Last updated July 1st, 2021.
We did it! We got through 2020. As you plan your social media marketing strategy for 2021, take a look at these Facebook and Instagram trends you can leverage to drive more leads and sales for your business in the new year.
#1 The future is private
Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg shared that he expects Messenger to soon become one of the main ways people communicate on the Facebook network. We’re already seeing it. How often do you share content with a friend via DM, or reply to a story rather than comment on a public post?
We saw the merging of Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct in 2020, which streamlines communication and integrates features of Messenger to Instagram such as automated responses, leading to richer customer interactions in 2021.
There’s more and more ways for potential customers to opt in to hear from you like the One-Time Notification API where brands can send automated follow up messages when an item is back in stock, when their purchase ships, or before a coupon code expires. Get ready for more of this in 2021!
What you should do in 2021:
- Set up automated responses on Facebook and Instagram for faster, simpler customer experiences. In Instagram, head to Settings > Business > Saved Replies.
- Utilise ways to keep the conversation going by allowing potential customers to opt in for notifications when an item is back in stock.
- Invest in clever chatbot marketing and retargeting opportunities from these interactions (we can help with that).
#2 Hello, interests-driven communities!
With Facebook’s algorithm prioritising ‘posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions’, groups are always going to get more organic reach than branded posts. The shift to private social networking isn’t just about DMs, it includes Facebook Groups – now numbering more than 620 million niche groups and showing no signs of slowing down – that can be set to public, private or secret and allows strangers to build communities around shared interests.
What you should do in 2021:
- When creating content, don’t just think about your immediate follower base. Ask yourself, what group can we share this to? Or, what group would I want this content to reach?
- Don’t share content in a group as a brand – that’s majorly spammy! – build relationships as yourself first and then occasionally share a blog or post that’s relevant and actually of interest. If your brand is all about sustainability, you and your team could join and build relationships in eco-focused and zero-waste groups.
- Consider creating your own group! Pages are for broadcasting information, groups are for conversation. If you have a product or cause that people love to get behind, why not give people a space to sing your praises and connect on what matters to them? This also doubles as a place to listen to what your customers want and move those golden nuggets into your product development pipeline and content strategy.
- Our best practice tips for running a group? Create clear guidelines for members to follow and set up keyword and moderation alerts to make sure your community stays kind and aligned to your brand values. Publish announcements, engage in comments and go live on the group to increase organic reach, but allow space for community members to take ownership, posting and answering questions too (with a watchful eye as a moderator, of course). You’ll soon find out who your brand ambassadors are that could help promote your business, be featured in a case study, create user-generated content and give useful feedback on new ideas and products.
- Explore potential revenue opportunities by creating sponsored posts within your group, or collaborating with a group administrator on a brand partnership. Just be careful not to overdo ads in a group because it can be a turn off for people who want to connect with members in a private setting rather than being bombarded with ads like they would on their feed.
#3 It’s 2021 – AR and VR isn’t niche or scary
Augmented reality (AR) can sound scary or unattainable, but in reality we’ve been using AR on Instagram since face filters launched in 2017! AR has just been taken a step further now – brands can create their own interactive AR filters for Instagram Stories, or even AR ads on the Facebook mobile news feed.
Facebook is partnering with EssilorLuxottica – the makers of eyewear from Oakley, Ray-Ban, Armani and Versace – to build innovative, fashion-forward AR glasses in 2021. Imagine that!
Facebook explains, “We’re envisioning a time when we have all the benefits of connectivity (and more), without the need to keep our heads and our eyes down, looking at a device. Imagine calling a friend and chatting with their lifelike avatar across the table. Imagine a digital assistant smart enough to detect road hazards, offer up stats during a business meeting, or even help you hear better in a noisy environment. This is a world where the device itself disappears entirely into the ebb and flow of everyday life.”
What you should do in 2021:
- Creating interactive filters is a fun way to get your brand name out there and offer new ways for fans of your brand to connect with you. Try creating a filter through Facebook-owned Spark AR Studio.
- Get ready for the future of unbelievably realistic ads through all-day wearable glasses.
- Create your augmented reality ad in Ads Manager. An eyewear company could use AR as a way to get people to try on their latest frames, or a homewares brand could offer a way for people to try out a piece in their home virtually before they buy it. We make-up used an AR filter so that people could test different lipstick colours.
#4 Video, video, and more video
In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg told Buzzfeed News, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if you fast forward five years and most of the content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis is video’. Well, here we are – take a look at your newsfeed. Mostly video? We thought so.
If you’re still not creating and sharing videos on the reg, this is your year!
What you should do in 2021:
- Use video in your ads and posts instead of static images. If you haven’t got the resources to create a video right now, turn existing images into a GIF or video. It’s easy! Just edit the images together and export it into a video format.
- Get serious about a short form video strategy (more on this later).
- Live videos get six times more interactions than regular videos, so it’s bound to be seen by more of your ideal audience. Team up with a relevant brand with a strong follower base for a dual live stream to quickly grow your followers and engagement.
- Fashion brand? Mix up your ads by creating a virtual lookbook complete with video and an easy tap through to the entire look using collection ads on Facebook. Partner with an influencer to make the look even more compelling.
#5 Shop within the app? Long overdue, we say
Ecommerce and social commerce – what’s the difference? Ecommerce happens on your website where you sell products through a platform like Shopify. The link between social media and ecommerce is that advertising on Facebook and Instagram attracts your ideal audience to your website and drives conversions. Social commerce, on the other hand, is an offshoot of ecommerce where customers can purchase directly within the social media platform. No need to exit the app and wait for a landing page to load, no need to even insert card details if your customer has pre-saved it – just tap, buy and go, all directly from a post on their feed.
With the introduction of Facebook Shop in 2020 and wider availability of Instagram Checkout, it’s time to leverage in-app shopping. With many turning to online shopping during lockdown, your customers are ready for simple virtual shopping experiences in 2021, and it’s free to create your own shop.
What’s right for you? Facebook Shop is a mini online store where you can list multiple products with photos, prices and descriptions. You can customise your store so that the button colours and text fits with your brand’s style guide. If you create a Facebook Shop and link to it from your Instagram bio, it’ll appear as ‘View Shop’ just under your bio link like this:
Facebook Shop may be a first step before you hit the big time with Shopify, or you could trial Facebook Shop as an extension of your ecomm store to drive even more sales.
Checkout on Instagram allows you to set up shoppable posts that people can buy directly from, without leaving the app. This is a great option if you just want to focus on selling one or two products to start with, and not worry about managing engagement and product inventory with a virtual shop front.
The future looks exciting for in-app shopping, with Facebook announcing that more features, such as live shopping options and loyalty programs to incentivise additional purchases, are in the works.
What you should do in 2021:
- Set up shoppable posts through Instagram Shopping so customers don’t need to leave the app to purchase. This also allows customers to easily see the name of the product they love if they prefer to browse on your website later.
- Create a Facebook Shop – it’s free to set up through Facebook Commerce Manager.
- Invest in more paid ad spending. Without it, it’s hard to cut through with organic content that drives your ecomm strategy.
- Focus on virtual customer experiences (more on this in #17) including Instagram live shopping.
- Check out Jumper.ai and set up relevant automated conversational prompts. We think of chatbots as saving us time and money – freeing our customer service team up, or not needing as many customer service reps to begin with – but what if chatbots actually made you money? That’s the aim with jumper.ai. It’s like an old school salesperson who has all the time in the world to help with your purchasing decision, if your customer wants that. Otherwise, it’s a handy tech integration that’s their fastest personal assistant. With engaging conversational tools, you’ll easily get more upsells than letting customers shop alone.
#6 Ads that don’t look like ads
Ever notice that your down-to-earth content – an iPhone snap of the team or everyday people with your products on an ad carousel – gets more engagement than the polished ones? Gone are the days where every Instagram feed is covered with flatlays and overly exposed white backgrounds. With the rise of TikTok, Reels and Stories, it’s this slightly edited but far from perfect content that people want to see more of in 2021.
What you should do in 2021:
- Lose the perfectionism on social media, especially on Stories and Reels. More and more brands are sharing TikTok videos and memes on their Facebook feeds and Stories, or even creating their own.
- Get more user-generated content into your posts, ads and website – don’t just leave that kind of content for reviews. We love how Glassons is mixing up product pages with video and relaxed home sets in photographs rather than always opting for plain white backgrounds.
- Whether you’re using models, influencers or everyday users in your imagery, aim for natural looking photos that blend into what your audience may already be seeing in their feed – people will instinctively scroll past if the content is too slick, knowing that it’s an ad.
- With some teams continuing to work from home in 2021, invest in iPhone tripods and get your team to capture their WFH situation – the plant mums, the fur babies and the makeshift desks make for some great content so followers can get to know your fun team.
#7 Discovery without the hashtags
Instagram launched two features towards the end of 2020 that are shaping the search experience on the platform. Interest search allows you to now search topics or products on Instagram without a hashtag or account name, and the Guide feature lets you curate a list of products, destinations or posts you like. You can create a title and blurb, choose posts from different accounts (including your own) to feature and write a caption about each one.
What you should do in 2021:
- Use keywords in Instagram captions instead of just hashtags so more people can discover your content.
- Consider using smaller, niche hashtags that have less reach but stronger engagement.
- Always keep in mind that you’re talking to people who may discover you on their Explore feed, not just your followers, so don’t assume how much they know about your brand.
- Start creating niche guides that highlight your products and services. As a new feature, we expect that Instagram will be prioritising these posts in people’s feeds.
#8 Twitter quotes – just not on Twitter
The 20 percent text on imagery rule left us in 2020, so now you can freely put text on any ads and posts without fear of getting your reach penalised for it – but don’t go overboard. Remember, we’re aiming for natural looking ads that people won’t scroll by. If you’re in the thought leadership and industry disruption space, consider posting a quote on Twitter and then sharing the screenshot on Instagram. It’s proving to be more popular than ever and creates real cut through on the feed.
Someone outside of the ecomm space (but still needs to convey key messages clearly) who does this well is Premier Dan Andrews. He’s used text posts from the iPhone notes app, coloured text on imagery and Twitter screenshots as major tools in his communication during Victoria’s lockdown because it’s clear, concise and cuts through when people are scrolling through their feed.
What you should do in 2021:
- Use text on imagery to create cut through for ads and posts.
- Post thought leadership quotes on Twitter and share over to Instagram.
- Share fun or educational text-based screenshots with your logo and brand colour as a background.
#9 Short form video is where it’s at
With TikTok shares on Facebook and Instagram going off this year and the introduction of Reels, short form video isn’t going anywhere. We expect it to ramp up in 2021 with more ways to connect, share and advertise. 62 percent of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.
What you should do in 2021:
- Already posting to Instagram Stories? Tick that box and share it to Facebook Stories too. Although Facebook Stories has less usage, if the content is already available, it makes sense to share it to another channel where Facebook is focusing on growth.
- Utilise the features in Instagram Stories – the best ones for driving engagement are the poll, emoji slider and question stickers where people type a question and you can reply in Stories with text or a video.
- Don’t just post Stories when you feel like it – have a content plan just like you would with any other platform. Test different features and track the results to understand what’s working and what your audience would like to see more of. Once you get people engaging with your Stories – even just watching without exiting, or reacting with an emoji – it means that your future posts and Stories will appear higher in their feed.
- 86 percent of people watch Stories on silent, so get captions on them! It doesn’t need to be timed captions like on a IGTV video. All you need to do is put a block of text somewhere on the Story that sums up what you’re saying in those 15 seconds. It’s not only the best thing to do from an accessibility perspective, it also engages all those people in their beds or on trains without the sound on that would have no idea what you’re saying otherwise and just skip through.
- When creating ads, use three Story ads instead of one. When people need to click through three times to exit an ad, they’re more likely to take more of the content in or even stop and check it out.
#10 Small business? Get the available support
Small businesses were hit hard in 2020. With a recovery on that scale not going to happen overnight, we expect that 2021 will have more and more opportunities to support small businesses get back on their feet. Facebook is investing $100 million to help 30,000 small businesses in over 30 countries through the Facebook Small Business Grants Program. TikTok is offering $300 and $2000 USD ad credits for new brands and small businesses advertising on its platform. Keep an eye out for others too!
What you should do in 2021:
- Look into grants and support that may be suitable for your business, especially if you’re a small business that has done it tough this year.
- Head to Facebook Small Business Grants Program to check if you’re eligible.
- Take a look at TikTok For Business and get in touch with us to learn more about advertising on TikTok and applying these credits to your account.
- Use Facebook’s hashtag #SupportSmallBusiness to gain more organic reach with potential buyers looking to shop small or local, and encourage fans of your brand to post about your products on Instagram Stories with the sticker ‘Support Small Business’.
#11 Two words. (One word?) Micro-influencers.
Influencer marketing continues to rise and is still proving to be an extremely effective marketing tool, with Instagram Stories in particular playing a key role in influencer content. We’ve ramped up influencer marketing here at Megaphone with a dedicated team focused on building relationships and coordinating the content from these partnerships. Here’s some practical tips from Ellen from our Influencer team.
What you should do in 2021:
- Micro influencers are the way to go. Studies show that social media users expect influencers with over 100,000 followers to sell them stuff they may not be into themselves, so going for influencers with less than 50K who fit the interests of your target demographic gets you closer to the right (and hopefully higher converting) audiences.
- Be specific about the kind of content you want – influencers aren’t mind readers, so if you have a vision, make sure they know about it! As expert content creators, influencers can bring their own skills and inspiration to the content, but not communicating what you’re looking for means more back and forth for everyone.
- Pay your influencers. For small businesses, it can be daunting to think about shelling out money to pay for content when you would prefer to give product for posts, but often the influencers that you love do charge for their time. It’s usually not a lot, depending on audience and engagement, but you can create long-lasting relationships with your favourite content creators if you have a little flexibility with your budget.
- It can feel a little over the top to create air-tight contracts with influencers for smaller projects but having a page of what you expect, and the timeframe in which you expect it, can help smooth any issues down the track with influencers. Make sure that you include an agreement if you’re going to be using their content in your advertising too.
- Think niche. There are influencers for just about everything these days – eco-friendly mums, jet setting TikTok dancers, urban gardeners – if you can think of a type of influencer, they probably exist! Getting granular with your outreach can help you find the best audience for your business – or, our team can help reach out to the right influencers that will fit your brand aesthetic and products.
#12 Don’t ignore the boomers
It might surprise you that 70 percent of internet users aged 55–64 have bought something online in the past month. Underestimating baby boomers on social media is a stereotype that needs to go in 2021, and that stat shows you just how much of a lucrative demographic they can be for your business.
Here’s just one example. The average click through rate from video ads on Facebook varies from 1.05-3.42 percent depending on age. Guess who had the highest click through rate. Yep – don’t neglect the boomers.
- Users 18-54: 1.05% to a 1.35% CTR
- Users 55-64: 2.38% CTR
- Users over 65: 3.42% CTR
What you should do in 2021:
- Use smarter interests-based targeting rather than falling into stereotypical audience segmentation that relies on gender or age.
- Make sure your ad creative has thoughtful representation that not only includes older generations in imagery, but represents the wide range of fun, nuanced experiences and connections they have. 80 percent of people 50 and over say they are stereotyped by marketers as dependent or isolated. Take a look at The Disrupt Aging Collection for Getty images you can use in your campaigns, or create your own.
#13 Aim for saves, not likes
Instagram started hiding likes in 2020 and it was good for us. Likes are a vanity metric – the numbers are nice to look at, sure, but feel-good analytics aren’t increasing engagement and moving you towards your business goals. Aim for quality engagement metrics like a share or a save that will keep you higher up in your follower’s feeds and even get you on the Explore feed so more people can discover your brand.
What you should do in 2021:
- Create content that’s informative or inspiring enough that people want to save it, not just like it, such as infographics, quotes, posts with longer captions (more on this in #21) and evergreen content with tips and hacks.
- Remember that for every person who is commenting and engaging with your posts, there are probably 10 more passive viewers who love your content but don’t speak up about it. Don’t lose sight of the ideal audience you’re trying to reach just so that you can get a quick win with likes.
- Look at Instagram insights for saves and shares rather than likes to know which posts your audience resonates with the most. Quick tip: if you reply to every comment on your post or ad, it instantly doubles the amount of comments you have and Instagram will mark it as a post that’s getting a lot of engagement, fast.
#14 No more empty promises
With all the social upheaval in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement and the US election, people are ready to call out brands who aren’t walking the talk. Or, just move on. 60 percent of millennials and Gen Z surveyed by Deloitte said that they plan on buying more products and services from large businesses that have taken care of their workforces and positively affected society during the pandemic.
Brands aren’t just about products anymore, we’re looking at the people behind the brands and how focused they are on diversity, ethical supply chains, environmental sustainability and giving back. People want purpose-led, socially conscious brands who are building a better world because it’s at the heart of what they do – not brands who post heartfelt messages on social media but have nothing to show for it.
What you should do in 2021:
- Create or expand on your social media policies so that your social media manager (or yourself if you’re running a small business) can respond, rather than react, in a crisis.
- If you did make a public declaration on social media in 2020, make sure you’re actually outworking it throughout 2021 and beyond.
- Decide what you want to stand for or speak out on well before it hits your social media page. There will be some areas your business is more aligned with than others. We could speak out about environmental issues, but as a paperless digital marketing agency, it’s just not going to be the same as the toilet paper company Who Gives a Crap aligning with this. With a female CEO and strong representation of women in senior leadership, Megaphone could speak out about gender parity in leadership roles, pay equity, or our commitment to supporting female entrepreneurs (we do all of this, but aren’t so vocal about it). As a young team, we advocate for opening up training opportunities and internships to help bridge the gap between university and working life. Write a list of what you’re passionate about, what you’re knowledgeable about, and what you’re actually working on and see what overlaps. You’ve found your niche!
- If you’re running in-stream ads, make use of Facebook’s safety options so that your brand isn’t associated with videos that are openly racist, homophobic, misogynistic or ableist and that your ad revenue isn’t supporting this kind of content (for obvious reasons, but also because it could come back to harm your brand reputation down the track). Topic exclusion means that your ad won’t appear on any content relating to news, gaming, religion or politics, depending on what you choose. Allow lists let you choose a list of content creators you would be willing to have your ad shown alongside.
- Humanise your brand and accept that you won’t always get it right – it’s your ongoing engagement with social issues that will keep driving brand retention in 2021. Look to brands who do this well like Ben & Jerry’s or Patagonia.
#15 Well established platforms still win for ecommerce
Despite the TikTok hype, well established platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are still leading the way with focus and investment. According to a survey by Hootsuite, more than half of businesses are planning to increase their Instagram budget, and almost half are planning to do the same for Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. If you want to stay ahead in 2021, now is the time to invest in your paid ads strategy on these platforms.
Facebook will be restricting the number of ads brands run from February 2021. The good news? If you’re already using dynamic formats to automatically customise ads to show the best copy and creative, you don’t need to run as many ads as you did in the past before leveraging these machine-learning options.
- 250 ads for small to medium pages advertising under $100K
- 1,000 ads for medium to large sized pages advertising $100K to $1M
- 5,000 ads for larger pages advertising $1M to $10M
- 20,000 ads for the largest pages advertising over $10M
Social media still isn’t widely accepted as a platform to shop on purpose – it’s seen as a place of impulse decisions enticed by clever ads. We’re expecting this stigma to shift in 2021 as people continue the online purchasing habits they developed during lockdowns in 2020, and as in-app shopping on Facebook and Instagram grows.
Keep in mind that the average order value in Australia and the US is around $85 USD. Advertise lower-priced items and then use clever retargeting strategies through paid ads and email marketing once trust has been built with a quality first purchase.
What you should do in 2021:
- Selling many products at varying price points? Use your ad spend for lower-priced products, and then grab an email address so you can upsell to higher-priced items through clever email marketing tactics.
- Focus on your best offers and products! Yes, you may have plenty of good offerings but when you’re trying to mainly acquire new customers, it’s always smart to lead with your best offerings.
- If you’re still approaching ads with the mindset that you’re invading someone’s feed, then take a look at this: the average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month. Don’t bring that mindset into 2021! If you’re targeting the right audiences with genuinely great products and enough info to get them interested, people are happy to engage with relevant ads.
- Stay ahead in 2021 by investing in your paid ads strategy – chat to our team of experts!
#16 Clever tactics over big tricks
A Tommy Hilfiger livestream event in China attracted 14 million viewers and sold out of 1,300 hoodies in two minutes. Livestream shopping events are predicted to generate $25 billion in sales by 2023 in the US alone.
Chasing bottom funnel clicks won’t be enough in 2021. It’s the brands that can adapt fast and go after clever tactics that people will be looking to. Jason Thomas, head of global research at The Carlyle Group, predicts that the companies in 2021 who will outperform the rest are the ones who “focus on reinventing their businesses while others endeavour to return to January 2020 levels with only minor adjustments.”
What you should do in 2021:
- You don’t need to come up with the next big trend – just be open to following where your customers already are, and offer a clever twist.
- Fashion or homewares brands? Try a livestream event or virtual market.
- Create a paid online event through Facebook. You can promote the event, collect payments and host the event through live video all on the platform! A yoga studio could offer virtual classes, a restaurant could offer online cooking classes or a publisher could offer a book launch with a live author reading. There’s so many possibilities!
- Don’t expect to go back to a ‘new normal’ that’s only slightly different to January 2020. Read on for more on changing up virtual experiences.
#17 Reinvent online customer experiences
With in-store interaction lost or limited in 2020, contactless shopping became the norm. Some brands went further and reimagined virtual experiences altogether, using Stories and live streaming to bring connection and fun to the mindless, isolating scroll that can be the online shopping experience.
TWOOBS launched a new shoe collection while Melbourne was in lockdown (where their retail store is located) so they did a series of ‘ask me anything’ Instagram Stories to answer any questions people may have about the sustainable range and a 53-minute live video with the founders talking about why they’re heading in this new direction.
What you should do in 2021:
- Focus on user experience, which no longer means just how user-friendly your website is, but also how fun and engaging choosing your products can be.
- Get out of the habit of posting static launch posts for a new range and think about the ways that your customers need or want you to be there for them virtually, whether that’s answering questions through Instagram Stickers on Stories or hosting a live video. Instagram Live Shopping lets brands or Instagram influencers place a call to action such as ‘Add to Bag’ for a product at the bottom of an Instagram Live stream, allowing viewers to immediately head to Checkout within the app or save for later and continue watching the stream.
#18 Test new formats and go where there’s growth
Test and pivot, test and pivot, that’s what our account managers are doing every single day. If there’s anything 2020 taught us, it’s to be prepared for anything, so don’t just lean on what has worked before. There are the usual shifts coming up, from gift buying in December to self improvement buying as we hit the new year, but be prepared to quickly adapt copy and creative with the changing times as we all did with our posts and ads when we started working from home.
What you should do in 2021:
- Test and pivot to where there’s growth, whether that’s a new feature, format or trend.
- Facebook is giving more prominence to Reels on Instagram, so if you haven’t already tried it, create one this week and track that engagement.
- Keep an eye on Facebook’s new ad formats and find the ones that suit your audience and products or services – Social Media Today is a great resource for that.
#19 Shift towards a lighter tone
With everything that’s been going on this year, people are hopeful about 2021. Social media content and ads should reflect that feeling and shift towards a lighter tone. Of course, people want brands that are real, so it’s not about being overly positive and fake. 32 percent of key demographics say that finding funny or entertaining content is their main reason for using social media, and studies show that useful and entertaining ads are most likely to drive purchases.
What you should do in 2021:
- Reflect the lighter mood by posting hopeful or entertaining content, including quotes and memes, especially throughout January.
- Test ads that show you don’t take yourself too seriously, whether that’s in the copy or the content itself – look to TikTik videos for inspiration on this.
#20 Always optimise for mobile
96 percent of Facebook visits are made on smartphones, but get this: 79 percent of Facebook users only access the site through mobile. That’s why you need to always optimise for mobile – most people are only ever seeing your content and ads on their phones! Another helpful stat is that 80 percent of Facebook access on mobile happens on Android devices, while 14 percent happens on iOS. If you’ve been assuming that your target audience is engaging with your ad on an iPhone, think again! Double check that your ad is compatible with both devices.
Mobile accounted for 94 percent of Facebook ad revenue in Q3 2019, and lockdowns throughout 2020 have made the amount of time people spend on their phones skyrocket even beyond that. We need to keep optimising for an exceptional mobile experience, rather than just a great online experience in general.
What you should do in 2021:
- Optimise for mobile by shooting vertical videos, breaking up longer captions with emojis and white space, and sending people to landing pages that are also ready for mobile users.
- Make sure that anything to do with your social media accounts (like your Facebook cover photo) is optimised for mobile rather than desktop.
- Check that your ads are compatible with both Android and iOS devices.
- Create killer mobile ads using the Facebook Mobile Studio with best practice tips available for you to learn from.
- Test hyperlocal mobile advertising techniques such as geofencing. If anyone with your app installed steps into the area where you have set up a virtual ‘fence’, it will trigger a push notification. A retail store could use geofencing to notify customers of discounts happening in the store right as the user steps into the area.
- Get your business voice search ready by answering common questions and using long tail keywords in your content based on how people speak rather than type.
#21 Longer captions are in
Microblogging in your Instagram captions will grow your audience and may even get you featured on the Explore feed because people will want to share or save your post – the gold level engagement that we talked about earlier. When people save, share, revisit your post or spend time in your Stories, it indicates to Instagram that it’s a quality post. Plus, value-add captions naturally encourage people to comment and start conversations around the topic you bring up, so your organic reach will thrive. You can use retargeting strategies to later educate on your products further and drive these people to your website.
What you should do in 2021:
- Try posting longer captions (up to 2000 characters on Instagram) around niche topics. For example, if you run a makeup brand, you could do an educational piece on contouring, but to make it even more niche, you could talk about contouring for darker skin types.
- Use emojis as dot points to break up the captions into key takeaways for your audience
- Instead of linking to a new blog by simply saying, ‘New blog up! Head to the link in bio’, write out a condensed version of the blog and a few key takeaways and post that as your microblogging caption.
