Social media trends 2021 to level up your marketing game

Did you know that 71% of customers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to talk about the brand with their friends and family? It’s true: your social media strategy needs to be in top form if you want to see your company succeed. Social media isn’t just for teenagers anymore. Businesses everywhere use it to create awareness in their target market, increase engagement, and generate quality leads. So, how can you utilize the tools of social media to benefit your company?

When people recognize your brand, you know you are doing something right. Voluntary shoutouts on social media and having influencers share your posts are great ways to engage with your target audience and promote growth. The higher your brand recognition, the more credible you will appear to potential investors and partners. The best way to connect with your audience is to remind them that you’re only human, like them. Instead of seeming like a machine, you want your business to be relatable and trustworthy for the consumer.

Speaking of being relatable, Accenture found that 63% of global consumers want to support companies that stand for a purpose that reflects their own values and beliefs. One powerful way that leading companies build an emotional connection with their audience is by standing up for causes that are dear to them.

Key Performance Indicators

For Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, your KPIs will revolve around awareness and advocacy. Awareness comprises how many people see your posts and how many have been exposed to your content. Advocacy dives a little deeper to see the number of people commenting, liking, or resharing your content. Clicks per post is a powerful method of measuring the number of times users have clicked on your link to see if your headline was effective.

Execution

Choose your pillar content, meaning a single valuable piece of content, like an informative blog post, a detailed infographic, or a YouTube video packed with great tips. Then break it down into smaller pieces, like taking 30-second clips from a longer video. Those are more accessible for people who might not have more time to spend watching the entire video. Those shareable clips are perfect for social media. While the snippets provide some information, they should mainly whet your audience’s appetite for the pillar content and link them back to it.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn

Each platform requires a slightly different approach, based on the consumers utilizing it. LinkedIn is the preferred social media website for businesses because it allows you instantly build targeted lists and grow your network by directly messaging and connecting with people. The highest performing type of content on LinkedIn is PDFs, although you can also share polls, articles, and customer content.

Facebook is the second most popular social media platform after LinkedIn and is one of the best places to share videos. In fact, social videos generate 12 times the shares than text and images combined.

As You Grow

Pulling back the curtain a little is a great way to humanize your brand and connect with a younger consumer base. They want to see the faces behind your products or services, not just some cold business brand. Investing your time in a solid social media strategy is sure to be an investment worthy of your time.