Q1 | 2016 Social Media Trends Report
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This document summarizes major social media trends for 2016, including updates to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Key points include Facebook launching ads in Messenger and new Canvas and video ad formats, Twitter adding GIFs and improving livestreaming with Periscope, Instagram allowing longer videos and switching to an algorithmic feed, and Snapchat enabling on-demand geofilters. The trends are aimed at helping businesses benefit from changes on each platform through more engaging content, personalized customer service, and new advertising opportunities.
Q1 | 2016 Social Media Trends Report
- 1. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
- 2. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® 2 Keeping up with social media updates and trends can be overwhelming. That’s why we put together this trend report which includes a summary of major updates to social networks and how businesses can benefit. See what’s happening in 2016 on: • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Snapchat
- 3. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
- 4. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Facebook Messenger Ads Facebook has leaked that they will be launching ads within Messenger in Q2. Businesses will be able to send ads as a message to people who have initiated a chat with that company in the past. With 800 million monthly active users, Messenger is one of Facebook’s most popular and fastest- growing products. Facebook has been trying to figure how to best monetize this network, and Messenger ads are a logical place to start. How Brands Can Benefit Facebook will only allow brands to initiate ad messages with users who have previously messaged a business voluntarily. This allows brands to provide more personalized service to their customers. Directing customers to a Facebook message link allows businesses to provide quick customer service more easily than they might be able to via email or phone call. 4 Learn More....
- 5. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Facebook Canvas Ads Canvas ads invite users to click into a full-screen mobile ad experience. This is designed to help businesses tell stories and show products in an immersive and beautiful format on mobile devices using any mix of video, still images, text, and call- to-action buttons. How Brands Can Benefit Canvas ads load as quickly as everything else on Facebook mobile while providing users a full- screen, attention-grabbing experience. Acting as instant articles for ads, Canvas allows advertisers to deliver a variety of relevant information through a multi-media advertisement that’s free of distractions. 5 Learn More....
- 6. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® New Features for Video Ads on Facebook Facebook is updating their video advertising arsenal, starting with captions. The new automated captioning tool generates captions for video ads and delivers them to advertisers within the ad creation tool. Facebook is also adding new metrics to their video ad reports. Advertisers are now able to see the percentage of people who have viewed their videos with sound in Page Insights and Ad Insights. How Brands Can Benefit By taking advantage of Facebook’s captioning tool, brands will be able to make their videos more accessible to a wider audience. Gaining new insights into video ads will help brands adjust their video content based on user interactions, making it easier to create more effective video ads. 6 Learn More.... Source: Getty Images
- 7. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® New Features for Facebook Lead Ads Facebook has rolled out context cards and optional informational tiles that pop up after someone clicks on a lead ad before they get to the form. Lead ads are also now available in the carousel format, which enables businesses to showcase three to five images before people click through to the lead form. How Brands Can Benefit People are more likely to sign up for (and stay signed up for) information that they know they want. By using context cards, it’s now easier for businesses to gain new, high quality leads from Facebook. 7 Learn More....
- 8. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Facebook Reaction Buttons Facebook introduced Reactions that include love, haha, wow, sad, and angry buttons in addition to the like button. Adding more reaction options gives Facebook users the ability to express different types of feedback beyond just “liking” something. How Brands Can Benefit: With the addition of Reactions, advertisers and brand managers will be able to better understand how different content resonates with their audience. Ultimately, this feedback will help companies continue to create better content that triggers specific reactions. 8 Learn More....
- 9. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Twitter Adds a GIF Button Last year people shared over 100 million GIFs on Twitter. GIFs can be used creatively to express specific reactions or emotions in ways that 140 characters never could. Additionally, GIFs are more engaging and often more relatable than simply a picture or words. How Brands Can Benefit GIF integration makes it easier for brands to create tweets that receive higher rates of engagement. By leveraging GIFs that include humor and pop culture references, brands can create tweets that are more relatable and attention-grabbing. 9 Learn More....
- 10. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Periscope Broadcasts on Twitter Periscope broadcasts, live and replay, are now integrated into the Twitter timeline (starting with iOS). Integrating broadcasts into the Twitter feed helped Periscope quickly gain exposure and users, causing a competing app, Meerkat, to pivot away from live streaming. The platform is gaining traction, as people have created over 100 million broadcasts thus far. You can expect to see the number of live streams increase dramatically in 2016. How Brands Can Benefit Periscope integration makes it easier for brands to stand out on the Twitter timeline. Brands can capture attention by leveraging live streaming to do Q&As, take followers behind the scenes, or broadcast a live event. 10 Learn More....
- 11. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® New Customer Service Features on Twitter To help businesses provide better customer service, Twitter rolled out the private message deep link. When businesses are tweeting to a customer and need to get more private details, they can add a call-to-action button that invites customers to Direct Message the business. Twitter also announced a new Customer Feedback feature that enables people to share their opinions privately with businesses after a service interaction. How Brands Can Benefit Adding the “send private message” button to a public customer service tweet makes it easy for businesses to invite customers to a private conversation where customer service reps can provide more personalized service and solutions, without ever having to leave the platform. The Customer Feedback tool enables customers to provide more structured, measurable feedback about each service interaction. 11 Learn More....
- 12. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Twitter First View Advertisers that pay for a first view position will show up first in Twitter’s ad network and will get the top ad spot the first time a person opens Twitter for the first time in a 24-hour period. How Brands Can Benefit Getting the first impression upon a consumer launching Twitter is an easy way to stand out. While users can quickly scroll past tweets on the timeline, the first tweet is more likely to be read by users. 12 Learn More....
- 13. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Conversational Ads on Twitter Conversational ads include call-to-action buttons that encourage engagement with customizable hashtags included within the ad itself. When a call to action button is tapped, the Tweet composer opens with a pre-populated brand message accompanied by the creative and hashtag buttons. The user can then customize the Tweet and post it to their timeline. Conversational ads give users a chance to share their opinions with advertisers while engaging in public conversation about a brand. These ads provide a fun, intentional vehicle for driving conversation around specific products and services. How Brands Can Benefit Each shared tweet drives earned media for the brand at no extra cost to the business, resulting in higher ROI. Conversational ads can boost organic conversations by making it easier for consumers to talk about the brand. 13 Learn More....
- 14. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Account Switching on Instagram Instagram users can now easily switch between multiple accounts without having to log out and back in, adding up to five accounts with one login. How Brands Can Benefit Brand managers on Instagram often manage several accounts at once. This update allows for brand managers to save time by being able to be switch between several accounts on Instagram without having to log in and out every time. 14 Learn More....
- 15. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Instagram Algorithmic Feed Instagram announced that it will be changing its feed from chronological to algorithmic, similar to Facebook and Twitter. The goal of the switch is to ensure users don’t miss the content they care about most, as Instagram has found that the average user misses 70 percent of their feeds. How Brands Can Benefit Whether the algorithmic feed is a positive for brands remains to be seen. Brands that create high- quality, engaging content will likely see a boost while brands that post low-quality advertisements will likely see engagement rates drop. 15 Learn More....
- 16. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Instagram Video Views Instagram rolled out view counts on videos to help advertisers better understand how consumers are engaging with their ads. View counts can be found underneath each video post. The ‘like’ count can still be viewed by tapping on the view count. How Brands Can Benefit In addition to measuring engagement in the form of likes and comments, brands should pay attention to video views. Tracking the additional data point will give brands and users a more accurate understanding of audience engagement and content performance. 16 Learn More....
- 17. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Instagram Increases Video Length Limit Instagram extended the video limit from 15 to 60 seconds. The update will likely increase user engagement as people and brands begin to share longer videos on the platform. How Brands Can Benefit With the increased video limit, it’s now easier for brands to tell complete stories through video on Instagram instead of using it as a snippet or highlight reel. Although, brands should keep videos on Instagram as short as telling their story requires. 17 Learn More....
- 18. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® Snapchat Enables On-Demand Geofilters Snapchat now lets anyone create and publish custom Geofilters. Pricing starts at $5 per Geofilter, increasing based on duration and square feet covered. How Brands Can Benefit On-demand Geofilters will help brands increase Snapchat activity and social media conversations. For brands that have location-specific events, Snapchat Geofilters provide users an easy and fun way to interact with the brand’s content. Brands should act quickly because the price of Geofilters will likely increase as more brands discover their value. 18 Learn More....
- 19. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights® 19 Want to stay up-to-date on all things social? Get a boost of creativity and social media insight in your inbox when you subscribe to The Social Lights’ blog. KEEP ME UPDATED