Hootsuite’s 4 Top Social Media Trends for 2020

By: Sophie Maerowitz

January 2, 2020

As the new year starts and content planning begins in earnest, marketers should be on the lookout for the next big moments in social. Lucky for the marketing community, the team behind social media management tool Hootsuite has released a list of what they deem to be the most likely social media trends in 2020, following a survey of over 3,000 marketers. Their top picks included personalized messaging, bold political statements and the continuing rise of TikTok as a platform giant, among others.

Below, four of the biggest game-changers, according to the Hootsuite team:

Companies will balance public and personalized messages.​ Hootsuite found that one-to-one messaging, while on the rise, has not decreased brand investment in public social media feeds, which remain crucial for awareness-building and customer acquisition. Brands will continue to invest in both personalized and public messaging, with some assistance from automation.

Brands will keep taking a stand.​ As online conversation becomes increasingly polarized, employees are looking to their organizations to make bolder statements around social and political issues. Employers are significantly more trusted by the public than NGOs, businesses, government and the media according to the Hootsuite survey. Some organizations will take advantage of this role, building more progressive internal culture while amplifying company purpose via employee and customer advocacy.

TikTok is expected to grow. With more than 800 million monthly active users, the majority of whom are 16 to 24 years old, TikTok is still on the rise. Whether or not it lasts, TikTok offers marketers valuable insights on the present and future of social culture, content and collaboration. Social marketers should keep an eye on TikTok while using these insights to adapt their strategies on established network. This will assist in appealing to younger social media users.

Performance marketing will amplify social efforts. As social marketers expand their skillsets, they will need to become fluent in performance marketing, a discipline once limited to advertising technologists and digital marketing agencies.  This will help marketers achieve a combination of short-term conversions and long-term strategy to build brand equity, customer satisfaction and differentiation.

Read the full report here.