5 Social Media Marketing Trends to Look for in 2021

by: Mal Alder

It’s a New Year and that means new social media marketing trends are on the horizon! At Alder & Co., we are always looking for the latest and greatest info to help market our clients. After taking a look at how things have started trending in social media toward the end of last year, we’ve come up with 5 social media marketing trends that we predict are going to be big in 2021.

1. Video marketing boosts organic exposure

As soon as Instagram rolled out Reels, we had a feeling it would shift the video social media marketing game. Tik Tok has already changed the way video social media marketing was perceived. Now, Reels has furthered the trend. Instagram Reels are short 10-20 second videos. Think of them as stories on steroids. Now, reach is dropping for feeds and stories, but trending upwards for Reels. That means you can start using Reels to boost your brand’s organic exposure on Instagram. Don’t worry about making fancy videos with expensive equipment. Instead, focus on making your Reels fun, short, and to the point.

2. SEO becomes more prominent for Instagram visibility

Now that you can search for keywords on Instagram and not just hashtags, SEO has become more prominent for Instagram visibility. Marketers and business owners should use this to their advantage! Now, you can add keywords to your captions and increase organic reach on Instagram. Think about the words you want your audience to search to find you and be sure to include those in your captions moving forward.

Relevant: 4 Strategic Ways Brands Can Utilize Instagram’s Pinned Comments Feature

3. Flexible social media marketing strategy thrives

As we all know, 2020 was a crazy year. We experienced a global pandemic with unprecedented economic impact for everyone. But, maybe we all learned a valuable lesson from last year’s events. When things are changing, it’s time to be flexible and adaptable. This is important when looking at social media marketing trends and strategies. You’ll want to adapt your social media to reflect what is happening around you. That means knowing what is appropriate and relevant to post when the time is right. For example, if major news breaks about a political event or another breaking news event, you will want to reschedule your social posts for the day. There is a good chance all eyes will be on the breaking news and you don’t want to compete with that. Make your social media content as flexible as possible.

4. Real connections fuel LinkedIn engagement

A common theme of social media marketing trends for 2021 is connection. People want to connect with other people now more than ever. Social media is a great way for them to do that. That’s why platforms like LinkedIn will be a place for business professionals to really connect with one another. In 2020, the platform rolled out polls, stories, and events in an effort to further the feeling of connection and community. Businesses need to embrace these new features and use them to connect with their targeted audience.

5. Brands that humanize will reap rewards

Businesses are starting to understand that humanizing their brand will benefit their marketing in the long run. These days people are looking for authentic and transparent content from their social media feeds. People want to connect with people and not necessarily with brands. That means you should do your best to humanize your business/brand and only then will you reap the rewards of doing so.

Want to see these social media marketing trends put into action? Contact Alder & Co. to see how we can help boost your business in 2021!