Social Media Marketing Trends In 2021 (The New Normal)

The year 2020 has been a whirlpool of challenges for most businesses, whether big or small. The pandemic came crashing, while brands were slowly getting used to the importance of having an online presence. It caused many organisations that stuck to the traditional means to shut down within a month, and the rest struggling to survive.

Marketing trends are constantly changing, and 2020 has taught us that it is vital to stay relevant no matter how much value your business model brings.

The term “Digital Marketing” was first formed in the 1990s, which has evolved from the Web 1.0 platform to what we have now – Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and more. This is how much digital marketing has changed in 30 years, so what about 30 years from now? Will we be prepared for the next global crisis that strikes, when we have not even attuned to the current situation yet? Yikes.

Creating trends and viral content is known to be effective in growing an online audience fast. However, things like listening to your audience’s demands and adapting your brand’s content to the current situation will ensure that you thrive in the longer run.

Covid has caused a drastic change in marketing strategies, consumer behaviour, audience personas, and more. Adding on the limitations set in place for the safety of our health and wellbeing, businesses need to act fast according to the situations.

Hence, it is important to constantly be up to date on the current methods and trends. In which, I have written this article to bring you through the Social Media Marketing Trends in 2021 and the different platforms to focus on according to your industry.

Social Media Marketing Trends In 2021

1. Building A Strong Online Presence
2. Focusing On The Right Social Media Platform
3. Push Out More Social Media Campaigns About The Changes
4. Live Streams And Influencer Marketing
5. Collaborations

1. Building a STRONG online presence

With many brands realising the need to be on social media, the platforms are now overcrowded. Not sure if you took notice of the number of Facebook advertisements that went out during 2020 Christmas? The conversion rate of each click heightened by at least triple the usual performance. How crazy!

With every brand using Facebook and/or Instagram as a necessity to represent their company’s profile today, how can yours stand out?

By concentrating on Awareness > Conversions.

Besides merely having a social media page and focusing on converting each post, it is essential to FIRSTLY – have a strong branding.

What are the elements of your brand that can set itself apart from the other competing brands? It can be based on a certain look and vibe, or even a brand voice that you’re aiming to own. Most importantly, remember to be authentic.

SECONDLY – Provide quality information on your social media channels that are about or related to your brand.

As mentioned by Forbes, Informed buyers want to buy from informed brands.

Treat your social media channels similarly to your website, to ensure that the contents pushed out are able to inform your audiences about your products/services.

For example, if you own a bakery, here are some of the contents that you can focus on:

• Baking recipes according to the festivities/monthly seasons
• Tips on baking (how to raise your bread, techniques of dough molding, how to shape bread, etc.)
• Benefits of product
• Detailed information on each product

Or check out one of our client’s infographic posts to introduce the selection of wines and tapas platters available at their Spanish Tapas Restaurant and Bar – The Winery.

(content posts by Plexxie for @thewinerysg)

Keep up with the latest content trends and implement them into your post strategy. Judge it based on your opinion – would you be interested to know more as a follower/new consumer?

The key is to strike an adequate balance between the number of promotional and informative posts.

LASTLY – Work on building your online community #brandhashtag

Call them “fans” if you will, but these are your loyal customers who make up the strongest portion in determining whether your brand has managed to achieve a strong online presence.

Always introduce your brand hashtag into each post to build on the awareness, and focus on campaigns that will encourage your consumers to be part of the tagging.

With Plexxie being a Creative and Social Media Marketing agency, we are strongly focused on our community of Creative Freelances on Instagram. Ensuring that our branding, focus, and content strategy was constantly set in place, we have managed to grow 24K user-generated content on our hashtag #plexxie to date.

2. Focusing on the RIGHT social media platform

In having a great number of social media platforms readily available for free to market your business today (at least to a certain extend), businesses find the need to tap on every current platform for the maximum amount of reach. 

That mindset is not wrong, but having to start on a handful of platforms at the same time, might eventually cause your brand to lose its main focus and brand direction on each platform.

Much like how most businesses usually begin with a niche focus, the same method should be applied to your marketing plans. Hence, it is beneficial for you to streamline the best compatible platforms to be on for your brand.

Before deciding on the platforms your brand should tap on, it is important to consider your audience’s personas such as their age range, spending power, and the social media channels that they will most likely be using. You should also consider the types of content that you will like to push out for your brand in terms of the information that you plan to provide.

Facebook

Facebook was known to be the platform that was most actively used among the older generation. The reason being was that teenagers were not keen on being on the same platforms as their parents.

However, with the current change in online behaviour due to COVID-19, consumers aged between 25 to 34 years old are now the biggest group of audiences using Facebook. To study more on the distribution of Facebook users worldwide, click here.

And with the massive crisis that hit the economy, brands are now fleeting to Facebook to drive traffic to their online sales via boosted or advertising campaigns. 

Despite all these facts, Facebook should be a top platform for every brand to jump on. Even if the target audience does not suit your brand, Facebook is now commonly used as a way for consumers to know more about your brand besides (or even before) heading to your official website.

It is now a typical behaviour for consumers to search up for your brand’s Facebook page to get a better judgment before deciding if they will like to purchase/visit.

Recommended contents to post:
Long-form contents – videos above 3 minutes, articles, detailed writings of product/service breakdown.

Instagram

Much like Facebook, Instagram is the next go-to platform for consumers to know more about a brand.

However, Instagram is unquestionably utilized by younger audiences. It is known that more than half of the global users are aged below 34 years old, with 18 to 24 years old holding the largest percentage. To find out more, read this article by Sprout Social.

Recommended contents to post:
Short-form contents – Static image/design, videos below 5 minutes (IGTV), 15 seconds videos for IG Stories, Light-hearted contents.

YouTube

With YouTube being the most popular platform to watch videos continuously, it is undeniably the best platform to use for video marketing.

YouTube is usually used by brands to further educate their consumers on the related topics to their products/services. This allows the brands to further highlight on their credibility while marketing what they do at the same time. For example, a real estate company can create content surrounding tips on investing in a property and end off by introducing their real estate consultation services available.

Recommended contents to post:
Long-form videos – Educational topics, Casual skits, Reviews, Demonstrations, Overviews.

To find out more about the full potential of marketing via YouTube, read this article by Vidyard.

Tik Tok

The latest kid on the block is taking over the world by storm with it being the most active social media platform for Generation Z. If you haven’t heard of Tik Tok, you should find out more about it now!

With over 2 billion downloads by far, Tik Tok may be the next rising social media platform in years to come. Although it is currently used by the younger audiences aged between 16 to 24 years old at 41 percent, these numbers might change. 

Hence, even if the platform’s audiences are not your targetted consumers today, it is still good to keep it within your radar.

You’ll never know when the next digital change will happen.

Recommended contents to post:
Short-form videos – Casual skits, Product unboxing, Random entertainment.

Linkedin

Set in a more serious tone in its purpose and looks, LinkedIn is mostly used for professionals to connect and expand their career network.

Unless your sales model is concentrated on business-to-consumer (B2C), LinkedIn is not a compulsory social media platform to have.

However, owning a personal LinkedIn profile is still highly recommended!

Recommended contents to post:
A mixture of long and short-form contents -Professional write-ups, Articles, Prizes won by the company, Testimonials, Awards.

Pinterest

The social media platform that is most under the radar, Pinterest is usually used by brands to find inspiration for their ideation campaigns.

Pinterest allows people to pin their saved ideas to boards, where it might also help consumers to find more information on products they are interested to buy. Read more about The Beginner’s Guide to Using Pinterest for Business here.

Recommended contents to post:
Static images/designs, GIFs, Short-form videos, Infographics.

Twitter

Much like “a man with few words”, Twitter is the social media platform that best represents that idiom.

What started as a medium for individuals to post quick rants or updates with a word limit of 14o characters, has now turned into a microblogging platform for businesses to update their consumers on real-time situations with double the word limit.

Twitter is usually used by bigger organisations or government bodies. If there is no need for your brand to provide several updates per day or week, it is not a compulsory social media platform to be on.

Unless your brand has a goal of pushing out short posts in hopes of going viral, Twitter is the perfect experimental platform.

Recommended contents to post:
Short updates, Static images/designs, GIFs, Short-form videos, Infographics, Light-hearted content.

Messaging Apps (WhatsApp, Telegram)

Messaging apps such as Whatsapp and Telegram allows businesses to tap on more intimate update settings for their community.

If your brand sells a particular product or service that depends on these messaging apps as a medium in the sales procedure, it would be good to tap on the other business features available.

If not, I don’t see a need to be on it just for the sake of covering your grounds.

Remember that it is not about the quantity, but the quality that each social media platform can bring to your consumers.

3. Push out more social media campaigns about the changes (if necessary/possible)

With what we have experienced during the lockdowns and restrictions, many brands have adapted to digitalise their entire business.

Besides focusing on pushing out campaigns to inform your consumers on the promotions that you currently have, what about planning on campaigns that are about educating your consumers on the changes made in your company?

Consumers usually support a brand based on three factors:
Story/People, Price Point, Product/Service Value

However, the most significant factor among the three is the story and the people of the brand. Without liking a brand, consumers would probably not even bother finding out about your price point or value. 

Hence, many brands are missing out on talking more about what goes on in the company and what changes have been made to adapt to the current situation. Consumers may be more intrigued in knowing about the ongoings of a brand than you think.

It is good to let your consumers know how much they mean to your brand and to let them feel appreciated for being a constant support. Social media campaigns that are focused on emotions rather than driving conversions might work better in the current state.

4. Live streams and Influencer Marketing

Live streams have been rising in popularity ever since the lockdowns and restrictions took place. Brands have made use of platforms like Zoom, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and more.

Live streams have now replaced physical launch ceremonies, networking events, seminars, and conferences to connect with their communities during this time of the pandemic.

Explore and research the endless possibilities that can be marketed via a live streaming session.

You can even tie in the engagement of Influencers for your live stream campaigns. This allows your brand to also tap on the Influencer’s community in gaining more awareness of your live stream broadcast.

Influencer marketing rose back to popularity when COVID-19 happened. It was initially starting to lose the hype because too many brands were jumping on the same strategy at the same time. However, with the changes in our current lifestyle, consumers are seemingly becoming more willing to trust the review from an Influencer or Key Opinion Leader (KOL).

Working with renowned Influencers or KOLs also helps in increasing the credibility of a brand. Hence, it is highly recommended to ride on this hype as it has proved itself to be effective thus far.

5. Collaborations

Collaborations between brands have been happening for the longest time, but what better opportunity is there than a time like this to help one another.

Collaborating with relatable brands allows you to not only be able to tap on a new circle of target audience from your partnering brand, but it also allows your audiences to be able to experience a form of excitement in experiencing something new.

Being able to work on collaborations will also enable your brand to try a new form of branding and marketing strategy. Make use of the opportunity wisely in accepting who to collaborate with, and use this as a time to fully consider the next steps of your brand’s marketing.

CONCLUSION

With the ever-changing times, we can never be too certain of what’s to come next. Even if things do get better (fingers crossed), we should never take our comfort zones for granted. Ensure to constantly be kept up to date on the latest marketing trends and social media platforms.

Even if you find it difficult to market your brand without having any prior experience, use this time to look for a suitable Social Media Marketing agency. Working with a well renowned or big Social Media Marketing agency might not necessarily mean that it is the best. Always be sure of what is good for your brand, and do your research before reaching out for their rates.

If you’re looking for more guidance on being able to work with the best-suited agency, you may read this article to learn more. Or drop us an email for a free consultation session at hello@plexxie.com.

And although Facebook, Instagram, and the rest of the current social media platforms seem to be in their peak performance presently, it does not mean that they will continue to take the lead 30 years from now.

Unless constant changes are made according to the surrounding situation, always keep in mind that nothing can last forever.