5 Nigerian Digital Trends You And Tour Company Should Know About 2019

Every year around this time we try to write a piece on what digital trends we can expect coming 12 months.

Finishing the first quarter of 2019 we note that some of trends from last year seem to stick around also this year.

The focus on voice control, mobile content and mobile adaption was huge in 2018 and we expect them to grow even more in 2019.

But there are also new trends emerging and we will focus extra on them in this article. If you have previously ignored chatbots, vertical videos, content marketing and online casino, it is a good time to start thinking again.

Here are the five most imminent trends of 2019 that will affect our everyday life and media consumption.

These important trends you can, or may, no longer ignore. They are here to stay whether we like it or not. So, stay on top of your digital knowledge by learning what is hip and new in the digital world of Nigeria 2019.

We promise that implementing at least some of the tips below in your company will boost your business in 2019!

1. Chatbots

Maybe you have heard someone use the term “chatbot”? Or you might even have encountered a few yourself? Whatever the case, it’s important to keep your eyes and ears open because it is, and will be, one of the hottest trends in 2019.

Simply described, a chatbot is a program that simulates a human conversation with automated responses or artificial intelligence (AI). Chatbots, or at least a variant of it, have been around since the 1960s, but it is in the recent times that they have gone through as they become smarter.

It is no exaggeration when we say that chatbots are about to take over all customer service. By 2020, analysis predicts that 85% of all interactions with customers will be managed by chatbots.

You may be using Facebook Messenger? Messenger has a Click Through Rate (CTR) of 80%. Then you might understand the potential and why you and your company should use a chatbot via, for example, Messenger. Using it correctly increases your customer satisfaction and response rate on
Facebook, which in turn gives higher SEO.

Chatbots can already now book doctor visits, check in on flights and call taxis, but it will be in 2019 that chatbots will be a crucial tool in your lead generation work and customer satisfaction. In Nigeria we are already seeing the banking sector move quickly with chatbots.

First Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa and Access Bank all started using chatbots in their WhatsApp communication with their Naijan customers.

Tips to start using chatbots

• Install a plugin. If your company’s website is built with WordPress then there is a large variety of chatbot plugins that are free.
• Messenger. If the site is not built with WordPress then a simple and flexible solution to activate Facebook Messenger is on your business page. Remember, however, that you need to use a third-party program such as Chatfuel.

  2. Transparency

Transparency is not only an upcoming trend in men’s fashion (crazy!), but also in digital marketing. For several years, advertising has had a negative tone and the “ad-allergic epidemic” is spreading across the Internet like the White Walkers in Game of Thrones.

Millennials and most other consumers have always preferred transparent companies. 90% of millennials say authenticity is an important factor in determining which brands to support. This means that companies need to invest more in personal advertising.

Old marketing tricks no longer work because today’s consumers have learned to spot them. They can now quickly check out and create their own image of the truth, either by asking Google or a friend.

Therefore, your digital marketing needs to be more personal and engaging if it even will stand a chance to reach out to today’s consumers and through the communication noise along hundreds of thousands of messages.

As it becomes more difficult to impress consumers, companies have also begun to understand that they must become more transparent in their messages, recognise when they make mistakes, what the products and services have for shortcomings and respond to negative feedback as quickly as possible.

It has thus become more important to create a better and stronger relationship between brand and consumer in order to create trust.

Tips for increased transparency

• Social CEO. The digital trends for 2019 and 2020 show that we are becoming more involved with content published by the company’s CEO, rather than the marketing department. Therefore, let your CEO use social media to communicate and engage with your customers. One great example is the founder and former CEO of NairaBET [NairaBET = ANCHOR AND LINK TO https://africacasinos.com/ng/review/nairabet/] Otunba Akin Alabi.
• Get help with chatbots. With the help of chatbots, you can create a stronger relationship between the brand and your customers.
• Live Streaming. Another trend that is a great way to be transparent in your marketing. People love brands that are, or at least feel, genuine. Live videos reveal what’s happening behind the scenes and let your customers learn more about your brand – all to build trust.

3. Micro-moments

There has been a lot of talk about “micro-moments” lately. According to Google’s content marketing team Think With Google, micro-moments are the critical moments when users expect your business to meet their credible content needs. Whatever time or place they are. Globally.

88% of users who search for local businesses via mobile, visit them within 24 hours. This means that your company needs to work long-term and strategically in anticipating these micro-moments, being when the customers need your help with a specific question.

Such moments can, for example, be when someone quickly needs to find a restaurant or buy an umbrella when the rain suddenly comes.
With micro-moments marketing it is important that your company remembers that you are not the central point in the customer’s world. And that the content you create in many cases is perceived as annoying.

The idea of micro-moments is that you only have a few seconds (in many cases just a microsecond) to catch the customers’ attention. If you do not succeed, the customer will proceed to the next article, newsletter or Instagram image or online store.

Tips for mastering micro-moments

• Strengthen your online presence. Your customers do not have time to search for several seconds (yes, seconds). Strengthen your online presence and make sure you rank well in search engines. A simple tip to strengthen search optimization is content – update your website with information that the customer may need.
• Mobile customize your site. Most micro-moments are to a large extent happening on the mobile. And as we all know, it takes longer to navigate it compared to a computer. Therefore, make sure that the content is easier to read and easy to navigate. Scale as much unnecessary content as possible and make it clearer to the visitor where the most important thing is. For example, a big no-no in the mobile is pop-ups and other time-consuming elements.

4. Vertical videos

Mobile content and ads are the future of marketing. 80% of everyone using social media does it through their mobile phones. 94% keep their mobiles vertical when they take part of content and in 2019 video material will record 80% of all internet traffic. In Nigeria where internet speed is rapidly improving 2019 will make a lot of changes to the online consumption of Naijans.

A recent study from the US shows, that users spend an average of 2.8 hours on their mobile every day (compared to 2.4 hours on computer). That is why it is important that your company starts publishing videos in a format that is adapted for mobiles – namely vertical videos.

There are many large companies that started with this, for example, Spotify has started to upload new versions of music videos in vertical format. Even smaller companies use Instagram Stories to broadcast live or upload videos to promote new products or services.

Videos are also enabling various new possibilities for the user, like streaming movies, playing online games [online games anchor and link to https://casino-bonus.com/games/], and video chat.

To follow the trend of vertical videos, it is important to keep this format in mind already during the planning phase, that is, before you start producing your material. If for some reason it is a production that needs to be in landscape format, then a simple solution is to make one or more variants of the same video in mobile-adapted formats.

Tips for mobile video format

• Plan ahead. It is important to think about mobile adaptation already in the planning phase. If you have been filming in a horizontal position without taking into account the trimming of the film afterwards, many important details can be lost along the way.
• Stories or regular posts? Keep in mind that you may also need a movie for regular posts on Facebook or Instagram. Then it is also good with a variant in square format.

5. Content marketing

Content marketing start to dominate the digital landscape. It is the best marketing method to earn trust, generate web traffic and build your brand.

As we wrote under point two, consumers have become “ad-allergic” and the fact is that 30% use adblockers, which means that old methods such as banners and ads are mostly ignored by the recipient.

Genuine content is therefore more important than ever. 80% of all internet users prefer good quality content before ads. A good example of a company that have succeed well in the content marketing area is Astro Media Group [Astro Media Group anchor and link to http://astromedia.com/], an online marketing company.

Content marketing has largely replaced the definition of marketing. Companies have begun to understand how effective it is – and that it leads to better results.

Tips for creating good content marketing

Focus on good content. A few years ago, many people found that content marketing was about publishing hundreds of blog posts. Today, it’s not that simple. As we have mentioned earlier, todays digital Nigerians drown in content, there is so much to read and take part in that we have become more selective. The solution is simple. Don’t publish content just because. Instead, publish good and qualitative content. Just add content when you have something of value to give to your customers.

Use several different channels. To get your content out, it is important to use the right channels, such as social media, magazines and newsletters. Choose the ones that best suit and adapt to the purpose and function of the channel.

Summary

Be one step ahead and use these tips for future-proofing your business against the ever-changing digital landscape.

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