Top Facebook Trends in South Africa
Facebook is by far one of South Africa’s largest (if not the largest) social media platform available. It is constantly evolving, meaning businesses small and large needs to keep their strategies up to date in order to leverage everything the platform has to offer.
In order to help you stay up to date on everything Facebook has to offer, we’ve pulled together the key Facebook trends for South Africa in 2021.
Top Facebook Trends in South Africa
1. Facebook Shopping
A key Facebook trend for 2021 and beyond are Facebook shopping. As a result of various lockdown measures and shops shutting their doors for extended periods of time, ecommerce and social commerce boomed. Facebook made sure to participate in this excitement by developing its ecommerce capabilities.
In 2020, the social network launched Facebook Shops to make it easier for businesses to sell online and for users to find products that interest them from brands they love. Facebook Shops allows merchants to create their own online stores within the platform to promote and sell products. And now in 2021 Facebook launched Shops for WhatsApp Messenger.
Since its launch, many brands have begun using Facebook Shops, but not necessarily as a conversion platform. Many are using the space as a mood board to show users what products they have on offer.
However, this could be set to change as consumers become more willing to use social platforms as a marketplace. Over 18% of Facebook users have made a purchase through Facebook in the past year. As Facebook continues to develop its commerce functions, more users will take note.
2. Facebook Live
One of the latest Facebook trends is live streaming. Live streaming became one of the most popular forms of entertainment for consumers throughout the pandemic. This popularity has reflected on Facebook Live.
In 2020, there was reportedly a 26.9% increase in Facebook Live usage from the previous year. In addition to this, Facebook Lives made up 1% of all branded content on Facebook. This suggests that brands are beginning to realise the benefits Facebook Live has for staying in contact with customers. We can expect more brands to begin adopting this strategy (while potentially using Facebook influencers) as livestreaming continues to remain popular with customers.
3. AR Ecosystem
Augmented Reality is trending now on Facebook. Interactive filters have been popular for a few years, and Facebook advertising is now doing the same with their Spark AR. The platform allows users to create their own AR ads, allowing users to try on makeup or glasses directly in a Facebook ad.
Stats have shown that AR effects posted by more than 150 accounts have generated more than 1 billion views. To date, nearly half a million creators from as many as 190 countries have used Spark AR to create AR effects on Facebook.
To further this, Facebook has begun developing its AR wearable ecosystem. It is reportedly working on AR glasses and wrist wearable to allow users to have a seamless digital experience no matter where they are.
4. Facebook Advertising
Facebook advertising isn’t a new feature, but it is still one of the biggest trends on Facebook for brands. Facebook is the preferred place for 97% of marketers to run paid ads, primarily because it has the largest user base of any social network.
Many brands have begun focusing on newsfeed ads above any other ad spot. While column and display ads are good, newsfeed ads give brands more creative space to work with while putting the ad natively in a user’s newsfeed.
Furthermore, video Facebook marketing is set to increase. As video content in general becomes more popular, video content on Facebook is expected to grow. Out of all video lengths, Facebook videos between 65 seconds and five minutes perform the best.
5. User-Generated Content or as we all know it UGC
User-generated content is consistent in being one of the most effective and popular forms of content marketing. UGC is content created by customers that, with their permission, brands repost to their own feeds.
The amount of UGC used on the platform by brands has increased, more than doubling from 223 billion views to 495 billion views from January to August 2020.
UGC is beneficial for brands as it means their customers can see other customer reviews. UGC is also a way for brands to provide consumers with the authentic content they desire.
Brands can keep track of the UGC created by customers by using a branded Facebook hashtag.
6. Chatbots
Consumers demand convenience and speed at every point of their customer journey, and that includes communication with a business. This is where Chatbots have thrived.
There are already 40 million chatbots on Facebook Messenger, and this is only expected to continue growing. Already, 20 billion messages are sent between consumers and businesses every month on Messenger, making it a key location for customer communication.
The social network is constantly working to improve the messaging experience between brand and consumer. Consumers can now make appointments via Messenger and brands can set up lead generation campaigns directly in Messenger.
We can expect to see the use of Chatbots skyrocket in coming times.
7. Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories are being adopted by brands and consumers rapidly, and are nearly as widely used as Instagram Stories, likely due to the ease of reposting the same content across both platforms.
Facebook Stories offers users the chance to create a photo story or a text story. Brands can upload photos, videos, boomerangs and more to create unique and eye-catching content.
8. Facebook Groups and Communities
Community building is an essential part of any marketing strategy. A great way to do this through Facebook is by hosting a Facebook Group. These can be invite-only or branded and available for anyone to join. Brands typically use public groups that can be used for brand awareness and authority.
Facebook engagement in Groups can be incredibly high. There are more than 10 million groups available already which are used by up to 1.4 billion people every month.
For brands, apart from creating your own group, it can be worth joining other community groups. This can give you further insight into what your target audience are looking for content wise, and give you more interaction opportunities and exposure.
Need help with your Social Media Strategies by including these top trends? Get in touch with our agency and become a selling success.