8 Social Media Trends to Know for 2021
It’s not an exaggeration that most people spend a good amount of time on social media, especially in today’s world. Social Media is now an essential part of the lives and daily routines of many people around the globe. Some may have a small addiction to it, because the first thing they do after waking up is to check their social media feed.
Many social platforms introduce new features and changes in their recommendation algorithms. Trends on social media likewise undergo evolution or updates as time goes by. Given the significance of social media in people’s lives, businesses and marketers converge to social platforms in hope of connecting with their target consumers. But there is an overload of content in social media and competition is very high.
It will be challenging for marketers and businesses to stand out unless you have a clear social media marketing strategy. Always be updated on trends in social media to help fuel your strategy and make you and your brand stand out. Here are some social media trends that you should be aware of for 2021 and beyond:
Live Streaming Will Be The New Norm
Last year, the year 2020 has been a year like no other in this century. Many businesses are going digital and try to as they could to maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Meetings turned into Skype or Zoom conferences and live converts turned into live streams of artists playing from their homes. Even if the pandemic improves in 2021, live streaming will remain. Consumers are now used to being able to interact with brands in real-time online.Virtual Reality On Social Media Will Become Popular
In the midst of stay-at-home orders and the need for social distancing, people are looking for meaningful interactions in the virtual sphere. VR or Virtual Reality is one of the technological trends that can provide those interactions. Interacting with other people in using VR gives a sense of actually being together in the same place or space even if they’re halfway across the world. 2021 will likely see VR gaining more popularity on social media, take Facebook Horizon as an example. Facebook is leveraging the Oculus VR platform to beta-test a virtual world that will allow people to explore, connect with others and play games.The Proliferation Of Memes On Social Media
Memes aren’t exactly new and you don’t need to be a social media-savvy to have heard of it. However, memes have been gaining a lot of popularity in recent months and pretty fast too. This the rise of memes that we are talking about. According to Talkwalker, meme usage and mentions increased in August 2019 from 19.8million to 24.9 million in July 2020, marking a 26% increase in one year.Social Media Stories
If you are thinking of marketing on stories, be it Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp or Twitter–yes twitter has recently added stories in their feature–you’ll need to pay attention to this trend. The story feature for the platforms mentioned above allows users to post limited-time updates that disappear after 24 hours. These features may have launched less than five years ago (and less than a year ago for twitter), it has been proven to be on the more popular growing social media trends among users and their growth numbers indicate that they’re here to stay.Social Commerce Is The Future
The social media industry is constantly adapting to enhance the experience of their users. We are seeing more tools and features that support quick and easy shopping. Take Instagram for example, if your account is a business account you can add product tags and enable easy checkout without leaving the platform. On Facebook, you can set up a shop that customers can browse and purchase on the platform (FB page for your shop or Facebook Marketplace). This could be the ideal tool for marketers to capitalize in 2021, especially seeing the role and influence of social media in the customers’ purchase decisions.Growth In Messaging Apps
According to a latest study (eMarketer, 2019), that a number of users of mobile messaging apps is expected to reach 3.12 billion worldwide in 2023, that is a 24% increase from the 2.25 billion in 2019. Presently, 90% of smartphone users worldwide use at least one messaging app, which is a big market for business to tap into. Combined with the way that most consumers prefer to communicate with companies via messaging, this is a trend that you should include in your business’ marketing plan.Influencer Marketing Will Continue To Rise
This is not a new trend but it is one that is going to stay for a while. If you’re not living under a rock then you know that social media today is dominated by influencers who are getting paid by outrageous amounts to promote brands. Investing in influencers is cheaper than running paid campaign ads and yet it delivers great results. Furthermore, influencers can help marketers achieve a variety of marketing goals and not just generate leads. These are the main reasons why this trend has become so popular and is continuing to grow stronger and getting bolder.Technology Adoption Will Be At An All-Time High
We will see a rise in the adoption of technologies like Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in social media. As social media platforms grow, users will demand for more and better engaging experiences, and these technologies can make that happen. As mentioned above, Facebook has already started in this direction with the introduction of Facebook Horizon. This is the future of social connection.
Regardless of whether you’re hoping to change your social media strategy or simply looking to get caught up with the newest social media trends, these 8 trends we’ve listed above will certainly help you understand how your customers engage with social media.
Take note before we go: given that trends in social media are constantly evolving, you’ll need to make sure that you’re up-to-date on the latest social media marketing trends so that you can harness them and stay one step ahead of the competition.