2019 Social Media E-commerce Trends

While it's usually somewhat difficult to predict upcoming trends before they have really gained traction, especially on social media, there are often indications which anticipate coming trends. For 2019, it's fairly easy to predict greater use of augmented reality and virtual reality processes on social media, since they're invading all other aspects of society.

It's also fairly easy to identify the increase and coming prevalence of chatbots to facilitate simple yet still meaningful interactions between users and business people or just between users themselves. This also appears to be the year that ephemeral content will become more dominant on the social media, and those are the postings which last only for 24 hours before disappearing. Lastly, 2019 appears to be the year where e-commerce is poised to explode on the social media, especially on such platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

Why do trends on social media matter? From the sheer standpoint of numbers, it's important how people engaged with social media are spending their time. A recent body of research conducted by HootSuite found that upwards of 3.1 billion people are actively involved on social media. Since that's nearly half the world's entire population, it matters a great deal how these people are spending their time on social media.

In some cases, users are just logging on to get their daily news feed, sometimes just sharing cute photos of their children and pets, and sometimes they're actively involved in communicating with other users in forums, or business people who have reached out to them. The point is that practically everyone is involved with the social media these days, and that makes the activities of these users of great interest to business.

Enabling the explosion in e-commerce

Probably the biggest reason for the explosion of e-commerce on Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest, is that these platforms are markedly photo-driven in nature, and their popularity because of that has soared. Everyone knows that video content is much easier to assimilate by users, especially those with short attention spans, so users are more attracted to platforms which feature video rather than plain text. This doesn't mean that Facebook and Twitter will be left behind in the e-commerce surge, but the really pronounced growth figures are probably going to be seen in the other three platforms, primarily because of their commitment to video content, and to enabling e-commerce.

E-commerce on Instagram

Instagram began life as a simple image-sharing platform and has evolved since then to become a great deal more than that, and one of its newfound specialties is serving as a shopping tool. Instagram has introduced shoppable posts, which allow you to attach links to images that you post, and more recently has also introduced shoppable Instagram Stories stickers.

This allows e-commerce brands to use a product sticker in Instagram Stories, so those specific products may be tagged, just as they might be in ordinary Instagram shopping posts. It's also possible to sell products on Instagram by using swipe-up links, and this added capability combined with the new features make Instagram a very viable channel for sales. Many brands have started taking advantage of this by coupling their efforts with social media influencers, so as to increase their overall marketing effectiveness.

E-commerce on Pinterest

Pinterest has long been one of the most visual of all the social media platforms, and it's also a platform where many people go to be inspired, for instance, to create innovative kinds of mood boards. In 2019, Pinterest is likely to experience a serious uptick in e-commerce, because the platform is launching some much-improved e-commerce features. Since brands have always been able to pin and sell their products easily on Pinterest, improving the process will simply allow e-commerce to pick up dramatically on the platform, and encourage a whole new wave of selling.

It has always been very easy to buy something that you really like on Pinterest since all you have to do is click through to the retailer's website from any visual product you find on the platform. Like the other photo-driven platforms, Pinterest has been moving more and more toward e-commerce with the introduction and usage of handy little features which facilitate the entire process.The great thing about Pinterest is that since so many people go there for inspiration, they will usually be attracted to products they find along the way, and then they'll be able to shop for them right from their own feed. This makes Pinterest a very effective vehicle for e-commerce for both brands and consumers, and that will be made very clear in 2019.

E-commerce and Snapchat

The primary reason why Snapchat will experience a huge surge in e-commerce popularity is that of its youthful audience. Millennials have adopted Snapchat as their preferred platform, and brands which are trying to reach this target audience have flocked to the platform in droves in an attempt to appeal to that younger audience.Recognizing the trend, Snapchat has integrated a greater number of shopping features into their

experience, so as to accommodate both brands and consumers. One of the most prominent of these new features involves the recent partnership with Amazon. This feature allows users to take a picture of an object with a Snapchat camera, and then scan the barcode so as to bring up an informational card. On this card will be displayed the product's title, its price, an appropriate review score, and its Prime availability in Amazon.

E-commerce on the social media in 2019

All the major social media platforms started out as just that – social media. However, from the instant that enormous numbers of users became involved on all these platforms, businessmen started to take notice, and they have all now become targets for e-commerce, simply by weight of their numbers. If anything, the number of users involved in social media is still growing, and that means they are going to continue to be attractive to all those brands who have something to sell. It's therefore fairly easy to predict that the use of social media for conducting e-commerce in the coming year will become much more prevalent.