As younger generations move away from traditional cable TV and radio, advertisers and corporations are devising new methods of reaching their target audience. Dozens of social media apps are available for download on Apple and Android smartphones, and content is consumed for hours at a time by millions of people around the world. In 2020, advertisers will certainly be looking to step up their presence on any number of social media applications.

Check here how to choose the best mobile monetization strategy.

Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram have had a large majority of the market share for almost a half-decade and host thousands of advertisers on their platforms. Advertisements are integrated seamlessly into the same format as original posts from the platforms’ users. Facebook logged 2.5 billion monthly users as of Q4 of 2019, and Instagram sat at 1 billion users in Q3 of 2019. The type of outreach that is possible on platforms with these many active users has changed advertising strategies across the board. However, advertising on Facebook and Instagram can be fairly restrictive and are still very expensive for small businesses or startups.

TikTok Ads

The problem of price could be solved by some up-and-coming social media platforms. The video-sharing platform TikTok debuted in 2017 and reached 800 million active users by late 2019, and is especially popular among those classified as “Generation Z” (birth dates 1995-2015). Werner Geyser of Influencer Marketing hub believes that “TikTok ads are likely to explode in 2020…” citing a push by youth-focused brands to take advantage of the existing audience on the platform. Gone of the days of targeting youth on Saturday morning cartoons, social media apps have taken over as the dominant marketing force.

Social Media Advertising Growth

2019 yielded advertising metrics that can reliably predict growth in 2020 as well. Throughout fiscal year 2019, the number of ad creatives present on social networks increased at an average of 7% per quarter. Additionally, according to the Apptica's data, the number of creatives eclipsed 800,000, and this trend is expected to continue into 2020.

Advertising Advancements

Advertising on social media apps has become far more advanced than a simple ad read and static imagery. Several large advancements in technology have led to the prevalence of more advanced advertisements and advertising campaigns.

Multi-Front Campaigns

Ad campaigns run through social media do not focus on one specific format or single ad run at a time. Today’s advertising complex utilizes native advertising and video advertising along with collaborations with influencers. A corporation’s product or services can be advertised in any number of ways to ensure that it reaches the largest number of people possible. The methods of advertising are sure to only grow in magnitude in 2020 and beyond.

Automation and Machine Learning

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have revolutionized the way in which advertisers determine what kind of content to display to potential consumers. By collecting data on social media users, brands can gain a better sense of a consumer’s interests, hobbies, and general lifestyle traits. Automated advertising campaigns can then output thousands of different advertising methods, and more data is collected to assess the success of the individual methods. With the growth of this technology, automation is sure to grow in popularity in 2020. The number of ad creatives that begin appearing will also be accelerated thanks to the lessened need for human support.

Video Advertising

The previously mentioned platforms all host large amounts of video content, so video advertising is the native form for the platform. Along with those platforms, Snapchat is also one of the most popular social media apps out there today. Snapchat uses a native picture and video format that can be easily adapted to fit video advertisements.

Many ads have gone into service that is simply accessed in the same fashion as opening a message from another user. The prevalence of these ads will only increase as we go deeper into 2020.

Taking Advantage of the Social Media Ads Growth

More and more people around the world are canceling cable subscriptions, consuming less television and taking in more and more social media content. As our world becomes more interconnected through the internet, advertisers will be sure to utilize the tools at their fingertips to reach a wider audience. While advertising is important to reach a large audience, conversion rate is also very important. The trends we can expect in social media advertising are sure to be the most effective that have ever been employed, and reach every consumer on a deeper level.