79% of people in the US alone are using some type of social media. At the global level, this number rises to 3.7 billion social media users. It is clear that social media platforms are here to stay. There is also no doubt that they are the primary means of attracting business customers.
But it is not that simple or easy. A lot of factors play an important role in creating a successful social media strategy. One of the primary challenges is that a social media marketing plan will not be relevant for a long time.
Social media trends change quickly, and it can be difficult to keep up with them. Here, a digital branding company can help you.
The right content marketing agency will know the latest trends. They will also know to leverage social media channels to benefit your business.
Before we tell you the newest social media trends, know how to keep up with them. How to Keep Up with Social Media Trends?
Industry experts will analyze and summarize the upcoming trends in social media for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Visiting these websites regularly will help you to know the latest updates.
☛ Subscribe/Download & Listen to Podcasts
Podcasts can be in audio or video format. You can watch them in the browser or download them on the computer. Just searching for social media podcasts is enough to start for now. Later, you can dive deep into the various topics.
Many social media experts post educational videos about the latest happenings in the industry on YouTube. Search the term “social media” on YouTube, and you will get a drop-down list of channels. Click Subscribe on the channel you like and view all their new posts.
Here, the experts will share their thoughts on what’s new in social media platforms via Twitter. Once you find an expert you like, follow them on Twitter. You will be able to catch up on their tweets regularly.
Everyone knows about memes today. The use of memes increased by 26% from August 2019 to July 2020. Memes have gained huge popularity quickly in the last few months.
It will not be wrong to say that memes kept the social media users engaged throughout the lockdown. Without a doubt, the pandemic has made our lives uncertain.
There is no clue about when our lives will go back to normal. So, memes are one of the trends to watch out for.
2. Videos are Ruling
More than 50% of people say they want video content more than any other type of Content. Brands can create either short format videos or long ones.
Now, many platforms also offer video features for businesses. Video marketing is not temporary. One way to prove that is Alibaba is planning to recruit and train video influencers to sell more.
Apart from video marketing, live videos are also gaining popularity. Live streaming is not just for games. As the brands were forced to go completely online, they started hosting major shopping events online. It is like updating the shopping page as per the current age.
Yes, Facebook is still the marketing king. When you use Facebook ads properly, it can get you unexpected results. But the latest trends in social media show that small platforms are also emerging as stars.
They are also worth your attention now. Two such platforms are TikTok and Reddit.
The global time spent on TikTok is increasing. As a result, many businesses are planning to use this platform in their marketing strategy. Reddit is not new.
But with platforms like Facebook and Instagram around, it is not given importance. Social media trends show that the platform saw a massive increase in usage in 2019. The monthly view count is also on the rise.
All this is a clear sign that niche platforms should be added to a brand’s content marketing efforts.
Instagram stories proved to be a success. Soon other platforms rolled out the same feature to increase the level of engagement.
Now, the Stories feature is available on all three major platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp. You can post something that will appear for the next 24 hours on the platform.
The feature is here for a few years but has witnessed a sudden growth among the users. The daily active users of Instagram’s stories increased five times in 2019.
Significant growth is seen in the stories feature of the other two platforms too. Hence, stories will continue to be one of the top social media trends.
5. Social Commerce is the Future
Brands are already using social media platforms to sell their products. Social commerce is the new retail option for brands, and it’s going to get stronger.
Just like offline stores and websites, social commerce will soon become a mainstream retail channel. This trend is becoming more popular with platforms introducing features like shoppable posts.
Brands and marketers should leverage this trend to attract their target audience. However, there are things to keep in mind while using social commerce. Research well before you consider it in your marketing campaigns.
Social media plays a crucial role in the purchase journey of customers. Today, more and more customers make purchase decisions after going through their feeds.
So, here is one of the social media trends to keep in mind. As per a recent study, one-quarter of all customers come to know about new products or services through social media posts/ads.
Also, a user will visit social media platforms to discover new products/services. Not to forget, the younger generation will search the platforms more than the older ones.
One of the most important social media marketing trends is offering customer service via these platforms. The top three benefits of this trend are 24 hours of service, convenience, and ease.
Businesses can get loyal customers when it is able to resolve all their issues to the earliest. In the case of potential customers, inquiries about the products/services are mostly made through social media.
But there is also a possibility that customers cannot get answers to their complex problems through this method. In that case, it is on the business’s part to ensure that they pay attention to customers’ problems on social media too.
In spite of this minor disadvantage, social media is now an important channel of communication for customers.
8. Growth in Messaging Apps
Messaging apps are a part of our daily lives now. About 90% of the smartphone users are active on at least one messaging app. This number is enough proof of the popularity of messaging apps.
It is a great platform for brands to consider. Along with the use, many customers prefer communicating via texts than calls. So, this is definitely one of the social media trends to consider in your current campaigns.
If you agree to its benefits, then know the potential of each platform too. Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger are the most popular.
9. Higher Adoption of Augmented Reality
Adopting VR in social Content is still at an early stage, but it is not the same with AR. Many platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are using AR filters. The filters were introduced to increase the social engagement rate.
AR is a way to improve reality and add digital elements to it. Social media platforms are finding ways to leverage them and keep the audience hooked. In the coming years, more and more social media platforms will adopt the AR filters trend.
Brands can use AR to improve customer experience on the platform. For instance, a furniture company can showcase how their products will look in a particular house setting.
10. Influencer Marketing will Continue to Soar
Influencer marketing is not one of the new social media trends, but it will be here in the future. Social media influencers dominate the internet and are paid huge amounts to promote brands. The number of influencers is increasing every day, and their fan following too.
Influencer marketing costs less than paid social media ads and yet gets the results. Not to forget that influencers will help you achieve other marketing goals too.
A marketer can work with a whole lot of micro-influencers to establish a brand presence. Such influencers can get you more engagement at a much lesser cost. Due to all these reasons, influencer marketing is expected to grow in the coming years.
11. Personalization will be Paramount
Personalized Content is a global trend. But personalization on social media is a recent one. Some experts say that brands cannot customize their Content for every customer on social media.
But they surely can do that for social media ads. Now, social media platforms offer advanced targeting and customization options to marketers. This allows them to show the right ads to their target audience at the right time.
Social media platforms now know the type of product that you like from your recent searches. Such an extent of personalization will continue to be a part of the marketing strategy of brands in 2021.
12. User-Generated Content will Continue to be Popular
Brands using user-generated Content for marketing is not new. But it is one of those social media trends that will continue in the coming years.
Some famous brands encourage their customers to create Content and tag them for a feature on their page. There are two main benefits of such Content. For the brands, the benefit is that Content is free, and it appears to be more authentic than branded Content.
On the other hand, customers get to make an informed choice before making a purchase from the brand.
13. Local targeting will Become More Prevalent
Brands use location-based targeting to reach a customer base from specific locations. One common way to do this is geo-tagging the posts and stories.
When you add a location to social media content, it will automatically attract local audiences. Instagram allows users to search for posts from specific locations.
When you add locations to your Content, it shows up in such search results. Geo-targeting is a better option for paid posts or promotions.
14. Incorporate Social Listening into their Strategies
Businesses can tap the potential of social media to get insights into their customers and marketing campaigns. It has become easier for businesses to get access to insights with the help of social listening tools.
Social listening is a part of every marketer’s strategy as they allow them to analyze social conversations and gain meaningful data.
Social listening can offer a lot of information, right from how a social media campaign is performing to how people perceive your brand.
15. Brands Connecting with Micro-Influencers
Brands are already leveraging influencer marketing to reach their potential customers. However, with the changing times, there is a minor change in this trend too.
Now, brands have realized the importance of micro-influencers. Micro-influencers have a comparatively less number of followers as compared to popular influencers.
Having said that, it is also true that micro-influencers have a more intimate relationship with their followers. In the case of highly popular influencers, there is also a possibility that they have some fake followers.
Keeping in mind all these things, brands are now inclined towards partnering with micro-influencers.
Conclusion
The social media trends discussed in this article will help your brand to stay on top of the game.
You can either have an in-house team of marketing to carry out all the campaigns or partner with a social media marketing agency. Both choices can be profitable, but it depends on your requirements.
If you are a startup or new to social media marketing, then a partnership with an agency is recommended as you won’t have to look after everything personally. For multinational corporations, an in-house team is a better choice.
Did the knowledge of these trends help you? Are you ready to partner with a social media marketing agency? If yes, then go ahead and drop a mail to [email protected] for further discussion.
