forms of earned media.
A Nielsen study in 2013 found that earned media is the most trusted source of information in all countries it surveyed worldwide and is the channel most likely to stimulate the consumer to action.
6. Ephemeral Content
Snapchat pioneered the idea of ephemeral content (posts that only last for a short time), with Instagram and Facebook quickly following suit with their own Stories feature.
7. Generation Z
Now aged 22 or younger, Gen-Zers are expected to account for about 40 percent of all consumers by 2020. To date, marketers have treated Generation Z and Millennials the same, but this will need to change in 2019. Research already points to some fundamental differences.
According to AdWeek, Gen-Zers fragment and focus their social media time — they share certain types of content on particular social channels. “All of this is done in quick touches, or micro-interactions, that might last only a few seconds. They’re also frequent, with some Gen-Zers checking their social media accounts as often as 100 times per day.”
8. Hyperlocal
Hyperlocal marketing is the process of targeting prospective customers in a highly specific, geographically restricted area, often with the intention of targeting people conducting “near me” searches on their mobile device.
The trend for hyperlocal is closely aligned with Voice Search. In 2018 the Voice Search for Local Business Study revealed that 46% of voice search users use voice search to find local businesses daily.
9. Live-Streaming
Thanks to the rise of Facebook Live, Twitter Live, and Instagram Stories’ “Live” mode you now not only have the ability to communicate with your audience via social media, but you can also do so in real time.
Live streaming video will continue to dominate and capture attention in 2019 — according to Facebook, people are spending 3 times longer watching live content than prerecorded videos.
10. Long-Form Content
Long form content is content that is in-depth, comprehensive and detailed. It has proven to generate more leads than shorter articles, attract more backlinks and shares and increase the amount of time visitors stay on your website.
A study by Backlinko found that ‘on average, the sites occupying the first page of Google contain about 1,890 words hence, proof that longer form contents rank higher in the Google search result.’
11. Micro-Influencer
Over the past few years, social media influencers have become a major trend. However, macro-influencers with their millions of followers command a high price and are out of the reach of many. For this reason we’re now seeing the rise of micro-influencer marketing instead.
On YouTube, micro-influencers yield more clout than macro influencers. According to Think With Google, 70 percent of millennials relate more to YouTube stars than traditional celebrities, and 60 percent of YouTube subscribers would follow their favorite YouTuber’s product recommendations over recommendations from TV stars.
12. Organic Reach
Organic reach is the number of people who have seen your post through unpaid distribution. You will no doubt have heard that the time of free organic reach has passed us by. In 2019 we need to accept that to gain any kind of traction with social media marketing you will need to have an advertising budget of some kind in place.
13. Paid Media
With declining organic reach, you will need to invest more in advertising or sponsored content to reach your target audience. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn all offer native advertising solutions, and Instagram ads can be delivered through the Facebook power editor.
14. Shop The Look
Shopping on social platforms is a natural progression arising from the popularity of social media. In 2018 Instagram created the option for businesses to add product stickers to their Instagram Stories.
Pinterest also expanded access to its buyable ‘Shop the Look’ Pins, giving all businesses the capacity to utilize the engaging eCommerce option.
15. Voice Search
2019 will be the year of voice strategy when it comes to optimizing your content for search engines. The majority of people searching for your company on the web still trust search engines but the way people search for information online is changing.
Increasingly, people are using voice search on their smartphones, tablets or voice assistants (like the Amazon Echo or Google Home devices) to search for information on the internet.
Just as marketers have optimized content for web 2.0 and mobile, they will have to start optimizing content for voice search as well. In essence, voice searches are largely about answering questions, not about focusing on individual keywords. To quote NewsCred, “If you’re a marketer, “What’s the Alexa strategy?” will be a question you’ll be expected to answer.”
So there you have it. 15 buzzwords I predict you will be hearing a lot about in 2019. Have I missed any terms? Do let me know in the comments below.
Here’s to your social media marketing success!
