SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016

The Social Lights®

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

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®

HERE’SWHAT’S HAPPENINGON SOCIAL MEDIA

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.

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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.

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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.

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Source: Getty Images

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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