One thing we’ve realised in the last 12 months is that change can be a painful process but one that builds character and innovation!
But did you know in 2021, social media change could turn into real change (the kind you can spend) for your business?
There’s plenty on the horizon for all your favourite social media channels this year! The likes of AR (Altered Reality) and VX (Voice Experience) are dominating conversation for top-end apps, but there are three overarching trends that will be crucial to social brands in 2021.
Now is the time to embrace these trends, and make a plan for how your brand could be impacted by them (positively or negatively).
Happy posting in 2021!
Ease up on the content overload – How frequently to post to social media
In the past ten years, the value of organic posting for businesses has ranged from free advertising reaching each of your followers, to radio silence as a result of algorithms working against company pages to necessitate ad spend.
With these efficacy fluctuations, we’ve also seen the posting frequency sweet spot oscillate. In the last couple of months, the social media algorithms have shifted to a ‘less is more’ philosophy with brands experiencing diminishing returns with each additional post per week, and some mass-posting offenders almost punished for their belligerent content dumping.
For some companies like airlines who have daily deals to update their customers on, frequent posting might make sense and if their audience engages, the friendly Facebook algorithm will be happy to promote their content. But, for most brands it’s going to be more valuable to be selective with posting 1-2 very strong pieces of content per week. A better strike rate will lead to Facebook seeing your brand as a worthwhile one to put in front of people’s eyes.
On the topic of strong pieces of content…
Production value vs. Content value – How to create engaging social media content
There’s long been a perception that the production quality of a piece of content must be of a particular level to reflect your brand. This has been flipped on its head resulting in what might be the most regressive of the 2021 social media trends.
Audiences have become more interested in what you’re saying than how pretty you look while saying it. A trend that no doubt has been partially sparked by the flood of Zoom interviews included in our daily media consumption last year – there’s only so much that touch up function can do.
Even the 6 o’clock news has been including shoddy Zoom interviews in order to deliver key information straight from the horse’s mouth.
This doesn’t mean throw your brand guidelines out the window but do reconsider the time spent on developing a truly valuable idea that will provide value to your audience versus the amount of time spent perfecting the look of the content. A piece of content that is deeply honest, funny, or insightful will have the legs to go viral well before what can be kindly referred to as a ‘polished turd’.
There’s a reason Pulp Fiction turned $8.5m into $100m in the same year the $98m budgeted Cutthroat Island posted a loss of $100m (the second biggest box office flop of all time)!
Social media or shopping media? – How to monetise your social media in 2021
For any product retailers, or even merch pushers, social media shopping has been a WIP for the last couple years but watch it become a fully blown shopping option in 2021.
If I were writing this a year ago, I’d be discussing how these functionalities are being introduced to Facebook and Instagram – but they’re beyond the point of making acquaintance and are here to stay. We’re at the stage where your eCommerce brand will be left behind if not agile enough to adopt this new form of online transacting.
It may be a daunting idea for real dollars being exchanged via a social channel but bear in mind Facebook is happy to pedal your product for free if it means users spend more time on their platform. So, make the most of it!
Not only will this trend be another way for retail brands to generate sales but will also increase the value of a strong social presence massively. And in some cases, you’ll even be able to give a social post a real dollar value! Music to the ears of everyone involved – us included.
If you’re after a partner to embark on these social media trends in 2021 and turn your social presence into an efficient, effective and even money-making channel, get in touch with Elevate’s digital team today!
