Roundup of 2021 in Digital

So, 2021 is a distant memory (cue a huge exhale from the Mighty Social team)! For us, it was an exciting year of new faces, new services, and plenty of new clients. Hard work pays off and it should be celebrated, before we re-group and push on into an even more productive 2022. Once again, thank you to all of our readers for coming along for the ride and following along with us.

But what about the exciting changes that happened in the world of Digital Marketing? “Unprecedented times” (yes we hate the term too) meant that the industry went through some of the biggest changes we’ve seen to date. It’s important to take the time to look back at the past 12 months and recap what’s happened in the world of social media.

Video

Any good marketeer will have noticed that while attention spans have gotten shorter and shorter over the years, the need for new, quick and engaging content has become more and more prevalent. Many platforms estimate that the average person is predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online videos. 

2021 proved that it was more than vital for video content to become a core component of any Digital Marketing strategy. It's critical for businesses to continue embracing this shift as soon as possible to effectively market on any platform in 2022.

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, tweeted that the platform has “seen an explosion in video, and it’s a paradigm shift we’re embracing.” The Tech-Chief confirms that its users are asking for more creative, innovative, and entertaining video content. 

Pure, authentic content reels have consistently been Mighty clients’ top-performing creative and we predict more focus on the world of video marketing in 2022!

Facebook / Meta 

The Facebook platform (not to be confused with Meta, which now emcompasses Instagram and Whatsapp - see our previous blog here) completely obliterated the competition in 2021, proudly forming the largest interconnected network of human-beings ever created. Despite strong competition from the likes of newcomers TikTok and Instagram, Facebook remained at the pinnacle of the social media world last year, proclaiming almost 3 billion active users.

One of the keys that unlocked Facebook's success in 2021 was its core fundamental ability to reinforce group culture, whilst sustaining their online communities. By combining their Groups and Pages section into one, easily-managed place, this allowed community builders to collaborate in new ways. 

Users are now able to develop a sense of belonging through automatically created, unique greeting messages. Engagement is further encouraged on the platform by allowing members to share fun and uplifting content awards. 

Facebook remained the king of social media in 2021, although we anticipate TikTok toppling the big blue giant in the coming months!

Twitter

It's been a big year for a certain blue bird. The world went into meltdown as Meta (formally known as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp) experienced an 8 hour service outage, but Twitter took every opportunity to hog the limelight. Users were quick to point out that Twitter was the only platform not experiencing problems and the Mighty Team have no doubt that this would have helped the platform push on towards their company target of 123 million more users by 2023. 

Although Twitter’s mission is “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information and to express their opinions and beliefs without barriers,” the page still continues to be the “trolls” platform of choice. 

Safeguarding users has to be the main priority for any respectable digital company; that's why in 2021, the platform successfully launched online tools such as Birdwatch. Any Tweets that are found to be misleading can now be flagged (currently limited to American users) with reasoning why users think it is harmful.  

Another way that the platform aims to improve the user experience is with the all-new ‘prompts’ feature. If the algorithm senses that a conversation could get heated, the platform will now warn users to stay clear.  

Staying safe online is at the forefront of our Mighty Minds, so providing users with the opportunity to gauge whether they would like to start a conversation or not, before diving into the replies, can only be a step in the right direction.

Impacts of Covid and looking into the future

It's no secret that the pandemic has forced downward pressure on marketing budgets. The 2021 Gartner State of marketing budget report, reports that marketing budgets have now fallen to their lowest recorded level. Quite simply, it is essential that Digital Marketers now hunt for cost-effective techniques to drive business. 

As mentioned earlier,  short, sharp, informative video content such as Reels and TikToks will play a key role in a brands success in 2022. 83.8% of internet users in the US accessed digital video content last year, which goes to show if you want to win, think short. 

Videos that are easy to consume, highly informative, and as entertaining as possible will get the most hits. Make no mistake, short-form, educational, entertaining video is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve engagement and it's here to stay.

What will 2022 bring?

To delve a bit deeper into predictions for the coming year, we have a brand-new podcast for your listening pleasure. Grab a cup of coffee, have a listen and don’t forget to jot a few things down as we look into the future of social media marketing.