2020 hasn’t quite been as great as we hoped it would be. It’s no secret that marketers and business owners have faced a lot of challenges.
The challenges erupted after the COVID-19 pandemic which is still a problem.
COVID-19 has resulted in stay-at-home rules that have changed everything. The changes including our engagement with the internet and how we use it.
Number of people who use social media in 2021 will increase. We are online more than ever, shopping from home and interact with friends via social media.
We’ve always been on the internet to buy important items, but now online orders increased.
The number of social media consumption increased by 72% while 48% of people post on these platforms.
In 2020 we saw a rise of social media usage by 10.5%, related to July 2019.
About 46% of women and 41% of men spent more time on mobile during the pandemic. That made it the second-most popular digital activity after search engine.
The brands have to take advantage of it. They need to use social media to engage with their audience.
If you've made the choice to grow your company through social media, the next decision is to ask yourself;
Are you going to do the project yourself? or are you going to employing a social media agency in Tanzania to handle it for you?
Outsourcing your social media services can be a very successful investment in a lot of cases.
Social media agencies are experts in managing the digital marketing budget. They gave efficient tools and processes to make the operation more productive.
Bridging Technologies deals with social media services in Tanzania. It has identified the secrets that can help you ramp up with social media.
Contact us for free consultation.
Let first look on how social media can drive sales;
HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN DRIVE SALES| Bridging Technologies
Social media isn’t about brand awareness. When it is used correctly it will generate sales.
23 % of users said that they used it for learning about products and services.
Social media strategies boost user engagement across channels.
The interaction between businesses and customer increases sales and improves brand loyalty.
SMM report shows that, more than 65% of businesses are on social media to increase leads.
Here is how social media can drive sales;
- Social media helps to reach out to a bigger audience.
Social media platforms have become the main source to learn more about businesses. it has information about new products, services, advertisements, deals, or promotions.
Social channels allow to share business news. Also, post related photos or links to stories or studies in their industry.
Social media builds trust in the customers. The brands can showcase themselves to new potential clients.
- Social media creates word of mouth.
The audiences always discuss their experience with the brands. These discussions are adding further to word of mouth.
Social media has a larger, quicker, and real-time reach. This cannot be compared to conventional offline word of mouth.
Before making a purchase, customers are looking for feedback from friends or groups.
For example, The Facebook feature, "looking for recommendations."
User posts that they are looking for suggestions, by giving a brand or seller names. On that post, friends can continue the conversation by giving out feedbacks.
Through social media platforms, the customers will engage and buy the product.
Not every social media platform has the same audience. It's important to invest in the right channels with the right content.
Do you want to know where to invest? Bridging Technologies can show you the right place to invest. Contact us.
Let's look at the trends that could drive sales in 2021;
TRENDS TO WATCH IN SOCIAL MEDIA 2021 | Bridging Technologies
Let forget about 2020 as we are already in 2021, it's time to start planning for this year.
It’s now time to start thinking about how to ramp up your social media marketing strategy for 2021.
What’s been working well? What are the trends to try in 2021?
- Video content will continue to dominate
- Social commerce will expand.
- Meme will become a new norm.
- Temporary content becoming popular.
- Live streaming being popular.
- Remixing is the new User Generated Content.
- The rise of digital disinformation.
1. Video content will continue to dominate.
Video content is the most popular type of content that will dominate social media.
According to a Hub spot study, 83% of consumers would share a video. This shows how video content is important and relevant in social media today.
Soon, videos will rule social channels. If you're not making videos, it's time to include them in your social media 2021 content.
According to a Cisco study, by year 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content.
The major platforms have increased the ability to share videos content. Examples Instagram Reels and IGTV, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Marketers are expecting high video consumption to continue in 2021.
According to Social media today, this is how videos perform on each social media platform.
- Facebook, is the most used platform. Marketers use this platform to reach more consumers. Engagement in Facebook videos is higher than on the posts by 13.9%. Also, statistic shows 75 million users visit Facebook video platform.
On Twitter, about 72% of marketers use video content in Twitter and claim that 84% of videos performed well. On the user’s side, 82% of users watch videos on this platform.
LinkedIn is different. It is a professional network and the best platform for sharing business content. It comes second after email. Social media today shows that, 51% of marketers use video in this platform and 84% of them are successful.
Instagram known as a photo-sharing platform. Brands are now using it for sharing brand stories.
65% of impressions from an Ad on Instagram comes from the videos. 75% of users take action after viewing a brand video that includes clicking for product check out.
Instagram is a great platform for increasing sales. Also, statistic shows 75 million users visit Facebook video platform.
YouTube is a video platform. It used by 87% of marketers to share video content. After Google it is the second most popular website.
Today's social media data reveals data showing 1 billion hours of videos are played every day by 1.5 billion users.
The data show that there is a high probability that the audience will be attentive if they watch a video than reading an infographics text.
By realizing this, marketers should shift to this trend, which will help the success of their social media marketing in 2021.
The main goal is to increase sales of the product. Thus, marketers should adopt or increase the use of more videos in their social media 2021 market plan.
This is the most preferred content that can influence the purchasing decision.
2. Social commerce will expand
Social commerce is the use of social networks to promote and sell products and services.
The entire shopping experience is taking place right on social media.
The process from finding product, and the research to the checkout processes.
Right now, social commerce worth $89.4 billion in market and, it’s projected to grow up to $604.5 billion in 2027.
Currently, social apps that allow it includes Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
You might see a picture of shoes on Instagram feed, hit “shop now” and complete the sale.
So, you should add social commerce in your social media 2021 plan.
This is the opportunity to increase sales through it as the audience uses it the most and you need to take advantage of it.
Don’t confuse the previous with social selling, social commerce is not social selling. Social selling is building relationships with your sales prospect list on social media.
Social commerce is setting up a shop on social media.
Every click is a chance for a prospective buyer to change his mind. If they have to go from your ad to your page, then fill in their credit card details will take a lot of times to lose their focus.
Take all needless moves down and instead do the right action to social shopping.
Numbers don’t lie, right?
81% of shoppers research products on Instagram and Facebook. Besides shopping is a top priority.
With all the advantages, why won't you take your product where your customers are?
In 2021 brands that will not be able to build their e-commerce store can use social commerce. Social commerce provides new opportunities to sell products online.
You need to include social commerce in your 2021 plan.
You want to know how? Contact us for a free consultation.
3. The meme will become a new norm.
Forget emoji. Forget GIFs and other forms of content.
Memes are now the way to communicate.
You might not know what meme is?
A meme is an image, video, piece of text, etc. It usually represents sarcasm, humor, and seriousness of the subject in an amusing way.
Memes are taking over the world. Memes are now like a cure for fear, sad feelings and unwelcome vibe.
Memes are known for their catchy, humorous, and comedy. Memes began as ironic jokes.
They are now used by major brands, publications, small companies, and celebrities. They used to create more fans and connect them daily.
According to Talk Walker, 55% of people with age of 13-35 years are using memes every week.
When using the memes, you need to check your brand logo.
Normally memes have little or no text at all. The only way you can see is through monitoring your brand logo.
The memes have to connect with popular memes. This will help people to engage with the brand.
Not all the memes will be from you. There are user-generated memes about your brand. Make sure when you use them give credits to the creator.
NOTE: Not all the memes are positive. They can have used to manipulate your audience. In the 2021 plan, you need to protect your brand from negatives memes.
Also, be careful when using the picture or the video. Other memes can cause a negative response. You need to be 100% sure about the meaning and its implication.
In 2021 social media has changed, right? BTL deals with social media services that can help you take over the with great strategies.
4. Temporary content becoming popular
Temporary content is type of content that is available only for a short duration. Most of them disappear after 24 hours.
In 2020 we saw the rise of stories performance on social media platforms. Example Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat.
Twitter also has introduced the stories with the name of “fleets.”
The story format will soon surpass feed-based posts. The growth of stories made them to be the content users prefers.
We don't expect stories to lose steam anytime soon.
As a marketer, you need to keep creating stories for 2021 social media content.
Stories are being used to repurpose the post that has driven more engagement.
Stories are growing 15 times faster than feed-based sharing. With more than 1.12 billion users across the social world that are consuming or creating stories, it has contributed to a 98.7% lift since early 2016.
Due to COVID-19 Stay at home rule, social media interest has increased. Users will keep on scrolling through feeds. It seems that stories will not disappear soon.
5. Live streaming being popular
2020 was the year of virtual events due to the COVID-19. We experienced the rise of zoom, Facebook live, Twitter and Instagram live streaming.
In 2021, live content continued to be seen in our feeds. It’s a key feature on most social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Live content brings people together and offers a real-time connection.
Nowadays, vloggers, social media advertisers, and influencers are using live streaming to communicate. Live video doesn't need Teleprompters or visual cues.
Content creators can walk around their office environments to share their experiences.
Being a social media marketer, you need to consider “live streaming” as a game-changer.
Live streaming is attracting a lot of attention to social media users than any other content. Today, social media advertisers are turning on live videos to connect with people.
Facebook is currently the leading platform for broadcasting live videos. One in every five videos is live on Facebook.
Brands now understand its power of live videos. The videos generate 10 times more comments than regular post. 80% of consumers would rather watch a live stream than read a blog. In this article, we’ll share which social media platform will dominate live streaming in 2020.
According to ZoomInfo, live streaming has recently taken huge steps in social media marketing.
More companies and customers are moving to live stream than ever before.
But the question is, which platform is going to overcome all? And which strategy and platform to use?
6. Remixing is the new User Generated Content
It is important to understand that the Internet has changed. It has changed how people consume content. Brand has to change the way they create their social media content.
Remixing is on the rise with applications like TikTok, Vskit, and Instagram Reels.
Remixing is the art of using existing files. (i.e., song, image, video, lyrics, etc.) And re-creating them to express a user's style or ideas.
Marketers are continuing to support consumer and influencer-generated content over branded content.
What others have to say about your brand usually sounds more trustworthy. Particularly if such viewpoints come from friends, family, or authority figures.
TikTok and Vskit are the main remix site in Tanzania. These platforms have engagement options, such as competitions, duets, and filters. The features allow every user to perform a mash-up of their own. If customers can make use of these features, then the brands can do so.
In most cases, remixing does not violate copyright policy. The government allows the use of small pieces on original work. The pieces have to be for non-commercial uses.
If you have defined the content that your audience has created, interact with it. This would inspire consumers to create more content. That will enhance their interaction with your brand.
UGC generates 28 percent more engagement than the regular content of the brand.
Not all UGC are supportive. They can lead to a crisis if it is out of the brand or values of the business. Keep track of this remixed content, so you can respond before it goes viral.
7. The rise of digital disinformation
In social media today, there is a thin line between fact and fiction. People can present a lie that can be trusted. The fiction comes from edited life, fake Instagram, fake Facebook account to Twitter parodies.
Mentions of false news and disinformation grew from February 2020 onwards. The rapid rise of COVID-19 created a space of information.
People needed more information about the global pandemic. But it was not easy to find a credible source to trust. This led to people filling the gap of information on their own.
In 2020 we also saw a major online change to "harmful content’’. Content that intended to harm brands. This is due to false news, disinformation, and lies that can cause brand crises.
This is the most important position in 2021 for you to invest your time in building an online reputation.
Brands have to cut fake news and half-truth on these platforms. The crises caused by misinformation can ruin the business.
Customers look for reviews online before purchasing the product. If the brand didn’t manage its reputation, the sell can decrease to 70%.
Influencers will continue to create content. The brands will look at credibility to determine who to partner with.
These are the trends that will dominate social media in 2021 and beyond. You need to take advantage of it and use them. These trends will make you stay ahead of your competitors.
Social media is a complex and competitive space. These trends can improve your game. Therefore, keep up to date with the latest trends and use them for your social media initiatives.
Staying up to date on these changes requires a subject matter expert. An expert that can make sure that the brands they work for are having success in social media platforms.
Bridging Technologies is a social media agency in Tanzania that can work for the success of your business.
A social media agency can keep track of any changes and new trends within the platform. The agency can adapt your strategy and content based on the latest updates.
About Author
A content writer filled with a desire to create engaging online content for innovative brands.
