The Best Data Proven Social Media Trends & Practices for 2021

In order to be successful with your social media marketing, it is essential to continue to learn and be ahead of the current trends and practices of social media platforms. To create insightful and top-quality content for your audience, you need a lot of analysis. Marketers understand that social media is a proven channel for reaching their audience and having more conversions. 

The need to adopt a more agile approach for social media is greater now than before. Keeping up with the trends and practices of social media has also aided the development of social media content and has helped brands exploit the different opportunities that social media offer. 

However, some challenges come with these opportunities. The issues on the type of content to create, how to keep the audience engaged with the brand, etc., are very valid.

The fact that the social media audience is open to an abundance of information through the different platforms makes it harder to create appealing content. It is no longer enough to create a good message; the message’s delivery is essential as well. 

These and many others are the problems that social media marketers face on social media. As these platforms are constantly changing, they also have to consistently review their techniques and strategies to remain in the market. 

We are not likely to see all of the same trends and practices we saw in 2020 again this year. The fact that 2020 was a ‘special’ year means that brands had to adapt to the situation and create fitting practices. As things return to normal in 2021, not all of those trends and practices will remain. Some will be retained, and others will evolve. This article discusses some of the best trends and practices for social media in 2021, proven by data. 

• Live streaming will continue to be popular

The pandemic of 2020 caused many businesses and brands to become more digital and do more work online to prevent the virus from spreading. What would have been physical meetings became virtual meetings, and live streams replaced live concerts, etc. This meant that people would naturally be more open to living streaming social media content as well. In places that were most affected by the virus, such as Italy, the total number of Facebook Live was doubled in a week, and Instagram Live videos also had more views. 

Although the pandemic situation has improved massively, people are not used to interacting with people online from their homes’ comfort. This is why live streaming will remain popular. Many people are used to it after a year and will continue to use it, so brands have to consider this when planning their social media strategy.

According to a report at Sprout Social, up to 40% of social media users will live brands to make use of live videos even more. 

Also, Read: 15 Effective Social Media Strategies

• Video content continues to reign supreme.

Video content will continue to be king. Irrespective of the platform used, video content on social media will be huge in 2021. People have always shown their preference for watching videos instead of reading texts. However, we’ll see videos become more popular for the same reasons that live streams continue to grow.

Thankfully for brands, there are numerous video platforms that they can harness for your video content, such as Youtube, TikTok, Reels, etc. These platforms allow you to increase your audience’s size and increase the level of engagement you have with video content. 

To make your video marketing successful on social media in 2021, you must think strategically about your target audience and reach them at their most comfortable spot. 

For instance, if your brand is looking to reach Gen Z in the market through video content, then TikTok is an ideal platform to check. If you already have a good number of active followers on Instagram, you should experiment with platforms such as Reels and IGTV videos to expand into this market. 

According to content creators at paper writing service, you should repurpose your video content for different platforms, especially if it sounds too overwhelming for you to create video content regularly. This is a common thing that brands do. 

• Social Media shopping is the new normal

One thing that will take center stage on social media now is e-commerce. With more brands moving their sales and marketing online, social media will be flooded. 

Many social media platforms are also preparing themselves for this. For instance, there are now Instagram features that enable shopping: Instagram Live shopping and Reels shopping. Also, the recent partnership between TikTok and Shopify and Walmart live-streaming shopping events all point to social media as a more significant marketplace. 

In 2021, eCommerce is going to be a significant trend. Small businesses will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this as social media enables them to have a level playing ground to compete with more prominent firms. As a brand, you should pay more attention to social media e-commerce and social media marketing. Put in the work to optimize all your social media profiles across the different platforms as it will serve you for a long time. 

This is because your social media profiles are where most customer journeys will start before it ends in your online store or website. This is now a much shorter journey than usual. All it takes is for a prospective customer to discover your social media profile, such as Instagram. They could be buying from you directly without even exiting the app. 

You should also take the pain to create educational videos about your products, shoppable posts, and make your brand message clear on different social media platforms. All of these contribute to building loyalty from your customers.

• Virtual and augmented reality trends

Virtual reality and augmented reality grew very rapidly on social media as a result of the pandemic. They are going to remain popular in 2021. 

During the enforced lockdown and social distancing order, people needed new ways to communicate and interact more meaningfully with themselves even though it is virtual. Virtual reality was the solution to that problem. VR was able to provide people with this level of virtual interaction. It gave people the feeling of togetherness when interacting with others as though they were together. During the social distancing period, when people were expected to stay at home, it was what they needed. It started gaining popularity ever since and will continue like that in 2021. We are starting to see social media platforms work toward incorporating the technology even better. 

Augmented reality works very similarly, too, and the same events lead to the popularity of this technology. The fact that it doesn’t need additional hardware apart from the smartphone makes it more accessible to the public than VR. It also works very well with photo filters and similar experiences which people use on social media platforms. 

According to the dissertation service the UK, augmented reality experiences are very interactive, which is why it is effective for engagement. 

It is now a social media trend that fans are buying into as they create AR filters to promote their new products and encourage interaction with their audience. This increases the level of engagement and entertainment that customers have with brands and helps win over more customers. 

Also, Read: Tips To Optimize Your Social Media To Boost SEO

McDonald’s did this when they created a filter – Spice Zapper – which was for their audience to zap falling nuggets. 

As there was minimal physical shopping that happened in 2020, augmented reality helped businesses drive sales. The option to shop with AR allowed customers to try products through their phone cameras before making purchases virtually. Although Instagram implemented this on their platform in 2019, it became a significant trend in 2020 thanks to the pandemic. Businesses continue to drive sales with this technology, so it is not going anywhere in 2021. 

In planning your strategy for social media in 2021, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two trends that you must implement in your strategy. If you can use these technologies to create entertaining content for your social media platforms, you can expect your brand to have an outstanding social media presence in 2021. 

• People will come first on social media

One of the best ways to boost your engagement on social media is by communicating with your audience. Two-way communication always helps take your posts to the top organically. Social media algorithms are programmed to show people contents relevant to them – and paid ads that are targeted. 

Having an online community that engages your content with shares, comments, and likes will help you amplify your content even better to channels that your customers trust. 

According to social media experts, algorithms are programmed to favor people, not brands. Understanding this fact soon enough will help brands put more emphasis on people in their social media activities. This will enable them to create a people-first strategy for social media that influencers, customers, and employees amplify. 

Conclusion

It is essential to note the social media trends and practices for 2021 as a brand. This will help you plan your social media strategy to be more effective. While this article doesn’t mention all the trends, it touches on a few important ones that brands need to note.

Author’s bio:

Tiffany Harper is a training guru who’s been working in the corporate sector for over a decade now. She is a management graduate and loves to share her experience through blogs and articles. For her love of writing, she also provided freelance consultations for writers, while working with Proessaywriting.com. Please do not hesitate to contact her on Twitter.