Social Media Trends for 2021
2020 permanently changed the way people use social media and there’s no doubt this will affect how businesses leverage social platforms in their marketing strategies. There is a handful of important data that small businesses should be aware of when developing a social media marketing strategy for 2021 (and on). Here are a few notable statistics and what they could mean for your business.
TOC
Why People Use Social Media
Prominent Platforms
Favorite Features
Social Media for Brands
Social Media Advertising
There’s no doubt that 2020 revolutionized the way people interact on digital platforms. With an abundance of new content, social networking features, and mobile access, brands have virtually unlimited potential to connect with new customers.
1. Why People Use Social Media
As of early 2021, the majority of consumers state that they use social media to occupy their spare time (see image provided). In fact, 44% of Gen Z consumers (age 16 - 23) state that their social media use is primarily driven by their excess in free time. This number is prominent within every age group, as 37% of all social media users point to spare time as their primary cause for social media use.
This chart also highlights a few different stats that could be very beneficial to local businesses if they strategize for them appropriately. The next two reasons for social media use among Gen Z is to find content and to see what’s trending. This is different from the rest of social media users, as the majority cites checking the news as the second most notable cause. Understanding this difference will help small businesses speak to these different age groups accordingly.
Perhaps the most prominent statistic listed here is the fact that 27% of all consumers, despite age, use social networks to find products to buy. This is why a social media presence is so vital and why optimizing it for visibility is essential for capturing your audience’s attention.
Social media marketing is more important now than ever when it comes to appealing to new customers.
27% of all Gen Z consumers use social media to check up on brands that they follow, compared to the 23% of all consumers (despite age) that cite the same reason. This illustrates the growing connection between brands that use social media and consumers who are so heavily involved on social platforms. It also illustrates the growing importance of leveraging social networks in your digital marketing strategy to grow your business.
The last statistic for social media use listed here is not so obviously beneficial to small businesses. That statistic is 32% of Gen Z uses social media to find inspiration for ideas. If a business is able to create and publish original, engaging content, that business could very well inspire the ideas of younger generations. This will help develop a brand loyalty that encourages those consumers to share your content consistently, growing your exposure and following.
2. Prominent Platforms
Not surprisingly, Facebook is still the most popular social media platform. This is increasingly true among consumers who are aged 57 - 70. In fact, 21% of those consumers cite Facebook as their favorite social network, while 17% of Millennials (24 - 37) and 20% of Gen X (38 - 56) cited Whatsapp, a Facebook service.
Gen Z is the only age group that did not cite Facebook as their favorite network, although it came in a close second to Instagram. The second and third most favorite social networks among all age groups were Twitter and Instagram. Gen Z also cited Snapchat as a 3rd favorite behind Facebook.
Average daily social media use of these platforms increased in 2020 to 2 hours and 8 minutes across all age groups in the US. Along with this increase in daily use, there was also a notable increase in consumers citing social media as a cause of stress. Among Gen Z, 19% supported this statement, as did 16% of Millennials, 14% of Gen X, and 12% of Baby Boomers.
Perhaps the most notable social media platform increasing in popularity in 2021 is YouTube. Across all age groups, 51% of consumers use YouTube to research products and services prior to purchase. This stat illustrates the increasing need for video, as well as the value in providing valuable information to help your ideal customer.
Each social network offers its own unique twist on similar features that resonate with different age groups.
3. Favorite Features
Each social network offers their own individual features that cater to their users’ specific interests. While these vary among age groups, there are a few features that are favorable among all age groups.
Social media stories have skyrocketed in popularity over the past year. Originally native to Snapchat, Instagram soon adopted their own version of a story after seeing how quickly Snapchat grew among younger audiences. Since evolved, Instagram has also introduced Livestreams, IGTV, and Reels, where users can stream live or add videos longer than 60 seconds that can be featured on both the newsfeed and on their profile.
Since then, Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn have adopted stories for their users. Stories are a different way to reach an audience and are only available for 24 hours. They can be static images, videos, and can even include a link to visit when the user swipes up. While stories have retained the attention and interest of users for some time now, only three major platforms have seen notable success with them.
Snapchat, of course, has seen the majority of their success with stories in viewership. Users on this platform most often view stories, rather than create them. On Instagram, however, it is the opposite. More users create stories rather than view them, perhaps indicating a slight decrease in audience engagement on this platform. On Facebook, overall use of stories is most common. The lack of specification here may be due to the fact that a large portion of Instagram users link their IG stories to cross-share on Facebook as well.
As mentioned before, different platforms serve different interests. This makes certain platforms more popular for features in comparison to others. Knowing how to use each platform will help determine how successful your social media strategy is in reaching your marketing objective.
Snapchat is most popular for stories. TikTok is most popular for Livestreams, besides their short-form videos. Facebook is notably popular for their groups, where users can join like-minded people to discuss shared interests. LinkedIn is known as a professional platform, so it comes as no surprise that their most popular feature is the ability to host live events such as webinars.
Much like Facebook Groups, Reddit offers “communities” as a place for users who share similar interests discuss in-depth about questions or concerns they may have. Unlike Facebook Groups, however, Reddit allows users to vote on the relevance and accuracy of comments and answers, so users can better determine how reliable they may be.
4. Social Media for Brands
Especially among Gen Z, social media is becoming increasingly important for brands to connect with their customers. Social media users appreciate a brand that can stay active and response to their questions, comments, and concerns. Social networks are also a place for users to gain helpful information and updates about their favorite brands.
Consumers use social media to find and research brands that they want to purchase from.
The way consumers interact with brands is constantly changing, which only makes it ever so important to monitor each channel. They majority of consumers (almost 50%) use social media for both finding new brands as well as researching brands. This indicates the importance of having a presence on social media.
The second most popular way for consumers to find new brands is through ads, which illustrates just how important running Facebook Ads for small businesses can be. As for research, 39% of consumers conduct their research about a brand by reading their customer reviews.
Overall, this demonstrates just how important it is to not only be on social media and advertise on social media, but to know where your customers are on social media. Some platforms are more targeted for niche markets than others, and depending on your industry, your business should focus the majority of its time on those social networks.
For example, LinkedIn is great for business-to-business companies. If you sell products or services for businesses, a presence on LinkedIn is vital for gaining exposure. Perhaps the best example of this is Pinterest. This particular platform hosts a very specific niche of customers and allows users to create, share, and find new ideas within certain industries. The most popular industries for Pinterest are home decor/design, fashion, cooking recipes, fitness, travel, and wedding/party ideas.
One last takeaway for brands in particular is how they compete with influencers for the attention of consumers. While brands should work with influencers rather than work against, brands are still held in higher regards for helpful information over influencers. However, this trend is rapidly changing.
Among Millennials, 36% rely on brands for helpful information, while 23% rely on influencers. With Gen Z, 33% rely on brands, while a significant 28% rely on influencers. The gap between brands and influencers is closing rapidly, and younger generations depend on popular social figures to get their information. Brands that understand this and work with it will see much greater profit than those that ignore it.
5. Social Media Advertising
Using paid ads on social networks is becoming increasingly important for a brand’s success online. As digital platforms become more and more cluttered with irrelevant content, small businesses are experiencing an ever growing need to spend money in order to get the attention of new customers. While this may not be the most ideal strategy, there are most certainly brands that see massive success with it.
Of course, some platforms are better to advertise on than others, although this is heavily dependent on industry. Here’s a breakdown of the platforms with the most sponsored clicks:
Instagram - Known as trendy and heavily popular among Gen Z, ads for consumer products and subscriptions are extremely effective on this platform. Instagram produces the highest click-through-rate for ads compared to every other social network.
Facebook - Consumers regard Facebook as the ‘smart’ platform. There’s a variety of diverse opinions, perspectives, products, and services available for research and purchase here, and virtually every niche market can be reached. It’s no wonder how Facebook produces the second most clicks for sponsored content.
TikTok - An exploding viral sensation among younger audiences, it can be very easy for an ad to be mistaken for organic content, especially if produced well. It may be because it’s a younger demographic, but this social network produces the third highest CTR across platforms.
Reddit - Often displayed as an article or question, a catchy headline goes a long way on this platform. Since it is essentially a question and answer forum, users click on content that is most relevant to the keywords they search for, often without noticing that it is sponsored. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but should be used carefully and made sure to not be misleading.
LinkedIn - A little more expensive than other platforms, LinkedIn is undoubtedly the best channel for reaching business leaders. The segmented targeting abilities are very useful and are about as specific as you could want. You are able to target individuals based on their job description, company size, industry, location, and much more. As far as targeting business professionals, LinkedIn is much more effective than Facebook, since users are encouraged to actually provide as much detail as possible in order to gain more network connections and job opportunities.
The success of a social media ad is determined by three things: placement (social network), targeting, and messaging (visuals and copy). Understanding where your ideal customer is most active, what specific characteristics set them apart from other niche markets, and how to speak to them in an understanding and valuable way will allow you to optimize any sized budget.
For this particular trend, it isn’t how much money you pour into it, but how much effort and understanding. Researching industry and platform benchmark statistics will also help you make the best decision when strategizing a campaign. Make sure your ads will compare to industry average CTR, conversion rates, ROAS, and cost per action.
Takeaways
Consumers use social media to find information, ideas, and content. They use social media to decide what brands to do business with and what products or services to buy. It is often used as a source of helpful information and play a major part in the purchase decision process. Not only is a presence on social platforms important for exposure, but consistent, quality content is essential for reaching new customers.
Answer questions, interact with your audience, and understand how to use each platform. Chances are, your ideal customer uses one platform more than any other and will be more engaged there than anywhere else. Reaching them on that platform through the most popular types of content features on that network will increase your engagement rates and drive dramatic results.
Understanding why your audience uses that platform, what features are their favorite, how they conduct brand research, and what networks they are most responsive to ads on will help you learn how to use them effectively to achieve your overall marketing goal. Better yet, doing this successfully will put you miles ahead of your competition.
