4 Social Media Trends in 2021
Social media’s growing presence plays a large role in community and business communications and is arguably more important now than ever. Social media isn’t only the home of silly memes and TikTok dances, it’s also a platform for businesses to share company updates, engage with current and prospective clients and customers, and promote and sell products and services.
As in life, the only constant on social media is change. Following and understanding social media trends can help you incorporate new best practices into your business pages and stay relevant year after year. Here are some of the predicted trends you can expect to see in 2021:
- Reach Your Audience While Social Distancing
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped renew business’ appreciation for social media as it becomes the strongest, safest, and simplest way to connect with target audiences. In Hootsuite’s Social Transformation Report, 69% of respondents agreed that social media helped them prepare for COVID-19’s impact on business disruptions by maintaining relationships via social media. Maintaining connections is key for making and keeping dedicated customers, and while the world is socially distanced, social media can help you communicate key messages and keep in touch.
- Communicate the Four “C’s” Consistently
The four “C” topics started to be widely shared across social media platforms after the coronavirus pandemic hit and will continue to be important topics for businesses to include and address on social media in 2021.
- Community
- Contactless
- Cleanliness
- Compassion
Communicating these four topics on your social media pages shows your customers that you’re dedicated to keeping their safety and comfort top-of-mind.
- Short and Sweet Capabilities
Keeping it short and sweet on social media has proved to be a smart approach, whether it comes to post copy or video length, in order to maintain the interest of followers. Instagram has added the Reels feature, allowing users to create 15-second multi-clip videos to share to their Feed, Story, and the Explore page. Add audio, effects, and use new creative tools to enhance the quality and creativity of your video.
New on the Twitter platform are Fleets, designed for sharing momentary thoughts, to help start conversations, and only stay on your page for 24 hours. Because Fleets disappear after one day, their temporary nature helps users feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts, opinions, and feelings. These can also be useful for sharing short-term business updates, like holiday store hours or information on a sale.
- Keep it Inclusive, Make it Accessible
Didn’t you ever learn to “tweet others the way you want to be tweeted?” When planning and developing social media content, keep inclusivity and accessibility in mind to help you reach new audiences. If you’re not sure how to make your content more inclusive, these tips are a great starting place for your business:
- Diversify the type of content you share, such as imagery and videos, to engage people who learn or are captivated differently.
- Include alt text for images and videos and add closed or open captioning to videos when possible.
- Type your hashtags in #CamelCase (also known as #PascalCase) by capitalizing the first letter of every word for easier readability.
While these social media trend predictions can shape how your business interacts, engages, and develops content throughout 2021, the most important social media trend to keep in mind is this: social media is always changing. As new platforms emerge and existing platforms make updates and introduce additional features, keep a pulse on these changes and adapt with the times.
At Largemouth, we’re constantly researching, training, and adjusting our social media strategies and tactics for our social media pages and for our clients. If your organization finds itself in need of social media assistance, including content creation, post scheduling, reporting, and more, connect with our team today to learn more about how we can help.
