Social media content trends are constantly changing and keeping up with them can be tricky. As content is constantly evolving, knowing the newest content trends is important so that influencers and brands can keep their engagement going and continue to grow an organic following on platforms like Instagram, TIktok, Facebook and YouTube.
Since there are so many different social platforms and content ideas flying around these days, we have picked the top seven social media content trends for 2021 and given you some inspiration as to how to use them using the new Studio on Press Loft.
Studio is designed to help influencers, bloggers and brands create engaging content for their social media accounts in minutes. No need for any design skills, Studio is made to give you constant inspiration and easy-to-use templates. So let’s dive into the top seven social media content trends that you should be using for your social channels.
- Instagram Guides
The first content trend that has stormed 2021 is the newest addition to Instagram: guides. Instagram guides have been a long-awaited update and a dream for bloggers and influencers who want to talk more in-depth about a product or a specific trend. Perhaps this is a gift guide, a trend or a ‘how-to’ guide. Instagram Guides can also work wonders for brands, allowing them to post their press releases and show off new launches with more added information. The main aspect of Instagram Guides is to allow content creators and brands to post guides and recommendations in a more digestive way. Instagram describes Guides as ‘a way to easily discover recommendations, tips, and other content from your favorite creators, public figures, organisations, and publishers on Instagram.’ Guides are a new exciting new format for brands, influencers and bloggers to use to showcase their content to their audience.
When creating Guides it is important to stand out from the crowd, so a normal grid post reposted onto your guide may not be enough. Trying to create a thread of on-brand posts (like the example below) through a content creator app or site will make your guides look more professional and clean. Press Loft have recently launched Studio, allowing you to create content like the ones below so you can engage with your audience via Instagram Guides with new and exciting content.
- Ephemeral content
Ephemeral content has become a huge trend over the past few years. Ephemeral content is content that’s only available for a short period of time. Examples of this format include Instagram Stories, Twitter Fleets, Youtube shorts, Linkedin Stories and Facebook Stories. Any content posted on social media using this format disappears after a certain amount of time (24h, 12h etc). This allows influencers and brands to get more creative and post information they may not want to post on their main feed and also be a lot more personable. This could be posts about situations happening right in that moment, posts about new launches, countdowns, behind the scenes and interactive posts. Ephemeral content has become increasingly popular due to the fact that it gives everyone the opportunity to just post more content and be more creative with their ideas. There is also a great buzz about the thought of something happening right now and getting to enjoy other people’s content as well as creating your own. Social media usage has increased in content and usage due to this. Lots of people love the fact that they can open their feed and are hit with constant new stories. Ephemeral content allows authenticity, activity and engagement.
Using content creation apps and sites would work wonders for Ephemeral content. As so many influencers and brands are working harder than ever to create unique content that will stand out from the crowd, it is important to consider using applications like Press Loft’s Studio to create exciting and engaging content. As there are so many Stories that pop up every second on our feeds, make sure you get your audience’s attention as soon as they click on your stories. You can make templates like the ones below in Studio.
- Video content
Video content will still be one of the most popular social media content trends in 2021. From Tiktok to Instagram Reels and IGTV, video content has taken over the social media world very quickly. Videos are so popular partly because influencers and brands can engage on a more personal level with their followers. Videos are also usually interesting to watch, meaning that you can capture your audience more easily than with an image and give more depth to your content. Anything that allows you to engage more and come across as more authentic is a big win.
Maybe you are thinking that you aren’t the best videographer or you can’t quite come up with unique content ideas. This is where content creator sites come in handy. Press Loft is currently working on a new addition to Studio to include video format so you create and find inspiration for new video content and use your own images. GIFs are also hugely popular. They are created through using a thread of images and creating a GIF format online. Studio has many different templates you can use to create your very own thread of images to download and create a GIF for social media.
- Lives
Lives, like videos, are also a great way to engage with your audience and will continue to grow in 2021. During lockdown, lives have been used even more to connect and entertain followers and build a community. Lives can consist of interviews, tips and tricks and can also be used to answer any questions followers may have. Lives can be used on Facebook and Instagram and are a great way of showing authenticity. It has become a popular tool as it allows companies and influencers to showcase more of who they are. This could be behind the scenes, giving snippets of how products are made, tips on how to style and showing a bit more about who is behind the brand. This allows brands and influencers to connect with their audiences on a more personal level than before. You could also use lives on more of an informal level by celebrating company wins like being featured in the press, a new product launch, a new partnership, team birthdays and business anniversaries. This gives your audience a chance to get the inside scoop and will allow them to relate to you more in a friendly setting.
- Content marketing remix
Content marketing remix is great as it allows influencers and brands to use content already created and remix old content or use other people’s content or product images in their own way and credit them.
If you are looking to remix content then using a content creator platform like Studio is the way forward. Start by gathering the product images and posts that you intend to use and then choose your own template to put the images and posts into. There are many different ways you can remix your content, this can include:
- Quotes or customer feedback and testimonials by using quote templates.
- Reusing products and images to create trends and moodboards.
- Using other influencers/brands images and products (make sure to ask permission and also credit them) and combine with your content to create new designs.
- Use your social media content for blog posts and on your website.
- Use customer images and repost onto your platforms (make sure to credit them). Link to ugc article
- Instagram Highlights
Instagram Highlights are a great way to save content that has been posted on stories that you want to keep on your page after 24 hours. It is basically a way for influencers and brands to store and save all of their content creations for their audience to come back and view when they wish to. Highlights make Instagram pages more accessible and informative to followers.
Creating highlight headers is a good way to keep your content on brand. Connecting the posts within the highlights so that they match can help your followers understand exactly what you are posting about. You can create highlights for questions and answers, tips and tricks, behind the scenes, new launches and products and trends. There are so many different angles you can take for highlights, so finding the correct categories for your page is important to showcase to your audience what you are all about.
- Interactive content
Interactive content includes lives, question boxes within stories, asking questions to your followers on grid posts and creating content that will encourage followers to comment and repost. The more comments received on a post, the better for your engagement.
Constantly finding ways to interact with your followers can be tricky, so again using templates that are already designed for you via content creation sites can be really helpful. You can find templates on Studio at Press Loft for this. This includes ‘this or that’ questions, ‘ask us a question’ posts, polls and many more.
Press Loft is excited to introduce the launch of Studio and offer brands and content creators endless templates and inspiration so that you can keep up to date with the newest social media content trends on your own social media channels.
What is Press Loft?
Press Loft www.pressloft.com is a PR platform specialising in the home, gift, and lifestyle sectors that helps thousands of brands to get their products into the press.
Their PR tools allow companies to easily secure press coverage and quality backlinks for SEO by connecting with their network of 20,000+ journalists, bloggers, and influencers.
If you are looking to get your products featured in the press and try out the brand new Studio, Press Loft offers a 60-day free trial (only available to new customers).
