The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt changed the way we do some activities, socialize and work. Up till now, for instance, many employers are required to get used to communicating with their employees through video conferences and Zoom meetings. Many of our shopping items are available online now more than ever before. There has been a drastic increase in the usage of social media apps and that is what gets our interest – the fact that companies have geared their marketing efforts to these platforms.

This is not to say that search engine ads, media buying, video ads, and website billboards are going extinct but rather there is now a growing expenditure by companies on social media ads and promotions. These promotions are especially seen in highly engaging social accounts. Thus, influencer marketing plays a big role in the state of social media in 2021. In this benchmark report issue of 2021, Hobo.Video will provide you with the relevant data on the proficiency level of social media marketing plus the impact of the Covid Virus pandemic on it. We will also interpret the data and point fingers to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are the metrics (or measurable values) tied to specific objectives of a marketing campaign to show it’s progress.

The State of Social Media: The Indian Demographic

Approximately 448 million social media users are in India as of January 2021. That is a 21% increase from January 2020. Therefore, with Indians participating on social media platforms, brands are trying to leverage it by generating leads through influencer marketing.A good example of such a brand is Hobo.Video. A premier global destination for creators and social influencer platform driven by videos where millions of generation Z influencers and consumers are connecting and interacting with each other to make a perfect purchase with the help of community driven recommendations.

In a simpler language, a lot of influencers and brands are coming on the platform making creative and interesting short videos and tagging products at Hobo which are there in the video and posting the content over their social platform to make the purchase happen by their targeted consumers.

How Did We Do On Social Media Marketing?

No, we at Hobo are not trying to unveil our social media marketing KPIs and metrics to you. You know confidential matters should remain confidential. The question “how did we do on social media marketing?” is what every reasonable digital marketer and brand strategist should ask themselves on a quarterly or annual basis. When reviewing the successes of their marketing campaign, they should ask “how did we do on social media and influencer marketing?” A recent social media analytics project looked at more than 2 million posts and a total of 3 billion likes, comments, and shares on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter from the top brands in every major industry. We bring you the most recent social media benchmark data as regards frequency and types of posts, trends and influencer promotions, hashtags, and more.

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Here are some of the most significant information deduced from real-time data in 2020/2021;

• On average, the worldwide scale of internet users grew by 7.4%; and active social media users rose by 12.3% the year 2019. It was also reported that the average internet user had an average of 7 or 8 social media accounts and logins into their accounts at least 5 times in the past month.

• Posting frequency has surprisingly seen a little declined among major brands. Focus has moved to striving for a higher degree of active engagements rather than posting frequency. Your efforts will be useless if the fun is not shared and the marketing message not retained.

• A good number of brands engaged with potential customers more often on Twitter than even Facebook and Instagram.

• Analysts advise that brands should look for ways to combine photos into carousels. This is because Instagram carousels often get reserved to users who don’t engage the first time, earning more impressions.
• Social media marketing managers advise that spicing up the hashtags used across platforms makes better engagements and results. Hashtags such as #tiktokindia were seen in 6.9 million TikTok posts globally. Other hashtags such as #FlipTheSwitch #foryoupage #ParteAfterParte , when included, made quiet posts ‘go viral’. 

Fashion Hashtags:

You can not use the same hashtags for Instagram and Twitter and then expect the same vibe.

Alcohol Hashtags:

• Every industry was hit by the Coronavirus pandemic this year, but the impact was not as severe as portrayed. It did not mar or melt sales for any particular industry that utilizes social media as its business strategy. PlayStation used video ads on their Twitter and Facebook account to effectively launch the PS5 with the campaign name #PlayHasNoLimits. This was among the best social media campaigns of 2020 because it brought in about $10B in sales in February 2021 alone. It surprisingly surpasses the entire revenue from last year that ended in March 2020.
• Data analysts reveal that YouTube has taken the rank of the World’s Most Visited Social Media Site with more than 2 billion people visiting it every month. 265 million of which are active indian users as of September 2020. Some smart brands in industries like hotels, real estate agencies, media, retail, and tech & software were able to increase their social media engagement rates (especially YouTube and Twitter) by linking more videos. 
• TikTok has ultimately been the fastest growing social media platform for influencer marketing following Instagram.

Other Takeaways:

Photo pictures are an important facet of social communication on Facebook and Instagram. However, try changing it up on other platforms like Twitter with more videos.

90% of internet users in the world watch online videos. Although the information does not say whether social media videos or YouTube videos, we do know that video is extremely important to any online audience.

Giveaways were the way to your followers’ hearts regardless of the industry in which your business is in. You shouldn’t be afraid to offer more contests across all channels in 2021. Alcoholic brand ambassadors and marketers used a select few hashtags that got the audience to participate in contests and promotions. The use of easy-to-remember hashtags in addition to a cool video ad made the “Zer0.0 Contact Bar” ad campaign the best marketing campaign in September 2020 in that niche’s industry.

The “make-money-online” niche saw an additional boom during the Covid lockdown months of 2020 till presently at early 2021.

Why Do Individuals And Businesses Follow Brands on Social Media?

A report from a survey done by Sprout Social shows that roughly 45% of consumers follow brands most of the time to learn about new products or services, to stay up-to-date on company news, and to learn about promotions or discounts. Some respondents say that they follow just for fun and inspiration. Nevertheless up to 89%  of those who eventually visit the brand’s website end up buying something.

In the same way, nearly 37% of B2B executives discover new brands and services via social media. Even though many first encountered those new brands through conferences, trade shows, and events yet they obtained more information by following the social accounts of the companies of interest.

The 4 Elements of Negotiation Put to Work in 2021 Social Media Marketing Campaigns:

It has been observed that no one likes the feeling of being approached in a sales pitch manner. No one likes being sold something whether offline or online. It is a total turn-off especially for young people; yet some companies ignorantly skip to the last phase (closing) in their social marketing campaigns. Smart companies, on the other hand, use the 4 elements of negotiation each in their own outstanding way. These 4 key processes have been used in social media ads campaigns regardless of the business niche. We shall explain them in the latter scenario.

Preparation : they prepare by researching the particular wants, pleasures, pain, and fears of the target audience

Opening : the influencer starts a live feed online or posts a message along with the picture of the products. The influencer proceeds to give a personal testimonial about the products or services and strongly recommends them.

Bargaining : the influencer empathies with the audience and puts an attractive offer to the table for consideration. This offer could be in various forms.

Closing : when some of the followers click on the link, the sales funnel converts these qualified leads or customers.

A lot is going on!

Every industry was hit by the Coronavirus pandemic this year, but the impact was not as severe as portrayed. It did not mar or melt sales for any particular industry that utilized social media for their business strategy. A lot is going on. Take part in the lucrative state of social media by joining the Hobo.Video community. The network powered platform hosted by Hobo.Video is a fun and engaging digital community where you can make money online. Take part in it!

• If you’re an influencer then click here:

https://hobo.video/become-a-paid-influencer

• If you’re a reseller then click here:

https://hobo.video/become-a-reseller