The coronavirus chronicles: Social media 2020

Y this time, many PR Pros are already making plans for 2021 in a world that has significantly changed. A marked shift to things digital— online classes for kids, online banking, zoom meetings, endless digital campaigns— brought about by lockdowns and travel restrictions has made this decidedly a crowded space.

This means it would take a lot of thought and planning for one’s marketing initiatives like social media and creatives to be noticed. Gone are the days when one could proudly present to management campaigns with many likes and shares, which of course were boosted by agencies tasked to do so.

In an article in PR News Online, Sophie Maerowitz says that as communicators take stock of their existing social media toolkit and prepare for campaigns in 2021, “it may be helpful to look at this year in terms of its most noteworthy social media trends and updates.”

She also notes another challenge as “in 2020, the Covid economy brought waves of layoffs and budget cuts, making it likely PR pros have to take on the monumental task of overseeing all their brand’s social media activities solo or with a skeleton crew.”

In her PR News article “5 Trends that Defined Social Media Communications in 2020,” Maerowitz shares with us five social media developments that have impacted communicators in 2020— and are likely to have staying power.

“What makes Tiktok the social media platform of 2020 isn’t just the escape it provided everyone. It’s also about the algorithm [ love it or hate it] that gives everyone the opportunity to become ‘ Tiktok Famous,’” says Patrick Pho, senior content producer and production manager at Volkswagen.

This means “in 2020, anyone— no matter what their follower count— could riff of a meme, tell a story, or do a little dance, and as long as it was entertaining enough it would reach more and more people.”

With that, “the dark ages for those without a paid social media budget may be over. That’s the difference that makes Tiktok stand out in a world where organic reach is all but dead on legacy platforms. The content that goes viral on Tiktok is no different from what worked back in the early days of social media, but now you don’t need media buy in order to reach hundreds, even thousands of people.”

Even better news is that Tiktok is on its way to television, after sealing a deal with Samsung, potentially challenging the dominance of other streaming platforms.

While Tiktok has become a social media darling, big tech is still very much in the picture. Don’t count

Facebook and Twitter out just yet.

“The legacy platforms know how to compete with new upstarts,” Pho says, noting the tradition of copycat moves—facebook with Stories and Reels, and Twitter with Fleets by which they have flexed their muscles.

Pho notes, however, that increased scrutiny of the elder platforms, especially with the 2020 US election cycle may prove to be challenging to them.

“2020 was the year we were all sent home and not allowed to come out,” says Justin Buchbinder, director of social media at Finn Partners.

With consumers yearning for meaningful contact with friends and fami ly, “social networks jumped into action and provided us with new opportunities and upgrades that allowed us to connect digitally.”

Buchbinder points to Instagram and Facebook’s live video updates which have included:

Re-introducing joint Facebook Live videos and the ability to share Messenger Groups to Facebook Live New Instagram Live stickers Beta tests allowing for more than two participants in an Instagram Live

In addition, Buchbinder says that Facebook, Linkedin and other platforms offered ways to monetize events “providing us with sorely needed functionality that will only continue to help us make the best in a bad situation in the year to come.” made the splash like the new platform Tiktok has, Maerowitz notes it has “quietly armed communicators with organic success and a high potential for conversions.”

She cites Kelly Stone, senior director of global social media at COMPTIA who says that Linkedin Live’s growing feature in 2020 has proved invaluable for her company.

“Getting early on this, before the pandemic gave us an edge in speaking directly to our audience,” shares Stone. “We’ve since done more than 100 live broadcasts and recordings using the software behind Linkedin Live with phenomenal engagement and conversion rates to match.

Short-form, passive content grows in popularity

“Content that can run in the background has proven soothing to the media-weary masses,” says Maerowitz.

With that, “2020 was the year of at-home crafts, and many consumers got hooked on feel- good passive content. Forget emotionally gripping television or celebrity videos—audiences have gone for a mood boost by watching DIY crafts from paint mixing to origami, play dough art to cake decorating.”

Given the high engagement metrics, it’s likely that communicators will employ more crafty creators for branded video in 2021, seeking to entertain without selling.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom- based International Public Relations Association ( Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.

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