Social Media Marketing Trends for 2021 and beyond
New Year, new trends and now is the perfect time to refresh what you are doing on social media.
2020 gave us a year where we could be on social media to stay social. Face to face had become difficult to impossible and online became the new normal. Now it is time to look at what social media marketing trends we can expect in the future.
As I mentioned in my previous blog all business must be authentic and transparent in their marketing. Becoming more human and relatable is all part of this. A human connection so people connect with people and reveal what you stand for as a business.
They are all search engines
You may already know this or have seen me mention it previously but all social media platforms are search engines. Some of these search engines work better than others and some are improving how they work.
Make sure you are utilising social media optimisation (SMO) as part of your strategy.
Google will also take into account your social authority and trustworthiness across all platforms when indexing your website within their search results.
You may have noticed on Instagram their recent improvements when you search for something. Videos, profiles, posts, locations all show up in the results. Instagram is continuing to work hard on improving the searchability for its users.
To take advantage of search optimisation on Instagram
- Make sure that your post descriptions include relevant keywords that relate to your business.
- Be consistent in posting content that is always related to your business
- Use relevant keywords in the name section of your Instagram bio
Use Instagram reels
Reels is Instagrams answer to TikTok. Short videos that you can add text to and remind your followers to share or save.
Just as stories became more popular than the news feed, reels are the next step forward in Instagram marketing. Reels are already getting 10 times the views of stories and the newsfeed. 
Online shopping
If you are selling a product or even service you would be wise to ensure that you have your social media connected to shopping.
Both Facebook and Instagram have the ability to be linked to your website so people can see your product prices and buy. The future will see people not having to leave social media – One-click shopping is on its way.
Personally, I love being able to see the cost of an item within an Instagram post. It immediately allows me to make a decision and you want all your customers to feel the same.
If you are a regular Instagram user you will have seen the shop tab as a dedicated feature. This shows not only the people you follow who have shops but others that may interest you, further expanding your reach as a seller.
To enhance the shopping experience Instagram is planning new augmented reality tools which will potentially link to what they are currently doing on Facebook. A handful of selected brands have already been using and testing these AR tools that allow you to try on before your buy with cosmetics and eyewear brands like RayBan.
How could your clients benefit from a AR shopping experience?
The shopping features on Instagram and Facebook will continue to see growth. Facebook remains the most used digital platform so you need to become familiar with it.
One-click pay to purchase will be part of the simplification shopping options.
There has been a merger of the messaging between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. This merging and interconnectivity hints to more features that will be integrated across everything.
It will be interesting to see how Facebook continues to tackle the dangerous hate speech that has plagued and continues to plague the platform.
Lastly, you need to run ads – Advertising will remain the best way to extend your reach on Facebook. Think about how you can improve your advertising success and change up how you have done things previously.
If you re a Twitter user you will have seen that it has also added its version of stories called fleets. Top Twitter users will no doubt enjoy this feature but for most, it may remain unused.
They are working on getting rid of the bots that have taken over some engagement and work to sway people opinions. 
For many businesses, LinkedIn remains the number one platform and key connection tool. During 2020 it surpassed 700 million members and had record levels of engagement.
LinkedIn has added stories, polls, events, live and has more tools to come. With the growth of video and its engagement get ready for live events being hosted and shared in the platform. 
Conclusion
While many of these predictions seem obvious there are still businesses who choose not to utilise social media – crazy, I know! Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn should all be on your radar for 2021 and beyond.
Make the effort and start looking at these trends to get your business seen by more of your ideal clients. Love it or hate it social media is here to stay and your customers are all using it.
Is it time you got help and embraced social media marketing?
Contact Kelly @ My Sassy Business for a bespoke solution to suit your business goals.
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