Social Media Trends to Keep an Eye On for 2021
You're likely already familiar
with the power of social media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow users to
cast an extremely wide net online and
connect with over two billion social media users worldwide.
If you're looking to take advantage of this
powerful tool, you can’t take a scattershot approach and create an account on
every platform out there. However, instead of using such an ineffective
approach, it’s important that you’re more specific when choosing your
platforms, strategic in setting goals, and creative when approaching content.
On top of all that, you'll need to stay up to
date with what's going on in the world of social media, specifically the trends
shaping it. And with 2020 drawing to a close, it is now time to get a step
ahead and look at the social media trends that will emerge in 2021. Check them
out below:
Social media and SEO will intersect
more than ever
There is, believe it or not, a link between
social media and search engine optimisation (SEO). The inner workings of this
link are unclear at the moment (no thanks to Google's ever-changing
algorithms), although what is clear is that SEO is crucial to your business, as
the organic traffic it generates for your website can result in increasing
engagement.
But as pointed out by SEO specialists Ayima, businesses face various hurdles in implementing
effective strategies, including technical problems, lack of optimised content,
inadequate incoming links and limited development resource. That being said,
one way you can leverage SEO — outside of hiring a dedicated team of SEO
experts or outsourcing to a reputable agency — is to leverage social media, and
that's something business leaders will do more often starting in 2021.
As digital marketing expert Alex
Membrillo explains, social media is a
content amplifier, and the more a business’ content is liked, shared, and
commented on, the more likely it is to increase online traffic to its website.
These days, the kind of content that will generate SEO-boosting likes, shares,
and comments are videos, especially in light of Google and other search engines
placing value on video content in their algorithms. So, expect all kinds of
videos to flood social media even more moving forward, as they can help both in
brand building and in SEO.
Content will be shaped by the
coronavirus
With vaccines already in the pipeline, there is
reason to believe that this coronavirus pandemic will soon be contained. Even
so, the undercurrents of COVID-19 will continue to be felt for the entirety of
2021, and its fallout will likely linger for much longer. In short, people will
continue to be apprehensive about the pandemic and this will determine how
organisations approach their social media content.
In particular, expect the tone of social media
posts to reflect the 4Cs of coronavirus content:
- Community
- Contactless
- Cleanliness
- Compassion
So, don't be surprised if brands fill social
media with content that focuses on the community, promotes contactless transactions,
encourages proper hygiene (cleanliness), and teaches people to be
compassionate. Noteworthy examples include IKEA's #YoMeQuedoEnCasa
(#I’mStayingHome) movement, British Gas' instructional videos on simple home
repairs, and Coca-Cola's persistent reminders for people to do their part in
helping curb COVID (by staying home).
Social media will diversify
For so long, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
were the big three in social media. Then, this year, TikTok came along and
disrupted everything, recording over 76 million downloads in March
2020 alone. For much of the year,
in fact, TikTok was the "in" thing in social media, emerging as by
far the most downloaded social media app from March to August (including over
72 million downloads in both May and June).
Now, it's unclear whether or not TikTok's rise
is sustainable, and if it will carry over to 2021. But what is certain is that
the shake-up TikTok caused as a social media platform will continue to be felt
next year. Remember, Instagram already rolled out Reels last August. This new
feature allows content creators to create and post very short videos — exactly
the approach TikTok pioneered this year in terms of driving social media
engagement. Next year will be more of the same, and will see either the
emergence of completely new platforms or the reinvention of existing ones (or
both).
Viral marketing will continue to be a
thing
Our previous post on 'Viral
Marketing: A Powerful Marketing Tool' explains why viral marketing has been popular for so long now.
That's because businesses of all types and sizes frequently use it to create
differentiation, reach a very wide audience, drive engagement, and gain
credibility.
For all of these benefits, viral marketing is
actually cost-effective, produces fast results, and generates leads fast. It is
for these reasons that viral marketing will remain popular in 2021, especially
on social media, where great content can easily go viral in a matter of days.
So, expect to see campaigns similar to, for instance, Dove's "Real Beauty
Sketches" (the most viewed internet video of 2013) and Old Spice's “The
Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (over 54 million views in 2018), and just
recently, Sodastream's parodies of ASMR Videos (which leveraged the 4.8 million
Instagram followers of Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness).
There you have it, four social media trends to
watch out for in 2021. And if you want to keep current on anything social
media, do check out
the Taplink blog for the latest
social media news, updates, and trends.
Article exclusively written for taplink.at
By Raffy Joyce