Entering into another decade calls for new business planning and marketing strategies. Digital marketers should gear up to execute the new methods to acquire leads and conversions. The continuously changing social media trends aren’t shocking at all. All you need is to stay updated about what’s trending and act accordingly with a smart and quick approach. Plus, modify your content to make it perfectly aligned with the latest social media marketing trends. Focus on each and every stage of customer lifecycle by adopting the below-mentioned trends expected to grow exponentially in 2021.
Let’s have a look at it.
1.Instagram Reels
This year, brands will continue to spend more time on Instagram to get in touch with the world around them. As a marketer, share meaningful content through IG reel with your audience to engage them – ensure that they will get true value from your brand. IG story disappears after 24 hrs but this short-form, entertaining video content (3-15 seconds long clips) remain in your account. If you are having a public account and share it in the explore section, then you can reach a broader audience. Reels (in 9:16 portrait mode) are pretty much everywhere now, but currently, this is a mobile-only feature.
2.Facebook Shop
In mid 2020, Facebook introduced its shopping feature as a tool for small businesses to help them display and sell products through Marketplace (launched in 2016). Much like craigslist, initially Facebook allows users to sell personal belongings online to others. Now, in 2021, Facebook shops are primarily aimed at businesses. From SMBs to global brands, it empowers people to boost consumer engagement and ad sales by setting up customized digital storefronts accessible through Facebook and Instagram. Likewise, the trend of shops on Instagram will continue to prevail in the coming months.
3.Twitter Fleets
Following the footsteps of Snapchat, FB and IG, Twitter has unveiled its very own version of short-lived stories called Fleets. These actually are the tweets that appear on your homepage with a lifetime of 24 hours. Fleets cannot be retweeted or liked, or receive public replies by other users. The only way to reply to any Fleet is a direct message. You can Fleet existing tweets (that could be text, photos, GIFs or videos), similar to Instagram stories. Moreover, the upcoming months may see the updated Fleets incorporating features like stickers and other tools, Twitter claimed.
4.TikTok Marketing
No matter what the nature of business is, TikTok marketing is for you if done right. Why? Because it continues trending in 2021 since its user growth rate is escalating at the highest pace. Observing the statistics, it has 800 million active users. Make your brand available on this platform and reach more audiences all over the world. It is not like Facebook & Instagram marketing. You have to know what features, effects, hashtags and music you have to use for your brand awareness, business promotion and increased revenue. Even you can hire an influencer to work on your objectives just like you do for other social channels.
5.LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is not something entirely new when it comes to social networking and targeting the right consumers – the most relevant prospects. You may have already seen its implementation to find the right business prospects and make social selling easy through Linkedin. However, you still experience this trend marching ahead in popularity this year. This is your surefire way to capture qualified leads and build trusted relationships necessary for business growth and development.
Wrapping Up :
You might have heard “easier said than done”. This becomes true in case of a digital marketer. You have the option of joining hands with ArhamSoft (Pvt) Ltd. and can shape up a social media marketing plan in a better way.
Digital marketing is essential for every business. Integrating social media into your strategy will help you build your online brand with greater visibility and increased connections.
Whether organic or paid social, you need a holistic approach necessary to balance brand awareness with conversions. It pays to know which platform is the right choice for your business growth. And, it all depends on your business goals and bottom-line.
For deciding which network you should focus on, you need to know the market trends and what your competition is doing. So let’s dive into the industry trends, making it easier for businesses to select the right platform to develop and improve their social media presence.
Platform Use: B2C Marketers:
Nearly all B2C marketers focus on Facebook and Instagram, as shown in the chart below.
Source: Social Media Examiner Industry-Report-2021
Interestingly, B2C marketers reduced their use of Twitter (down from 53% in 2020) and increased their use of LinkedIn (up from 50% in 2020).
According to Statista, “Facebook is the top platform used by marketers worldwide as of January 2021. Additionally, 93% of global survey respondents for social media marketing use Facebook for business promotion, while another 78% marketers use Instagram to promote their business.”
Platform Use: B2B Marketers:
This chart shows that most B2B marketers use Facebook to promote their business, and a significant percentage use LinkedIn.
Source: Social Media Examiner Industry-Report-2021
Future LinkedIn Plans
B2B marketers place more value on LinkedIn ads (17% B2B vs. 2% B2C). On the other hand, more than half of the digital marketers (54%) have future plans of increasing their LinkedIn organic activities over the next year. They found more interested in learning about LinkedIn (72% B2B vs. 55% B2C).
Moreover, 74% of B2B plan on increasing LinkedIn organic activities, compared to 45% of B2C.
Now, with these numbers it can be assumed that businesses may not be harnessing the power of LinkedIn the right way to build their online brand – making it the top social media platform for B2B marketing activities.
Some mistakes on LinkedIn that can make or break your business
1. Self-Focused Content
Being too self-obsessed is a deadly slip up while using this marketing platform. Facebook is that kind of channel where someone can self-focus – talking mostly about personal stuff.
LinkedIn is for ‘we-focus’ approach.
When you are creating content and posts inside LinkedIn, it should be a collective team and peer energy voice.
Consider people on LinkedIn your colleagues and think how you would talk to them in real. This should reflect in your LinkedIn posts.
Impact your LinkedIn strategy by thinking of LinkedIn as a leadership community where you provide value and support people in order to get the same in return instead of thinking of it as a professional place to put your content.
Create peer-related leadership voice for a successful LinkedIn content strategy.
Treat LinkedIn like a support network instead of self-boasting and your connections will grow exponentially.
Give people what they seek and what you want in return – support.
Be a supportive peer to other professionals that are in same industry as yours and dealing with the same problems and concerns as you.
2. Content Strategy Categories
Another mistake is not thinking about different content strategy categories.
You need a comprehensive strategy for successful LinkedIn marketing. However, you should make your posts in different verticals. Be as specific as you can.
Industry Insights:
Talk about relevant news in your target industry. How to add value to it? Share your additional opinion as a brand or company. Focus more on creating action-oriented posts.
Refer to relevant events and conferences related to your business.
Storytelling:
Share the behind-the-scene experiences of your business. See what your team is doing and what’s happening in your professional space.
People love hearing new experiences and stories that add value to their lives. Create posts about your teams attending the conference or a business solution with ‘before and after’ results.
Relatable Interests :
Create posts that can relate to your audience. For example, it could be something humorous, or you can relate to them through books you read or podcasts you listen to.
A point to recognize here is giving your every single post a human element. People should feel connected to your brand and the lessons learned through your business.
Recall all the categories, and you will see this valuable element at the core of each category.
Takeaway:
Give people access to your business insights. Share your professional experiences and thoughts in the most personal way possible.
3. No Post Formula
Just like playwrights develop a plot for an appealing storyline, marketers and content creators should have a simple formula for writing catchy posts that will grab readers’ attention.
Here’s a quick post formula for your LinkedIn network.
Start with a hook – this value-based introductory statement tells the readers why this content matters to them.
Add intrigue line – give your readers an enticing call to continue reading the post by clicking on the ‘See More’ button.
Deliverable – The expanded post contains the main content you want to deliver to your audience.
Call to action – This last part is the most important one. Give people something valuable so that they take your desired action.
4. Content Types
This is what most people do not think about. As a result, they do not leverage all types of content. It doesn’t mean they do not post different content, but they are clueless about what content can bring value for their audience and business.
Commenting:
Do not overlook the significance of commenting out in your newsfeed as your company brand.
This is what many marketers do not realize and fails to engage with the audience through comments. First, respond to comments on your posts and then reply to the content people tag you as a company or brand. The final and the easiest way to reach out to people is to comment on posts featuring your hashtags.
In this way, you can get visibility for your brand within community hashtags you generated and that are now trending on LinkedIn.
Sharing:
Next comes sharing your content on LinkedIn. Again, adding your opinion to your post will make a tremendous difference because it will help your content get more visibility.
As you share your opinion or a team member’s posts, you increase the chances of giving your ideal clients the value they are looking for. In addition, they are more likely to follow and engage with your company page after reading your shared content.
Images:
Always use images with text. And show authentic pictures of real people, places, and products with your company branding instead of stock photos.
External Links:
LinkedIn is different from other platforms, but you can still share external links through it. You can direct these links to your product features, blog posts, and press releases.
Documents: Adding a document (PDF, Word, PPT) to your post is the most powerful way of sharing as much information about your company brand as you want that cannot otherwise deliver through simple text-only and expandable posts.
Video:
This is the fastest way of connecting visually with your target audience, connections or followers, and potential customers. It’s easy to get clients through it because this content type is still under-saturated.
Live video is the next thing, but you need to be LinkedIn’s authorized broadcaster.
Pro Tip: Keep video content short (1-2 minutes) and feature people (influencers) for better reach and engagement.
Last are LinkedIn polls, articles, and events to attract your ideal clients, connect with new people and convert them through powerful content strategy.
In brief, work systematically and do not post on LinkedIn just for the sake of posting or because your competitors are doing so. Don’t let your content sit there and bring your company brand no value in return. All the things mentioned above seem simple but require dedicated resources and time to get the required results.
Do you want to learn how to diversify your social media strategy or need a better action plan for your posts? Wondering what type of content will help your company brand grow? Just book a call or drop us a message to talk to our digital marketing experts. ArhamSoft (Pvt) Ltd. is determined to make businesses grow.
