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Social Media took a major boom in the early 2000s. Those who grew up in that decade are well-versed with names like Orkut, Google+, Hi5, and Zorpia. All were great social media networking websites that didn't last the test of time. In the following decade, social media was dominated by Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. As 2021 begins, we witness another shift with some new names emerging and some old ones slowly fizzling out.
A few years back, Social Media was used primarily to stay in touch with family and friends, while in the world of today, it is used for matchmaking, finding new friends, and Advertisement. Marketing took a major turn when advertising agencies realized the potential of Social Media and turned towards websites like Facebook and Instagram to market their products.
As new social media platforms emerge, marketers' question is which social media websites and platforms will turn out to be the most profitable for them in 2021. We have done our research and will share some insights with you down below.
How 2020 changed the world of Marketing
2020 was a game-changer for people belonging to almost all walks of life. Almost all industries got hit pretty badly because of the ongoing pandemic. While people were sitting idle at home, they turned to social media to pass their time. This gave marketing companies a huge boost, and they capitalized on it.
Because people were spending more time on social media, ad campaigns got more reach and visibility. Come 2021, the pandemic is still forcing us to sit at home and forego public gatherings. That means we will still be spending a lot of time on social media. Lots of new marketing strategies came up, and people made the most of them. So the question is, which platforms should marketers target to get the best results for their ad campaigns and marketing?
To help you make an educated guess, we have crafted a list of 5 social media platforms that will certainly help keep your business afloat and booming in the coming year. While compiling the list, we considered things like the user base of each platform, the number of investors attracted by each platform, and the advertising cost on each platform.
We are certain that any platform you pick out of this list will help you meet your marketing goals. If you are looking for methods to increase free followers for Instagram and other platforms, you are at the right place.
Hottest Social Media Trends in 2021
Audio and Video-based social networking has taken the world by storm. People are more interested than ever in sharing stories on Instagram and Facebook or documenting their daily activities on Snapchat, or simply dancing around to fun-dubbed audio on Tiktok. This new concept of content generation in audio and video will stay for a few years. For the platforms we selected, we will introduce you to how the platform works, what kind of uses it attracts, and why it could be a useful platform for you.
Rising Social Media Platforms that should be on every Marketer's Watchlist:
- Instagram Reels
- TikTok
- Clubhouse
- Houseparty
- Caffeine
1. Instagram Reels
Year Launched: 2020
Number of Users: Unspecified
Instagram has been around for more than a decade. It has stood the test of time and has evolved and adapted itself according to technology's sway. After Facebook acquired Instagram, it took some major steps towards increasing the popularity of Instagram. As other social media platforms were innovating, Instagram understood the need to do so and launched Instagram Reels in 2020. Instagram Reels are “stories” or “posts” that show on three different screens. The launch of Reels has allowed Instagram to compete with the fast-growing popularity of Tiktok among the masses.
The attractive thing about Instagram's posts is that you can add cool special effects to the videos along with the music of your choice and some cool transitions. As the popularity of Instagram grew, many third-party accessories have also been developed that help you boost the reach of your posts and get more likes on your page.
Instagram followers apps help you get reach easily and lead the game against your peers. GetInsta is one of the best tools to expand your reach and get your more follower easily for free. If your marketing team makes good use of these tools, you can easily set up a successful marketing campaign that gives you a good return on your investment. You can also buy Instagram followers here.
2. TikTok
Year Launched: 2016
User Bases: 1 billion per month
TikTok wasn't the first app of its type, but it was the fastest to grow by leaps and bounds, especially in the pandemic days. Similar apps before it, such as Muscal.ly and Dubsmash, had planted the seed of lip-syncing and acting in the masses and the user base grew by millions in just one year. At the moment, TikTok is more popular than Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
Vine was another popular app that slowly died out due to its one-dimensional feature. TikTok took what Vine had and combined it with the features provided by Musical.ly to create a more wholesome user experience. The app became especially popular among the youth.
The app's popularity is expected to grow even more due to its good monetization strategies for users. As people get more involved in TikTok, it could be a great target for advertisement agencies. A TikTok made right could spread like wildfire and reach millions of people in a matter of days.
Once a TikTok has been made, you can add hashtags to it so people searching for that hashtag can view it easily. Recently TikTok introduced the “Challenges” tab, which allows a user to send a challenge of any kind to other users. If a challenge is interesting enough, it can go viral as more people participate and search for it.
A good thing to do would be to start understanding TikTok and how it works. Once you are through that process, you can think about adding your brand's profile on the platform and developing an exciting challenge that could help you reach and engage.
3. Clubhouse
Launch Year: 2020
While mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter focus on providing a wholesome experience via text messaging, sharing videos and images, Clubhouse decided to go for a niche. In a clubhouse, you can share audio content with other users. It is quite similar to podcasts but adds a more personal touch as people can converse in real-time. To enhance engagement you may look for the best site to buy Clubhouse followers.
The content shared in the Clubhouse is of many different types. People tell stories, sing songs, narrate books, tell jokes; you will find a little bit of everything on the platform, which means it is a rich breeding ground for marketing teams.
A slight drawback is that the app is currently only available to iOS users, though owing to its growing popularity, it can be expected to hit the Android stores. Until it does, it could be a good practice to start understanding the concepts that Clubhouse works on so that as the stable versions of the app are available on all platforms, you can jump in and get to work immediately.
The Clubhouse has been making rounds in tech circles as it helps tech teams manage their project efficiently. The main reason for this is that the developers want the app to be perfect before making it open to the whole public.
Marketers are already exploring how the platform can help them in expanding the reach of their brands. While people haven't quite cracked the code yet, Clubhouse is a force to be reckoned with, and marketers have begun to realize and acknowledge that. An easy way to start is to start setting up a group, scale the waters, and understand what people want to “hear” as that may greatly differ from what people want to see or discuss via text.
4. Houseparty
Launch Year: 2016
User Base: 20 million active users
Further on our list, but certainly not the least, is Houseparty, a group-video streaming/messaging app that enables you to do video chats with your friends (a group of 8 at a time). You might think this is something Skype and Zoom have been doing for a long time. But what Skype and Zoom are not doing is having features of emoticons, filters, and cropping to make the video chat more fun. The app has been around for more than five years and has gone through many changes, improving the platform and making it more accessible and easy to use.
The app's original name was Meerkat; after rebranding to Houseparty, the user base jumped to 50 million from the modest 1 million earlier. The app also offers ad space which means marketers can post their ads easily. This ad space can be used very creatively to make attractive ads that can appeal to the users and expand the brand's reach and engagement.
An example is that an influencer can start a house party and then pitch a product directly to all members. Each member can then do the same to give an exponential increase in the reach. While it does offer something different than Skype, Zoom, and Snapchat, as explained earlier, those big names are still fierce competitors with large user bases and can make life difficult for house parties if they put their mind to it.
The app might still need time to cement its place among the tough competition. Still, it is going in the right direction, and marketers should invest time and energy in understanding the platform so they can make the most of it.
5. Caffeine
Launch Year: Made public in 2018
If people who have formerly worked with Apple tell you they are designing a new platform, you will automatically become curious about what it is and how you can join. Such is the case with Caffeine. Tv, a new social media platform where you can create new, refreshing broadcasts and videos for your friends, and your friends can then react and comment on those videos or broadcasts. It is an efficient streaming app that has managed to attract many users in a rapid time.
It could be exciting to marketers how Caffeine works are similar to a normal TV; the major difference is that users can react to and interact with the ads in real-time. As a marketer, you can also stream your laptop screen, your mobile screen, or your TV screen to all the users in your network, and so, in a way, you can create a whole marketing campaign in a few minutes using just your device. What's more, the platform also has monetization programs for content creators who get higher engagement.
The platform also managed to get $260 million in seed funding, which gives us the impression they have a few tricks up their sleeve, and the fact that their biggest investor is 21st Century Fox is a testament that Caffeine could be the next big thing. The platform has also managed to attract a lot of attention from the gamers community. People like to stream their activities live, and due to its stable backend, the platform was also used in broadcasting the 2019 X-games.
As live streaming platforms are gaining popularity by the day, investing your time and energy to understand Caffeine seems like an excellent idea. It will present many opportunities for marketers in the coming years, especially if you are connected to the industries of sports, gaming, news, and entertainment. A live stream did right could be a great way of advertising your product and brand to the masses.
It is important to keep in mind that not every trend will suit your brand, so you have to keep an eye out and scale each social media platform properly before deciding which platform you want to choose. You can choose more than one, of course, but make sure you make a calculated, informed decision.
Thank you for reading!