📷 Image Credit: Social Media Today 👆By: Andrew Hutchinson TL;DR Instagram will allow you to have up to 4 people on live stream starting in the next few weeks; this feature could lead to significant business engagement potential! Live streaming and video platforms have thrived under covid. Yet, the Instagram platform still needs to do some catching up to get its streaming services up to date. Instagram plans to do just that. In the next few weeks, Instagram is launching the ability to do multi-participant live streams. Right now, Instagram Live only allows one other person or guest, but with this upcoming update, Instagram will allow up to four people at once. Instagram has reportedly been working on this for over a year now. They tested this new feature in India back in December 2020 with success. This new feature showed increased viewership by 60% more on live streams. While this might seem like a minor update, this could really add much value to businesses and influencers on Instagram. With an option to have more than two people on an Instagram live stream, users can now do interviews and have guests hop on to ask questions. Let the growth begin...for everyone! Sources:Social Media Today Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Sourcing Journale 👆By: Liz Warren TL;DR Jeans Jeans Jeans! GenZ says NO to skinny jeans, but Millennials say YES! Jeans are our tried and true. No matter what fashion trends are coming in and out, jeans have remained a staple. And Gen Z has something to say about it. That's right; GenZ declared war on the beloved skinny jeans. Skinny jeans continue to be at the top of the selling charts. Gen Z has declared war and is not having this. They've taken to their main battlegrounds of Instagram and TikTok to insist that skinny jeans are out of style and to stop buying the "outdated" Fashion. While the whole dethroning skinny jeans movement seems silly, the numbers show they might be on to something, as baggier styles of jeans have been selling more and more. In the past year, there was a 76% increase in searches for oversized jeans. Yet trend analysts have yet to be convinced. Brands are still releasing new lines of skinny jeans, and they are selling. For every Gen Z wishing away the skinny jean cut, a millennial insist on their absolute love for the body-hugging jean. Sources:Sourcing Journal Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: W Magazine 👆By: Kristen Bateman TL;DR TikTokers set the trend by wearing funky clothes, with designers noticing and incorporating the looks into their shows and collections. Are those great outfits you have collecting dust in your closet because of the pandemic? Well, no more pity parties; show them off on TikTok. Through the pandemic, distinct styles have emerged online, and TikTokers are the catalyst. TikTok videos with unique styles have influenced fashion show designers like Marc Jacobs and other big names in Fashion. Style trends, including Dark Academia, CottageCore, SceneKids, the resurfacing of Goth, and Punk, are among the recent trends. Could you take a look at the 2021 fashion shows scene, and you'll see the comparison? While Punk and Goth are not new, a few obscure fashions have come out too. TikTok dressing in "GrandmaCore" it is no joke. If that didn't shock you, maybe GoblinCore will, as both are some of the biggest trends in TikTok Fashion. Sources:W Magazine Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Deadline; Campaign; 10 News TL;DR This year, the Weekend's halftime show became meme fodder. We saw A-list celebrities in the most prominent ads of the year. And Gen Z did their social thing on Twitter during the game. As we know, some people watch the super bowl for commercials. Are you one of them? Most people who fall into that category were not disappointed with this year's lineup of great bowl ads—featuring a list of celebrities in the commercials added to the fun and on social media. Some of the most-watched ads from the super bowl this year were Michael B Jordan's Alexa commercial, Bruce Springsteen's Jeep commercial, and Cadillacs Edward Scissor Hands video starring Timothée Chalamet and Winona Ryder. If you didn't see them, check them out on YouTube. Cheers to Uber eats for their success as one of the most-watched ads. These super bowl ads are not cheap. We all know that in the marketing world, a great bowl ad is one of the most extravagant spend debuts worth millions of dollars for one spot; even with hype by some brands pulling out of the spend and speculation for viewership decline, viewership was not disappointing for these brands. In addition to the commercials...let's talk Halftime show, shall we?! There were approximately 1.4 BILLION viewers that tuned in to see the Weekend's halftime show. The Weekend made history by investing $7 million of his own money into the show. The Weekend is also the first performer since Lady Gaga not to have a guest performer. Kudos to him for creating a unique artistic style, whether you liked it or not, giving fodder for the buzz afterward with his "audience," creating hysterical memes, and taking over the feeds in social media. Brilliant! His YouTube downloads also hit the roof. He succeeded in getting attention surrounding his performance. Overall statistically, Gen Z doesn't tune into the super bowl and sports like Millennials; the super bowl is no exception. However, this year, Gen Z dominated Twitter discussions during the show. Brands got creative this year. They combined social media to reach younger Gen Z with conventional television advertising, and it worked. Check out Franks Red Hot brand convincing David Dobrick to Tweet them back, gaining a HUGE amount of attention from the YouTube star's broad audience. The bottom line to all you marketers is if Gen Z won't come to you, go to Gen Z... on social media. Sources:Deadline Sources:Campaign Sources:10 News Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Social Media Today 👆By: Andrew Hutchinson 2020 was a year no one could have predicted. That being said, we have learned from the past and made some educated guesses about what might be possible trends for social media marketing in 2021. First up is Facebook, which despite some hard hits, managed to do really well this past year. Likely, they will continue to make developments and grow in the next year, with e-commerce being one of the main pillars to focus on for Facebook We expect to see more messaging mergers in 2021 between the different Facebook applications, including Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, and Whatsapp. 2021will also bring us more tech with AR glasses, most likely making an appearance in the latter half of this year. In addition to the AR tech advancement, you'll also see a significant rise in VR. We saw VR in 2020, but our opinion is that it is naive to think that VR has reached its peak. There will probably be a few shifts in the algorithms this year too. As we all know, there have been issues and complaints about algorithms and the way social media propelled singular vision negativity; we expect to see changes in the algorithms to help rectify this problem, at least, let's hope so. We'd love to hear your predictions, so please comment below. Sources:Social Media Today Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor