Let’s rewind and take a look at 2019 in review. This recap will highlight some of the biggest events, social media campaigns, trends, and stories from the year, and the data behind them in each month.

The start of the year on social media was defined by an egg. On the fourth of January, an innocuous egg appeared on Instagram with a simple mission – to be the most-liked image on the network.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsOGulcndj-/?hl=en

With a world record of 18 million likes, held by Kylie Jenner, it could have been a tough egg to crack. But the egg did it. In under 10 days.

The idea didn’t drive much conversation at first, with just some minor news coverage at launch on January 4. But by January 12, people were fanning the virality, encouraging people across all social networks to get on Instagram and like it.

https://twitter.com/MBacon333/status/1084188630040657920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1084188630040657920&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkwalker.com%2Fblog%2Fyear-in-review-quick-search%23

After that, the virality was inevitable. The image quickly hit the target, hitting the news with 6.7K news mentions with 741K engagements. But of course, the story doesn’t end there. The egg has now amassed over 53 million likes, and continues to drive mentions to this date, notably for its partnership with Hulu to promote mental health and social media.

One of the most engaging posts for March was something as simple as a GIF.

https://giphy.com/gifs/dance-watching-nobody-n2jGtmTGMEvpS

With 86.6M page views, and 3.2M Facebook shares, this brief clip of a twirling ape was crazily popular.
With the rise of meme culture, and the use of GIFs to express yourself on social media, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the most popular images of 2019 would be something so random.
And once the internet gets hold of something like this, well, it’s easy to see why this could so easily be shared.

Another picture that rocked social in 2019 was this one of the Black Hole from April.

With 2.8M mentions in April alone, this photo got people talking. With numerous stories being told about this scientific breakthrough.
For some, it was about the technological development that led to this point. (607K engagement).

For others, it was an opportunity to demonstrate the successes of women in science. (508K engagement)

And some used it as an opportunity to engage with a trending story, and turn it into engagement for their brand. (60K engagement)

Either way it was a story that united the internet, and created a moment in history that everyone wanted to be part of.

In May, Wendy’s finally caved under the pressure of customer feedback, and announced they would be bringing back spicy chicken nuggets.

But there was one catch:

A simple example of engagement grabbing. But it worked. The tweet spread across the internet, and soon gathered over 2.2M likes.

Wendy’s understands their audience, and what they crave. So they knew how to turn those insights into a viral campaign. No wonder it was the most engaging post from May.
And the message just kept giving. The brand tweeted about spicy chicken nuggets just 27 times in 2019 (so far), and for that, they gained over 4.4M engagement.
Never, ever underestimate how simple content can really engage your audience.

In June, Blossom, a video content creator, made the most of Facebook Watch, releasing a simple life hack video on peeling food.
Looks simple.

Yet it was one of the most engaging posts for that month. With over 7.8M engagement, and a phenomenal 391M views.

Who would have thought peeling corn could have been so appealing?
The trick was that the channel gave viewers what they wanted. Easy to follow, simply produced content, that gave the audience something new.
It’s a tactic that consistently paid off for the brand throughout 2019, driving nearly 30M engagement from just 130 Facebook posts.

In September, Chicken Noodle Soup hit the viral mark. Burt maybe not quite as you’d expect.

On September 27, J-Hope released the single, Chicken Noodle Soup, and the phrase hit 3.8M mentions in under a week.
No wonder. J-Hope is a member of BTS, who have a huge social media following, with 1.7 billion mentions, and 4.7 billion engagements in 2019 to date.
The video was a huge success with fans, with 100M views and 6.2M engagements so far. It even started its own viral challenge, with fans replicating the dance moves across channels like Instagram and TikTok.

#CNSChallenge drove another 2.3M mentions in 2019, showing how important new video channels like TikTok are for driving brand engagement if used correctly.

Halloween is a global event, especially big in the US, Japan, Europe, Brazil, and South Korea. In October, it was mentioned over 27.5M times.

But what was the big trend for Halloween this year? Let’s take a deep dive.

Filtering through the top hashtags relating to Halloween, and skipping over the obvious or generic ones (#costume, #spooky, #win), the one that stands out is #Pokémon.
Yes, this year, Pokémon Pumpkins (Pokékins? Pumpémons?) were big. With people across the world carving their favorite Pokémon from pumpkins.
There was one clear winner…

https://twitter.com/RobertJPreston1/status/1186022700374003714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1186022700374003714&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkwalker.com%2Fblog%2Fyear-in-review-quick-search%23

The hashtag created a lot of free user-generated content for the brand, and demonstrates a simple way brands can get their own audience engaged during the haunted season.

November started off with a feel good story with buckets of generosity. Due to a marriage proposal at KFC.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4hg0wODxK4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The brand worked hard to track down the happy couple, with #KFCProposal trending with over 624K mentions. Soon, brands from across the region were offering their services to create a wedding day to remember, including Lexus, kulula.com, Huawei, Puma, CastleLite, and many more.
These brands understood a viral story when they saw one, jumping in to the positive engagement that it was driving.
#KFCWedding has 770K engagement, with a broad range of brands linked to it.

Finally, in December, we have to include one of the biggest marketing events of the year: Christmas.

But when it comes to your Christmas campaigns, when is the best time to start?
By analyzing conversations relating to people getting excited for Christmas (with phrases such as can’t wait ‘til Christmas, or Christmas is coming), you can chart the excitement from consumers around the season.
Using last year’s data to predict the last weeks of this year, and by scaling all results from 1 to 100, it’s easy to see when Christmas really starts.
The first spike was late July, when the first Christmas pre-promote started.

The second was mid-September, when the 100 day countdown began.

Then from the end of October, Christmas is here to stay until January.
And once we hit the 60 day mark, Christmas is go!
If you’re wondering when to start next year’s festive marketing (or when to put your tree up), this will help you understand whether you’re ahead or behind the curve.