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Matt Navarra is an industry network and he recently shared his thoughts about social media trends.

He also discussed the biggest mistakes that marketers are making, about the famous Influencer Marketing, and a lot more.

If you are interested to know what he has to say, then you are on the right page.

Who Is Matt Navarra?

Matt Navarra is formerly the Director of Social Media. Now, Matt is fulfilling his dreams on digital consultancy and work with the world’s biggest brands which include BBC, the International Red Cross, as well as the United Nations.

He is a commentator in the news, he regularly appears on TV and radio, and also in other media outlets like Sky News, BBC News, Mashable, The Guardian, TechCrunch, and so on.

Becoming The Source Of Social Media News.

Matt shared that his root in social media started in 2002. Back then, it was all about MySpace and Friendster.

After 7 years, he got a job as the Press and Media Relations Manager then became the Digital Communications Specialist for the UK government. In 2009, he worked for the Intellectual Property Office and this is when he started creating profiles for the department and became successful with it.

In 2013, he started working for the Government Digital Services in London. Later that year, he became the Director of Social Media for The Next Web (TNW) for five years.

April 2019, he started to work on his own and became a freelance social media consultant and now works with different companies like Red Cross, UN, BBC, and other social media startups.

His Thoughts On The 2019s Biggest Social Media Trends

According to Matt, the areas that he thinks would become big this year includes AR/VR. Podcasts, Communities/Private Groups/Messaging Apps, Creators or Shows, Chatbots, Influencer Marketing, Stories Format, and Voice Assistants.

For Matt, you wouldn’t know what new apps or social media trends would catch you by surprise.

But what you can see is its growth in importance as it becomes more and more popular.

The Importance Of Data Both For Influencer And Brand

For Matt, we should not underestimate the importance of data, especially with social media marketing campaigns.

Get close with the important social metrics and know your audience.

Companies should have a benchmark for their current performance to track their success.

These are the basic things but are often taken for granted.

His suggests that for startup brands with limited resources, identify what doesn’t work.

Track your campaigns for both successful and unsuccessful ones.

He also recommends using Socialbakers or other industry-leading tools that can give quick access to social data for analysis.

Advice For Someone To Build Social Media Influence

He suggests that to those who are planning to build social media influence, to find a niche, try to engage with other influencers, attend industry events, voice out their opinions, to be consistent, and to take their time to create something personal.

For him, it is not too late for newcomers. This would even provide a good opportunity to get noticed because social media is open to all. Anyone can become an influencer.

Make sure that you create a great content and meet what your audience requires of you. In fact, exceed them if you can.

The Biggest Mistakes That Brands Make

Matt Navarra sees the mistakes that brands are making these days and he is also guilty for making that too. Some of them include broadcasting and not making time to engage.

He also thinks that Copying and pasting content to all platforms or even trying to be edgy and trendy is not a good idea. Producing a ‘lame content’ is also a big mistake.

The Next Hit On Social Media Network

Matt believes that Instagram will keep on growing. For new social networks, any attempt to make a breakthrough will be tough and Facebook might even buy them, copy them, or would limit their chances to grow.

The apps that focus on private sharing, communities, groups, and also messaging will do well.

The videos and stories format are important. Audio like podcasts will also be a hit this year.

Social Media Formats That Excites Matt Navarro

For him, shows and another longer form serial content is trying to make a breakthrough on social platforms but he is aware that they are not cheap but can make great content.

He is also questioning whether people would watch these through the social network or through an app that they can access on their main TV.

He said that stories will also be more interesting once the AR/VR goes online.

Media Publishers That Are Doing Right On Social Media

Matt believes that any publisher that has a strong Stories game with top quality video content will do well this year.

He includes Cheddar, BBC News, and NowThis are the standouts for him because of the content, the business model, as well as the strategy for content distribution.

The Importance Of Creative Freedom

For Matt, it will never matter if you are a social media manager or an influencer, as long as it involves social media, how you engage and communicate with the audience, it can be selling a product or developing a community, for him, the point is:

“Success in social media requires creative freedom and the ability to experiment.”

Matt believes that influencers should be given the freedom to create the content that their audience wants.

The result from influencer marketing will be limited or disappointing if you do not give this to the influencers.

For him, creativity should be prioritized.