2019 is almost upon us, and with just one month left in the calendar year, it’s time marketers took stock of what new changes content platforms have in store for them and plan for their content marketing efforts.
Stay dynamic and responsive with these insights
Content marketing is a tricky affair, constantly influenced by the whims and fancies of the people who consume content. It’s important for brands, content writers and social media marketers to understand how content and content platforms are expected to function, to ensure they get the best out of their marketing efforts.
To help you, we’ve made a list of some statistics for a variety of content marketing channels and platforms. Read on; we’re sure they’ll help you.
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- Facebook will slide down the ladder of popularity to third place, after Twitter and YouTube
Facebook’s long-standing presence in the market has brought it to the point of saturation for marketers. While it remains one of the most searched keywords online, it has slid down the ladder in terms of content creation and audience engagement.
- Native Facebook videos will be shared 1000% more than external videos
Facebook’s algorithms give priority to native videos over external content. This makes them turn up more often on the audience’s timelines, and in turn, makes them more shareable. It’s been noticed how native Facebook videos have 186% higher audience engagement compared to other forms of video.
- Facebook’s page like increase rate will saturate to a mere 0.15%
Again, Facebook’s high saturation point makes any new posts almost redundant in terms of increasing page likes. While likes will still be received, the general engagement level between audiences and pages will be extremely low. One way to increase page like rate – create new pages or customised Facebook groups and post relevant content.
- The average price per Facebook ad will increase by 17%
Despite the above challenges, spending on Facebook ads continues to be one of the highest expenditures for companies. Facebook has been steadily increasing its ad price since early 2017 and late 2018; early 2019 too is forecasted to see a price increase by 17%.
- Facebook Live broadcast rates show signs of quadrupling next year
Live videos increase audience engagement 6X higher and quicker than pre-recorded videos. It’s no wonder that Facebook Live broadcasts have received great focus from marketers. In fact, Facebook Live will continue to grow, with marketers choosing to produce broadcasts over blog posts in 2019.
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- 22% of Twitter users will live in the city, with 21% living in the suburbs and 19% in rural areas
With Twitter being the #1 social media channel in use today, it’s important for marketers to understand the demographic, geographic and economic background of their followers. This will help them to create relevant, comprehensible content.
- Search queries on Twitter will cross the 2 billion mark
This is good news for job seekers and content marketers alike. With increased customer traffic on the platform, Twitter now needs – 1) a large number of qualified developers to support the platform; and 2) a large set of superior-quality data to meet the expectations of these 2 billion queries.
- Twitter Lite will increase brand engagement by 50%
Twitter Lite was developed to specifically meet the needs of developing nations. Its low data consumption and quick load times make it very lucrative for developing markets. Now it’s estimated that Twitter Lite will help improve brand awareness and engagement in developing markets.
- More than 85% of customers will continue to use Twitter to seek redressal
For long, Twitter has also doubled as a social listening tool. A testament to this fact is the promptness with which brands provide solutions to customer complaints on Twitter. Customer service conversations saw an increase of 250% in the past 2-3 years, and experts believe that this will only increase in 2019.
- 56% of all live streamed videos on Twitter will be breaking news, with 44% being entertainment videos
Twitter has been investing significantly in promoting live streamed videos. It’s dedicated live streaming tool Periscope is an example of the focus the platform has on live videos. Currently, more than 1300 live videos are streamed on Twitter, of which the majority belong to the news category.
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- 42% of all Instagram users will be earning in their 75K’s
Research shows that almost half the customer accounts on the platform will soon fall in the 75K+ category, meaning that brands can now market their expensive products to people who have the money to buy them. This will be especially beneficial for luxury brands.
- Instagram stories will increase platform usage time to 32 minutes per day
This stat is for the ’25 years and under’ audience in particular. With greater freedom to make stories more colourful and engaging, under 25s will find themselves enthralled by the filters and functionality offered by Instagram stories. Read this to learn more about Instagram metrics.
- The number of likes for Instagram videos will increase by 80%
The obsession with videos continues onto Instagram, as videos become the most-shared piece of content on the platform. Studies show that Instagram video creation and engagement rates have quadrupled since 2013.
- Instagram’s interaction rate will cross 2.2%
A high-audience interaction rate indicates that your content is reaching the right people, and evoking the right results. Instagram has the highest audience interaction rate in the world at 2.2%, while Facebook’s interaction rate is a meagre 0.22%. Now, Instagram plans to cross this figure and take audience engagement to new heights. To understand how exactly Instagram plans to achieve this (and what tactics have brought it this far), read social media influencer Neil Patel’s article.
- More than 50% of all posts will contain emojis
One of the primary reasons for Instagram’s success with audiences is the highly creative emojis the platform offers users. There are over 2666 emojis developed by Instagram, which come in variations based on gender, age and ethnicity. This can make content highly personalised to audiences.
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- 94% of all B2B organisations will predominantly use LinkedIn to market their products
LinkedIn has always been the preferred choice of networking and content marketing for businesses. However, considering how 91% of all brands consider LinkedIn to churn out the highest-quality B2B content on social media, more B2B organisations will make their mark on the platform.
- More than half of the total social media traffic will come from LinkedIn
In 2018, 90% of social media traffic was generated by Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn collectively. However, half of this traffic came from LinkedIn alone. Experts believe this trend will continue in 2019.
- Articles with word counts of 1900 & above will get the highest number of shares
Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn users prefer long-form content, and articles above 1900 words are viewed to be more insight-rich and authentic. The right balance, believe the experts, lies between 1700 words and 2100 words.
- How-to posts are set to double post views and CTRs
With most LinkedIn users hailing from the B2B background, either as businesspeople or as consumers, technical-rich content has greater value than entertaining content. How-to posts and videos serve this need for instructions-rich content.
- Influencer marketing will account for only 6% of total revenue on LinkedIn
Less than 30 of the highest shared articles in the last five years were written by social media influencers. The rest were written by the run-of-the-mill users. For brands focused on LinkedIn content marketing, shelving their influencer partnerships temporarily may be a good thing to do.
Video
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- 80% of all traffic on the internet will be video by 2021
Videos are one of the most consumed content today, and every single social media channel has a dedicated platform for video. It’s only a matter of time that video overtakes every other form of content on the internet.
- The best performing videos will be under 120 seconds
While it is recommended that Instagram videos be shorter than 30 seconds and that Facebook videos be less than one minute, the maximum time frame most viewers will sit through for any social media video is 120 seconds. 2019 will see video marketers sticking to this deadline when making video content.
- More than 60% of websites will begin to use videos on their landing page
It’s been observed that websites having a video on their landing page often experience conversion rates that are 80% higher than websites without videos on the landing page. This has made landing page videos a highly-lucrative piece of content, and most businesses are expected to incorporate them on their websites.
- 89% of business video viewing will happen on the desktop and not the mobile as thought before
Contrary to popular belief, mobile may not be the go-to device for B2B video viewing in 2019. However, B2C video consumption is forecasted to remain mobile-centric, with consumers 300% more likely to watch videos on their smartphones than on laptops.
- YouTube’s TrueView ads will make customers 23X more likely to purchase a product
TrueView will become a Godsend for content marketers in 2019. Even when not watched till completion, TrueView videos can make customers 10X more likely to make a purchase. They also increase engagement rates by 500%, prompting experts to believe that conversion rates will increase in the coming year.
Image Credits: Pixabay
- Women will spend almost double the time and effort going through their emails
On average, women spend seven minutes more than men looking through emails and are 14% more likely to respond to emailers by brands. Content marketers will find their efforts rewarded if they target their female customers more often than their male customers.
- Gender-neutral emails will be favoured by more than 74% of recipients
Given the greater sensitisation towards gender fluidity, most customers prefer emailers without gender prefixes like Mr, Mrs, Miss and more. In fact, recipients prefer being on a first-name basis with the brand these days. If, however, you do wish to add gender-specific pronouns in your emails, read this illuminating article by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
- Marketing automation will have a phenomenal impact on the email marketing arena
Email personalisation through marketing automation will help organisations draft highly-inclusive and personal emails to their clients while offering the most highly-suited solutions. This automation will prevent emails sounding robotic and will add a human touch to the email, increasing its appeal.
- Email CTRs will jump by 14% and conversions by 10%
With emails set to become more personal, more mature and more targeted, content marketing experts believe there will be a dramatic increase in the CTRs and conversions in 2019. Current email CTRs stand at 16% on average.
- Every 1 out of 3 email clicks will be from a smartphone
Already 75% of all Gmail opens comes from mobile phones ad 69% of all website visits are derived from emailers opened on the mobile. This figure is set to increase, what with smartphones becoming more affordable and customer-friendly.
Influencer
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- 40% of laptop users and 22% of smartphone users will start using ad blockers
Customers have started losing interest in what advertisements have to say because they don’t believe these advertisements to be authentic enough. 2019 will see more customers implementing ad blockers in their devices, making influencers very important.
- 37% of customers will care about the authenticity of the content rather than the renown of its author
The days of celebrity endorsements are long over, and customers prefer seeking advice from non-celebrity influencers who’ve used the product and who have an authentic experience to share. Content marketers of the future need to select influencers with care, keeping this in mind.
- 70% of the world’s teenagers will choose to get advice exclusively from YouTube channel hosts
40% of teenagers believe that YouTube influencers understand them much better than their friends and family do and 4/10 teenagers are expected to exclusively shop based on advice from influencers in 2019.
- The number of conversations between consumers and micro-influencers will increase by 22.2X
With the demand for more authentic influencer content increasing, conversations between micro-influencers and customers are said to rise. Marketers will find themselves thriving if they choose to hire small-time influencers with real-life experience, to facilitate customer engagement.
- More than half the businesses in the world will start an influencer marketing campaign, if they already don’t have one
Although measuring ROI is a challenge, many brands do believe in the power of influencer marketing. The number of brands hiring micro-influencers, in particular, will increase in the future.
SEO
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- 40% of a brand’s revenue will be generated by organic traffic
With social media platforms choosing organic, home-grown content over external content, paid posts and videos will start showing on search results at a slower rate. It’s estimated that most of a brand’s site visits, engagements, conversions and finally revenues, will come from organic traffic.
- The length of a search keyword will fall from 4+ words to 3
The SEO buzzword of 2017 and 2018 was “4+ words long-tailed keyword.” This won’t be the case any more in 2019. Research has shown a change in trends for long-tailed keyword creation, and the most obvious change is the shortening of keyword length. Content marketers need to keep this in mind when SEO-optimising copy.
- 50% of all searches will be query-free
With search engines being powered by artificial intelligence and being coded with natural language processing (NLP), the days of needing specific queries and keywords are over. Next year, brands will have the advantage of optimising their content to suit the natural language of their customers.
- To be ranked #1 on search lists, brands will need to incorporate 20%-40% more nofollow links
Research shows that Google often uses a brand’s nofollow links to analyse the authenticity of the brand’s website. Any website without a nofollow link may find itself categorised as a dummy website and may find itself at the bottom of the search results.
- SEO-generated leads will have a close rate that is 14.6% higher than other forms of content
Given the preference for organic content in 2019, it’s safe to say that SEO will play a vital role in making inbound content marketing, a success. It’s been estimated that leads generated through SEO-optimised inbound content will have a higher close rate than those by outbound content.
Feature Image Credits: Pixabay