With the chaos of 2020 behind us, it is time to look into the future of what we can expect in the next 12 months.
It was 2020, to make it benign, unpredictable. This meant that some trends were predicted about where the epidemic eventually appeared; others did not show up at all, with changing elements of the marketing landscape in different ways.
In particular, e-commerce sales skyrocketed, people spent more time on social media, and video conferencing became the norm. This has led to a significant change in the way the brand interacts with consumers. So, ahead of the new year, what social media marketing trends will continue in 2021?
Social Media Trend # 1: Instagram Sticker for Engagement
Research shows that in 2020, 60% of businesses use interactive elements such as stickers in their Instagram stories – and for a good reason! This is a great way to boost your engagement and create a dialogue with your audience. This applies not only to photographs but also to videos. Analytics suggest that sticker videos perform 83% better.
Stickers such as places, mentions, and hashtags have been popular ways to expand your stories’ reach for some time. However, in the past year, many new stickers have appeared. These include questions and polls, which are great tools to encourage engagement with your audience. Another new sticker is the “DM me” tag, which opens a direct dialog box to send a message when clicked.
Instagram also recently released a “Support Small Business” sticker in response to COVID-19. This allows accounts to show gratitude to the companies they like by displaying their three positions. This is a great way to collaborate with others in your community or industry.
Social Media Trend # 2: Texting on Instagram
While stories have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, Instagram started the grid. They visually represent your brand and share your unique message. However, since the number of likes is not displayed on Instagram, posting beautiful photos should not be the brand’s sole goal.
Now when you post on your grid, you should always think about engagement. This means being creative with text-oriented layouts that encourage commenting, posting, and saving. Last year, we saw a Twitter-inspired layout on Instagram feed combining the “tweet” format with colorful or patterned backgrounds. In 2020, we’ll look at it in a different way – Google Search Graphics.
Social Media Trend # 3: Cross-posting from Tiktok
There is no doubt that TikTok is occupying the online world right now. But luckily, this does not mean that you are meant to completely dig out other platforms that you have built without wearying followers over the years. Instead, we see brands and individuals post their videos on TikTok on other platforms to further their video creation efforts.
TikTok provides functionality to create quick, short videos that you may not find on any other social media platform. Increasingly, we see marketers share their TikTok videos through their Instagram account, Facebook, and even Twitter accounts. Even the world’s best Tiktok stars regularly re-post their content on Instagram, reminding us of the importance of not putting all our eggs in one basket.
Social Media Trend # 4: Long IGTV Content
Although the IGTV feature for Instagram video has evolved slowly, it was gaining traction in 2020. More and more brands are using this tool to create in-app video series for a long time and with the recent addition of brand partnership tools. Most likely, it will only become more popular.
Instagram recently made some updates to IGTV to make it more attractive to consumers. They redesigned the home page to display a creator at the top, based on each user, who they follow, and whose content they think they are interested in.
To get the most out of IGTV for your brand, be sure to shoot your content vertically to ensure that it is measured correctly. You can adapt your content to look silent in your feed by adding the subtitle.
Social Media Trend # 5: Live Streaming and Enhancing Effective Content
Booking a stay at home meant that the offline programs were canceled, and consumers could not attend the meetings or seminars. Coaches also could not communicate with their friends and family.
This has increased the number of people for live broadcasting, be it branded live broadcasts, live broadcasts from their favorite celebrities, or online seminars.
On Facebook, live streaming rose 50% during the blocked period, and Instagram views increased by 70%. The use of TikTok skyrocketed in 2020, and there is a good chance that we will see this upward trajectory continue to develop in 2021.
Human-driven content, such as a live stream of the influencers, can build trust and leverage the instantaneous connection consumers crave for 2020.
Amazon Live also came into the picture during the epidemic. Influencers stepped onto the stage to promote their favorite products during the live event. What’s more, live streams were available for purchase, which meant that viewers could shop while watching.
Social Media Trend # 6: Reels ignore organic exposure on Instagram.
Although Instagram has lots of fun and modern marketing features, the trend is clearly moving towards video, especially short videos.
We saw this pattern when stories surfaced in 2016. In-feed engagement and access declined as Instagram drew the attention of its users to 24-hour disappearing stories. In 2020, we saw the same thing; Reaching out for stories and feeds and skyrocketing for reels.
It is time to use shorter forms of video marketing. Instagram reels can be 15 or 30 seconds long, and we like to think of them as steroids. The reel should not be scary. They can be as simple as stories, talking to the camera. What makes the video so appealing is that you can add music and lyrics to keep it interesting.
The green screen effect is efficient for small businesses in the reels because it gives you the ability to post photos, screenshots, or videos to your videos. Photos can be before and after images that describe the transformation of your business. Screenshots can be used to show questions received by your company via email or private messages, where you answer the question as a “talking head” in front of screen capture. The options are endless.
Social Media Trend # 7: Facebook advertising success is tied to the customer life cycle.
As the online marketplace is becoming more saturated and Facebook ad spending continues to rise, returning to the fundamental aspects of running Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns will be critical to success.
At the heart of this success will be an accurate estimate of the customer life cycle and average customer value so that you know how much you can pay for leads while still being profitable. Review your previous customer records to get exact information on how to join your list, how long it takes someone to join your list and become a paying customer.
Use this information to create your Facebook predictions and advertising strategy that reflects your useful customer data. You can then go on to design innovative advertising campaigns that creatively match Facebook preferences.
For example, since Facebook pays more attention to Instagram reels, We predict that video ads will convert better than images. We recently tested ads that use an image with sound, a static image, a moving image, and a video and found that a video ad converted at half the others’ cost. Look at videos, GIFs, and videos in your advertisements to see what works best for your ideal customer.
Social Media Trend # 8: Personality becomes key to YouTube development.
The Internet business is booming, and YouTube is no exception. Many channels – even new channels – are now showing rapid growth.
During this growth, differentiation will be the key to standing out and attracting your ideal customer. As YouTube becomes increasingly saturated with thematic niches, it becomes more and more personality-oriented. This means that your most valuable differentiator is your unique personality: how you speak, explain concepts, etc.
Learning what sets you apart from others and incorporating it into your channel from day one will make it easier for you to attract and build new audience loyalty on YouTube.
Social Media Trend #9: Content will continue to focus on current events.
Great marketers have always been flexible. It is a lot more efficient to use messages related to current events than sticking to entry plans. If current events prevent this, don’t be afraid to give up an introduction, topic, or even your entire marketing strategy. You probably did it in 2020. You can do it again in 2021.
Social Media Trend # 10: Conferences will be remote.
Conferences are essential in the marketing industry. The events of 2020 have brought almost everyone online, and the same is likely to happen in 2021.
Don’t forget about continuing education in general, but don’t expect to spend a lot of money on it. Choose a few online conferences and sign each member of your marketing team to at least one of them.
Unfortunately, face-to-face meetings and events in 2021 will still be risky. Even with vaccines, We think there is little chance of returning to larger gatherings by the end of 2021.
Social Media Trend # 11: Consumer spending will skyrocket.
Consumer spending declined in 2020 as many Americans lost their jobs and others began to prioritize savings. As the economy recovers, some marketing experts predict an explosion in consumer spending.
We think the cost will be huge. Luxury goods, travel, clothing, gifts, homes, appliances, and cars – consumers are going to spend money on whatever they set aside in 2020.
It would be best if you did not count your chickens before they hatch. Do realize, however, that getting consumers to open their wallets will likely be more comfortable in 2021 than it was in 2020.