2021 Social Media Marketing Trends - business.com
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Are you looking for a fast and easy way to reach your target audience in 2021? Social media is an excellent tool that can help you grow your lead list, build rapport with consumers, and secure more sales.
We've seen sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube grow in ways many marketers thought was unlikely. At the time of this writing, an unbelievable 3.81 billion people are active every year across all social media platforms.
In other words, if you're not using social media to grow your business, you're missing out on a significant marketing opportunity. Every potential customer you're not reaching on social media will likely go to a competitor's site. You have to seize the opportunity and get their attention early.
The good news is you don't have to spend 2021 guessing what features are popular on social media.
The first topic we will discuss today is dynamic ads. If you're not familiar, dynamic ads are used on social sites like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. An algorithm puts together these promotions by examining audience segments and additional details provided by the business owner.
Once it's all said and done, your target audience will see curated ads that match their needs. These ads will all have various images, text, and designs -- all created by your team. Websites like Facebook can take this data and fit the pieces you provided to create personalized promotions for each person.
The sheer reach of these ads is impressive. On Facebook alone, you can reach a staggering 2 billion people by investing in dynamic ads.
We recommend using this opportunity to do more than close sales. You can also ask for event registrations, email signups, and much more. Simply include text and image options that match your intended purpose and upload them to the ad program.
It's expected that by the end of 2021, business owners and marketing teams will have a variety of dynamic ad tools they can use to reach potential customers.
Another trend we've noticed is a rise in subscription-based memberships. Platforms like Facebook and YouTube allow marketing teams to create groups that work on a membership basis. You may be familiar with this concept if you’ve ever browsed the fundraising site Patreon.
Users can pick how much they would like to donate and receive additional content for their contribution. Subscription services on social media operate in a similar way.
Let's say someone finds your brand for the first time and becomes a customer. They love your product and want to learn how to get more value, so they visit your social media page. Once they arrive on your profile, they can see that you have a membership group that requires a monthly fee.
Highlight the benefits of joining your social media group by letting potential users know what they can expect when they sign up. So, in the example we just used, the marketer might highlight an enhanced value proposition by offering subscribers exclusive tips and tricks for using their product or service.
Research shows that subscription-based memberships are not only popular but useful too. A surprising 76% of businesses that use this model claimed they saw better customer retention after putting their plan in action.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions that started in early 2020, many brick and mortar businesses turned to the internet to continue selling their products and services. Ideally, you want to show up in the Google search results when someone types in one of your targeted keywords.
But Google isn't the only way you can help users discover your company. Social media also comes with a built-in search function, and many people use this feature to find new businesses.
If you want to increase your discoverability, try optimizing your profile for searchability. You'll want to use keywords and phrases that consumers might type in when looking for your business. For instance, if you sell candles, you may want to target something like "best homemade candles" on your social media profile.
While this won't do much for your search results with Google, it will make your profile more visible to people browsing for candle businesses on social media.
As your subscriber count grows, you'll start to see a shift in the search positions on sites like Facebook. Now, people will have an easier time finding your brand for the first time, which could lead to more sales, followers, and engagement.
User-generate content (UGC) can be summarized as a video, photo, or piece of text written about a business by a customer. Brands often share UGC on their social media profiles and websites as a way to build social proof and get other users engaged in conversations.
There are a few ways you can get customers to share UGC on social media and your website. When it comes to sites like Twitter and Facebook, we suggest incentivizing users to share photos or videos of themselves enjoying your product.
Picture contests are an excellent way to bridge this gap. Simply start a contest for a gift card to your store or one of your most popular products. Encourage existing customers to share themselves using your product. Not only will this get the attention of people who haven't yet bought something from your online store, but it also gives existing users a reason to engage with each other and your business.
Comments, likes, and shares all add weight to UGC. When customers willing to share their experiences with others, your chances of getting discovered increase. You also get the opportunity to continue nurturing your customers, so they stick around long after their first order.
Companies that implement UGC see an average revenue increase of 18%! Simply asking users to share their thoughts on social media and putting their message out there for the rest of your customers to read is an extremely effective way to grow your brand in 2021.
Businesses that create products for consumers instead of other companies have used influencer marketing to experience rapid growth over the last several years. Essentially, influencer marketing is when an online personality shares a post or video that promotes your brand.
The most common platforms to find influencers include YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Businesses connect with these internet celebrities and ask if they are interested in a sponsored post. If the influencer's target audience aligns with the company, they may strike a partnership.
For instance, a makeup company promotion would fit in with content posted by a travel and beauty influencer. Building connections with other like-minded creators allow you to share your product with a broader audience.
It seems that the trend of influencer marketing is shifting towards B2Bs instead of just B2Cs.
Brands now partner with influencers in business and finance to promote their products to other owners, and it's working! We saw an unprecedented number of influencer posts last year, and that number is not expected to go down any time soon.
If you're interested in implementing this strategy, start by browsing for popular influencers with a target audience that aligns with your own. It's worth pointing out that influencers with a ton of followers tend to cost more than a sponsored post with a smaller channel. Each type of influencer offers unique benefits, with big influencers reaching more people and smaller creators seeing stronger engagement.
In 2021, expect to see a consistent rise in social media users across all demographics. It's impossible to capture every lead that opens up a social site, but it's likely that you can reach more people than you are at this moment.
We advise creating your social media campaigns now so you'll have more time to monitor the results and make changes throughout the year.
