5 Brands Who Have Mastered Social Media in 2021

14 Dec

Ahh 2021, the year that bought us incredible PR moments and incredible Influencer campaigns but what’s been happening on social media you ask? Well, a lot as always. With an estimated 4.20 billion social media users globally (making up 52% of the world’s population), there’s bound to be a tonne of activity happening. So with all that noise, which brands in 2021 have created enough of a wave to be noticed, loved and enjoyed? Let’s dive into my top 5 Brands Who Have Mastered Social Media in 2021.

Little Moons

If you haven’t heard of Little Moons, you probably spent the year living under a rock. Small brand Little Moons (Ice cream Mochi - so delicious, you must try!) launched on TikTok in the summer of 2020 but really found their stride earlier this year. With a fun and simple approach to their strategy, making sure it worked natively with the platform they managed to go viral, with their product selling out in all major stores thanks to the Gen-Z they managed to appeal to.

Reports show that Little Moons sales skyrocketed by 2,000% and they currently sit at a following of 250k on the platform. Let’s hope their social team got the raise they deserve this year!

Our Place

It’s no lie that the growth of homeware brands on social media is unchallenged, from its incredible pin-able appeal on Pinterest to its rising presence on TikTok. We all love to adorn our homes with a little help from our favourite social platforms (you should just see my Instagram saves folder!) One brand that has really tapped into the growing desire for Instagram-worthy homes is Our Place, a US-based Kitchen Essentials business. Their offering is simple, Kitchen Essentials with their bestselling pan at the forefront (aptly named ‘The Always Pan’).

Our Place has tapped into the practical, yet incredibly valuable use of UGC (user-generated content) and social word of mouth to drive their exponential growth this year. Trust me when I say, if you don’t already have the Always Pan, you’re probably going to want to get it after taking a quick peek at their Instagram. Sorry, not sorry.

If you’re interested, this article is great at explaining how cookware got so, Instagrammy (real word, I promise)

Gymshark

Okay so, Gymshark will probably always make my list of brands owning social media, year in and year out. But, they are SO worth mentioning. As a brand, they don’t always take the safe path, they’re not afraid to shake up their marketing mix and try new avenues. Which truly, all brands need to take on board, social media is a changing landscape, what might work right now, won’t always work.

The best campaign this year from them was absolutely their ‘Jim Shark’ campaign which hit to break up all the Black Friday noise. Getting all kinds of celebrities from Carol Baskin to Tom Felton to wish Jim Shark a happy birthday. It became a hit across Twitter and LinkedIn within a few minutes of posting. Sometimes it’s the most simple things, right?

Lick

For anyone who’s painted their home in the last 18 months, I would bet good money that you at least considered ordering from Lick. The DTC brand took the home decor-sphere by storm in 2020 and this year they didn’t slow down at all. With an incredible brand design, strong partnerships with other disruptive brands such as MADE, it’s no surprise they’re also dominating social media too.

Much like Our Place, Lick relies heavily on its UGC strategy, working with micro-influencers in exchange for a variety of content they trickle out and embed into their beautifully native Instagram ads. The whole thing is like a well-oiled machine, the content slips perfectly between personal posts, you can barely even see they are ads. And that my friends is how you do social media marketing right.

Ryanair

Never did I ever think budget airline, Ryanair would make my ‘best of social media’ list, but here we are. Social media is full of surprises, right? Anyway, it’s here and it truly deserves to be on this list. It’s safe to say, they are one of the few UK brands that cracked TikTok early on and they are still continuing to reap those benefits.

With over 1 million followers on TikTok, Ryanair’s self-deprecating humour has hit the attention of the masses. Approaching their TikTok account like a creator rather than a brand, they have been able to pull together a flexible strategy that is hitting their future customers. With 60% of TikTok's 80 million monthly active users aged between 16 and 24, by aligning content to appeal to them, Ryanair is securing the next generation of customers over their competitors.

Whilst I’ve been absolutely loving their content this year, it’s safe to say I’m still bitter about paying more to fly with hand luggage…

So that sums up my Five Brands Who Have Mastered Social Media in 2021, but I couldn’t leave without giving a special mention to The Doers social media, full of insightful and helpful content from marketing tips and tricks to SEO hacks.

P.S. we have very exciting things coming on our channels in 2022.

This post was written by our Inner Circle member, Allie. If you’re in any need of social media advice or help, do be sure to book a 30-minute discovery call.