Top Social Media Stats for 2021: What it Means for Builders & Developers

7 min read

Learn the top 5 social media stats for 2021 and what it means for you and your marketing.

Back when social media was just starting to become a trend, I thought it was a phase and the hype wouldn’t last too long for consumers. However, I was mistaken. Social media is forever improving, gaining popularity, and evolving with the market. In this article, you’ll learn how trends to social statistics can impact your business. Continue reading for the top 5 social media stats for 2021.

Table of Contents

5 Social Media Stats for 2021:

1. 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. (HubSpot)

Video is, and forever will be, better than text. It’s simple: people would rather be entertained with a short video than read paragraphs to get their information. In fact, 59% of executives say they would rather watch a video than read text. Video content is skyrocketing thanks to social media and the demands of the consumer audience.

In 2016, only 61% of businesses used video as a marketing tool. Even though that is still the majority of businesses, it’s 20% lower when comparing statistics from this year. If you’re not actively creating video content about your home builder business or communities, then it should be clear to you that your competitors are.

What it means for you:

As a home builder or developer, you need to take advantage of video content. This is because there is so much potential video content you can shoot for your marketing efforts. Here is a list of the many ways you can use video to showcase your products and services:

Take video during an open house event
Create a video tour of the neighborhood or development property you’re working on
Ask your recent homebuyers if they’re comfortable shooting video testimonials to add to your website, social media, and other marketing avenues
Create listing videos to show off your properties in an engaging way
Live question and answer videos about the homebuyer’s journey
How to videos on the basics of owning your first home
Create a video on any type of promotions you’re currently running
Develop advice videos to answer the commonly asked questions about your business and buying a home
Shoot progression videos by placing a camera in a secure spot on site in time-lapse mode to share your construction process

2. 88% of marketers are satisfied with their ROI of their video marketing efforts on social media (Animoto)

Are you currently happy with your return from video content on social media? As I mentioned earlier, video content posted on social media is a great way to engage your homebuyers and prospects. A high quality, captivating video on social has the potential to get shared and viewed by a wide audience, giving you exposure, and a high number of impressions as well as increased engagement tactics.

According to Animoto, 63% of marketers ranked video as their top one or top two biggest ROI for social media. Comparing these stats to text-based posts, only 22-25% of marketers rank that as their number one or two. With this trend increasing, you need to consider using video production to enhance your marketing plan.

What it means for you:

The biggest setbacks for creating video content include a lack of time, money, and how complicated video tools and the software is to use. I recommend to not let these concerns turn you away from producing videos because the pros outweigh the cons. Here’s how you can overcome the most common challenges of producing videos:

Partner up with an experienced videographer or marketer
Even though professional photography is ideal, shooting videos on a “newer” iPhone or Android can produce significant results
Poor quality phone? Create videos yourself by purchasing a high quality camera.
Allocate some of your marketing dollars to prioritize video creation (Because your competitors are doing it)
Set aside some time to learn more about video creation, because the demand for video will only increase over time
Make a point to shoot videos before you hand off the home or property to your buyer
Hire an extra staff member or part timer to only work on video creation for marketing efforts

3. 72% of marketers measure likes or comments as social media engagement success (Sprout Social)

Many brands and social media experts are redefining what it means to be successful on social media. Experts are looking at a wide range of metrics to see how well their campaigns are doing across platforms. Keep in mind that “likes” may not be available to every social media account as there has been a push for removing the number of likes on selected networks.

For example, one of Instagram’s CEOs, Adam Mosseri, recently announced that some US based Instagram users can expect their like count to vanish from public view. This is mainly due to Instagram’s new initiative to become a safe place on the Internet. This refreshing trend is making the value of social media go beyond the surface-level.

What it means for you:

So, what if “likes” completely disappears on Instagram? How will you and your marketing team determine your success? How do you know what worked and what didn’t? You can still evaluate the progress of a social media campaign without relying on likes and comments. Here’s how:

Measure audience growth with volume. Volume measures the number of people talking about your brand on social media. You can do this on Twitter by the username, brand mentions or hashtags.
Use online tools such as Ahrefs, Sprout Social and Facebook Creative Studio.
Measure your post reach. Reach can be organic, viral or paid and measures how many people have seen your content.
Take note of your followers before and after the campaign.
Determine where the biggest jump of numbers was and pinpoint that to a specific post to see what your consumers resonated with the most.
Partner with a third-party marketing or advertising firm to have them to conduct your research for you.
Measure the number of views, impressions, and shares from your video content.

4. 75.3% of US businesses use Instagram (Hootsuite)

While it’s pretty common for home builders and developers to have a Facebook page, some are lacking in the Instagram department. You need to consider creating an Instagram account specific to your brand because of the potential reach, opportunity for sales, and the increasing number of people using the app.

Instagram is the second most downloaded free app in the Apple store, just behind YouTube. This means that there’s an overwhelming number of different audiences you can connect to just by having an Instagram account. Instagram’s potential advertising reach is an astonishing 849.3 million users!

What it means for you:

It’s clear that it means you need to incorporate Instagram as a significant part of your social media marketing. Plus, Instagram is another great avenue for your business to show off your video content. Here are more ways home builders and developers can use Instagram to their advantage:

Express your brand’s aesthetic through similarly filtered images
Create before and after stories from your construction projects
Add at least 20 hashtags per post which includes your brand’s name, where you are located, popular hashtags for reach, and niche specific hashtags
Dive into IGTV for posting your longer form video content
Follow not only your prospects and those who are interested in your company, but also your previous homebuyers to maintain a solid relationship
Don’t just post but engage with your audience. This means commenting and liking back, following back, and expressing your appreciation for any helpful content
Follow relevant home builder and developer companies as well as your competitors for the insider scoop on new ideas
Run targeted ads to those who fit your specific demographic

5. Ephemeral Content is growing 15 times faster than feeds (Tech Crunch)

The biggest trend I see currently in social media is the insane rise of ephemeral content. Ephemeral content is either a video, message or picture that is only available for a short duration then disappears afterward. For instance, ephemeral content is an Instagram or Snapchat story.

According to Hootsuite, 64% of marketers either already incorporated Instagram Stories into their strategies or plan on doing so. The rise to ephemeral content is fascinating because it generates a more authentic message between the business and the viewer. With the modern day Internet user’s attention span, ephemeral content can be a great way to get your message across.

What it means for you:

You should consider adding more stories as ephemeral content to your social media marketing because stories have even helped increase the amount of time people spend on social media. In fact, it has increased on Instagram alone from 15 minutes to 32 minutes a day. Here are more ways why ephemeral content is so beneficial:

It gives you more opportunities to interact with your audience. For example, you can ask questions and get immediate answers.
Creates yet another avenue for you to post your short form video content. Be sure the video you post temporarily is a vertical format because 94% of smartphone users hold their phone vertically.
Reaches wider audiences. Each time you add to your Instagram story it jumps your story to the front of older stories, making yours the first to get viewed.
Ephemeral content has been called the future of social media. It will be beneficial to you to jump on the short-lived content bandwagon while it’s hot.

These top 5 social media stats for 2021 are what helps guide my team in determining which methods to incorporate for a client. I hope they provide the same significance for you. If you have a social media trend you would like to add, please comment below!

For more social media stats for 2021, articles and resources, check out the following:

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