Keep Your Brand Current and Stay Ahead of the Competition With the Latest Creative Trends In Social Media! 🎨

To get ahead of the competition and keep your brand current on social, you need to be on top of the latest social media trends!  

From cool video edits to new-age filters, we’re covering the top 5 creative social media trends of 2019, as well as the best apps and hacks to help you recreate these trends on your channels.

Plus! To help you stay ahead of the curve and on top of the competition, we also created a free Creative Social Media Trend Report covering the top 20 creative trends shaping the social landscape right now! 

Get ready to grow your social following and boost your engagement levels! 

Creative Social Media Trend #1: Make It Pop With Animated Stories! 

When it comes to social trends in 2019, it doesn’t get much bigger than stories — over 500 million people now use Instagram Stories every day.

And stories aren’t just making waves on Instagram and Facebook. YouTube and Spotify are now also getting involved with new in-app stories features too!

And the rise of stories has led to a new, hyper-engaging trend — animated stories.

From motion graphics to scrolling text, you can now create a super dynamic experience on your stories.

Check out how fashion retailer Boohoo uses animated stories on Instagram for extra impact:

And there are already a ton of apps out there that do all of the hard work for you! At Later, we use a combination of Mojoand InStories to add animations to our stories. 

This example was created in Mojo. The story appears to “jump” upwards, mirroring the effect of a swipe up:

All you have to do is upload your static content, choose your animation effect, and the Mojo app does all of the hard work for you!

Adding simple animations — like scrolling text or moving images — to your stories is a quick and easy way to create a more engaging experience for your followers. 

In this blog post, we’re sharing 5 of the top social media marketing trends, but you can download our full report with the full Top 20 Creative Social Media Trends by entering your email below: 

Creative Social Media Trend #2: Go Vintage Edit With Grain, Dust, and Light Leaks!

When it comes to content editing trends, “vintage” is having a moment right now. See how influencer Jasmine Lorimer is working the light leaks trend across both her Instagram and Facebook posts: 

From grain to dust to light leaks — if it looks like it was recovered from a beat-up film roll, then it’s an absolute win right now.

To recreate these vintage film effects, you can use the Meitu app to turn your pictures into vintage polaroids — or add a whole bunch of grain inspired filters from their vast catalog. 

Meanwhile, the Afterlight app is great for adding grain, dust, and light leaks — creating that realistic “old film” aesthetic.

Whereas Filmm and Prequel are both great apps for adding cool watermarks, grain, dust, light leaks, and distortion to videos, creating that vintage “home video” vibe. 

Creative Social Media Trend #3: Stop Traffic With Video Subtitles  

According to Digiday, up to 85% of video on Facebook is now watched without sound — so being able to share your message without audio is more valuable than ever! 

And the subtitles trend isn’t just limited to Facebook. It’s quickly filtering into Instagram, YouTube, and even Pinterest. 

Adding subtitles can help engage your viewers and improve your retention rates — plus, it’s also an easy way to make your video content more user-friendly for people with a hearing impairment.

Thankfully, there’s a range of apps out there that allow you to add subtitles to your video content, without having to manually type out a lengthy script.

For live video, you can use the Clipomatic app to add subtitles as you record. All you have to do is hit the record button, speak clearly, and your words will appear in the form of a stylish caption right on your recording.

For prerecorded video, you can use the Caption This app to automate your subtitles — just upload your recorded video and wait for your captions to populate.

For a more traditional route, you can manually add subtitles to your videos with the desktop app Kapwing — which allows you to upload any video and overlay subtitles that are in sync with your content.

ICYMI: You can now plan and schedule all your video posts in advance with Later! Available on all paid plans, starting at $9/ month.

Creative Social Media Trend #4: Share The Spotlight With Like-Minded Brands

The days of a brand only featuring their products on social are officially a thing of the past.

In 2019, collaboration is key, and we’re seeing more brands than ever sharing their spotlight with other like-minded brands.

By associating with brands that capture a similar target audience, you can benefit from a shared promotional moment, but also provide a contextual “lifestyle” that your followers can associate with. 

Glossier, Summer Fridays, and Ouai all regularly share images that feature each one another’s products on Instagram.

And this trend isn’t just limited to Instagram. On Pinterest, brands regularly collaborate with other brands on the same board.

Take for example Well+Good and goop. They both collaborate on the same “Health and Wellness” Pinterest board — capitalizing on their shared brand values and similar demographic to cross-promote one another.

If you want to tap into this trend, think about brands with a similar target audience and complementary aesthetic — and consider the likelihood that your target audience would use their product and yours alongside each other. 

Creative Social Media Trend #5: Plan Your Grid With Alternating Posts! 

A cohesive, well-planned Instagram grid is a powerful “at-a-glance” business card for your brand! 

Which is why many brands and influencers are now “alternating” their posts to create a high-impact profile page aesthetic.

Take a look at how Summer Fridays strategically plan their grid to only feature people in every other picture. 

While influencer @ginagoesto posts her iconic tablescapes on an alternate basis to create a visually striking feed.

Although this may seem like extra effort, an impressive feed aesthetic can determine whether someone taps “follow” on your profile or not — so it’s definitely worth it in the long run.

Thankfully, this trend is super easy to achieve when you plan your content in advance with Later’s Visual Instagram Planner!

Just drag and drop your photos onto the visual planner, rearrange them to see how they’ll look in your Instagram feed, and then save to schedule them. Sign up for Later for free now!

Keeping up with the latest creative trends is a sure-fire way to make sure your brand stands out from the crowd on social media. 

Want the rest of the top creative social media trends of 2019? Don’t forget to download our free Creative Social Media Trend Report covering the top 20 creative trends shaping the social landscape right now: