The major social platforms hit the ground running in 2021, making substantial investments into many of today’s top social trends: audio, influencers, and short video, to name a few.

For shoe retailer DSW, TikTok is a place to test, learn, and have fun. In this excerpt from our new report, "Marketing in the Short-Video Landscape," Maria Wollenburg, DSW’s manager of social media and content, shares what the company has done on the social platform and what was learned in the eight months since launching its first TikTok paid ad campaign.

Once relegated to the children’s market, virtual characters are entering the mainstream in China. Fictional as these digitally rendered avatars may be, they hold real jobs, from pop star to influencer, to even news anchor. And they’re becoming increasingly interactive and humanlike, thanks to improvements in technologies such as AI, motion capture, and virtual reality (VR). Recent advancements in augmented reality (AR), in particular, have enabled virtual avatars to step out of social media and make live appearances alongside flesh-and-blood celebrities.

YouTube Shorts debuts in the US: The feature may just be another TikTok clone for now, but if YouTube can successfully harness its existing base of video content creators, it could set Shorts apart.

Despite how consumers feel about it, politics remains a core part of the social media experience. This report explores how marketers should navigate social in the aftermath of the 2020 US presidential election.

Livestreaming has become a prominent feature across the social media and digital video landscapes. Here’s how marketers are taking advantage of opportunities within the space.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Debra Aho Williamson discusses TikTok's future: Can it keep operating in the US? If so, what will user growth and engagement look like going forward? She then talks about marketers' attitudes toward influencer marketing, major social media trends of 2021, and the prospects of live shopping on social media in the US.

Internet memes are not a new phenomenon, but the events of 2020 have spurred their consumption. Despite their popularity among social media users, marketing with memes can still be a risky business for brands.

From the growth of TikTok and of social commerce to the challenges of brand safety and the cookieless future, 2021 will be another year of big stories for social media.

After a tumultuous year, the social platforms will close 2020 on a high note in terms of ad revenues and users—and with features that closely resemble each other.

eMarketer junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discusses the options that marketers have to utilize Instagram Stories through paid advertising and influencer partnerships. He also talks about measurement metrics that marketers can utilize to determine whether their Instagram Stories strategy is effective.

The pandemic is changing how brands work with influencers. Not only is it accelerating existing industry trends, it also presents new challenges and opportunities for influencer marketing.

The influencer marketing industry is changing, and the pandemic is propelling many of the major shifts in the market.

While TikTok's popularity was picking up well before COVID-19, individuals secluded in their homes have been in search of new forms of entertainment, causing TikTok's US unique vistor count to rise 48.3% between January and March.

Since its launch in 2017, Peace Out Skincare—known for its Acne Dot patches—has been rapidly expanding its business through an exclusive partnership with Sephora, as well as its own direct-to-consumer (D2C) business.

Live streaming commerce—a form of online shopping that is interactive and takes place in real time—is creating new and innovative ways for brands and retailers to connect with consumers. The format has gained wide popularity in China particularly.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss polarization on Facebook, whether kids spend more time on TikTok or YouTube, how much people trust influencers, Facebook trying to make TV social, out-of-home advertising in Q1, podcast ad skipping, pyramids where they shouldn't be and more.

eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Mark Dolliver and Debra Aho Williamson discuss whether TikTok has a future and what that might look like. They then talk about Instagram's new music-based augmented reality feature, how much the influencer market might take a hit and a new revenue-sharing agreement with Instagram creators.

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected publishers’ short-term ad revenues. A March 2020 survey from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found the majority of US news publishers have dealt with pauses, adjustments and cancellations of campaigns, while the same has been true to a lesser degree for non-news publishers in the US.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and junior analyst Blake Droesch discuss how brands are changing their approach to influencer marketing, the main challenges influencers are struggling with and what influencer marketing might look like going forward. They then talk about TikTok's call-to-action button, how platforms are dealing with misinformation and Twitter's purchase of a mobile-focused demand-side platform.