Top social media marketing trends are thriving as more entrepreneurs opt for addressing a huge audience on various social media platforms. Here we give some noteworthy latest trends in social media marketing.

2020 was a landmark year for both technology and the social media domain. On one hand, emerging technologies like IoT and AI have evolved to strengthen their positions in the corporate world. And on the other hand, the social media network has flourished to touch our lives more effectively. As we are in the year 2021, it is fair to assume that the latter will become stronger than ever.

All major social media channels have got many milestones in their journey from a pastime to necessity in society. Today, the corporate world wants to leverage the benefits of the mighty social media platform through social media marketing techniques. And therefore, it will be interesting to make a list of top social media marketing trends to watch.

1. Rise of Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality remarkably shouts that ‘Future is here. After the very first event hosted in Steve Jobs Theater, will announcing iPhone 8 and X. It says that both the devices have integrated with the new chip. It will allow the phones to provide users with a remarkable augmented reality experience.

And it is no new that Snapchat. It has already started supporting filters that allow users to take a selfie with their Bitmoji character via augmented reality. Soon a user will be able to take a selfie with their desired celebrity. This clearly defines that brands could soon be able to project their products into the timeline of social media users.

2. The increasing popularity of Instagram Stories

It is no obscure about the fastest growing social media platform. Instagram is known by each and everyone, especially if one is in the age group of 18 to 35. Yes, it is pretty famous for youth and Instagram has over 700 million users in less than 7 years. In a world that is changing on the rapid-speed, images will never end to drive social media engagement.

Source: business2community.com

And, after introducing Instagram stories similar to Snapchat do you know what had happened? It had gained the attention of almost all the influencers and marketers to make it another source of income. 2018 estimation says that Instagram is going to overtake many other social media sites. It is becoming famous in terms of popularity, and engagement with users under 35.

Instagram has made stories a global trend for people irrespective of their age and culture. Facebook, YouTube, and even LinkedIn have also come up with Stories. It clearly indicates that the trend of stories will gain strength in the coming years. As per a survey, over 400 million people consuming Stories on Instagram daily. This number will increase from 2021 onward.

Source: Clickz.com

As more millennials have started consuming stories on different platforms, the marketers explore opportunities in giving Stories Ads. Stories have some characteristics that make them immensely popular among the masses. A few of these aspects are:

• Easy creation
• Engagement and entertainment
• Authentic and relevant
• Fresh and instant

Stories can connect people with the central theme of brands most effectively.

3. Continued Investment in Influencer Marketing

Talking about influencer marketing above, it is showing a lot of exposure and a trustworthy way of marketing. In the initial stage of influencer marketing, there were many questions appearing in this sector of marketing. But, in 2017, it exhibited and many giant companies like Hubspot, Rolex believed that it is successful.

Source: bufferapp.com

According to many great organizations and companies who believed in social media-Influencer marketing strategies connect with new audiences and visitors. It is also proved as one of the most helpful for improving engagement with both returning and new visitors.

Next year, it is likely that more brands will embrace influencer marketing. It is a brilliant strategy and source to connect with audiences who tend to ignore traditional strategies.

We can assume that large enterprises will seek the assistance of influential people to boost their online campaigns. But, it is also possible that SMEs and startups may opt for micro-influencers because of higher rates of popular influencers.

If the businesses have budget constraints for social media marketing, they should prefer micro-influencers. By choosing the right micro-influencer audience.

However, it is necessary to keep in mind that entrepreneurs need to find a micro-influencer. He is an expert in the domain related to their business. For example, a restaurant app owner can take assistance from a popular chef. He can greatly help entrepreneurs to promote the app on a social media platform.

Source: Digitalauthority.me

Related Reading: Top 20 Digital Marketing Trends To Watch

4. Expansion of Live Streaming

The thing that was once just a lie or a gimmick has now become mainstream of Social media. The live stream is up and rising the engagement and quality of a brand. Some of the brands that are medium-sized have even encountered a million impressions by live streaming effective content on Facebook. Live and unfiltered videos are changing the game of social media entirely.

The fastest growing social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have already launched their own live video streaming platforms. And, as they are getting an amazing response they all are already up to give many new things to it. Facebook Live is becoming so popular that many new media company is using Facebook live for creating stories.

As you know, live streaming on social media accounts craze is increasing day by day. The good news is, you can easily embed your videos or social media posts on your site to increase user engagement. For that, you need to manual embed settings or you can try the Social Stream Designer WordPress Plugin.

It supports the most popular 13 social networks that let you add all the social accounts feed on one wall with sophisticated layouts. This responsive plugin optimized for every screen size & set up your social media feed without any hassle.

5. Facebook Spaces goes mainstream

Facebook is not just a social media giant with super social powers like live streaming, Instagram assembled, and the largest audience in the world. It is also been working on a project known as Facebook Spaces. It’s designed that allows friends on Facebook to connect with each other in a VR space. It also owns Oculus, a VR hardware, and software company. It’s no surprise that Facebook is developing an out-of-the-box technology.

Facebook is more likely to launch its Facebook Space project in 2018. If it is going to happen can you guess what will happen? It will be the first VR social media product at the scale that will be the big Social media game-changers of 2018.

6. Personalization will be the norm

Personalization or personalized customer experience can build and retain a relationship with customers. With personalized marketing, you can enhance the convenience of your customers. Customers can opt for purchasing a suggested product if they are happy with the personalized notification from their favorite shop.

The personalized content can also provide useful and relevant information to the customers. Now, it is easy for entrepreneurs to gather valuable data related to the customer’s behavior. Thanks to emerging technologies like AI and ML.

On the basis of such data, companies can send more personalized and engaging content to the customers. Even social media posts and messages can be used to address the customers in a personalized way.

In the coming time, we will see the prevalence of personalization. How can we forget to mention Google and Facebook? They are masters of providing customized content after knowing all our likes and dislikes.

7. Micro-influencers will on the rise

These days, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have hundreds of thousands of influencers who have millions of followers. Every post, tweet, or comment from them is seen by many people across the world. But, with growing popularity, they keep on increasing charges for their services. There, the concept of micro-influencer marketing can lend a helping hand to entrepreneurs.

The micro-influencers have fewer followers as compared to the major social media influencers. They can still draw the attention of many people. It is because the micro-influencers are experts in their respective domains and their opinions matter among genuine followers.

What’s more, the micro-influencers are trustworthy and they have a high potential for promoting the brands. In the year 2021, we will witness a rise in this trend.

Source: Wegohealth.com

8. Video content will gain ground

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the video is worth a million words! As the most popular tool, videos are all set to grow in 2021 as well. Experts believe that around 80% of what we consume online will soon convert into video content.

Experts believe that around 80% of what we consume online will soon convert into video content. We have now entered the age of live videos. Such videos are already popular on YouTube. Soon, Facebook and Instagram will also follow suit. Instagram has brought Instagram Stories and this feature has become quite popular among Instagram users.

Live videos are more authentic and interesting and they can increase the trustworthiness of any business. When the viewers watch the live video of a product or brand, they find it very useful. It can encourage them to make a quick purchasing decision.

However, the businesses should take care of the relevance and interactivity of the content while creating such videos. As the competition intensifies, no company can deny the trend of video content.

Related Reading: Make Social Media Work For You! (A Small Business Guide)

9. Generation Z is here

Forbes has defined Generation Z as people born between the mid to late 1990s. This tech-savvy generation covers almost 25% of the US population. They will start jobs in the near future, businesses will start targeting them. Some marketers have already started addressing them. For example, ready-made cloth manufacturers bring unique styles in high-end clothes to attract Generation Z.

Pop-up stores and various promotional events are also organized to entice this generation. This trend will prevail for years to come. Marketers will promote pop-up stores and events on social media. As such Generation Z will find them interesting enough to share and participate online.

10. User-generated content will be in focus

Last but not least. The user will remain at the center of a social media marketing campaign in years to come. Now, when we say user-generated content, it is created either by loyal customers or fans of businesses.

Such content can be generated in the form of videos, photos, or even memes. The companies can freely use such content for promoting their products.

User-generated content is one of the most effective ways to involve customers with your business. It provides an improved customer experience with the help of such content.

In the coming years, influential YouTubers will play a significant role in spreading word-of-mouth marketing in the online world. Thanks to the audio-visual content generated by users, people can see how various products can be used in real-life scenarios.

In a way, the user-generated content can assist businesses to personalize their products.

11. Employee Advocacy will Become a Competitive Edge

Employee advocacy platforms boost the staff’s social media confidence. It provides an easy, time-saving, and risk-free way to share company content on social media. Putting your staff at the center of your online initiatives makes them feel valued. As well as strengthens the relationship with the company. It helps companies innovate their digital strategy easily and cost-effectively.

In-fact brand awareness messages are re-shared 24x more frequently when distributed by staff vs brand’s official channels.

Simply you can ask your employees to share your posts on their social media profiles. If required, email them the content that you want them to share. To make it easier, add social sharing buttons at the bottom of each of the posts. This enables you to have a wider reach on social media due to more shares. Moreover, with the help of the select and share plugin, the audience can share the selected part of the blog content and share it on social media. It definitely encourages the readers to read the full article.

12. Private Social Messaging will Grow Rapidly

Private messaging over social media sites is more like a huge trend. It’s growing day-by-day dramatically over the next year. Facebook Messenger is a great example that already has more than a billion active monthly users.

This is also getting a place into social media tactics. It enables deeper and two-way conversations online between the individuals or organizations to individuals. Apart, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Chatbots will provide brands to offer modified and better shopping experiences on messaging platforms such as Messenger including Whatsapp and Kik.

13. Social Commerce

Social media has become a world in itself. People are using it not just to find their friends and family members, but also to buy products from reliable companies. Shopping on social media is so common that people have started setting up their eCommerce stores on a platform such as Instagram. They are good for communication, brand building, and with integrated eCommerce capabilities, they would be unstoppable in the year 2021 and beyond.

Related Reading: How To Use Instagram To Grow Your Ecommerce Store?

14. Authenticity and transparency

Gone are the days of over-the-top marketing campaigns. People have become more informed now, and they need legitimate brands to communicate only what their products can do. This means you have to be very authentic in designing your brand messages, social media posts and use them for improved sales.

Furthermore, transparency is crucial for brands in operations. People are growing unbelievably impatient when it comes to eCommerce. If they are shopping with you for the very first time, it is even more difficult to make them trust your brand.

The best way to achieve this is by integrating tools and features that bring more transparency to the operations. Go with tools such as real-time tracking, omnichannel customer experience, improved customer services, faster responses to queries, easy returns, and refunds, etc.

15. Reels

You must be well aware of the fun feature of Instagram – the Reels. Though it is developed for increased engagement on the platform, you cannot miss out on the huge opportunity it offers you as a business. You can use them for increased engagement; just like stories, they disappear in 24 hours. Most importantly, they have a ten times greater number of views on Reels or Stories than your general posts.

Instagram Reals are short videos of 15 to 30 seconds; you can use them with music, add fun text, emojis, etc. They are like easy to build advertising videos that are highly engaging, fun, and in-demand.

16. Ephemeral Content

You may be hearing this for the very first time, but it is not very different from the stories that you see on Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Instagram. It is the content that is available for a short duration and then disappears afterward.

It is a very successful feature that can be used for attracting users for a short period of time. They are very easy to consume, and they change the way brands functions. The format is like stories, which makes them very popular. They are short, addictive and people spend hours on them, scrolling story after story.

17. User-generated Content

Another social media trend that you cannot miss out on is brands are leveraging user-generated content. It is not a new trend, but the growing popularity of it had made it important to put it on the list.

Brands for years have leveraged user-generated content. You must motivate your customers to create content and tag your brand to increase your chances of getting featured on the page. Like the brands such as Daniel Wellington, Olay and Dove do. Even technology companies are using this tactic where they encourage people to join in the movement of change and become a part of the movement.

User-generated content is free, and it can be used in a number of ways. It is more authentic than branded content, and you are able to make communication much more trustworthy.

18. Social Media Communities

Social media communities are social groups that allow you to create brands to provide networking platforms for your customers. There are private groups and public groups; they are like-minded people that can join to talk about the shared interest.

If you find a Facebook community that is perfect for your product promotion, it is good to open a discussion there, provide meaningful information to users, and solve their queries there and then.

You must utilize these social media communities to launch new products seek customer feedback, and gain valuable customer insights.

19. Get vocal about social issues

Engagement is hard to achieve; one of the best ways is to stay abreast with the trends. Each day the trends shift, people’s opinions matter; they are practically turning the world around. The covid-19 pandemic has forced people to become more dependent on digital communication.

The #vaccine protects us from this #pandemic situation.

Let us Rejoice in the glory of the 🇮🇳 #nation, & don't forget to thank the warriors, whose vigilance & sacrifice keep us safe.

Happy Republic Day from the @SolwinInfotech team.#RepublicDay2021 #RepublicDay #VandeMataram pic.twitter.com/aaal4Km9CJ

— Solwin Infotech (@SolwinInfotech) January 26, 2021

Social media is more popular, and it is important to become vocal about the social issues, incorporate them in your message design, and use the engagement for improved branding.

20. Connections through conversations

Brands are craving engagement. There are thousands of companies competing to grab the attention of people online. Well, here is a tip – focus on connections rather than conversations. People value brands that believe in developing relationships. It helps you in retention and makes your users feel valued. Information, communication, engagement, social issues – use them for building connections.

 
Apart from these major trends, the following approaches will also grab social media marketers’ attention in the year 2021:

• Social media listening that addresses the goals of better customer service and online reputation management.
• Messenger apps and AI-based chatbots will play a significant role in establishing real-time communication between customers and marketers.
• Social media can play a bigger role in the sales funnel while spreading awareness and engagement about the products.

There is no doubt in stating that the year 2021 and subsequent years will revolve around the customers who are active on various social media platforms. All of these trends will help entrepreneurs address social media users. And also helps to connect people with their business model by providing a personalized experience.

At Solwin Infotech, we offer the best-in-class web development, eCommerce development, and SEO-related services to corporate clients. We are happy to help you run an online marketing campaign. And also ready to get an optimum outcome and ensure the growth of your business. Just contact us at info@solwininfotech.com with your business requirements, and we’ll get back to you soon.

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