As we settle into the new year, keeping an eye on marketing trends helps us tweak our marketing strategies, both for our clients and for Take Flight. 2020 saw social media marketing strategies change by the month, if not the week, as marketers adapted to pandemic living. Social media allowed people to stay connected, even during the tightest lockdowns, and many brands felt more reactive than proactive. This year, we’re keeping an eye on these five social media trends for 2021 in order to proactively engage in an authentic way.
1. Digital disinformation abounds on social media
You’d need to be completely unplugged to miss the chatter surrounding disinformation online. From the beginning of media and marketing, consumers have been exposed to misinformation. Exaggerations occur, as do badly fact-checked articles, and that misinformation can lead to false impressions — both negative and positive. Disinformation works in a different way. It involves purposeful manipulation of media, if not outright lies. Even savvy social media users can get caught up in its wave, but it’s crucial to keep your brand’s reputation far away from unreliable information. Users are talking more about where their information comes from, and when they’re burned with something they can prove is untrue, regaining trust is a struggle. Don’t get caught up in the disinformation trap. Check and double check your sources, and make sure anything you’re posting about your business sticks to facts.
2. Embrace video in 2021
We aren’t only talking to you with this one! Video, even when using editing software and, lends itself to a type of transparency not found in traditional media, like written content or photos. We’re going to come out and say it: Very few people love watching videos of themselves — and the Take Flight team doesn’t happen to be among those people. However, video will become even more crucial in 2021 as platforms like Instagram and TikTok roll out ways to boost revenue from social media video content. If you’re hesitant, start practicing. Be sure to try out lighting in different areas of your home or office, including angles, filters, and different times of day in your practice videos. The more comfortable you feel in front of the camera, the easier it becomes to hit record.
3. Make memes work for you
Using social media means being exposed to memes. Bernie Sanders and his distinctive, Vermont-made mittens might be the latest meme to explode across social media, but it won’t be the last. The best memes manage to unite all different groups of people. Memes aren’t going to sell your product, but they’ll help you connect with more people, and they can be a way for a business to show a more playful side of their image. The tough thing remains catching a meme on the way up the mountain and not chasing it on the way down. A social media manager, like our Take Flight team, can help your business keep on eye on what’s happening and touch base with you quickly to see how you might be able to incorporate a viral meme into your marketing plan.
4. Customer service happens on social media
We understand the desire to unplug — and we recommend you set social media boundaries that work for you and your team. Be sure to devote some time each day to customer service through your social media platforms. That means checking public mentions and private DMs in a timely way, so things don’t fall through the cracks. Not all customer service involves complaints! Leaving your mentions hanging in the wind might mean missing out on a collaboration or other opportunity, so carve out time to stay connected, even on busy days.
5. Let user-generated content work as a search engine for you
We talk a lot about staying authentic on social media, including not being afraid to share things not directly related to the product or services you’re selling. Believe it or not, social media operates as a search engine as well as a way to connect. After all, the targeted ads you see in your feed wouldn’t be a thing if they didn’t work. Paid advertising isn’t the only way consumers use social media platforms to research things they care about — and it’s not always the most effective. We strongly recommend using user-generated content in all of our clients’ social media strategies. Make your followers aware of your brand’s specialized hashtags to encourage clients and customers to share their experiences with your business on their own social media. In addition to hashtags, don’t be afraid to share user-generated content in your own feeds, making sure to tag the original creators to amplify your message.
Remember: Trends and fads are not the same thing
Always keep in mind that trends and fads don’t operate in the same way. They don’t have the same growth patterns, especially when it comes to building a brand or a business. Fads tend to appear out of nowhere, and marketers find themselves playing catch up to grasp the tail end of the hype before it disappears. Trends focus on measurable data, and while they don’t always mean quick growth, they influence how strategy evolves over time. Watching trends helps you to build and shift your social media strategy throughout the year to meet the changing way consumers use social media in their daily lives.
How have you adjusted your 2021 social media strategies based on what you saw happening on social media in 2020?