Well, we finally made it! 2020 may have felt like the longest year in recent history, but 2021 is now kicking into full gear and the future’s looking brighter. But there still remains the all-important question that weighs on you going into any new year — and no, it has nothing to do with New Year’s Resolutions or gym memberships you’ll stop using after two months. What you should be wondering is how your business projects for the new year.
If you’re evaluating your digital marketing strategy heading into 2021, and notice that you aren’t devoting many resources into your company’s social media, you should probably change that! Social media marketing is one of the most effective means of bringing in new customers and increasing your online presence, thanks to the variety of audiences you can reach. But what trends does 2021 have in store for social media marketing? Let’s take a dive into the social media trends that will shape your marketing plan in 2021.
Before doing anything, you need to make sure you know what your goals for advertising on social media will be. Are you looking to grow brand awareness? Are you focused on retargeting previous customers? Or do you just need more revenue? Once you have these goals in mind, you may need to dive even deeper into what you are looking for, such as increasing engagement or targeting larger purchases. Making these decisions on your target audience and goals are encompassed in the social media marketing funnel, which includes four layers:
The broadest funnel involves getting your name out there and increasing brand awareness. If you are a newer business or looking to expand to a new audience, this funnel is critical, especially given how many people use social media to look up new products.
We move further down the funnel once you are able to capture the attention of your audience. This funnel is primarily focused on tracking engagement, so you should be framing your content around getting more likes, shares, clicks, and comments. Keeping it brief and catchy is a great way to get people interested in your brand.
Okay, so they’re interested in what you have to say online, but do they really want what you’re offering? If you’re looking in this funnel, you’re trying to use sales-based copy and compelling calls to action to drive people to your landing pages, eventually leading to sales.
The bottom of the funnel, and the ultimate goal of any digital marketing you do; bring in revenue. This is where impressions become conversions, and you are able to get the person viewing your social ad to fill out your form, call your business, and ultimately finalize the sale.
Sure, when you think of social media, you’re probably thinking about the apps you spend time endlessly scrolling through when you have the free time. But perhaps one of the most powerful tools when it comes to social media marketing is through the Google My Business feature. If you’ve ever looked at a company and found the listing of their hours, address, and map location on the right-hand side of the search results, then you’ve already interacted with this feature. But if you’re not using it for your business, you should start.
GMB is much more than a place to share your info; it allows you to add new posts that serve as ads for your company. Any post you make lasts for 7 days, so updating it weekly can offer more insight into what you are doing, your latest offerings, and specials you might be running for anyone who happens to search for you.
Sure, you’re probably allocating a healthy amount of your budget toward Facebook and Instagram. They’re effective platforms for reaching your audience, and they are still the top revenue-getters across the major players. However, they’re far from the only platforms out there, and these other platforms are growing at a higher rate. In fact, platforms such as Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn are expected to show more revenue growth in 2021 than Facebook, which has long been considered the white whale of social media.
All of this is to say that if you are looking to expand your reach, you have to diversify your advertising platforms. Depending on your vertical (we’ll get to that in a minute), you may want to consider branching out to platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and, yes, even Tik Tok, one of the fastest-growing social media platforms of the past year. While it still makes sense to heavily invest in Facebook and Instagram, especially with Facebook unrolling new Pages features to improve user experience. Still, it’s worth noting that as people spent more time on social media throughout 2020, a bit of Facebook fatigue set in, and consumers have found themselves branching out to other platforms.
You can put as much into social media marketing efforts as you want, but if you have no way of tracking its performance, then what’s the point? You’re only doing yourself a disservice.
Since you’re almost certainly going to be utilizing Facebook in some capacity, it’s critical that your site has a Facebook Pixel installed to measure your campaigns. As long as this is on your site, you can see how many people are accessing your site from Facebook, optimize your ads to reach the right audience, and keep track of cross-device conversions. Since it’s just a base code that can be added to your pages, it’s relatively easy to set up.
If your social post is linking back to a landing page or other location on your site, the golden rule is that you have to UTM wrap any of these links. Doing so will tell you exactly which platform they came from, which ad campaign they saw, and how they were brought to your ad. It’s the perfect way to gauge what’s working and what’s not, giving you insight on what you need to improve to perfect your reach on a given platform.
As much as we can give you general advice for best social media practices, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing your strategy. Much of what you want to do may depend on what vertical you are in, so make note of these personalized tips to maximize your business’ social media marketing efforts.
Whether you’re in plumbing, HVAC, roofing, or painting, your social media presence is a facet of your digital marketing strategy that is best not to overlook. More often than not, potential leads are going to go online for a recommendation for their next project, and social media is always a key component of their search strategy.
Above all else, you need to understand your audience in order to convince them to buy your product through social media. You can attain this through informal, creative ad copy that connects with your target demographic as opposed to just trying to sell them something. Using trending topics to create relatable content that will grab attention is just one suggestion; feel free to get creative with it!
But don’t just tell them about what you’re offering them; SHOW them! Nobody wants to read through your description of how your product changed some stranger’s life, but if they can see the product, they’ll be interested enough to learn more. Whether you are setting up carousel ads or creating brief videos to grab attention, taking a visual approach to your paid social media campaign is a recipe for success.
Professional services are where personability on social media is a must. Instead of just the typical “this is my business” post, find new ways to get your brand out there! Video marketing can go a long way in this effort, as offering live webinars on Facebook, YouTube, or other platforms where you can “go live” increases user engagement and helps you grow your brand.
While Facebook reigns supreme among other verticals, when it comes to professional services, LinkedIn is the big-ticket platform. Since so many other professionals are connected and networking on this platform, making sure you have a seat at the table here can lead to exposure to completely new audiences. You can interact with potential clients about new updates, or use it as a vehicle to share your blog posts or latest videos, allowing it to be seen by an entire network of professionals looking to utilize your services.
Now that you’re up to speed on what you should be focusing on for the year in social media marketing, why not partner with a team of experts who can help you successfully implement that plan? 1SEO Digital Agency can not only help you achieve your social media goals for the year, but we can also improve your strategies for SEO, PPC and website design based on the latest industry trends.
Ready to make your business the newest trending topic on social media? Contact us today to learn more!
About the Author:
Brian McDevitt is a Content Editor at 1SEO Digital Agency who moonlights as a devoted Philadelphia Eagles fan. If he’s not writing, he’s either trying to find his next favorite indie band, giving his dog some much-deserved belly rubs, or continuing his quest to find the best pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich.
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