19 Dec Popular Social Media Topics of 2019

As we get ready to close the door on 2019 and move on to a new decade, we think it is worth revisiting some of the popular topics, based on blog traffic data, of this year. It will be interesting to see if the popular social media topics of 2019 stick around through next year.

1. Social Ad Spending

It seems like new reports on social ad spending are constantly being released. Keeping a pulse on that was a popular social media topic this year. It was projected that social ad spending would increase by 19% in 2019, to an estimated total of $37B in spend. Facebook still held the lion’s share of that spend, even with all their data privacy and PR issues.

We also saw Instagram and Pinterest ad revenues signal strategic media shifts.

Read the full social spending report highlights here.

2. Facebook Conversion Lift Studies

In 2019 we ran Conversion Lift Studies for many of our clients. Conversion lift helps brands measure the incremental impact Facebook ads have on their business. Since Facebook makes running these studies as easy as clicking a few buttons with no additional cost beyond your existing media spend, you have nothing to lose by turning one on. There are a few different options for running these studies and you can learn more about Conversion Lift Studies here.

3. Instagram Stickers

Probably one of the best features Instagram released was new Story stickers. For brands, one of the most beneficial parts of Instagram Stories is the ability to interact and engage with your audience in fun ways using stickers, GIFs, polls, music, etc. The Instagram Stories quiz sticker became available to everyone this year and brands capitalized.

Learn how to add an Instagram quiz sticker to your story here.

4. Social Media Quotes, Music & Photo Copyrights

The legalities of whether you can use quotes, music and photos on social media was another topic of interest this year. If you were in doubt, according to US copyright law, legal rights to a quote belong to the author or speaker. The quotes are considered intellectual property and protected under law. If you are not the original author of a quote, one of two things must be true to use it freely on social media:

• You have written permission from the author; or
• The quote is no longer owned and considered public domain

Giving attribution to an author’s quote does not make it legal to use; however, it is recommended that you always give attribution and not pass work off as your own, even if you have permission to use it.

Learn more about social media copyrights here.

5. The Status of Twitter

Over the last few years, concerns about a declining user base have made marketers question the state of Twitter. However, Twitter reported a 9% increase in daily active users this year, suggesting that while those who log in monthly is going down, users that interact daily has gone up. Their ad revenues are on the rise and they have been attempting to crack down on spam, bot accounts and abusive behavior.

Learn more about what’s going on with Twitter here.

That wraps up our take on the most popular social media topics of 2019. To stay up to date on the latest trends next year, sign-up for our bi-weekly email to hear that latest thinking from our team.