Social Media Marketing Trends 2021

Society has adapted to a pattern of, “what’s next?”. With technology, this concept is paramount, especially with the never-ending growth of social media. There are a ton of different marketing trends that will create huge waves of success for any business or brand looking to expand their reach online in 2021. This guide will explore social media marketing trends of 2021 that will serve to educate marketers and businesses on how to enhance their image and connect with customers during rapidly changing technology and times, specifically tailored to social media usage. 

According to SproutSocial, there are over 3.6 billion people that are on social media. It is estimated that people spend roughly 144 minutes a day on social media platforms.

What Will Make Your Brand Stand Out?

Authenticity

Today, there is too much of the same thing out there; all of the content is bound to be similar. It’s easy to get intimidated by the oversaturated markets. Sometimes, content creators can get lazy with their approach to curating. It’s okay to gravitate to the practices that have worked for other brands, but the key is not to sacrifice originality. You will lose your creative voice if you try too hard to be EXACTLY like another brand. 

Harness your creativity. Be original. Get inspired. Turn that inspiration into dynamic content for your audience to consume on social media. Not only will they appreciate it, but you can be sure they’ll come back for more! First impressions are essential for brand success. 

Source: Sprout Social

Consistency

Regularly scheduled content is the key to building an maintaining an engaged audience. Two of the most important elements of consistency are to post often and deliver on a recurring theme that is going to become recognizable for customers. Stick to what you know best and focus on a specific niche. Give your audience exactly what they came to your profile for and deliver it in a way that allows them to anticipate each and every one of your posts. Keep your posting schedule intact and don’t deviate from it. If you show consistency with your audience, then your audience will become consistent customers.

Memorability

Like a classic hit song that plays in your head over and over again, brands can have the same effect on social media. Do you have an impactful message to share online? Are the themes and colors of your brand able to stand out in a crowd of thousands?

As the brand owner, are you going to be able to engage your audience in a way that allows customers to gain a level of trust and respect for you as the face of the operation? Do whatever is necessary to make your brand embed itself in the minds of your audience. If you can do that, you’ll be as recognizable as “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. Well, maybe not quite that huge, but anything is possible with memorability!

Engagement

Comments and likes from customers on social media are always a great indicator as to whether or not your brand is harnessing the true power of engagement. This means that people are reacting to your content, which is good, but what perhaps is just as important is your brand’s response to the customers engagement! 

Be approachable on social media. Engage with your customers when they take time out of their day to show interest in you. This will reflect well on your brand image, portraying you as approachable and personable. Not only that, but you can build up relationships and loyalty with your audience.

2021’s Biggest Social Media Trends

Interactive Content

Text-based content still has it’s value; there is certainly a time and a place for it despite the rapid demand for visuals. However, people are turning their focus to more dynamic content that will give them an engaging and highly immersive experience:

• Quizzes
• Polls
• Embedded calculators
• Augmented reality ads
• 360 degree videos

Video Marketing

Video marketing is considered to be the zenith of social media content. As mobile platforms have transitioned to prioritize high quality video content, video will only become more important!

Here are some useful statistics below that show just how valuable this trend is for all marketing strategies:

• 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
• 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video

Video marketing is an excellent way to educate and alert people about new products and services offered. 

Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook have useful features that allow you to post and host live videos.

With the format of technology adapting to mobile devices and smaller screens, longform information is becoming harder to read for people. Video can present this information in formats that work for the chosen device screen. It is highly adaptable to the changing preferences of users and will ensure that your content never goes unread. 

According to SEO Tribunal, If you have a video on your website, it is 50x more likely to drive organic search results, in contrast to posting nothing but text on your web pages. It is clear that users are drawn towards dynamic video content at this stage in the social media marketing game; be on Google’s good side! As a result, they will push your content and website to the top of the batting order for search results. 

Types of video:

• Live video
• 1:1 video
• Video SEO
• 360 degree video content

Source: Single Grain

The luxury of using social messaging apps is that it allows for more effective and meaningful communication between you and your customers. Connections can be created and relationships built. This is a key form of brand personalization that will go a long way in maintaining good standing with your online audience. Direct contact is always the easiest and most efficient way to communicate, especially from a professional standpoint. 

Main reasons to use social messaging apps:

• Cultivate contacts
• Deliver information
• Boost sales
• Involve people in events
• Regain lost customers 
• Provide support and assistance 

Source: Social Insider

According to statistics, 500 million people interact with Instagram stories daily. There is no sign of their popularity going down moving forward. 

As a brand, utilizing social media stories will involve more organization and planning around publication calendars. Stories usage will continue to grow because they outperform photos.

*SocialInsider studies found that photos in stories have a 5.65% higher tap-forward rate than videos. Tap-forward rate is the users who click through your entire story without waiting for the length of it to run out completely. At the same time, it appears that users tend to spend more time viewing videos. 

*51% of brands are using videos in Stories. This will likely increase in 2021.

Mastering SEO For Instagram Visibility

Search Engine Optimization can be a complicated process, but if you can at least understand the value of keywords, then you will be in a great position as an aspiring brand. Not only can you reach the right audience, but also your profile will become much more discoverable to people on Instagram if you implement the appropriate keywords catered to your brand niche. 

In 2020, Instagram updated its program to become more search-friendly for users. Now, by searching for words in Instagram’s search tool, profiles, posts and other content of relevance can populate your results. This undoubtedly will improve your ability to reach more users and increase your visibility to a wider audience. 

In order to take advantage of this, it is vital to make sure that you insert relevant keywords within the caption of your post. This will go a long way in directing Instagram in their efforts to identify the details of your post. 

Another important tip to practice regularly is post consistency. Make sure that you maintain a consistent posting schedule, relevant to your niche, so that you stay in the minds of your followers. People need to know you are always there, otherwise they will quickly forget about your brand if you go through long periods of inactivity online.

Reels on Instagram Are an Exposure Gold Mine

Instagram Reels are frequently used. If you aren’t familiar with Reels, they are simple 15-30 second videos people use to create all kinds of entertainment. This popular Instagram feature offers tools such as audio, visual effects and other creative capabilities. 

Short-form video is a key trend. The introduction of Reels saw at least 10 times more number of views than you’d expect from stories or posts.

Reels don’t have to be intimidating. They can be as easy as talking on your camera, similar to stories. You can add music and text to make it interesting. Ex: timing a text so it appears and disappears with the beat of a song. The Green Screen Effect is powerful for small businesses because it gives you the ability to share photos, screenshots, and videos to your reel. Ex: Before-and-After images showing the transformation your business delivers. Screenshots can be used to showcase the questions your business gets from emails and direct messages, and you can answer the questions as a “talking head” in front of the screenshot.

Live Videos Are the Way to Go

With the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, brands and businesses shifted their focus to the computer screen. Meetings in-person changed to zoom calls and live concerts turned into live streams of musicians playing at home. 

Because of this, platforms like Facebook and Instagram with “Live” features have seen views double within a week in COVID hotspots like Italy. People are getting used to interacting with their favorite brands online.

*Live tutorial videos are popular 

*According to SproutSocial, 40% of consumers want to see more live videos from brands.

Personalization On Social Media

If you aren’t familiar with personalization marketing, think of a platform you use frequently, like YouTube or Netflix. The software gathers data and relevant information based on the type of content you watch and converts it to a “Recommended for You” section on their platform. Now, when you watch videos, YouTube or Netflix will suggest other videos you may find interesting, based on your history of platform usage. This is not to invade any form of privacy, but rather an initiative to make your experience better when using their online streaming services. 

When you apply the process of personalization to social media, brands work with advertisement. As suggested by Influencer Marketing Hub, “Social media platforms have started providing advanced targeting and customization options for marketers. These let you show the right ads to the right people at the right times.” 

As a brand with a specific niche market, social media personalization allows you to see all the most relevant pieces of content online. This can help your brand find new customers and create new connections with other brands. This is just another trend in marketing that will be quite prevalent with consumers moving forward. 

Another key point to consider when using personalization marketing is relatability and connection. Going the extra mile in tailoring your messages specifically to your audience will go al ong way in winning them over and maintaining brand loyalty. Don’t send them spam. Make them feel like you care because you actually do! Don’t be a robot!

Prominence of Ephemeral Content

“Nothing gold can stay.” – Robert Frost

Ephemeral content involves any type of media, such as videos or images, that last for a short period of time before disappearing forever. A platform like Snapchat has always been the epitome of ephemeral content, but other big platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and now even Twitter have hopped on the bandwagon of briefness. 

What’s interesting about this form of media marketing is that it caters to the very short attention spans of people. 

The pictures below show illustrations and statistics regarding the timeline of each major platform launching their ephemeral content features as well as the range of active users who indulge in this feature:

It Pays to Think Ahead

Being organized and planning ahead will ensure that your brand achieves a great deal of success online. As much as creativity is of utmost importance for creating and curating content for your brand on social media, having an effective strategy to reinforce that creative element is what will propel your brand to greater heights. 

You need to delegate the time and effort to schedule posts and work ahead of time to meet the demands of posting and curating. At the same time, you can’t sacrifice quality. So, in order to implement an effective marketing strategy for your brand on social media, you need to balance time, quality, and effort in order to maximize the potential of implementing a strategy. Always plan ahead so that your brand stays ahead.

Stay Ahead of The Curve

With the constantly shifting tides of the social ocean, it can be difficult to keep up. However, being ahead of the trend and taking advantage of best practices can set you up for social media success!  However, video content creation, stories, and SEO can feel overwhelming. Whether you’ve managing your own social media or you’re just getting started, having a team of experts by your side can pay dividends. The team at Mister Social has years of experience providing their social media expertise to small businesses!