Social Media Trends For 2021

All social media platforms add brand new features and change their algorithms on a very regular basis. Likewise, social media trends also undergo regular evolution.

To make the most out of social media marketing brands need to constantly keep upgrading their methods to match the latest trends in the social media world.

Brands should constantly review their existing strategies and pivot to add new types of content to their repertoire.

Here’s a quick list to walk you through the latest trends of 2021:

Live streaming is getting bigger

The pandemic made the realm of live streaming go bonkers. For instance, the number of views on Instagram and Facebook Live doubled in just a few days.

This continues to grow in 2021, as now people have got used to seeing their favorite brands live and can now interact with them all while sitting in their home.

Sprout Social Index says that 40% of customers want to see more live videos from their favorite brands.

What you can do about it:

• Use Instagram and Facebook Live to stream videos.
• Use YouTube to live stream content about your product.
• Run ads on live streaming platforms.
• Conduct webinars.

Stories are outperforming all

Around 500 million users interact with Instagram Stories every day.

A study conducted at SocialInsider found that images in Stories have a 5.65% higher success rate than videos. The numbers are projected to increase in 2021.

Your brand should leverage Stories to promote content and make better connections with your audience.

You need to plan carefully and take a more organized approach to Stories. Think of them as a content format for publishing calendars.

What you can do about it:

• Use Instagram’s inbuilt stickers in your Stories frame.
• Add interactive polls and quizzes to your Stories.
• Add an interactive element or text that summarizes the topic.
• Use CTA’s in your Stories like “Swipe up” or “Read more”

Virtual Reality is gaining traction

With the need for social media distancing and stay-at-home lockdowns, people are seeking more meaningful interactions virtually.

• Around one in five (19 percent) US consumers were using VR in 2020 (AR Insider, 2020).
• Close to 52.1 million people in the US were using virtual reality technology at least once per month in 2020 (eMarketer, 2020)
• It is predicted that by 2030, 23 million jobs will be using AR and VR in one way or another (PwC, 2019).

What you can do about it:

• You can use VR to showcase the development of your product.
• You can use VR for digital interactive interaction with your content.
• With VR you can also have enhanced customer support features.

Customer Lifecycle is getting important in Facebook Advertisement

The year 2021 is witnessing the return of the foundational aspects of running ad campaigns on both Facebook and Instagram.

Accurately assessing the average customer value and more importantly, the customer life cycle will be central to the success in running ad campaigns on Facebook.

Both of those pieces of information tell you how much you can pay for a lead and still remain profitable. You get an idea of how leads join your list.

What you can about it:

• Review records of your past customers.
• Carefully take into account how much time your average customer spends with you.
• Use the data to build projections that reflect your true customer data.
• Move to make innovative ad campaigns on Facebook using the data collected.

YouTube is Becoming More Personality Centric

YouTube is no exception to the current ongoing boom in online businesses.

It is becoming more and more saturated with topical niches and at the same time becoming personality-centric. Your unique personality will be the key differentiator.

The way you speak and the way you explain concepts.

What you can do about it:

• You can read SocialMediaExaminer’s post on how to build loyalty with a new audience on YouTube.
• Watch Salma Jafri’s website that is dedicated to video strategy building and YouTube coaching.
• Learn what makes you different and use it in your YouTube channel.
• Watch channels that are witnessing exponential growth and learn from them.

LinkedIn Culture is Changing Dramatically

The year 2020 saw huge changes in LinkedIn.

The company rolled out LinkedIn Live, Events, Polls, and Stories — all in a single year. This culture shift got created due to the rise in remote working from home.

The plan was to mimic the team environment that was missing. And the year 2021 will probably be seeing similar changes on the Linkedin platform.

What you can do about it:

• Focus on conversational marketing.
• Create polls that your audience will want to vote on.
• Share photos of your product or content in Stories.
• Adopt transparency into your marketing efforts.

Instagram Saw Massive Changes

In November 2020, Instagram officially announced that it’s going to become more search-friendly.

Up until now, users could only search for content using hashtags, location tags, usernames, and profile names. But after the update users can find content directly through keywords.

This is big news for marketers as they will now be getting more opportunities for more reach on their posts and content on Instagram.

Seeing the exponential rise in popularity of TikTok, Instagram launched Reels. It lets you create short-form videos that can be instantly shared with friends.

This year is the year of the social media marketer. Like all years!

What you can do about it:

• Make sure your captions include relevant keywords.
• Consistently post content that’s relevant to your niche.
• Follow other similar accounts and add relevant keywords to your name.
• Use the Green Screen Effect in Reels.

Wrapping it up

So, how are you planning to do it? Post your ideas down in the comments section! I’d love to hear from you.

Also if this post was helpful to you consider sharing it with your friends and family or someone who’s trying to get into social media marketing!