2021 Social Media Trends & Tactics
⏲️ 5 min. read
You’re a social media manager. You’ve sussed out how to use each channel and you’re busy creating content and everything feels good.
But one morning you look up from your calendar and everything seems different. All the kids are on TikTok, there’s a load of new stuff on Instagram Explore and Facebook Business Suite seems to be preventing you from finding Ads Manager 😩.
Whilst we can’t make Facebook stop making life harder for you, we can break down some of the latest user trends and behaviours and marketing tactics.
Each year our social media software of choice, Sprout Social, publish the Sprout Social Index, reviewing all the latest social media trends with a survey of consumers and marketers. Why? Because they want to know what’s considered the cream of the crop when it comes to goals, tactics and how social data and intelligence can be leveraged.
And because we know you’re busy in a DiCaprio-Inception-style journey of hashtag research, we’ve read it, digested it and and here’s what we know.
Social media usage has exploded
No surprises there then.
After over a year of lockdown, it was pretty obvious that social media usage would have been huge. Now more than ever, businesses and customers alike are spending far more time across all social media platforms.
Consumer social media usage is on the rise, Sprout Social Index 2021.
What does this mean?
It means there’s a LOT more content out there and businesses are desperate to get our attention wherever they can. It means that as marketers, we should only be sharing content that’s quality, worthy of our audience’s attention and on the channels they want to see it on.
Facebook still leads the way with the majority of consumers and businesses using the social behemoth, with Instagram and Twitter following suit.
The data suggests that while brands are jumping on new networks and using them as marketing channels, they should be focusing on making a bigger impact on Instagram and YouTube. And keeping an eye on TikTok if they’re not already!
Where marketers are most successful vs where consumers would like businesses to focus, Sprout Social Index 2021.
Use of social media platforms in 2021: Consumer vs business, Sprout Social Index 2021.
Everyone loves to shop on social
The younger your audience are, the more likely they are to spend money via social media. Whether you’re selling products, services, events or fundraising, social media can be great for getting people to get their (Apple) wallets out and take action.
Time to get that Insta shop/Twitter Tip Jar/Facebook pixel sorted!
Buying on social media by generation, Sprout Social Index 2021.
As well as buying from you, the research suggests that, if they follow you, people will basically do all those things that you want them to do.
They’ll visit your website, choose you over a competitor brand, visit your store, recommend you to others and leave reviews. Wow! And all of that, even if they don’t engage with you on social. Well, this is good to know and now we can all sleep well at night, knowing all that effort in growing the follower count was worth it 😆.
Actions consumers take when they follow brands on social, Sprout Social Index 2021
Success on social media is easier than you think
What social media success means to one organisation will always be different to another, depending on their goals. (In our experience, even people within the same team often have a different idea of what success looks like - if that’s the case, we need to talk about your strategy!)
If you’re focused on building brand awareness, you’re not alone. Social is all about awareness and engagement for most marketers.
It’s not actually surprising to see that the biggest challenge is using social to support overall business goals. We get it! This is our core service - developing social strategies that support organisational goals. It’s not easy.
Business goals on social media, Sprout Social Index 2021.
Business Challenges with social media marketing, Sprout Social Index 2021.
While there’s no yellow brick road to follow that’s clearly signposted Success, this way ➡️, what’s likely to help you reach your goals are a) having a coherent strategy in place and then b) keeping in the loop with trends, worrying less about being ahead of your competitors and creating content that reflects who you really are and what you’re really all about and what your audience really needs. (Sorry for all the ‘reallys’ but authenticity is super important.)
Of the marketers surveyed this year, most reported image content being as effective as video content for achieving their goals. And, as most stated brand awareness was the most important goal, we’re not surprised to see video up there. Social networks have been increasingly prioritising video for years because it gets our attention and keeps it (good for the networks) and helps to get a lot of information across with minimal effort from the viewer and reaches more people via the algorithm (good for brands).
Types of content most valuable for achieving social goals, Sprout Social Index 2021.
What does mean to be “best in class” on social media for your audience?
What we think people want, and what they actually want are two different things.
People want innovative content (don’t we all). No more run-of-the-mill posts, we need something that stands out from the crowd, provokes thought and inspires. But it’s not quite as important to people as marketers might think.
We also think people want brands to be culturally relevant but again, it’s not top of their list. It’s true that social media activity shouldn’t exist in a bubble outside of what a brand is doing. Just as much as a brand shouldn’t exist in a bubble outside of community and culture. So you should make sure everything is aligned and your content, your voice, your approach is relevant.
So, ‘what DO people want’ I hear you scream?
They want to be put first. People want, and expect, great customer service from brands on social. Gone are the days when a brand could ignore Twitter and hide behind a customer service team that only deal with email.
Social is where it’s at, so be responsive and treat people well. You already do? Well, we knew that anyway 😉.
Best in class on social media. Marketer vs consumer perspective, Sprout Social Index 2021.
How to make social data work for you
Social media data can make your day when something goes viral, or ruin a day when you lose followers. Don’t let it get to you.
Time to toughen up and look under the hood. Forget about the vanity metrics and find the data that really tells you what’s working and what isn’t. Remove the guesswork and use data in your decision making.
“While 88% of marketers agree their social strategy positively influences their bottom line, only 15% of marketers use social data to measure ROI”
Sprout Social Index, 2021.
How marketers use social data, Sprout Social Index 2021.
Measuring ROI (return on investment) isn’t always easy for everyone. We get it. We work with some complex organisations such as international NGOs, whose social objectives span awareness, impact and stories of change. Sometimes data doesn’t tell the whole story.
Social media data isn’t used outside of marketing for most organisations. It’s considered a ‘marketing only’ activity. But what if the insights gained from social could help other departments?
Maybe FAQs from Twitter could make for a good webpage? Or a particularly engaging social campaign could lend itself to email? Or maybe even some audience insight could feed into programming or operations? If you don’t share it, you’ll never know.
How social data is viewed within an organisation, Sprout Social Index 2021.
Some final takeaways
If you’ve skipped through the whole lot to this bit, fair enough, we know you’re super busy. If you’ve read the whole lot, good on you! We raise our cuppas in support. Now, go get yourself a cake and read the final nuggets of wisdom.
1. Concentrate on what matters most to your business goals
Don’t try to talk to everyone, you’ll end up engaging no one. Forget chasing big numbers and what everyone else is doing. Focus on your people. Really get to know them and create content only for them. And only as long as it supports your goals.
2. Create content that spans the whole customer journey
Awareness is important so you do need content that travels. But people use social for discovery, community, purchasing and leaving feedback. So ensure your strategy involves activity that finds and engages people at each stage.
3. Learn from your data
Find it, record it, analyse it and learn from it. Data tells a story about what’s working and what isn’t. It will give you insight to prevent you from wasting time on ineffective strategies and help you make a bigger impact that you can report across the organisation.
4. Involve the team
We’ve seen through our work that when different departments come together, social can really start to fly. Take your goals and your data and ask your colleagues for input. Could you workshop some new social ideas or collaborate on some content?
Who knows? Maybe your social data can feed into other organisational activities?
We believe that when social is used well, its used reactively to other areas of the organisation by sharing content to reflect what else is happening and support different departments. But it’s also used proactively, to support organisational goals and inform strategic decisions.
To learn more about how to be best in class for your brand’s goals on social media, we are here to help you bring everything together. From tackling your audiences’ whereabouts and content needs, providing excellent customer service and making social data work for you, find out more about how having the right social media strategy for your organisation is where it’s at.
