5 Social Media Trends For The 2nd Half of 2021
As we head into the secondnd half of 2021, I've felt re-energized and excited to discuss all things marketing and social media! Hopefully, you're feeling a similar energy and looking to improve on your social media strategy. So, without further ado, let's get into 5 Social Media Trends Heading Into The Second Half of the Year.
1) Direct To Consumer (D2C) For All Brands
The pandemic caused a drastic shift in how consumers engage with brands and vice-versa. Consumers who had never ordered an item felt compelled to due to a variety of reasons. People were looking to limit the number of times they could be potentially exposed to COVID-19, and online shopping gave them a safe way to get the items they needed or wanted.
Even if you were wearing double masks and gloves while you went outside, there was such a demand for essential products like soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning wipes that you couldn't even find what you were looking for. So is it any surprise that so many CPG brands saw record profits over the last year?
Other brands that succeeded were those that were already engaging with their customers through online shopping channels. Specifically, Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) brands were not only seeing continued sales during the pandemic, but they also saw an increase in new customers as consumers looked to new brands for their shopping needs.
If you haven’t seen Magic Spoon Cereal in your local grocery store, that’s not a surprise. This D2C cereal brand grew its customer base over the last year.
When I was working at Grassroots Cannabis at the start of the pandemic, after our businesses were deemed essential, we saw a dramatic shift in consumer shopping behavior. We went from roughly 30% online orders to approximately 70% online orders within the first few months of lockdown.
There was already data showing that brick-and-mortar shopping was decreasing, and the pandemic only accelerated that timeline. So now more than ever, brands are looking to establish a D2C strategy regardless of size. From Mom and Pop shops to global brands like Nike, who recently closed wholesale accounts with department and online stores to focus on their D2C efforts.
2) The Rise of Reddit
When I first provided some social media tips in 2020 , I didn't touch on Reddit and how advertisers were already flocking to the platform. Fast-forward nearly a year later, and that still rings true.
According to Reddit research, the platform expects significant growth across its niche communities. And is fastly developing additional ad products and improving target capabilities for advertisers.
Since then, brands in various industries have allocated marketing spend to Reddit as a platform and have also executed platform-specific campaigns that have grabbed the attention of millions and achieved actionable business goals. CPG brands like Welch's, Pepsi, and Absolut use Reddit to successfully reach individuals of all ages and drive positive brand sentiment.
For Welch's , the brand utilized video assets targeted at Gen X men on relevant subreddits and enabled users to engage with the brand directly by enabling comments on their ads.
Welch’s sparked conversation and opened a direct conversation with the brand by enabling comments on their ads.
The campaign drove a higher than average View Through Rate and doubled the average Completion Rate for videos compared to Reddit benchmarks. And drove a 94% positive brand sentiment among comments in their engagement prompts.
Reddit isn't just useful for awareness-driving, top-of-the-funnel campaigns but also for driving conversions at the bottom.
A post on the MeUndies Subreddit, where a user compares the brand to another competitor, Lululemon. Nearly “identical” products, so why not go with the significantly cheaper brand.
MeUndies, a D2C online underwear and loungewear company, utilized Reddit conversion ads to drive purchases. The ads ran as promoted posts and utilized interest-based targeting, focusing on a variety of relevant subreddits. By optimizing towards CPA and ROAS goals, the MeUndies team was able to reach efficient CPAs.
By the end of the campaign, MeUndies saw a 60% lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC), a 5.6x Click-Through-Rate, and 61% more effective Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM)s, when compared to platform benchmarks.
When it comes to Reddit, I am an avid user and a beginner when advertising on the platform. I look forward to sharing insights and results of my first Reddit campaign!
3) Shoppable Social Will Continue To Grow
Even for brands that plan to utilize brick-and-mortar locations, retail e-commerce is here to stay. If anything, it's only going to get bigger. According to Statista data of retail sales worldwide, projections show that the United States alone will go from $374 billion to $407 billion by next year. By 2023, the U.S. alone will account for nearly 22% of global sales.
We'll see this global trend continue to shape the most popular social media platforms in 2021. For example, on Facebook and Instagram, integrated shopping already exists through Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping. Both enable users to purchase products directly from within the app.
On Pinterest, consumers are already actively looking for inspiration and are closer to purchase than users on other social media platforms. According to platform research, 89% percent of Pinterest users actively look to purchase while on the platform.
The Pinterest business page for Parachute, a Bedding and Home company, enables Pinners to not only get visual inspiration for their products, but also make a purchase from within the platform.
And advertisers are already utilizing the platform's social commerce tools, including Product Pins and ad units that take consumers to Product Detail Pages (PDPs) or a landing page where a Digital Free Standing Insert (DFSI ) can house a coupon for a variety of retailers.
Pinterest also launched Shopify integration for brands on the platform and enabled marketers to add their products or catalogs to a Pinterest Business Page.
And according to Sprout Social data, nearly 80% of executives surveyed expected to be selling their products or services on social media within the next three years. For other platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and potentially Twitter, engineering teams across these companies are developing new innovative ways for consumers to purchase products directly within an app.
4) TikTok Isn't Going Anywhere
Despite the rocky year TikTok had over the last year and potentially getting banned, the platform and business as a whole seem to be making the correct steps to further establish themselves as a home for advertisers.
With nearly 700 million monthly active users and 65 million of those being in the U.S., there's an opportunity for brands to reach an active, engaged, and growing audience. A recent study shows that TikTok users spend roughly 46 minutes a day scrolling through the app, giving brands an excellent opportunity to show up in their target audience's feed.
Idahoan partnered with influencers on TikTok to help reach a younger audience for their Instant Mashed Potatoes through authentic and engaging content.
TikTok's growth seems poised to continue, with the social media company hiring key employees from other social media platforms. And more of my clients continue to ask, "Should/Can we activate on TikTok as a brand?" From an advertising perspective, TikTok has much more competitive costs when it comes to Costs Per 1000 Impressions (CPM). And advertising on the platform is becoming accessible for brands of all sizes.
From a content perspective, brands utilizing influencer marketing, and User Generated Content (UGC) continue to succeed on the platform, reaching millions of consumers.
5) Data Privacy Will Be A Focal Point
When I first started my professional career as a digital marketer for a FinTech startup working to solve a global issue, data breaches, and privacy. Little did I know that nearly a decade later, the same trends I saw back then are just as important now.
After the iOS 14 privacy update through Apple, consumers have been opting out of being tracked by advertisers. So far, data seems to show that roughly 96% of U.S. consumers have opted out of some form of tracking on their mobile device in iOS 14.5, and the impact that will have on marketers is still unknown.
Have you decided to opt out of tracking when it comes to the apps you use on your devices?
And in Washington, a bipartisan group of Senators is looking to reintroduce the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act, to protect consumer data privacy when collected by large tech companies like Facebook and Google.
This is already affecting how social media platforms and if you're actively running campaigns, you've seen the updates, pop-ups, and emails from Facebook. However, when it comes to targeting on paid social, audience options are limited, and once used, audience insights and cross-channel attribution are becoming more difficult to utilize effectively.
To counter this, we could expect social media platforms to showcase new identity and tracking capabilities. For brands and digital marketers to utilize first-party data for what would now be considered "traditional" targeting a more personalized experience.
