How Has COVID-19 Impacted Social Media Trends in the UK?

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It’s hard to deny the impact COVID-19 has had on our lives. Almost everything from daily life, to work, to even when you could and couldn’t see your own family was changed. And just like everything else in our lives, social media trends for businesses have also changed.

With most UK citizens spending more time on social media platforms, advertising has become a large part of any company’s budget. GroupM, the world’s leading media investment company, believes digital advertising may come at a 26% growth rate for e-commerce advertising versus the original 15% they thought it to be before COVID-19 hit.

Not only that, but the way we see brands and businesses, how we expect to be treated as consumers, and even what businesses morals should be has been greatly impacted by COVID-19.

Most consumers, especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha, now expect the brands and businesses they buy from to be part of the solution to problems like sustainability, racial injustice, and non-livable wages. Current social trends in the UK even show that consumers are far more likely to post about the negative treatment of employees versus value for money.

Digital Advertising Trends

Influencer Marketing on Social Media

With the vast amounts of consumers spending more and more time on social media over the last 2 years, creator marketing in Europe grew 14% year-on-year in 2020 to reach €1.3 billion in value.

With TikTok taking off as the industry leader in viral marketing, up to 45% of marketers now use the short-form video app for campaigns, marking TikTok the second most preferred platform for influencer marketing behind Facebook, according to WARC.com.

A solid influencer marketing strategy is now a must-have to keep in mind. Don’t worry if you don’t have the big budget for it; 36% of brands still tend to pay their influencers with free product samples or heavily discounted items.

Advertising and Brand Risk

Integral Ad Science’s Media Quality Report H2 2020, published in April 2021, reveals UK media quality has been damaged amidst the unprecedented circumstances of 2020. One of the biggest issues amongst UK Media and Advertising Agencies was brand risk.

With consumers now more aware of issues such as racial injustice, sexism, ableism, and more, stricter policies have been put into place on what brands and businesses can and can’t say.

Hate Speech has quickly become one of the most flagged issues; it grew from .6% in April of 2019 to 16.5% in April of 2021.

In July 2020, almost 40% of advertisers on Facebook, including big brands such as Honda Europe and Ford Europe, Starbucks, and Adidas, joined a months-long boycott of Facebook as the social network struggled to convince advertisers that it was doing enough to fight hate speech on its platform.

Digital Advertising Trends on a Socially Conscious Audience

As we stated earlier, audiences are now more aware of issues in our society, and they expect the brands and businesses they support to be aware.

Sites like Etsy and Amazon now offer specific sections of their platform specifically for supporting stores and items made by POC (people of color). Not only that, but brands like Victoria’s Secret, notorious for catering to below-average-sized women, are now using models in a wider range of skin tones and sizes.

Current social trends in the UK are also showing that consumers are more aware of Greenwashing, the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.

“Increasing numbers of people are quite rightly concerned about the environment,” Competition and Markets Authority chief executive Andrea Coscelli said in a statement. “Our role is to make sure that consumers can trust the claims they see on products for sale and don’t fork out extra for items falsely presented as eco-friendly.”

Customer Experience and Social Media Trends

Similar to advertising to a more socially conscious audience, consumers are now expecting a more personalized experience from brands.

A good customer experience means your customers will spend more. In fact, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. According to research done by PWC, the more expensive the item, the more they are willing to pay.

They also noted that 74% of non-U.S. consumers want more of a “human interaction” during their shopping experience in the future.

A Walker study found that at the end of 2021, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.

With website layout and live chat being a selling point, putting extra money into your digital marketing strategy is a smart idea. If you’re unaware of how to do this or don’t have the time and energy to do it yourself, consider emailing a Zoek Consultant about our Web Design and SEO Bundles available for small and medium-sized businesses.

Social Media Strategy Must-Haves: Pinterest

One sleeper platform that many social media marketing strategies have left out over the past few years has now seen the biggest growth over the last 2 years. Pinterest saw the highest growth in revenue in Q4 2020 vs. other social platforms and has over 5 billion searches per month.

With most of the world being in lockdown for the majority of the last 18 months, monthly active users rose 30% to 478 million by the first quarter of 2021 as consumers found themselves with more time to search for inspiration and for their next online purchase.

But with 200.8 million people that can be reached with adverts on Pinterest, it’s a shock that only 25% of social media marketers are using the fast-growing platform, according to Statista.com.

With the undeniable advertising benefits that come from Pinterest and its sudden and steady growth, it’s not a must-have in every social media marketing strategy.

Where Do We Go From Here?

With consumers spending more and more time online, social media marketing in 2021 now has to specifically focus on things like customer service, advertising to a sustainably focused consumer base, and using platforms they might have never used before.

With a big shift towards customer experience, how do you plan on updating your marketing strategy to match? A well-built website — especially on mobile — is a necessity for consumers.

If you’re unable to create that experience for them yourself, that’s where Zoek can step in. We proudly partner with WiX, the world’s leading website builder, to bring your site to life. We have built and optimized over 100,000 websites for our clients over the past decade.

Feel free to email us at help@gozoek.com or call us at +44 1617686407 to speak with a consultant today.