Social Media tactics to follow in 2021

We are facing the dawn of 2021 a year, many eagerly waited for. 2020 marked by a global pandemic swept through our lives taking away many of the certainties and especially drastically changing the way we live and the way technology interweaves with our day to day life. 

If only a year ago we would have talked about the digital revolution happened in the last decade by noting how always more often we rely on digital mediums to find any type of information. Learning about breaking news on social media, finding the perfect restaurant for a special occasion or your next holidays destination you would most probably open one of the many apps on your phone to consult or head on google. Today we spend most of our day online not only looking for information, but working, shopping and most importantly nurturing our social relationships almost entirely online. 

This had an impact not only on our lives but also on the way we fruit Social media, defining new trends and new ways of doing business.

THE 2020 IMPACT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media is always more user centred. Guided by the trend of bringing the social back to social. In 2020 this connotation took a deeper level of significance and made so that the algorithms are alway more unbeatable at providing the end users only the content they will really like. Algorithm wants content that is interesting, that will give stimulus for its user to interact with and will keep them on the platform for longer periods of time. 

On the user side the selectivity for contents that are more meaningful and provide deeper conversations peaks among others, making the pressure on content quality and difficulty on gaining visibility higher than ever before. 

People want more meaning out of the time spent online, less interaction but more intense, the need to substitute real-life small social moments is big. We miss our daily chat with the coffee seller, a colleague on public transport or during lunch breaks, a fellow parent at school drop-offs or pick up. We strive to share our opinions, life bits, conquests and failures.

SOCIAL MEDIA TACTICS TO FOLLOW IN 2021

INCREASE ORGANIC ACTIVITY

• Engage your audience by creating digestible content. In a moment where everything is happening online, the attention span and distraction of consumers are sky-high. This it becomes paramount to your content strategy success to produce content that is easily fruited. Increase your reach and audience engagement by diversifying between different types of content. Think watch parties, prompts or rooms in Facebook groups. Reels, Lives, IGTV, stories on Instagram. 

• Ephemeral content. Video content importance in digital marketing hasn’t stopped growing and let us admit it it is a perfect breakaway from endless meetings online. Provides the user with fast, snackable bits of information or entertainment. Stories and lives further increase consumers trust in the brand as it allows them to look beyond the super structured campaigns. This type of content is perceived as a warmer and more authentic way to communicate. It is perfect to build up that brand trust.

• Lifestreaming is now the new norm, we work on live conferences, we study in google classrooms, celebrate our birthdays in WhatsApp group chats, our grandmas and grandpas with no digital literacy are adapting to live calls.  Live content allows us to create a deeper conversation with the audience through real-time interaction. For instance, the buzz around Clubhouse is increasing and the app, though still only by invitation is growing at rocket speed. Why? This platform provides the possibility to engage in meaningful conversation on subjects we are experts in or care about. It allows us to find likeminded people to share that coffee break with.

• Online commerce has seen the numbers shoot up and is driving the fast technological development of VR and AR. This trend is inset in the need of people to evade the ever so monotonous daily life. Just imagine we in a button click we are given back the possibility to travel, try out new cloth, see furniture in a real life context, test drive new cars, the possibilities are endless. And though the impact of AR and VR is still not understood it is wise to keep a close eye in further developments.

DESIGN EXPERIENCES

• Personalisation is the keyword to content strategy. Format diversification as mentioned above helps to increase our chances to cater the right content to the right person. Though it is harder to achieve organically businesses than through paid SM advertising, there are some strategies you can use through different social media platforms

• Influencers, micro-influencers and their influence (pardon the pun) are still a big part of social media marketing and the reason why is that their public is already pre-selected. It is easy to reach the audience you have in mind. These campaigns generate brand loyalty and brand awareness through emulation and trust relationship the influencer has with her followers. Make sure to do an attentive selection of the influencer figure you are going to associate your brand with!

• Create communities, be part of the communities and be authentic. Don’t leave your content out there alone! Engage with your audience by being an active part of their social circle. Reply, become truly interested in their pains, celebrate their achievements and just be there for them.

• Make use of UGC. Recognise your audience involvement with your business and share your spotlight to gratify and create singular experiences, add a unique side to your brand and increase the likes of your audience and brand interactions. Encourage your customers to share content by inspiring, sharing ideas, giving away bits of knowledge and by participating in causes close to your audience hearts. Don’t forget to give credit! A great example of UGC campaign is GoPro Instagram profile, they have encouraged their users to post pictures under branded hashtags by choosing one a day to feature on their profile.

ANALYSE YOUR DATA

• Social listening is your driveway to that personalised content that will boost engagement. Listen to your audience, make notes of how they speak, what they say and how they perceive your content.  In 2021 there is no space for the tone-deaf marketing. The public not only requires more quality in contents they want to see on their feed, but they are also less forgiving of the mistakes.

• Real metrics gaining importance over vanity.  I cannot stress enough how important it is for every business to learn how to use the analytics that they have at hand. A most important rule in this is to start with a strategic approach and know where why and when you are going. To be able to make data-driven decisions you first need to set clear and measurable goals, or otherwise, you risk getting lost in the vanity metrics glitter. 

• Take a look at all your Social media profiles, optimise them for business and study the insights. Which type of data can you use to evaluate your goals? Reach, engagement, follower growth rate, interactions?

1. Understand how users are navigating by analysing the analytics data your website and optimise their experience. Which type of content does your audience prefer? Where your website traffic is coming from? Are you reaching set goals? Is the Customer Journey you have set followed?

PRIVACY 

Finally, with our lives going all online, we are concerned about our privacy more than before. Privacy laws are becoming more stringent and “Recognizing changes related to every aspect of data management and adjusting practices accordingly are key to maintaining consistent ROI — not to mention avoiding the regulatory drawbacks of noncompliance. No matter the year, staying ahead of the game is a far easier and more profitable prospect than playing a never-ending game of catch-up.”

Make sure your website privacy policy is up to date and that you have permission when using UGC in your campaigns by always asking permission to use.