Top 7 Trends in Social Media to Keep an Eye on in 2021
Introduction-
Despite many of the changes in online marketing over the last decade, trends in social media, as well as social media, in general, have indeed survived, and now have improved every year to maintain their position as one of the most potent marketing platforms available today.
The year 2020 has finally come to an end, which is a huge relief.
Have you ever considered how tough 2020 might have been without social media?
As social media sites add new features and update their algorithms, social media trends evolve as well.
These quick shifts provide a completely new set of challenges for businesses and social media marketers, who must continually evaluate their strategic approaches and change direction to include new types of information in their repertory.
Social media has never been more potent as a marketing tool, and it is certainly something to watch.
As a result, new social media trends emerge, grow, and evolve on a daily basis.
Your techniques open the door to talks by using social platforms to raise brand awareness. However, people and analytics change, and you must keep up with them.
Staying relevant by participating in the latest social media challenge or hashtag is a terrific way to stay current, and it’s critical that you keep up with the latest digital marketing trends.
So, let’s dive right in and look at the top seven latest trends in social media that you should be paying attention to in 2021.
Video That is Being Broadcast Live
By 2021, not only is Facebook Live a success, but other major platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn have also adopted comparable features.
The reason for the success of live-streaming is, it has such an impact on people that recorded videos just cannot match.
People can interact with the information in ways that they couldn’t if it was a pre-recorded video.
In the 2020, people have grown accustomed to being able to connect with businesses and live without ever leaving their homes, and this situation will continue to evolve in 2021.
As a result, live streaming will gain significant traction and should be included in your social media marketing approach.
People are currently enamored with video, particularly live video material, which looks very genuine.
Live streaming video provides a glimpse of something much more unfiltered, open, and trustworthy.
Provided all of the advantages of live streaming, this is not surprising why more than 40 % of marketers use it as part of their social media strategy.
As a Content-Format, Stories are a Good Fit
Stories foster a community spirit, encourage followers to return, and seem more genuine than a collection of heavily altered photographs.
Stories offer a variety of features such as the ability to add polls or ask questions, which helps marketers to gather insights from their viewers, building engagement through simple interactive content.
In the previous year, stories were the most popular content format, and they aren’t going away.
Marketers will need to get more structured and prepare for Stories as quality content.
Furthermore importantly, the video will become more popular as a Story format as it appears to outshine photographs.
Conversational Marketing
People use social media for more than just to make new acquaintances and chat with them.
It’s a location where people can express themselves, buy new items and services, leave reviews, and even contact your company.
Your clients, after all, need to contact your company on a frequent basis for one reason or another.
Users on social media can learn more about you if you communicate authentically.
And that opens up the possibility of customer involvement, in which you may learn more about your following.
Chatbots are better, faster, constantly available, and also more effective than bulky software applications of the past, thanks to modern technology
Chatbots are an unavoidable element of customer care, whether they’re providing 24/7 support or boosting human productivity.
Rather of relying on email and the false notion of a response “within 2 – 3 business days,” employ chatbots to stay up with the rising activity on social media networks.
Using Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is not really a new concept, but it’s going to stay longer.
Consumers are skeptical of commercials and distrustful of anonymous corporate brands, which is why influencers work so successfully.
As a result, they are more likely to trust someone they know, even if the relationship is solely virtual.
Friends and family, acquaintances, and the customer reviews area of an e-commerce site are all examples of social evidence.
In any case, customers place a greater emphasis on it.
Influencer marketing may help you reach new audiences, raise brand recognition, and enhance marketing ROI.
It’s a lot less expensive than launching sponsored marketing campaigns, yet it still gets great results.
A Move To Social Commerce
Several social media networks are attempting to keep users on their platforms by reducing the barrier consumers encounter when transitioning from window shopping to purchasing intent.
We’re seeing more features and tools that assist quick and easy purchasing as the social media sector adapts to improve the customer experience.
For example, you may add product labels and enable simple checkout on Instagram even without exiting the site.
With the rise of social commerce, marketers will be able to construct shorter sales channels and provide customers with a seamless and speedy buyer’s journey, resulting in higher user satisfaction.
When you add social commerce, you have a customer journey that is simplified and shortened.
When your audience sees a product they like on social media, they don’t have to travel to the website to find it.
They may purchase it directly from the site, which is expected to minimize the number of transactions that are abandoned.
Reels & Short Video Content in High Demand.
Continued interaction on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat Stories material, as well as companies generating various short-form videos or reels.
Expect content to continue to gain traction as people’s attention spans on social media shorten and more individuals browse endlessly through feeds when bored at home.
A marketer should begin to think more deliberately about video strategy, particularly in terms of how long your videos should be and where they should be posted.
Using, Reels and YouTube Shorts to create short clips is the new trend, and every business should jump on board as soon as possible.
The Worth of the Content Will Outweighs the Quality of the Manufacturing.
In 2020, when many firms were forced to go totally remote, social networking and video marketers needed to design scalable production methods that could be done from home.
Since consumers started to connect with videos, live streams, and other social media content clearly created from home offices, marketers recognized that lower-quality material might still be engaging.
By utilizing user-generated content, a social media marketing strategy that is becoming increasingly dependent.
UGC seemed to be too good to be true.
You can get your viewers to work for you by employing some innovative techniques.
UGC serves as social validation, promoting your brand’s message, strengthening customer connections, and instilling trust in your target market.
In a world where people are increasingly socially isolated, social media has become the default communal place.
Social media users have rushed to it in pursuit of knowledge, amusement, and social interaction.
Consumers are spending more time on social media than ever before, and if you’d like to attract them, you must keep on top of the social media sphere
And to do so, you’ll need to stay current with the latest and best trends, which we’ve revealed to you.
Your Business and Social Media Influencers
Do you remember why you clicked on a particular video in your Facebook feed?
How do you make a choice between which random posts you are going to like and share?
It is because those posts have a popular face that you trust and tend to believe and follow.
You are the person these popular faces are targeting as a potential customer. Welcome to the world of Social Media Influencer marketing!
Prior to the arrival of social media on the scene, one of the preeminent ways for companies to create outstanding promotion campaigns for their business was celebrity endorsements.
Nothing boosts an advertisement more than putting up a familiar face on the merchandise. Although celebrity endorsement remains one of the favorite marketing tactics, the ways of attributing a famous person to a product or service have altered.
The advent and popularity of platforms like Facebook, Instagram & Twitter have given birth to a new breed of people called Social Media Influencers.
Smart digital marketing professionals are fervently utilizing these influential people to not only increase brand value but also to reach potential customers in numbers and places nobody could think of.
Not just being limited to celebrities, influencer marketing brings powerful commendation to the era of social media and content marketing.
Who is a Social Media Influencer?
The best social media influencer in India is an individual on a social medium who has gained credibility in a particular niche or industry. He or she holds access to and command over a wide audience and can influence them via their legitimacy and reach.
They have a following of millions. They create content on public platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, to support certain brands that collaborate with them.
They provide an exceptional opportunity to leverage their following to boost sales, leads, and revenue for your business.
It is a misconception that every influencer has celebrity status. We may divide them into 3 main categories:
- Celebrities
- Industry prodigies
- inspirational speakers
- Bloggers and content creators
How to Find the Right Influencer for Your Business
Would you like to take advice on good eating joints from M.S. Dhoni or Vir Sanghvi? Well, Dhoni might have been to the best of restaurants but Vir Sanghvi is a food connoisseur.
May it be any country or state, he has experienced all and documented most. Hence, he would most likely be your best bet. If you own a restaurant business, just think of Vir Sanghvi raving about the food and services of your brand on his social media handles.
What a transformation it can be for your restaurant!
After you shortlist a few options, the following are a few pointers for finalizing the right one before you jump the influencers’ wagon:
- Niche– Look for individuals in your niche or related. For example, if you deal with fashion accessories, a renowned beauty professional is relative too.
- Target audience- Make a rough sketch of your target customer based on gender, occupation, or location. Match this sketch with the influencer’s profile.
- Type of content you want to market– Do you want to host an event with them or have them write a blog, shoot videos, or audios.
- Return on investment– It must be much more than that of your routine campaign to be worth the effort and money.
- User’s reach– It’s all about numbers. Take into account the number of social media users they can touch.
- Research- Do a little research of your own or ask the influencers for their detailed metrics and the brands they have worked with.
If you find it hard to handle (it can be overwhelming indeed), the best option is to do it professionally via an expert digital marketing agency such as Social Media Freaks.
SMF can help you find the best one to engage with, and they also know the right way to make full use of, to get the highest advantage.
The Real Value in Influencer Marketing
Maybe you would not have thought it over, but online reviews and ratings play a vital role in your business’s digital reputation. At least 80% of people go through these reviews before making a purchase.
For you as a business, an influencer partnership would bring valuable high-profile reviews for your products. Before becoming a customer, the audience does not know you.
Today every customer is smart and internet-savvy. They base their opinions and decision-making on the ratings & reviews on websites like Amazon or Google.
The influencer partnerships bring much-needed high-profile reviews on your business and the products offered. The influencer’s customers attach value to the suggestions that people who follow these individuals also view and buy your services.
This type of value is rarely provided by other methods of advertising or marketing. Combine this with the reach and engagement this partnership offers and you have a winner in your hands!
SMI for your business brings a very high return on investment in terms of leads, sales, and ultimately, revenue
Add Social Media Influencers to Your Marketing Strategy
Either look after it yourself, or hire the services of professionals such as Social Media Freaks, but one must add SMI marketing to give a big boost to and improve your online presence, reputation, and business profile.
