Came across this article and it was a brilliant job by the author to study the social media trends of 2020 and the explanation behind them. This article really puts 2020 into perspective as far as how people viewed and behaved on social media. Thus, gives us a clearer picture of what we should be on the lookout for in 2021.
Highly recommend this read!
Social Media Engagement Was Down in 2020. Here's Why - and What to Expect Moving Forward Into 2021
We're almost to 2021. Finally! It's been a challenging year to say the least for a variety of reasons.
As we look ahead and peek into the crystal ball to forecast 2021, here are my predictions for 2021 in regards to social media and digital marketing:
As social media continue to evolve - almost everyday - we, as marketers, have to make sure we're staying up on the latest trends in the industry.
This year, I've seen a lot of challenges in the brands I oversee in trying to reach audiences organically. But even some posts that I boost with advertising, also have difficulties. Most of those difficulties have to do with Facebook.
Facebook is still popular and obviously universally known. What is also known is the growing lack of trust users have in Facebook and the data it stores from users. Facebook is and often has been the center of legal battles as far as data protection and acquisition.
Facebook will still need to be part of your social media/digital strategies. However, you will need to be more open to other apps, especially ones that are video based.
Some great web designs including a lot of flash animations, videos, etc. While they look great, I don't think they add anything to the user experience on a website. To me, it looks cluttered. I forecast using simpler designs will work better in 2021. I believe using a simple website that answers the users question or addresses their desired reason for going to your page is far more valuable than being able to wow them with special effects, graphics, etc.
If you're an avid user of YouTube like me, you have probably noticed the growing presence of 5- to 15-second advertisements on the platform. Research I've found revealed to me an average person's attention span, or desired attention span before being irritated a video plays at the front of a video they're trying to watch, is around 10 seconds.
With 5-second videos, you're not giving the user even enough time to be "angry" there is an ad. They're seeing the ad, which is what you're trying to do often with ads right? Create brand awareness.
Let's face it. We're a digital world. That was even more so the case in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic. Look at all the technology that was born or greatly used in 2020: virtual meetings, apps that place delivery orders for food, more video functions on apps we've used for a long time (Twitter, Instagram).
And until we're permitted for more social gatherings, digital will be HUGE! It's how we're going to stay connected as we move into 2021 still working through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once on the other side of the pandemic, we will realize a lot of things about how to stay connected. A lot of the habits we had before will likely be gone. The new reality will likely consist of more digital interaction.
Therefore, you need to be where the users are: on digital and on social.
Twitter revealed Dec. 17 it has started testing for a new feature called Spaces.
According to an article by SocialMediaToday.com, "As you can see in the above screenshots, Twitter's audio Spaces will enable users to create an audio-only meeting, which their connections can then join, either to listen in or to actively participate. The audio meet-ups will be highlighted via a purple icon on the creators' Fleets bubble, signifying when an audio discussion is in progress, and who's participating."
As explained by Twitter: "The human voice can bring a layer of connectivity to Twitter through emotion, nuance and empathy often lost in text. We see this with voice tweets and voice DMs. sometimes 280 isn't enough, and voice gives people another way to join the conversation."
We're such a fast-moving society aren't we? Even in the midst of a pandemic? A couple key articles published in the last week will prove that and it's something to keep in mind heading into 2021.
HubSpot Academy, which offers free training and certification programs online, released a blog called The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing. The blog does a great job talking about how valuable videos will need to be in marketing 2021.
To coincide with that article, I came across another article by SocialMediaToday.com called New Study Finds Response Rates to 6-Second Video Ads are Increasing, in Line with Consumption Trends.
These short ads are all over YouTube. The challenge, as you likely have guessed, is getting everything you need into six seconds. The beauty of having ads so short is you don't give people time to click out of them. By the time they do, the video, or in this case ad, is done. So crafting the message in a highly efficient way will be key!
In my webinar Understanding Google Analytics, website design, I went over the value and importance of creating a positive user experience on your website.
This statistic, to me, is one of the most important statistics regarding website functionality: 88 percent of users won't return to a website following a bad experience.
A part of that user experience is attributed to assessing what is the purpose of your website and what do you want people to get from it?
There are four categories users fall in when they are going to website (outside of third-party validation that you are a legit business. Remember, users often go to social media first, then to the website to validate you).
Those four categories are informational, navigational, commercial and transactional.
Let's take a look at each and what a user is typically doing in those respective categories.
This is great insight into what is becoming more difficult to reach audiences organically.
https://bconnectedllc.com/how-to-improve-your-organic-reach/
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| Photo from Wix.com. |
If you watched my seminar Understanding Google Analytics, website design, you heard me discuss in length the importance and value of providing a positive user experience for visitors to your website.
Remember some of the key figures?
Forbes has released an article highlighting potential trends, growing apps in social media in 2021.
Nine Social Media Sites To Watch For Marketing In 2021
One of the biggest challenges in social media marketing/advertising right now is how to generate views/interest in your business and or posts organically, without money behind it.
Can it be done? In short, yes. But it can be difficult. Thankfully, I've found a lot of advertising on social media, such as boosting posts, is a relatively low cost. Not to mention, you can set the budget you want.
There is a terrific article from one of my favorite resources, Social Media Examiner, that addresses the aforementioned concerns, especially for small businesses that might be on a tight budget.
In the article, it'll go over how to discover a strategy to grow an engaged, local Facebook audience for your business. It goes over how to plan your post schedule, define a budget to test the performance of each post, and find specific conversion cost benchmarks to identify successful posts you can model with organic content. There are also get six ideas to help plan and diversify your Facebook post content.
Click here for the article.
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| PhotoMIX Company from Pexels. |
If you watched my presentation "Understanding Google Analytics" you will have heard me reference a term called buyer persona.
What is a buyer persona? A buyer persona is your potential customer, figuring in several identifiers, such as demographics and interests for example. Creating a buyer persona will help identify who visits your website and why they might be visiting your website.
With help from HubSpot Academy, click here for a template on how to create a buyer persona.
The West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce hosted me for a webinar called “Understanding Google Analytics.”
In the webinar, I introduce you to Google’s tools that help website hosts, digital marketing specialists, etc. understand how users are finding websites and how they’re interacting with them.
In “Understanding Google Analytics,” you’ll learn several things:
Did you know, according to sweor.com, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience, such as slow loading or lack of information?
Here is the video presentation: https://youtu.be/tGK_19_Mzbk
Here is the slide-by-slide of the presentation.
Subscribe to my blog, where I post about social media and digital marketing resources, tips and news: https://nicholasdettmann.blogspot.com/
Be sure to watch my presentation on social media marketing: https://nicholasdettmann.blogspot.com/2020/11/webinar-how-to-make-social-media-work.html
Sources: Northwoods, entrepreneur.com, CXL Institute, webdesignerdepot.com, hotjar.com, sweor.com, Google.
TikTok's popularity continues to grow at a high rate, despite the app's uncertain future. President Donald Trump wants the China-based app to be banned in the U.S., a wish that's being challenged in the courts.
Here is a good article from the World Economic Forum that outlines the TikTok saga in the U.S.: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/banning-apps-like-tiktok-slippery-slope/
With its future still unknown, it doesn't hurt to keep TikTok in mind when thinking of expanding your social media/digital marketing strategy, especially if your target is 25 and younger.
Here is a good article from Social Media Examiner to help with that: TikTok Content Marketing: How to Grow Your Business With TikTok
