Social Media Advertising Trends To Watch In 2021 And Beyond For Your Business

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Feb 5, 2021

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8 min read

Social media marketing demands a lot of time and attention because you need to constantly review your existing strategies and publish new types of content on the platform. To stay in a sink with the updates one needs to keep a close eye on new trends because social media marketing is constantly evolving and influencing the way businesses will work in the future.

As we begin the year 2021, all social media platforms are introducing new features, updates, and are modifying their old algorithms. As the time ticks, social media trends are evolving each minute and therefore your Social media marketing tactics should also undergo a makeover.

Remember Snapchat’s Snap Streak feature? It was so addictive, do you think so? Users had to maintain Snap Streaks by sending snaps or photos to your friends every day. This was a huge trend! On the contrary, Instagram has features like Reels, which can last forever on your feed, and ‘Story’, which lasts for 24 hours only, are highly popular among young adults.

Instagram Reels feature came as a quick alternative for Tik Tok, and now almost every social media platform is planning to add such features to their interface too. Instagram has over 500+ million active user profiles, which makes this platform the second largest platform after Facebook.

Instagram Monthly Active User

So, it boils down to one thing, social media evolution is all about exploring, adapting, and innovating new trends. But that’s not the end, presenting new trends before the audience is not sufficient, it’s all about how quickly one can introduce these features. These instant changes pose new challenges for brands and businesses. Remoulded algorithms and updates keep social media marketers on their toes.

If you are a business leader, marketer, or entrepreneur and you use social media sites for your online business then we have tried to list down some of the top social media trends of 2021 that can help your brand to grow more so that you can ace your sales target. But why Social media platforms important for an online business.

Social media is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to social media advertising. It helps in creating brand awareness, boosts audience engagement, and helps you in driving large traffic to your eCommerce website or shop. It can bring huge conversions for your business. Having a great social media presence can help you to induce loyalty and trust in your customers towards your business.

Social Media Trends That Can Enhance Your Social media marketing

  • Brands need to revisit their marketing campaigns
  • User-generated content can help you in building trust
  • Create short format high-quality audio-visual content
  • Companies should focus on authentic communication
  • Analyze trends followed by your industry leaders on social media
  • The Instagram story can be a powerful tool for storytellingCreate buzz using social media platforms

1. Brands need to revisit their marketing campaigns

You need to be spontaneous and creative at the same time. Earlier brands and businesses use to plan their social media posts, releases, and promotions way before the date of actual action. But the year 2020 left everyone bewildered and introduced a twist to these tactics.

We saw advertising companies withdrawing their ad strategies, campaigns, and way of delivering their messages to the crowd. Due to the risks associated with the spread of Covid-19, we saw brands scrapping out product catalog posts and spreading awareness about safety measures like social distancing and the importance of sanitizing.

 Social Media Advertising

Popular brands that used to hire professional actors for shooting brand endorsements were sharing photos of their employees with their families who were working from home. So one should stop planning their social media releases? Should you drop your annual social media plans?

No, not completely! You can plan certain special days but you should be open to developing new ideas. You need a mix of both. Be flexible with your campaigns, messaging, and product launches. Follow the recent campaign trends, take advantage of viral hashtags, and engage with your audience on a personal level.

2. User-generated content can help you in building trust

Social media advertising is not just about selling products and services, it is much more than that. Crafting user-generated content is a way to make your brand look more authentic, fresh, and reliable.

As per the statistics provided by Stackla, 78% of users said that user-generated content influences their purchasing choices. We also saw that paid or promoted ads left various customers skeptical about the authenticity of their products. Therefore brands should use user-generated content to induce trust among their customers.

  • Feature Raw Instagram stories – Post raw videos and images that you receive from your customers. People on the internet love content that is more human to them. You don’t need to just invest all your money on creating perfect videos or images, try sharing or featuring Instagram stories that come from your fans. It makes your brand look more authentic.
  • Post About Social Issues – Don’t fill your Facebook or Instagram feed with product images and videos about your company, highlight some social issues too. Your customers will value your brand even more. It will also attract other like-minded individuals to your brand.
  • You Can Save Money On Advertising – Featuring user-created content like images, videos, stories, etc allows you to save money on producing costly video content. Photoshoots or video recordings are not only expensive but also time-consuming. Use UGC that’ll allow you in lowering your social media expenditure. Saving UGC files is also a great idea because they can be used for some future campaigns.

3. Create short format high-quality video content

You must be aware of the fact that videos on social media have a better reach and audience engagement as compared to any sort of content. Adding descriptions, offers, CTAs to your videos can drive audiences towards purchasing your products. As we have discussed earlier, recording videos can be expensive too. Therefore you should emphasize your Return On Investment.

You can make this affordable by using a smartphone camera to shoot a video. You can use your smartphone camera to make engaging videos because features like Reels, stories, or IGTVs provide some really helpful editing options. Short format content like Reels can be used to create remarketing ads and sponsored ads.

Another great feature from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc is the Live feature.

You can use live streams when you are introducing or launching a new product. Live streams can be used directly to connect with your audiences because from there you would be able to see their comments or opinions in real-time.

Live Streaming

Customers love it when they can ask questions on live streams. Remember, live streams can stay on your feed and new audiences can come and watch it later. The algorithm pushes such streams too! Your audiences will be able to see the unedited stream that will give the stream a human touch. When a large group of customers watches your live stream together, they feel as if they are a part of your family.

4. Companies should focus on authentic communication

Customers on social media platforms tend to revisit their ‘following list’ from time to time and unfollow accounts that are redundant or irrelevant to them.  As a brand, you can manage to engage your audience and keep them hooked on by posting content that can boost brand loyalty. How? Make sure to go live once a month or once a week. Talk to your customers, make sure you answer their questions and thank them for being a part of your online business.

Post stories and photos of your office, working style, office activities, etc. You can also create ‘memory posts’ where you can recall a memory, for example – your first delivery order. You can also curate posts where you can thank them for their support in the journey so far. You can also post pictures or videos about your brand’s vision and mission.

5. Analyze trends followed by your industry leaders on social media

Have you heard about ‘social listening’ on social media? Social listening means analyzing what trends your industry leaders are following currently and also listening to the demands of your online customers. You need to hear what they are trying to say. In short, you need to know what’s in demand? Without social listening, you won’t be able to figure out things that are currently popular.

Pay attention to what investors and influencers are trying to convey. It’ll help you in gathering enough information about the ongoing trends. Plan your moves according to them. Use social media management tools that provide you updates about the current trends. By monitoring these trends, conversations, and actions you can figure out the best social media tactic for your brand as well.

6. The Instagram story can be a powerful tool for storytelling

We have already talked about the importance of humanizing social media posts and campaigns. Instagram’s ‘story’ feature, which keeps the story on your feed for 24 hours, has been adopted by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube ‘Shorts’ as well.

Instagram Story

These quick 15 second snippets can help you to introduce new products, offers, and deals. It also allows your customers to remain connected with your brand daily. On Instagram stories, you can set up question polls, QnA, GIFs, memes, and more. Such features give your fans a reason to check your profiles back again.

7. Use social media to boost purchase intent among your customers

Instagram provides various types of user interfaces such as ‘Private account’, ‘Public account’,  ‘Creator’, and ‘Business account’. It depends on your needs. Each of them provides a different set of features. For instance, a business account on Instagram can reap the benefits of the ‘Shops’ feature where they can display their product catalog.

Customers can learn more about the products and services. A feature like this enhances the consumer experience and provides a user to do window shopping on the go. This feature can also allow a buyer to simply click on the link to place an order without leaving the app. Similar features are available on Facebook as well. These features are really helpful, especially for small and medium businesses.

Conclusion

Social media platforms have grown exponentially. The growth in their audience base says it all. Social media is one of the most powerful tools that can be used to empower your marketing efforts.

From creating brand awareness, boosting audience engagement, to helping you in driving large traffic, Social media can help you to boost your revenues and bring large conversions. It can help you to induce loyalty and trust in your customers towards your business. Follow these top social media trends of 2021 to build a user base of dedicated fans and smash your sales targets.