For today’s small business owner, it’s more important than ever to connect with your customers through well-designed, visually appealing social media content. Recent studies show a 21% uptick in monthly social media usage, demonstrating the time is now to connect and sell to your audience online.

But it can be hard to keep up with the latest social media and design trends while staying on top of the day-to-day of running a successful business. In fact, 90% of creators found trends and topics in visual culture are evolving faster than before. Pair that with rapidly multiplying content formats and platforms and it can be hard to know where to focus your marketing efforts.

Using Adobe Stock’s Creative Trends 2021 Report, an annual forecast of visual content trends that will shape the year, as well as our own proprietary analysis of where social media marketing is headed, we’re breaking down how small businesses can translate 2021’s emerging trends into meaningful communication strategies. Read on for actionable tips and even start creating on-trend content with our contextual starting points. Just tap any of the designs to get creating.

2021’s Top Content Formats

You can have the most relevant mission or product, but if you’re not posting where people are in the formats that are captivating attention, your efforts will be DOA. When developing your content and marketing strategies this year, consider the platforms and content types that are most likely to rise to the top. Then let all design decisions to flow from there. Here are the content types that people will be consuming the most this year.

Short-Form Video

Videos are a must-have for any small business. According to Limelight, in 2020, people globally watched almost seven hours and 55 minutes of online videos on average per week, up 16% compared to 2019. And in a world that’s always in a hurry, short-form video content ranging from 4-30 seconds will continue to explode in 2021, thanks to the rise of platforms like Reels and Stories on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and more.

Incorporate sensory, evocative triggers in the first two seconds of your videos to stop your customers from scrolling. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Think a soothing, eye-catching video background, for instance. Then make your video “readable” by adding text overlays. Other design assets, such as stickers, cut-outs, or gifs can also help you communicate emotion at the speed of a social media scroll.  Give it a try by remixing the examples below… continue » www.adobe.com