10 Facebook Trends That You Need To Know in 2021 [Infographic]

As one of the biggest—if not the biggest—social media advertising platforms, there’s a lot to keep up with Facebook if businesses want to fully leverage everything it has to offer.

What’s trending on Facebook? What are some of the rising trends on there and more importantly, what is showing potential as the top Facebook trends going into 2021?

If you’re looking for the answers to these questions, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ve compiled some of the hottest Facebook trends. Read on to find out what’s trending on Facebook now and in the months to come as we wrap up 2020 and head into 2021.

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1. Facebook Live Back in Favor

One of the fastest rising Facebook trends in 2021 will likely be the increased usage of Facebook Live.

As governments across the globe imposed lockdowns in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in 2020, consumers were turning to Facebook Live for their dose of social contact. 

According to the latest reports, there was a 26.9 percent year-over-year increase in Facebook Live usage in Q2 2020 and a whopping 126 percent increase in four short months (Socialbakers, 2020).

Although figures from 2019 also indicated an increase from Q1 to Q2, the rise was much more insignificant—a strong indication that 2020’s increase was a result of factors beyond seasonal change.

The number of Facebook Lives in Q2 2020 made up nearly one percent of all branded posts on Facebook. This indicates that brands are starting to realize the benefits of using Facebook Live to stay in contact with their customers. That said, we can expect more to adopt this strategy and jump on this Facebook trend as we head towards 2021.

2. The AR Ecosystem on Facebook

With the rapidly growing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) market size set to hit $18.8 billion in 2020, this is one technology that has the potential to dramatically influence the direction of Facebook trends. 

As it stands, Facebook’s Spark AR studio is proving to be immensely popular among its users. To date, nearly half a million creators from as many as 190 countries have used it to create and publish over 1.2 million AR effects on Facebook and Instagram (Spark AR, 2020).

That’s not all. Statistics show that users have really taken to it in recent months. In Q3 2020 alone, AR effects posted by more than 150 accounts generated more than one billion views. 

Given how quickly users have adopted it and its swift rise in popularity, this is likely going to be one of the hottest Facebook trends in 2021.

3. Facebook Video Marketing To Grow

Videos have long been established as consumers’ favorite type of content to see on social media. It should come as no surprise then that amid rising video demand, Facebook videos will continue to feature among brands’ top marketing strategies.

Already, the latest Facebook trends show increasing video content being published on the platform. The overall percentage of video content in Q3 2020 rose 2.6 percent from the previous year to 28.8 percent (Socialbakers, 2020). 

In fact, after images, which form 70 percent of all Facebook content, videos have become the second most popular type of post on the platform. They currently make up 17 percent of all content on Facebook, beating links and status updates.

If this is among the Facebook trends you’re thinking about jumping on, then keep this in mind: out of all video lengths, those between 65 seconds and five minutes perform the best.

4. Private, Interest-Driven Communities Among Rising Facebook Trends

There’s no denying the power of common interests to connect and unite strangers from all walks of life and from all over the globe. 

Facebook groups are clear evidence of this. There are more than ten million groups on Facebook, which are used by up to 1.4 billion people every single month (Facebook, 2019). 

As a brand, aside from creating your own Facebook group to communicate with your buyers, you may want to consider joining other groups for more interaction opportunities.

According to research, the reciprocal nature of these groups, its unselfish members, and their willingness to help are factors that are driving their popularity.

A little kindness goes a long way, and with so much of it in these Facebook groups, we can certainly expect this to be one of the top Facebook trends of 2021—and possibly even beyond.

5. Facebook Trends 2021 Include Online Shopping Experiences

Of the existing and up-and-coming Facebook trends, the fact there’s one related to the online shopping experience is hardly surprising. 

For years now, online shopping has been part and parcel of a consumer’s life. The recent ecommerce boom from the coronavirus pandemic as brick-and-mortar shops closed and consumers spent exponentially more time at home meant there were many opportunities to be made by small businesses online. 

Well aware of this, it didn’t take long for Facebook to roll out new tools. Earlier this year, as online shopping surged, it launched Facebook Shops (Facebook, 2020). Aimed to “inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier,” Facebook Shops allows merchants to create their own online store on the platform to promote and sell their products. 

With online shopping establishing itself as the norm, expect more businesses to jump on Facebook Shops as an added sales channel and take advantage of its 2.6 billion-strong user base.

6. Facebook News Feed Ads Format Remains King

As one of the top social media sites for marketing, it’s important to know what’s trending on Facebook. This doesn’t only include consumer behavior on the platform, but also other brands’ advertising tactics.

One of the current Facebook trends to expect in 2021 is businesses’ ad strategies focusing on the Facebook news feed.

The latest data show that in Q3 2020, Facebook’s news feed received 58.2 percent of relative ad spend by businesses, more than its video feeds and instream video (Socialbakers, 2020). 

There’s no question as to why brands are focusing their efforts there. Of the above-mentioned three ad placement types on Facebook, its news feed has the highest click-through rate (CTR) of 1.82 percent. In comparison, Facebook’s video feeds and instream video’s CTR came in at 0.85 percent and 0.65 percent respectively.

7. Facebook Trends 2021: Chatbots Potential

Consumers today want things quick and easy, and that includes not just product delivery but also their communication with businesses.

This is exactly where the chatbot industry has thrived and will continue to do so. The latest statistics show that the chatbot market size is forecast to grow from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $9.4 billion by 2024 (BusinessInsider, 2020). 

Along with it, expect more and more businesses to start using chatbots—yes, on top of the 40 million that are already on Facebook Messenger (ZDNet, 2020).

An astounding 20 billion messages are sent between consumers and businesses every single month on Messenger, making it one of the most popular business communication channels. 

Facebook is also constantly working on improving the messaging experience for both businesses and consumers. Its newest features include allowing consumers to make appointments via Messenger and businesses to set up lead generation campaigns in Messenger itself. 

With so much to take advantage of, the usage of chatbots and Facebook Messenger itself for business and sales will likely be one of the top Facebook trends going into 2021.

8. More Support for Small Businesses

Small businesses have been among the hardest hit from the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. 

According to a recent survey, nearly one in three small and medium businesses listed access to credit to alleviate cash flow as one of the problems they were having.

So in an effort to help, Facebook announced earlier this year that it would be providing financial support for these merchants. This has come in the form of $100 million worth of grants to 30,000 businesses worldwide to tide them over this trying period (Mother.ly, 2020).

Given that experts are predicting that the COVID-19 pandemic will last well into 2021, we can expect Facebook to step up again to provide more aid in one way or another to encourage companies to continue advertising with them to grow their business.

9. Facebook Trends 2021: User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) has always been one of the most effective and popular forms of content marketing. 

For most of this year, recording and production studios have had to shut and movement, in general, has been limited. This has prompted brands to look to alternatives, which led to home-made content like UGC to further grow and skyrocket in demand and popularity. 

This is especially so on Facebook. The latest analysis shows that views of videos published on the platform that were not created by brands have been on an increase, more than doubling from 223 billion views in January 2020 to 495 billion in August 2020 (Digiday, 2020).

Given the benefits of UGC as well as the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising for UGC to continue as one of the biggest Facebook trends in 2021.

10. Hashtags Usage To Improve Reach

First introduced on Twitter over a decade ago, hashtags have since transcended platforms and even moved beyond social media. Today, sites including Instagram, LinkedIn, and even Facebook themselves have implemented its use.

But Facebook hasn’t just stopped at that. Recently, it’s been working on expanding its hashtag feature to help users increase the reach of their content and encourage more engagement (SocialMediaToday, 2020). 

More specifically, it’s introducing a list of recommended hashtags based on predictive text as hashtag suggestions for users. These will include the number of posts containing the same hashtag that are currently on Facebook. 

As these are still being tested, it’s likely that the increased focus on hashtags is just the beginning of Facebook’s efforts to further exploit its potential. Looking forward, there’s a big chance that hashtags will be one of the fastest rising Facebook trends in 2021.

Conclusion

Commonly called the king of social media, it’s clear that Facebook’s reign is here to stay. As a business, your best bet would be to jump on these Facebook trends and use them to craft your marketing and advertising strategy.

We hope that this list of Facebook trends can guide your social media marketing efforts going forward and help you grow your business in 2021 and beyond.

Summary: Facebook Trends 

Here’s a summary of the Facebook trends you need to know in 2021:

1. Usage of Facebook Live increased by 26.8 percent year-over-year in Q2 2020 and will likely continue into 2021.
2. More than 400,000 creators from 190 countries have used Facebook’s Spark AR Studio to publish more than 1.2 million AR effects.
3. The overall percentage of Facebook video content in Q3 2020 rose by 2.6 percent from Q3 2019.
4. Expect Facebook groups to grow in popularity in 2021. Already, there are more than ten million groups being used by more than 1.4 million people globally.
5. With the launch of Facebook Shops and the ecommerce boom, more consumers will be shopping on Facebook come 2021.
6. In Q3 2020, Facebook’s news feed received 58.2 percent of relative ad spend by businesses and had a click-through rate of 1.82 percent, higher than video feeds and instream videos.
7. There are 40 million businesses using Facebook messenger to communicate with consumers and this is expected to continue in 2021.
8. We may see more support for small businesses by Facebook in 2021 on top of the $100 million worth of grants it rolled out this year.
9. User-generated content on Facebook has grown exponentially this year, more than doubling from 223 billion views in January 2020 to 495 billion in August 2020.
10. With continued efforts to exploit the potential of hashtags, expect its usage on Facebook to rise in 2021.

Want to Learn More?

• 10 Social Media Trends Every Marketer Should Know in 2020 [Infographic]
• Top 10 Digital Marketing Statistics You Should Know in 2021 [Infographic]
• How To Set up a Facebook Shop in 2020
• Facebook Chatbots for Business: The Definitive Guide

Is there anything else you’d like to know about Facebook trends and wish was included in this article? Let us know in the comments below!