2018 is officially over. As a December was the time of summaries, in January every marketer tries to make some predictions for oncoming 2019. Last year was a great period in Polish social media. We have witnessed many unexpected ups and even more spectacular downs. We cannot wait to see what will bring us this year. Meanwhile, here are some predictions and growing trends that are very likely to take possession of Polish social media in 2019.
Video content triumph
More and more Polish brands use Facebook video ads, Instagram videos, Snapchat or Tik Tok. A great example of a video campaign was the Netflix Poland promotion of the Ellen Denegeres standup premiere on the platform. Netflix made excellent use of the viral Polish video made by YouTuber Łukasz Jakóbiak, who faked his visit at Ellen Denegeres show. He created an imitation of her studio and found an actress that looks exactly like Ellen. This year, we are waiting for even more social media campaigns of this type:
Zenith’s last research shows that in 2019 the budget allocated to online video advertising will grow by 9% in Poland. A video is the best way to engage an audience, increase a conversion rate, and get a high ROI.
User-generated content
In 2018, content created by the audience was a real king. Photos, videos, stories and blog posts made by fans were used by many Polish brands in their retargeting campaigns. People have less and less trust in traditional, intrusive forms of advertising and look for honest opinions. And as we know, the real recommendations are those unpaid. A normal user gives the product authenticity and credibility. Polish jewelry brand Lilou makes impeccable use of this trend. They repost pictures made by satisfied customers on their Instagram profile. This year we expect even more similar activities, especially in the fashion industry:
Micro-influencer marketing
The tendency to move away from big Influencers and celebrities have started in the previous year. Cooperation with them is just difficult to evaluate. Micro-influencers are more credible for brands and have more involved audiences. You can read about the micro-influencers market in Poland in our previous article. In 2018, the power of Micro-influencers was mainly used by small brands, this year we expect the Giants to turn to them too.
Messenger and Chatbots
Last research shows that Messenger has up to 10 times higher CTR than e-mails or standard text messages. Customers appreciate its simplicity and the possibility of direct contact with the brand. People enjoy getting any information without leaving home or waiting on the helpline. In the Polish social media, large brands, especially service providers, often put up communication via chat bots due to many cases and clients. A splendid example of this is Warta’s chatbot, which allows customers to report damages via Messenger. However, we believe that it just the beginning:
Stories
This kind of social media format used both on Instagram and Facebook, reached a 15-fold increase compared to feed content in 2018. Polish brands face the challenge of creating numerous ephemeral, non-ideal (and therefore – authentic) content that will be a coherent compliment to the story told on the newsfeed. Brands are more and more willing to take advantage of the stories’ capabilities and upload “unprofessional” posts presenting their products. An example of this is Aloha from Deer brand, who constantly show their assortment on Instagram Stories. Thanks to this, customers do not have to go to the website to see their new products:
Social commerce
Talking about the popularity of stories, we have to mention the growing interest in social commerce. Social selling is just selling product directly through social media platforms. Instagram has recently made it easier for customers to buy, and for brands to engage clients by adding purchase stickers option in regular posts and product labels in Insta Stories. This is only the beginning and only a few brands use it in Poland. Looking at the growing popularity of this solution in other countries, we expect its development in Polish social media as well:
Augmented Reality
In 2018, Facebook has already introduced ads based on augmented reality. Thanks to this, we will have the opportunity to try on clothes, glasses or make-up online. 2019 may be a time of revolutionary change on this platform. Until now, we have a few perfect Polish examples of augmented reality in digital marketing. One of them is Dulux Visualizer which allows users to match the appropriate colour of their walls without actually painting them:
LinkedIn Time
2018 was supposed to be the time of growing importance of LinkedIn groups. However, it did not happen. It turns out that everything seems to indicate that 2019 will be the real year of LinkedIn in Poland. In recent months LinkedIn has gained many active Polish users. Many companies want their employees to be active on the platform and create interesting content. Moreover, even professional brands started appearing on LinkedIn. A perfect example of a well-run profile is mBank profile. We certainly won’t find information about the company’s products there, but we could read about social initiatives supported by the company. We are certain that this is the future of LinkedIn in Poland.
The end of Facebook (for a young audience)
Polish teenagers definitely spend their time mostly on YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. Facebook is beyond the first three of the most popular social media platforms. Polish brands that dedicate their messages to the Millennials have to be aware of the fact that they must constantly be up-to-date with trends and say goodbye to Facebook. In 2019, almost no Polish teenager will actively use it. Brands should look for new advertising solutions, for example -TikTok app which is extremely popular in Poland among people under the age of 18. This trend was used by Garnier in their teen cosmetics promoting the campaign. They invited several popular young influencers from TikTok and it worked really well:
Precision marketing
Precision marketing will apply to all online marketing in Poland. The campaigns will be smaller, more personalized, but there will be many more of them. This means narrow target groups and much more suited advertising messages. The audience is no longer interested in campaigns designed for everyone. In 2019, you will have to make an effort to adapt to the client. Social media platforms themselves and the better possibilities of narrowing the targets will certainly help. It means more work and of course much bigger budgets for marketers and brands.
If you are interested in how Polish social media work and want to implement any of these trends to your marketing activities, feel free to contact us. We are a marketing agency that perfectly knows the Polish digital market, and we are constantly up to date with current social media trends in Poland.