10 Predictions for Social Media & Digital Marketing in 2021

I know many of us are happy to close out 2020 like a Zoom call where you x-out, cover your webcam, then torch your laptop in a flaming trashcan just to be safe.

Flipping the page, let's take a look at what you can expect to see in the world of social media and digital marketing in 2021.

1. The Rise and Rise of TikTok

TikTok gained mainstream awareness in 2020, however if you dig underneath the surface, the ubiquitous adoption from major brands that you see on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is yet to happen on TikTok. Brands that are active on TikTok are on the leading edge of social media, relatively speaking.

TikTok content is also vastly different than content on traditional social media channels. Speak to any social media manager, and they'll tell you that often times a particular piece of content will be re-purposed to work across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It can be as simple as having a 16:9 and a 4:5 version of a video, and you're (for the most part) all set.

You simply can't do that on TikTok. You have to understand the nature of content on the platform, the duration restrictions, the music integration, and how to engage directly with followers in a way that's unique to TikTok.

This requires a skill set that is unique, and must be learned, even by seasoned social media managers. The talent set that can effectively create TikTok content and grow a TikTok channel is relatively small, but it's growing.

In 2021 you'll see more and more brands advertise Social Media Director / Manager roles where a version of, "Must have experience starting and managing a TikTok channel" will appear.

If you think 2020 was big year for TikTok, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

2. More of the Faces Behind the Accounts

You have to look no further than brands like Fast and Morning Brew to see what's going on here. People relate to people, and what better way to make your brand relatable than by bringing the people behind the posts to the front?

It's fun to watch #BuildInPublic brands share their growth and the evolution of their brand and approach to building their companies, all in real time. You get to know the people who are pushing the company forward, who are effectively the public face of the company online (along with the founders).

Having people who truly get social and how to connect with their audience is going to become critically important if you want to stand out from all the noise on social.

One @mkobach or @tobydoyhowell is worth 10x anonymous social media managers. Matthew does a good job of regularly sharing tidbits of the Fast marketing strategy and what he's thinking as he thinks it. Toby jumps on memes (in particular business-related memes) and uses them to have Morning Brew be a part of that conversation, if not become the catalyst that drives that conversation to another level. As a result, both companies have developed raving fans who are consistently entertained, informed - and yes - inspired, by the stories that these people and brands share on social.

If you're in a senior marketing or management position, empower your social media leaders to find their voice and allow them to be a real person online. Your fans and your customers will thank you for it.

3. Gen Z Talent Will Emerge

Gen Z (don't call them Millennials) are now aged 7-22 (born 1997-2012). They're hitting offices (or Zoom calls) around the world, and they're different.

In social media content creation, young talent is absolutely critical. Ask yourself, what was the most recent platform to launch where you said, "I just don't get it."

Was it Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram Reels, Clubhouse, Stories for [insert platform here]? Whatever it was, it's an indicator that there's a whole world, a whole community of (many times) young people on there who are creating and consuming content.

While it's certainly worthwhile for more seasoned social and digital folks to 'stay across' what's happening on the newer platforms, the reality is for many of us it can be difficult to keep up.

Now is a good time to identify and hire young talent. Younger than you think. Today, two years' experience in social media can be a better fit than ten years, depending on what you need someone to do.

4. Beyond the Hype House - Influencers aka. Content Creators Will Become More Sophisticated in their Brand Deals

There is no shortage of Influencer Marketing Managers if you search this very site, however there is a broad shortage of people who can effectively work with influencers to create partnerships that pass the troll test and the sniff test.

The term influencers should in many cases be replaced by the term content creators, as it more accurately describes what they do, without the cringe factor.

Even the most popular content creators can't pull off a brand partnership if it isn't something that their followers will perceive as relevant and beneficial to them, as well as the individual creator. People follow creators ranging from Twitch streamers, to podcast hosts, to TikTok creators, not just to be entertained by them, but to support them as a creator. They'll be happy for a creator to secure the bag, if it's a brand/product partnership that makes sense for them and their lane.

That means there will be demand for a new generation of talent managers who understand these dynamics and can forge relationships between creators and brands that make sense for both parties, as well as the audience they're targeting.

5. Podcasts Will be the New Relationship Builder

The (re)emergence of podcasts as a key platform for creators did happen in 2020, but the importance of podcasts for brands and creators will soar to new heights in 2021.

While the lift and technical ability to start a podcast is higher than say, starting an Instagram or a TikTok account, the relationship that you build with the listener is far more intimate, and therefore valuable.

Like Jack Appleby posed in his tweet, not 100k followers / subs isn't necessarily represent equal value across all platforms:

He goes on to say that'd he'd probably choose podcasts for a mix of business and pleasure. I'd tend to agree. The relationship you can build when your voice is in someone's ear as they exercise, commute (remember commuting?), cook, or mill around the house is vastly different to the one you can hope to build with someone who is scrolling through a feed.

My dad used to always listen to the radio while having a bath. You want to get into the bath with people. For many people, podcasts are the new radio. The difference being, they get to self-select the station and when they listen. It's a medium that has a higher barrier to entry than those which you can create for exclusively from your phone, however the flipside is this barrier to entry serves to make it less crowded than say Instagram or Twitter. Ask 10 of your colleagues or friends how many of them have their own podcast. It's probably less than how many have their own Instagram or Twitter.

Podcasts can serve as a way to connect to industry leaders and interesting people of all descriptions, and also a way to show people what you're most passionate about, and potentially set you up for other opportunities like a new job or a consulting gig. For a brand, you can share the stories of your employees, your customers, or just find a way to be useful. For examples, look at Trader Joe's, Atlassian, and MailChimp.

6. Email is Dead, Long Live Email

You're not cool unless you have a Substack. That was the mantra of Q4 if you were anywhere near marketing or tech Twitter. While to those of us who are on Twitter incessantly it may seem that email newsletters are getting super crowded, the reality is most people don't have their own Substack (or couldn't even tell you what it is).

That means that the oldest marketing advice in the modern world still holds true: Build your list. There is value in having a presence on almost any social platform, however with your own email list you always know you're on solid ground in that you own it and can utilize it in many ways. Whether that be for communicating directly to your subscribers with a newsletter, using the list to create a lookalike audience for advertising, or for segmentation as you build out customer profiles.

Substack has made it simple to launch your own free and/or paid newsletter, and it's definitely a worthwhile route if that's what you're looking for. I could also argue the side of having yourname dot com and using other tools to build your list on your own site. Whichever way you go, the most important thing is that you start a list and build it.

7. Discord for All

While Discord is most commonly known as voice, video and text chat for gamers, it's starting to branch out towards being a place that anyone can host and interact with a community. If you haven't heard of it yet, you will soon.

You might be more familiar with Slack in terms of looking at an app with #channels to organize conversations by topic, but Discord is increasingly the place where people are going to congregate with like-minded people on niche topics. As its new marketing message says, it's Your place to talk.

If you have a community that you manage, if you're a sports club like the Sacramento Kings who just launched their own community Discord, if you're a sports league looking to connect with the highly-sought-after younger demographic, you should look into Discord.

8. The Player Empowerment Era Arrives on Social Media

There's a lot of talk in my sports league of choice (if you don't know it by now, we can't be friends anymore) about the player empowerment era.

That era is well on its way to happening off the floor, on social and digital channels. We saw a couple of early forays into this with the Mattise Thybulle's vlog series on YouTube - (let's go UW), as well as JaVale 'The Champ is Here' McGee's own series, Life in the Bubble.

It's also happening in the world of podcasts. To rattle off a few: The JJ Redick Podcast, Pull Up with CJ McCollum, All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

More recently, we've seen Kyrie Irving's entertaining-as-hell talks with KD on Instagram Live. While Kyrie did end up coming back to talk to the media, the power of players to tell their own stories and connect with their fans on their own channels has never been greater. LaMelo Ball, the no. 3 overall pick this season, comes to Charlotte (and the world) with 6.1 million Instagram followers on Instagram (not to mention the coveted @melo handle).

As the top echelon of young draft prospects become mixtape superstars on YouTube and Instagram as they come up, they enter the league with an audience that has immediate appeal to their prospective new franchise, as well as sponsors. And as young players joining the league have never known a life without these platforms, they're coming in hyper aware of not only how to connect with their fans, but the importance of building that connection to their career both on and off the court.

9. Web Sites Will Re-Emerge

For many years, digital publishers have become beholden to Facebook and others to generate traffic (or at least its lesser-valued cousin, engagement). The old Web 1.0 whereby you had a core of go-to websites that you'd dedicate your 56kps dial-up internet towards loading became a thing of the past, as people started scrolling News Feeds for their news, rather than browsing their shortlist of sites directly.

What's old is new again, with publishers such as The New York Times (apparently not failing after all), The Atlantic, and even niche sites like STAT News making themselves so valuable to their audience that they have succeeded in building significant paid subscription businesses for their content.

As doomscrolling has shown, there is only so much feed one can handle at times. In 2021, you may find yourself opening a new Chrome or Safari tab rather than refreshing your feed as often as you did in 2020.

10. Only the Fast Will Survive

The idea of planning out content for the next 12 months will still have value, however the ability to be agile will outweigh 'sticking to the plan'.

In 2020, social content plans the world over were upended by TikTok, as people scrambled to learn the platform and - crucially - to find talent that understood the platform.

What will be the TikTok of 2021? Follow me on Twitter @FrancisOKC to find out.

I'm joking, but it will be something. Those of us with a nimble enough content team will be able to adapt to whatever it is, and those lacking said nimbleness could find themselves caught in the past.

But really, for more thoughts like these on social media and digital marketing, follow me on Twitter @FrancisOKC.

P.S. Tell me what your predictions are for social and digital in 2021 in the comments, and if you found this article valuable, share it with a friend.