Your 2021 Guide to Social Media Trends From Our Content Director
Hi. My name is Daniella, and I’ve been on the internet since the mid-90s. What started as an obsession with bulletin boards for music fans has morphed into a decade-plus career in helping brands find their audience and then helping them keep that audience engaged. Like many of you, I’ve spent the pandemic locked in my house, mostly living my life via social media. It’s been my work, my social life, my access to news and entertainment.
Here are a few things I’ve picked up from staring at screens non-stop since March 2020 and how they can help your brand be better online.
Do more with less. You don’t need high production value to make a big impact. The hot trend in social media right now is authenticity. You can’t fake that; get real with your audience, and they’ll be real with you.
Keep it short and sweet. When social media platform Facebook began supporting embedded video in the mid-2010s, users gravitated to this new format that kept them on the page longer. Of course, video is still king, but keeping it short and to the point is where you really win. With the popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels, it's easier than ever to capture real-time content quickly and share it natively on a social network.
Lean into the FOMO. Both anecdotally and through actual research, it’s been proven time and again that more people engage with Stories than feed posts. Engage that “fear of missing out” feeling by using the stories feature, which will automatically disappear after 24 hours. The jury is still out on the adoption of Fleets on Twitter, but the Stories feature on Instagram and Facebook has shown great results for brands.
Make it weird! Listen, we all joined TikTok “as a joke” in early 2020. What else did we have going on? But now, a year later, we’re all still there, following that guy from the Washington Post and a strangely alluring bread baker from Massachusetts. Brands are finding creative ways to engage the audience here, from niche content featuring characters to staying on top of emerging trends. We do not recommend asking your CEO to learn the newest dance, though.
Like all hot tips from marketing professionals, there’s a right way to integrate each of these and a, well, less than ideal way. If you’re unsure where to start, our team is ready to help you keep up with the times.