SOCIAL MEDIA'S COMING OF AGE

With myriad of social platforms today, consumers have now started compartmentalising their social behaviours. Brands will need to home in on key social platforms instead of relying on Facebook and Instagram as the only mainstays of social tactics. Social marketing will become more challenging as users prefer to engage on topics in a specialised platform instead of Facebook and Instagram - which are more for social sharing instead of high value interactions. For 2021, the community manager’s role will be important as the voice and front-desk of the business by managing conversations and service-level.

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INFLUENCERS FOR SOCIAL SELLING

Campaigns that combine the power of influencers to front brand sponsored e-commerce sales on platforms like Lazada and Shopee will grow in 2021. We believe there will be more expansive and creative sales collaborations with influencers in live shoppertainment especially during shopping festivals - 10.10, 11.11, 12.12 and Black Friday to name a few.

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A HOTBED FOR LOCAL CREATORS

There will be a rise in collaborations with creators to produce engaging content that enables brands to take a much more localised tone to the way they communicate. This is attributed to an increase in appreciation for locally developed content due to a few factors:

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1. Consumers want to be part locally initiated movements
2. Communities who want to feel that brands are supporting the growth of local initiatives i.e. arts, music, fitness, food
3. Localisation hits closer to home in terms of aspirational values

Localised branded content will cement its place in the marketing mix in the years to come as discerning local consumers demand greater exclusivity.

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SOCIAL COMMERCE

It’s no secret that social media is now a critical platform for online marketing. With the introduction of Facebook Shops, Instagram shops, and Pinterest Shopping Ads and Catalogs, social commerce is set to become a core e-commerce pillar in most businesses. With 55% of online shoppers now making purchases through social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, and 71% of consumers turning to social media for shopping inspiration, it is now more important than ever to make your brand, products and services shoppable on social media – especially as more businesses transition to digital to adjust to the COVID-19 crisis. For example, the use of e-payment (or e-wallets), setting up online shops on top of brick-and-mortar stores, etc. With that in mind, businesses which set their market approach as a solutions provider that help empower their clients to stay relevant to the current market, will certainly be able to stand out as an industry leader for foreseeable years.

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SUPPORTING & ENABLING CONVERSATIONS

Thoughts and opinions are now exchanged at scale and more frequently in specialised apps or platforms. This provides immense opportunities for business leaders or subject matter experts to share views and interact directly with their audience on current topics. The forward-thinking leaders will take advantage of these channels to speak directly to their audience with the intent of driving conversations around their vision of business and the industry.

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This article is part of a series in our REX Trend Report 2021. Watch out for upcoming articles in the following weeks.