In the world of Social Media, the new kids on the block like Trell and Vero are springing up and attracting millions of new followers and users like never before. And while this presents brands with the opportunity to reach growing audiences on emerging platforms, it also poses a challenge around how much time and resources to invest amongst the sea of options now available to social media agencies and marketing companies alike.
Should you go all in on Instagram? Or maybe place half of your social media budget into Facebook and split the rest between Youtube and LinkedIn? But what about Pinterest? And how does Twitter fit into all of this?
To help you decide which social media apps are best for your brand or business this year, here are our picks for the top social media apps that you should consider in 2021:
Home of influencers, brands, photographers, small businesses, friends and everything in between, Instagram has topped over 1 billion users worldwide.
Who’s on Instagram: Through its journey, Instagram has grown into the most popular app amongst teens and young adults
The content that works best on Instagram: Stunning photography, people-centric conversations, ASMR content, and ‘selfie-inspired’ videos that speak directly to your audience.
Visual reference:
2. YouTube
YouTube comes second only to its parent company Google, as the most popular search engine in the world today. If your business or brand can benefit from product reviews and interviews, video tutorials and visually driven how-tos, then this platform is a must for reaching their 2+billion monthly users.
Who’s on YouTube: YouTube is broadly popular among men and women between the ages of 15 to 35
What content works best on YouTube: Depending on the needs of your brand, you can either lean into long form content for story telling, or leverage short-form content that’s more snackable and interactive. By combining Education and Entertainment, you can utilize YouTube trends like unboxing videos to bring your brand to the forefront.
Prioritize YouTube if: Your audience thrives on engaging video content and uses it as a means to upskill or educate.
Data source: Google
Visual reference:
3. Facebook
With almost 2.5 billion monthly users, Facebook is by far the biggest social media app on the planet. While this statistic guarantees that at least some of your audience regularly uses the platform, younger audiences have moved away from the platform to try fresher alternatives.
Who’s on Facebook: In India alone, 74 million men and over 23 million women actively use Facebook. 71% of them are between the age group of 18 and 34 years and spend between one and two hours on the platform
The content that works best on Facebook: If your social media marketing mix involves a product strategy, then Facebook and its host of promoted purchase driven assets are the way to go. With attention grabbing headlines and eye catching visuals, building a story that does the job quickly is a recipe for success. For Facebook Groups, Interactive content and conversation starters, along with live streams and polls can help your brand attract the right audience and evoke the right emotions.
Data source: Statista
Visual reference:
4. Twitter
While Twitter’s monthly active users have hovered around 300 million for some time now, India’s usage of the platform grew by 74% YoY in October-December of 2020. Predominantly a news and updates oriented social site, Twitter has evolved into a platform where important conversations are kick-started
Who’s on twitter: There are currently over 17 million active users in India, where 18% of them look to the platform as a source of news.
The content that works best on twitter: Twitter is a powerful medium for providing immediate customer service solutions and news-related updates to users in real-time. Videos and images tend to stand out best, but a well-timed written tweet still works wonders, if you’re hopping on trending topics and are particularly witty.
Data source: Times of India
Visual reference:
5. Pinterest
Unlike its counterparts, Pinterest offers businesses a fairly unique proposition. Like other social media networks, it’s a place to connect with friends and influencers. But as a visual search engine and a productivity tool for planning your dreams, it’s a lot more than that.
‘Pinners’ come to the platform for inspiration—or ‘Pinspiration.’ They’re planning their weddings, dream vacations, and holiday dinners. And because of that, they’re not only receptive to brand content—they find it helpful.
Who’s on Pinterest: Despite being fairly popular among artists and creators in India, Pinterest has a strong global footprint as well with close to 235 million active users.
What content works best on Pinterest: To create the perfect pins, experiment with formats that are easy to digest and inspiration heavy. From DIY projects and new recipes, to rich infographics and how-to photo tutorials, it’s all about keeping your content visually appealing and engaging.
Data source: Google
Here are a few more stars that couldn’t make the list, but are definitely worth mentioning:
- Trell
Trell is considered to be a legitimate medium between content creators looking to engage with meaningful content on social media. Looked upon as ‘Pinterest’ in video form, Trell is a technology-driven, community-based platform which enables lifestyle discovery via video-based content in vernacular languages.
- Vero
Vero is the digital media equivalent of Instagram. The platform enables the sharing of movies, books, TV, places, photos and links. As a social app, it helps open up the ‘collection’ to build a better profile of the individual and serves as an excellent medium for artists to showcase their art.
