4 Social Media Marketing Trends to Implement in Your 2021 Strategy Social media and marketing trends are constantly evolving. Here are four social media marketing trends that I believe every business online needs to implement and prioritize in 2021.
By Lewis Schenk
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
With the rise of social media comes the increase in marketing being leveraged across these platforms. Each day, more businesses are realizing the infinite potential that social media marketing has. Even brick-and-mortar businesses that have existed in the same capacity for decades are now jumping on the social media bandwagon — and rightly so.
Never has it been easier to identify, find and sell to our target audiences through social media. With infinite resources at our fingertips, we have the ability to instantly chat to just about anyone we like (whether or not they respond is an entirely different story).
Now, at least a whopping 91% of businesses are marketing on social media. With that being said, the social media landscape is evolving faster than ever, and in order to keep up to date, we must be aware of the latest trends. Here are 4 social media marketing trends to incorporate in 2021.
Stories over feed posts
In a recent move, LinkedIn jumped on the story bandwagon. Why? Because more and more people are opting to view stories rather than scroll the newsfeed. Stories are more exciting, in part because they are only up temporarily, and in part because they give more of a glimpse into people's everyday lives.
The element of scarcity, combined with humans being natural stickybeaks, gives stories the ultimate power to form a more personal bond. Have you ever followed a particular entrepreneur or influencer on social media for a prolonged period and then seen them in real life? To me, it felt like I actually already knew them. Opting towards spending more time and energy towards stories is a great way to build unbreakable bonds with your audience.
Short-form storytelling
I'm a big believer that our attention spans as a collective are getting shorter and shorter — and so are companies like Microsoft. Many people simply don't have the time or patience to watch a five- to 10-minute video without scrolling further down their feed. Becoming skilled in condensing your content down to 90 seconds or less is a great way to retain your audience's attention, keeping them interested enough to not scroll past. This is a big reason why Instagram reels and TikToks are so powerful — they're short, entertaining and often an example of visual, short-form storytelling.
Artificial intelligence (AI) ad-tracking
We all know that technology is evolving at an astounding rate. What was cream-of-the-crop a couple of years ago is now old news. With the vast majority of businesses spending money on ads, a lot of time and energy has been poured into their optimization to ensure you can outperform your competitors, without making a battle of who has the biggest ad-spend budget. This where AI-tracking shines.
With the ability to read data thousands of times faster than humans, AI-tracking can take your ad optimization to a whole new level. According to Australian digital marketing agency Yakk Digital, clients return-on-ad-spend has increased by a whopping 25 percent since implementing AI-tracking for their ads. By optimizing your ads using AI, you'll significantly reduce your cost per lead and ultimately, make more money.
Related: 9 Tools to Help Grow Your Social Media Channels This Summer
Connection and community
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we humans crave connection more than we ever thought. Staying connected with our community is essential, and most great brands and marketers know the best way to build a brand is to create a community behind it.
Human beings crave significance, and that significance often comes from being a part of online communities. This can come in the form of joining the livestream of someone they admire or being in a Facebook group of like-minded individuals, but connection and community go hand-in-hand, so keep that at the forefront of your mind and marketing strategy.
Social media has certainly passed the test of time and is here to stay. In order to leverage it to your greatest ability, keep up with all the latest trends, incorporate them in your strategy and most importantly, be consistent.
