• September 13, 2021
• by fsadvertising

Today, even the smallest company needs to have a social media presence. It’s known to be one of the best ways to make sure you’re consistently at the forefront of people’s minds and if used correctly, can give your brand a consistent and relatable exposure. However, social media's greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness at times, if every brand uses it to be seen, then it’s very possible to blend into the background and often miss out on making any kind of impression. That’s why it is very important to make your social media exposure in accordance with the present trend in the market and obviously your brand’s positioning.

In this post, we will explore some of the dominant social media trends of 2021

SOCIAL MEDIA TREND OF 2021

Rise of social media usage by the Baby boomers:

Over the last five years, the usage of social media among the elderlies or baby boomers, as we call them, has increased manifold. Especially during the pandemic when venturing out was a total no-no for these age groups and even family members were avoiding going close to them for the fear of transmitting the virus, these people took to social media to stay in touch with their friends and family. And this rise in the use of social media among the elderly can play a huge role in your social media strategy.

Social media platforms’ integration with e-commerce:

Social media platforms integrating with e-commerce opened up huge scope for the businesses who now have the advantage of tapping their potential customers right there without the need to send them anywhere else, like say the company’s landing page. With every need for additional action before the actual sale, there always lingers a chance of losing the customer in the way.

About  57% of people across 9 countries state that they are shopping more often than ever. Not every social media platform offers e-commerce features like you still cannot buy things directly through Twitter or YouTube, but Facebook and Instagram have implemented legitimate channels through which you can make sales. All you need to worry about is sending the product and making sure it is listed correctly to be seen by the users since the user interface and security is all controlled by the social media platform, making this a great choice for a small business.

Video content is gaining popularity:

Video content in social media platforms is increasing in popularity each day. By videos, we not just mean YouTube videos that can go on for a couple of minutes but videos that last for as short as a few seconds and that is what caught the eye. For a long time now, Snapchat had a feature known as “stories,” which was quickly adopted by Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc...

And soon enough companies jumped on the bandwagon, using these short videos to show off or advertise their products efficiently. Take a look at some brands using their reels on Instagram, and see how these short videos contain enough information to be worth watching, without being long enough to bore the viewer.

VR and AR are changing the way people interact with content:

Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR) are the two of the most exciting developments in the realm of technology so far within the last decade.

Augmented Reality: Augmented reality is like, say a filter that uses reality as a base, but lays something fantastical over that base. Those filters can make you look older, or put on a halo above your head etc are all augmented reality.

Virtual Reality: Virtual reality is a whole new situation. The user is known to be whisked away into another world entirely. I mean on a more whimsical side, you can also be taken to say a virtual house viewing or a tour of a real-life place.

AR and VR are known to be rapidly increasing in growth with newer and more advanced AR and VR technologies coming out constantly. One must not just jump in without knowing exactly what they are doing, as these technologies are expensive (especially VR), and might not always suit their marketing method or demographics.

The personification of the brands:

The hardest trend to grasp is the recent increase in brands’ personalities. For the longest time, brands have presented themselves with a degree of professionalism, doing their best to appear as upstanding organizations with complete control over their product and image. However, as time went by and marketing moved from billboards and television to Twitter and Facebook, marketing slowly morphed and has become more of a conversation than a one-way street. Audiences now love and prefer conversing with a person rather than a logo. The personification of the brands is the most important trend presently to come in tune with.

What do you think are the other recent trends in social media? Share them with us in the comments section.

Also, read this article on 'THE BEST TIMES TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2021'