These are the social media news of January 2021

• #Features
• #Influencer
• #Social Media

What were the social media trends in January 2021?

Having already talked about the predictions of influencer marketing trends and Instagram changes this year, we can now draw an initial conclusion from the first month as to which trends have already established themselves.

Clubhouse

Probably the biggest trend in January 2021 was the new platform Clubhouse. Within a few days, this app has established itself so strongly in social media marketing that no one from this industry could avoid the platform anymore. For those who don’t know Clubhouse yet: Clubhouse is a kind of live podcast where experts reveal their knowledge and experience and can discuss important topics with interested parties.

So now experts from all different fields meet daily and report on news, trends and experiences. The extent to which this hype will continue to establish itself as an integral part of the social media world over the course of the year is still unclear.

Branded Content

Instagram now has a new tool that allows influencers to publish posts and stories as branded content and to tag and link the respective company profiles. In the feed, the posts are displayed as a partnership and the community is thus taken directly to the respective profiles. In the story, the tags are inserted in a link. Here, too, the community is taken directly to the cooperation partner.

So now experts from all different fields meet daily and report on news, trends and experiences. The extent to which this hype will continue to establish itself as an integral part of the social media world over the course of the year is still unclear.

This tool offers influencer marketing yet another new opportunity to include the call-to-action aspect in campaigns.

TikTok Verification

Now that TikTok has established itself as a fixed platform, there is now a blue checkmark here, similar to Instagram. This is a sign of authentic content on TikTok and appears next to the name on the profile. The verification is particularly suitable for celebrities or official company profiles to ensure authenticity.

To get the blue tick, some criteria must be met. The content should be authentic and unique and published regularly. In addition, the community should grow daily, the watch time should be increased and, as with Instagram, it is advantageous to receive coverage in the mainstream media. The only difference to Instagram: the blue tick cannot be applied for. Only companies can apply for it by sending in the commercial register excerpt via the direct contact.

Also, the blue tick can help you get verified on other social media channels, giving you another big advantage.

Youtube Algrorithm

After Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn, YouTube has now also recognized the trend of short clips and changed its algorithm. Users are now shown shorter and older videos. The video length and the time spent on the individual videos are decisive for the suggested content.

In addition, Youtube has recently introduced the story function and now allows stories to be published for the community on yet another platform. However, there is a big difference here. While the stories are only visible for 24 hours on the other platforms, Youtube is focusing on longer availability and users can view the stories for 7 days. The extent to which this function is accepted will also become clearer in the near future.

Transparency & authenticity

This aspect will not let us go. Authentic insights into everyday life, transparency with advertising partners and structures of the social media world have become firmly established. The community no longer wants to see only the perfect and the good, but is interested in what really makes the industry and its favorite influencers tick.

Here, a lot of emphasis is placed on the content being simple and unpretentious, and on its creative implementation. But above all, it should be honest and accessible, and the community wants to identify with the influencers.

This trend also accompanied us in January and will continue to show us interesting content in the coming months.

The social media news summarized

After diligently making predictions about what all awaits us in 2021, we have now been able to draw our first conclusions. Since last month, the promising new platform Clubhouse has been accompanying us and attracting attention. Instagram community management is made easier for companies and thus also combines the point of authenticity and transparency, as companies can respond faster and more accurately to direct messages.

TikTok has now established itself to such an extent that there are already verified profiles and influencer marketing can now really take off once again. With Youtube, another platform is now on the team of the story function: After the experiences with the other platforms, this will probably also successfully establish itself here.

We are excited to see what trends await us next month – we will present them to you!