THE TRUTH ISSUE@marketingmag
of thousands of followers, they are the infl uencers of the
future and have already worked with many brands like
Spotify, Balmain and Prada. The thing is, they are not real
humans. They are the lovechildren of CGI and Photoshop.
They represent an integral and anticipated part of our
digital future as the lines between reality and digital
fantasy blur. Brands love them because the creators get to
control the content, control the behaviour, build a lifelike
bot that precisely refl ects the brand aesthetic, and create
interesting fi ctional narratives around these characters that
speak to the hearts and minds of their human followers.4
SHOPPABLE CONTENT
The ability to pay directly from social is going to be
big. Finally, marketers will be closing the path to purchase
loop in one quick click. Consumers are gagging for it.
Instagram claims that over a third of its 500 million users
have already bought clothing they discovered through the
social network.
In 2019 Instagram will become the shop, not just the
shopfront. Right now, social e-tail feels clunky for both
brands and consumers, but more sophisticated tech allows
for seamless transactions straight from the newsfeed. This
is an opportunity for brands to deliver creative content
that actively delivers against sales objectives. With this
ability comes responsibility to maintain a positive user
experience. We can expect more story integration to
enhance the shopping experience without compromising
viewer enjoyment.
Beyond the current Instagram and YouTube shoppable
tags and ads, we’ll see the platforms provide a seamless
and enjoyable shopping experience. Think WeChat, which
has been successfully transitioning Chinese browsers
into buyers for years by positioning itself as the only
thing you need to manage your daily digital life. Through
its seamless integration of social, brand marketing andfi nancial transacting, you can order food, check into the
underground, provide invoice information etc – all in the
one app. The knock-on eff ect to the retail sector is going to
be nothing short of catastrophic.5
ADS INFILTRATING MESSAGING APPS
App analytics agency Apptopia reports that, in the last
three months, we have spent 85 billion hours on WhatsApp
alone. That’s over nine million years! On Facebook it’s a
‘mere’ 3.5 billion hours. With that many hours dedicated to
just one messaging platform, it represents rich pickings for
advertisers – if they can get the format right. Not only do
we spend time in these apps, they have also fundamentally
transformed the way we expect to communicate with
businesses to create momentous opportunities for
organisations of all types and sizes.
Messaging is the future of consumer communication.
Chatbots are the norm to manage common customer
enquiries, leaving customer care teams free to deal
with responses that need the human touch. Tools like
ManyChat, Chatfuel and Flow XO are aff ordable (and
in some cases free) for organisations looking to enter the
chatbot game – and everyone should be there by 2019!
Facebook is already delivering News Feed ads that launch a
chat in WhatsApp and the platform is planning to release a
new set of WhatsApp ad formats in the new year. Successful
engagement on WhatsApp will rely on timely, relevant and
personalised content. While we expect some consumer
resistance, advertisers will need to strike the right balance
with personally cued, highly interactive and likely
AI-driven communications.See Tréguer’s social media predictions in the latest issue of
Marketing Lens – our special white paper compiling and
analysing the best 2019 predictions from across the industry –
HERE marketingmag.com.au/mk-lens-whitepaper.“They represent an integral
and anticipated part of our
digital future as the lines
between reality and digital
fantasy blur.”