4 Social Media Marketing Trends We'll See in 2021

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As the majority of the world started conducting more of their business online since the COVID-19 pandemic began, trends and strategies in internet marketing became even more important than they were in the past (which had been “pretty important” for quite some time). According to Statista, social media sites averaged an uptick of 21% in usage once stay-at-home orders were created last March in much of the country. There are successful trends relating to social media, as a whole, and there are also more granular ideas unique to a Twitter or Instagram marketing strategy , that may not bode well across all platforms.

As newer social media outlets like TikTok and Snapchat gain some clout, it’s also important to take the time to determine where your social media marketing efforts are best focused. Creating content that can be easily shared across multiple platforms (graphics or short videos, for instance) makes for time and money saved, and more content available for whatever social media service comes next. Here are 4 relative trends that experts expect to see continue into 2021 in the world of social media marketing.

One thing that has certainly been a catalyst relative to social media popularity is the user’s abilities to have first-hand interactions with their favorite celebrities, teams, politicians and other well-known public figures. This interactive feeling is exemplified in America due to the high praise given to celebrities, making social media a hotbed for marketing opportunities.

Another way that marketers can capitalize on that consumer will to feel connected to their favorite celebrities (and their favorite brands) is by continuing low-budget, phone-based content creation. Companies unable to do in-person business (including professional-grade content creation for social media) were able to find social media marketing success via personal messages from the home-office setting to be used as their social media content.

Video collages of team members dealing with the same issues as the rest of society, for instance, made for some very personal and engaging social media content. This “personal touch” trend is expected to have success after the pandemic as well, so if your marketing team has any willing actors and actresses, they may have a relevant chance to shine!

Long gone are the days where the majority of society likes to pick up a periodical for 2 hours to consume the day’s news. “Snackable” content, as it’s referred to in the social media world, is short-form ads to play to the short-term attention spans of social media users. For TikTok, this means choosing the 15-second videos instead of the minute-long ones. For sharable ads like those on Facebook and Twitter, the same mindset is good to have even if you’re using text as your content, rather than video/audio.

Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok all have “Live” features, meaning your team can stream content directly to consumers as you create it. Streaming content live adds a nice personal touch to your marketing campaigns and is growing in popularity.

One in five Facebook videos in 2019 was live, and that number grew exponentially in 2020 on the back of the pandemic. As the world slowly goes back to some semblance of normality, the one in five number will probably be more accurate from a trending standpoint, but nonetheless it is an area your team should focus on. Multiple feeds mean multiple outlets that can be streamed to at the same time, saving time and money.

One of the silver linings of the COVID pandemic was a huge uptick in online shopping, primarily due to not having other options. Just as remote work is expected to continue after the pandemic, so is online shopping, and social media platforms are upping their capabilities when it comes to shopping directly from the platform. It’s convenient for consumers, it’s cheap reach for marketers, and it keeps people on the platforms longer, which is obviously their ultimate goal. Yours should be capitalizing on these opportunities to sell your product or service directly from a given social media platform.

Many of the social media trends ignited by the pandemic are expected to remain relevant, but social media trends are ultimately dictated by the users of the platforms. Reddit, for instance, just shook up the entire stock market. That unpredictability aspect of social media, and the sheer strength in numbers that can come with the click of a button, means constant observations of trends in social media is a must. What is great content today may be worthless tomorrow in the eyes of social media consumers.