Top Facebook Trends for 2021 and Beyond
Posted on 12/09/2020 at 09:00 AM
Setting goals for the rest of 2021 and beyond!
Considering that Facebook boasts of 2.6 billion monthly active users according to Influencer Marketing Hub, this social networking site is a giant and a great place to refocus your marketing efforts. Although you may already be on Facebook (and may even have a business page set-up and you’ve been running ads), are you really putting all of the Facebook best practices to use?
Even if you aren’t a social media marketer or know very little about online marketing, it’s worth the time and effort to learn what tools are available to you, to understand what most active users on the platform are doing, and capitalize on what people are engaging with!
Global Reach is proud to present the top Facebook rising trends you need to know!
1. The Rise of Virtual Experiences
The ability to add 360 images has been embraced by Facebook for quite some time, but you should expect this trend to continue to rise. People love a virtual experience as they give the viewer a chance to go places they have never gone and see things they have never seen. As we have often said, in the social media space, attention is currency. If you can do something that ads real value, grabs attention, and creates a memorable experience (even for a few moments), you have already won. 360 images and other virtual experiences allow companies to do just that.
Take for example Outdoor Joe's:
🏕 Do you love the great #outdoors? Sure you do! Want a Free Tee Shirt? Sure you do! Can you spot Outdoor Joe? Now...
Posted by Outdoor Joe's - Rhus Tox on Tuesday, April 13, 2021Posts like this look great on mobile and take advantage of the gyro technology in mobile devices, but also are great fun on desktop as they allow users to scroll around the scene! Adding a giveaway is a nice touch too!
2. Push Play or Join Live
2020 has been a year. With people all around the globe feeling disconnected as ever, a platform like Facebook has been working overtime to maintain some sense of normalcy. One major factor in making this happen: video content.
“The usage of Facebook Live increased by 26.7% year-over-year in Q2 2020 and will likely continue into 2021. And the overall percentage of Facebook video content in Q3 2020 rose by 2.6% from Q3 2019.” - Oberlo
The creation and intake of video, either live or recorded, is at an all-time high. Connecting with people through visual and audio content is absolutely essential to successfully use the social media platform. In fact, video is the best performing type of content across any platform, boosting engagement, awareness, and sales for products or services.
“Video is pillar content and, when done right, it's evergreen. It can be sliced, reshaped as micro-content, transcribed for a blog, quoted for social posts, and, not to mention that YouTube feeds into its parent company's algorithm, Google.” - Steven Adelmund, Digital Strategy Manager at Global Reach Internet Productions
A video can be used to speak directly to potential customers, providing them with a clear call to action. Or maybe the content is considered an explainer video, going into detail about how a product functions or explains the mission of the particular business. Another marketing tactic for video content might even be as simple as speaking to existing customers with the goal of sharing a bit of good news.
Video Content Best Practices
Facebook recently released an article containing an assortment of tips for creating your own marketing content with the use of video. A few things they suggest to keep in mind as you plan your 2021 marketing strategy:
1. Capture attention - add a 3-5 second trailer to hold interest
2. Frame the story - with a 4:5 aspect ratio
3. Engage your community - comment on posts
4. Video lengths - those between 65 seconds and five minutes perform best
Engaging, original content works; it’s creating the actual content that can be the challenging part. However, delving deeper into how to use and create a video, both live and pre-recorded and even on something as simple as a mobile device, will serve you and your business exponentially in 2021.
3. The Rise of Social Commerce
Facebook is a big fan of small businesses, especially since they’ve been the hardest hit from the economic decline due to the pandemic. In fact, in 2020 Facebook rolled out $100 million in grants to support small businesses, and it’s likely Facebook will step up again to provide support.
Not only that but with the launch of Facebook Shops, merchants are now able to create an online store on Facebook to promote and sell their products and increase brand awareness. Since online shopping is increasingly becoming the norm, utilizing the virtual storefront has become a must in 2021 for anyone selling tangible products - especially since Facebook has that 2.6 billion user base!
4. Facebook News Feed
Considering Facebook is the social media king (or queen, you decide), it makes sense that it’s also one of the top sites for digital marketing. As you’ve scrolled through your news feed, watched a video, or even opened up Messenger, you’ve probably found yourself on the consumer end of an ad or two.
According to the Socialbakers, the data from Q3 2020 reflects that the news feed received 58.2 percent of relative ad spend by businesses. So out of the three options for ad placements on Facebook (news feed, video feed, instream video), the news feed is by far the most used. Additionally, the news feed also has the highest click-through rate (CTR) compared to the other ad placement locations, coming in at 1.82 percent.
Needless to say, if you plan on running ads in 2021 (and your marketing plan should include ads), the best practice for any content marketer would be to have them placed in the Facebook News Feed.
GRIP PRO TIP: Social media strategy is a science that requires the consideration of many factors to be successful. What content should you post? How often should you post to which platform? The list of questions seems to go on and on. Fortunately, thanks to a recent article posted by the American Marketing Association, knowing when to post can be a breeze! Just pick your platform and go!
5. Hashtag It - #OntheRise
What some of us grew up knowing as the pound sign has been universally replaced with the concept of a hashtag - even search engines use them! We see them not only on Facebook but across all platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This past year Facebook has been working to expand how specific hashtags are utilized on its platform.
More specifically, Facebook is testing how providing a list of recommended, popular hashtags to its users will encourage engagement and reach. Once they figure out how to help users smartly apply the right hashtags to content, expect videos, photos, and posts to go viral more quickly. Hashtags will be on the rise and become an even bigger trend in 2021.
6. Social Audio is On The Way!
With the introduction of apps like Clubhouse, many social platforms are hurrying to grab some of the audio space (in fact, Twitter literally calls theirs "Spaces"). Facebook has recently been rumored to currently be testing their own audio space platform that we like to describe as a mix between Instagram Live and Clubhouse. Their hook? Once the audio session is over, hosts will have an option to download either a .mp3 or .mp4 of the session which can be repurposed in a huge number of ways. From podcast segments to Reels and IGTV videos, the possibilities are endless!
Jump on the Trend Train
In conclusion, any strong marketing strategy that will produce powerful results will have Facebook in the mix. More importantly, the strategy will be putting into practice the above-mentioned trends in smart, creative, engaging ways.
So, as 2020 comes to a close, grab a pen and paper, take the time to further research best practices and upcoming trends for 2021, and develop a strategy that is well-organized, thoughtful, and original. With an innovative plan in your future, 2021 will be a stellar year.
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Categories: GRIP News, Social Media, Content Marketing and Sales
