The way people use social sharing is changing markedly. Does this mean the 'collapse of context'?
That we see changes in the way people use social networks is hardly surprising since social media demographics have changed. Networks once dominated by teenagers are being 'invaded' by the middle-aged and elderly. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is the over 65s. Not just that, the very college students that started out as Facebook's core user base are now in their 30s, and probably settling down, starting to have kids.
But some of the ways Facebook is changing could prove to be a threat to the very characteristics that make Facebook so successful. The latest figures on social sharing from GWI show what Facebook itself calls the 'collapse of context', where people are sharing far less about their personal lives, and instead tend to share things not personal to them, such as news articles.
The number of…
Facebook wants to leverage the power of its personal data to challenge Google for online Ad dominance
Importance: [rating=4] (For online advertisers)
Recommended source: Facebook for Business
Facebook is announcing a big extension to its audience network, which was launched in 2014 to let advertisers use Facebook's data for targeting customers with ads outside of Facebook.
Facebook will start selling video ads to cash in on this valuable section of the ad market. Ads purchased through Facebook's audience network can appear on the sites of any publishers signed up to use audience network, and can be targeted based on the data Facebook have from their users profile and activity within the platform. Facebook will let marketers know the number of views so brands can get an idea of the number of impressions which will have helped build brand awareness.
Taking…
Those interested in targeting millennials should look to Instagram, Snapchat and the ubiquitous Facebook
When you're debating which networks to give the majority of time and investment, the most important thing to know is will your audience be there. Too often marketers are misled by stats about how many people use a given social network, and so rush into using it, only to find little success because the user base is not made up of their potential customers.
That's why we're sharing this chart, which shows the difference between the reach of the social networks for those over and under 35. It's interesting to see how much more popular Instagram is, and the biggest difference between age groups is Snapchat, where over 5 times more 18-34 years olds use it than those above 35.
Source: ComScore
Date Released: April…
Omnisearch will let Twitter 'provide search as a service'
Importance: [rating=2] (For Social Media Managers)
Recomended source: Twitter's blog
Twitter's dev team have been rather busy of late. They've refreshed the Home timeline to highlight the best Tweets first, introduced tailored content via Highlights for Android, and personalized the search results and trends pages. This, of course, is all in response to lackluster Follower growth and losing market share to competitors like Facebook and Instagram, which, unlike Twitter, sort their content via an algorithm which predicts what users will want to see.
Twitter is sticking with the reverse chronological feed because, after all, that's what makes Twitter Twitter. But because of the obvious popularity of algorithmically curated content, it is going to be showing more and more content based on relevancy to the user, rather than just what happened to be the last thing Tweeted.
…
Dynamic ads can now feature new services and are available on Instagram plus new Custom Audience targeting options
Importance: [rating=4] For Retailers and Travel marketers who can feature products and [rating=5] for all who use Custom Audiences which are also updated
Recommended Source: Facebook blog launch commentary
We first featured Facebook's launch of Dynamic Product ads in February 2015. They have proved popular with retailers with Facebook reporting that, to date, more than 2.5 billion unique products have been uploaded to Facebook.
Now Facebook has changed what it used to call 'Dynamic Product Adverts' to just 'Dynamic adverts' as they are altering them so they can feature more than just your traditional 'products' like shoes, computers or books.
Dynamic ads feature things that users are likely interested in after viewing them on a website or adding them to their basket, so they are essentially a form of remarketing or retargeting, where the products people were…
How to deal with customer complaints on social
Social media is finally getting a little respect. Companies and organizations of all types and sizes are beginning to realize social for its vast potential as a customer service platform.
We’ve witnessed the awesome power of corporate self-sabotage on social media - BlackBerry tweeting promotional material from an iPhone, Comcast’s infamous stubborn retention rep, and British Airways’ failure to remember that Twitter operates 24/7. Now, companies are learning how to use social customer service platforms to respond to customer issues in a timely, personable, and effective way, and to do so proactively. Here are some tips we’ve compiled to help you build your strategy in dealing with customer issues on social media – and emerge with nothing less than a sterling impression left on…
The social media from brands you see is only the tip of the iceberg. Over 90% of social is 1:1
A new report from Spredfast shows how massive the disparity is between how much content you see posted by brands on social media and the vast amount of 1:1 social media customer care they are constantly involved in.
They studied the fourth quarter activity and performance of 50 major brands for their 'state of social' study. One of the most interesting finding in the research is how much of big brand's social content is 1:1 interactions rather than broadcasting to the whole followership.
1:1 Vs 1: many
The research examined every tweet from top brands accounts and sub-accounts (e.g. @ebay and @AskEbay), a total of 1.3 million pieces of content. The results show quite how critical social customer care has become.
Overall, 93% of tweets in 2015 were not meant to be seen by…
How to harness the power of user-generated content
User-generated content, whether customer reviews or visual praise for your product, can serve as superior marketing collateral. With this in mind, brands should harness the power of consumers to maximize the impact of social media marketing efforts.
Social media marketing professionals understand the value of attracting customers. Much time, money, and energy is spent on marketing budgets in order to share quality content, hold product sweepstakes, and invest in attractive landing page designs to increase conversions.
While these and similar efforts play a significant role in boosting social media exposure, the actual direct customer ‘voice’ in the form of user-generated content hasn’t been receiving sufficient attention in social media efforts. This is unfortunate, as content - whether in the form of a product review or a customer-uploaded photo - has immense potential for leveraging social media marketing campaigns.
According to a Social Media Link infographic,…
Brands can now display codes which can be scanned by users to start conversations on Facebook Messenger
Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended source: Facebook's blog
Facebook has announced a raft of new features for its Messenger app that promise to be rather interesting for business, as they offer opportunities for integrating messenger with their existing campaigns and utilising it for answering customer's questions. There are three new tools currently announced, which are: Messenger Codes, Messenger Usernames and Messenger Links.
How do they work?
The new codes for Messenger are just scannable codes which once picked up by your phone's camera automatically start a conversation with the brand that put out the code. Businesses could put them on all sorts of materials, be it online, in store or even business cards. It's kind of like QR codes but Facebook is gambling that by…
Advertising options come to Pinterest, a year after it launched 'Buy it Buttons' on Pins to get e-commerce traffic
Importance: [rating=4] (For Advertisers, particularly for B2C brands).
Recommended source: Pinterest's blog
Brands can now pay to increase the reach of their Pins, or to target a specific audience via Pinterest, much like 'boosting' or promoting a post via Facebook. This move has been some time in the making, as Pinterest launched 'Buyable Pins' back at the end of June 2015. These let users buy products straight from Pinterest, and were seen as a great way for Pinterest to monetize by facilitating e-commerce transactions. Pinterest decided not to take any commission on sales from Buyable Pins, so that prices on Pinterest could be the exact same as on the retailers site. Now that they've built up plenty of e-commerce traffic, Pinterest have taken the logical next step of monetizing the platform via an ad product…
