Social media is a powerful tool that a company can utilise to raise the profile of its business. The social media landscape is ever evolving so it’s essential that social media strategies also advance to make the most of marketing opportunities.

If social media is already a component of your marketing strategy then read on for an update on the latest social media trends that you need to be aware of heading in to 2021. If you are not yet utilising social media to market your business then please feel free to get in touch for specialist advice.

Story Features in The Business Space

Back in December 2019 we wrote about the growing popularity of ephemeral content on social media – that is content that is shared publicly for just 24 hours. This type of content takes centre stage on ‘Stories’, the most successful and well-known version being Instagram Stories.

12 months on and it’s clear that Stories are not going anywhere fast. In fact, they are more popular than ever and have been adopted by many more social media platforms in 2020.

Of particular interest for B2B companies is the introduction of LinkedIn Stories. Although this new feature is only available presently to LinkedIn users in certain countries it looks likely to be rolled out more widely in 2021. Now is a great time to start thinking about how your company could utilise LinkedIn Stories, as well as the Story features on other social media platforms that are used by your target audience.

Short Form Video

TikTok has experienced exponential growth in 2020, expanding beyond the young music-loving, lip-syncing demographic it is was previously associated with, to reach a much wider and more diverse user base.

As with Stories, what starts on one platform is often adopted and adapted by other social media platforms. This is exactly what we’ve seen happen with short form video, with Instagram introducing ‘Reels’ in August 2020.

Whilst TikTok may or may not be an ideal marketing channel for your business – depending on your target audience, short form video is not going anywhere and we could see it become a popular feature of many mainstream social media platforms in 2021.

Employee Engagement

Although this is not a new trend per se, it is a powerful tool within social media marketing that is often overlooked.

Engaging your employees in your social media strategy is a great way to expand your reach, as well as levelling up your content strategy by incorporating more viewpoints. Employee engagement could include:

• Requesting that each team within your business shares weekly updates with your social media manager (or agency) for them to incorporate into your content schedule;
• Spotlighting new hires, long-serving employees and special employee achievements on social media;
• Encouraging employees to share your social media updates on their own social media accounts, particularly on LinkedIn.

Importantly, it’s a good idea to avoid giving multiple employees access to post freely on the company’s social media accounts as this can lead to disjointed posting that may not be consistent with your objectives or brand guidelines and image.

A social media manager, which can be provided for you by Go Publicity, can act as the central co-ordinator of all social media activity, to ensure a strong and consistent presence that remains focused on achieving your marketing objectives.

This blog post highlights three emerging social media trends that we feel need to be taken into consideration as you prepare your marketing strategy for 2021. For additional advice and hands-on support please feel free to contact our experienced social media marketing team.