How Small Businesses Can Leverage 2021 Organic Social Media Trends

Did you know that in the third quarter of 2020, social media ad spend increased by 56.4% compared to the previous quarter? Small businesses, however, don’t all have the luxury of increasing their ad budget since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant revenue losses. So, how can you increase social media visibility without paying a dime?

Regardless of your budget size, there are a ton of organic opportunities to boost engagement, follower count and overall sales in both the B2B and B2C markets, and you can do it by simply looking at what major brands are posting organically. To help you revamp your social media marketing strategy, we’ve broken down five major organic digital trends for 2021 and how you can leverage them to grow your business online.

Pay attention to how current events impact consumers.

Not all content is meant to be entertaining – sometimes you have to step down from center stage and use your platform to uplift the voices of underserved communities. About 66% of consumers said they believed brands should weigh in on social issues because brands can create real change. So you should consider having authentic conversations on the topics your followers care about most.

Platforms like Bumble listened to users and used their platform to further the conversation about racism earlier this year. They amplified Black voices on their feed and explained that internal changes were being made to make their workplace more inclusive.

Increase user-generated content.

Conversational marketing is growing and people are less likely to engage with posts that feel like ads. By incorporating user-generated content into your organic social media strategy, you’re highlighting consumer loyalty and taking the pressure marketing teams to crank out a ton of content. With this approach, customers become advocates and ultimately do the marketing for you by driving additional traffic to your feed and website.

Cosmetic brands have mastered the use of user-generated content (UGC). They engage with consumers and regularly feature followers on their feed, which encourages more followers to tag them in posts. All of this content saves their content team a ton of time and money on photoshoots and having to find models from different backgrounds.

Create not-so-curated content.

The rise of TikTok has shown us that a 30-second video shot and edited in two minutes can draw 100 times more engagement than a video shot in a production studio. While it’s important to have high-quality photo and video assets on your brand profiles, you should also push out content that doesn’t feel too curated. As mentioned, people like relatable and authentic content that tells your brand story and showcases your personality.

Post more talking videos shot on your iPhone and consider shooting behind-the-scenes content of your team creating and testing your products.

Restaurant pages are good at mixing up curated shoots, UGC and behind-the-scenes videos of how food is made. For service-based businesses, SAP is a great source of inspiration since they’ve made use of remote working and feature talking head videos shot right on a webcam.

Use IG Reels.

People are still getting familiar with IG Reels and its overall impact, but one thing we do know is the Reels page circulates content onto the Feeds of people who don’t even follow you. This increases opportunities for more organic reach, so why not try out this new feature with the rest of the world?

The Pet Scout Shop has made use of Reels by incorporating trending music into product videos. Big name brands like Walmart are using employees to create fun content around the store and pairing videos with original, catchy music.

Consider if Pinterest is the right move.

Pinterest is usually an underrated social platform for everything that’s not a party recipe, but it’s ripe for organic reach. First consider if your brand and your content is the right fit: Are you selling products that could benefit from situational exposure? Or, are you promoting a feeling or brand-forward aesthetic? If yes, a vision-board-like platform like Pinterest is a great move for you. If no, this platform should be a pass – and that’s okay too.

If the shoe fits, on Pinterest you can publish a slightly different variation of the same post 20 times a day and link directly to your website’s blog, sales page or other social media pages. And the best part is that you don’t have to worry about follower count. The new algorithm is also highlighting more video content, so you’ll be able to repurpose videos from Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and upload directly to the platform. 

Whole Foods has a solid organic Pinterest strategy that focuses on new products, food pairings and easy recipes. HGTV is another example of a brand that doesn’t put too much time into creating designed assets, but instead simply uploads images of homes to give their audience outside inspiration.

The biggest takeaways here are that authenticity and engagement with followers will absolutely increase brand loyalty, no matter how big or small your ad budget is. Showing your personality, increasing user-generated content and taking advantage of social features designed to increase organic reach will get more eyes on your content in no time.

Take an organic approach to digital growth.

Our integrated team can assess the latest social trends and help you create content that’s creative, goal-oriented and on-brand. Let’s get started.