social media: 4 factors to focus on in 2015

© 2015 The Social Lights®

Social Media: 4 Factors to Focus On in 2015

LOOKING BACK ON 2014

•  Video apps like Vine and Instagram Video took off (mobile video impressions grew 350%!)

•  New networks like Yik Yak, Yo, and ello emerged

•  As did a movement toward increased graphic quality and an “Images for Information” mentality

© 2015 The Social Lights® LLC

SOCIAL MEDIA WINNERS 2014

NASA’s Global Selfie

•  Over 50,000 photos submitted from all 7 continents, 113 countries

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

•  $115 million in donations

Always’ #LikeAGirl Campaign

•  53.6 million YouTube views (as of 12/18)


SOCIAL MEDIA MISSTEPS 2014 American Apparel uses Challenger explosion photo

•  Learn from it: Consider how your review process for social posts works and have a plan for immediate action if you do happen to make an error in judgment.

New England Patriots tweet a racial slur

•  Learn from it: Exercise extreme caution when using an automated response system.

Union Street Guest House fines customers for negative reviews

•  Learn from it: Just don’t do this. Ever. Rewarding brand champions is a much better idea.


TO CONSIDER IN 2015

•  Paid social spend + microtargeting

•  Facebook’s new algorithm

•  Clarity of brand voice + personality

•  Brand use of niche networks


PAID SOCIAL SPEND +

MICROTARGETING


PAID SOCIAL MEDIA

I’m sure you’ve heard a statistic like this recently…

“U.S. social media advertising revenues will grow from $5.1 billion in 2013 to $15 billion in 2018…This year represents the greatest year-over-year jump in social media ad revenues, growing to $8.4 billion in 2014, largely due to increases in mobile and native advertising.”

- BIA Kelsey

So it’s time to EMBRACE the ad.


MICROTARGETING

Ads allow you to microtarget to reach the people that need to get in front of the most.

Start out by choosing an objective for your ads – what do you want your ad to do for you?

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MICROTARGETING Let microtargeting reach the best audience for you.

Example: Twitter TV targeting


MICROTARGETING

Using Twitter TV Targeting, Quaker Oats was able to reach and engage busy moms. The promoted tweets saw:

•  A 15.93% engagement rate, which is a 708% increase from the average rate for Consumer Packaged Goods

•  A Cost Per Engagement of $0.16, an 84% decrease in CPE compared to the average for Consumer Packaged Goods

The trend of TV as a two-screen experience can work for brands who harness the power of microtargeting.

Full Case Study


MICROTARGETING Example: Granular Facebook targeting by relationship status, interests, behaviors, and more.


MICROTARGETING Facebook also offers Custom Audiences – where you can upload email addresses to find your customers on Facebook.

Example of Custom Audiences in action: Banana Republic used the tool to target 4 different segments of their customers:

•  Customers who hadn’t purchased in the last 12 months

•  Prospective customers that were on the email list but had not purchased

•  Top customers that had spent large amounts of money in the last 12 months

•  A group of “Lookalikes” who exhibited interests and behaviors that align with the top customers


MICROTARGETING

Banana Republic Results:

•  A 4X higher return on ad spend than other display advertising channels

•  Facebook was a top performer for new customer acquisition

•  A 60% higher click-through rate using the Facebook Lookalike Audience compared to other display media

Full Case Study


FACEBOOK’S NEW ALGORITHM



“Now we’re bringing new volume and content controls for promotional posts, so people see more of what they want from Pages. According to people we surveyed, there are some consistent traits that make organic posts feel too promotional:

•  Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app

•  Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context

•  Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads”

- Facebook, November 2014


FACEBOOK’S NEW ALGORITHM What’s the #1 thing you can do to stay in the News Feed?

Post with personality, not promotion.


BRAND VOICE + PERSONALITY

BRAND VOICE + PERSONALITY Brand voice has always been important, but with increased competition in both the paid and organic social categories, it’s especially vital.

Brands who know who they are, connect and build trust with customers.


BRAND VOICE + PERSONALITY

Need help finding or tweaking brand voice? Ask a few questions:

•  What is your company’s purpose? What are your values?

•  What do you do better than anyone else in the field/industry?

•  What are some key words that you find yourself and others around you using often to describe what you do?

•  How does your audience speak to you? Can you develop a voice that matches their tone?


NICHE NETWORKS


NICHE NETWORKS

All brands should not be on all social networks. But…

If your audience is there and you’re confident that the network aligns with your brand voice, consider jumping into the conversation.


NICHE NETWORKS

HBO’s GIRLS

Rebecca Minkoff

Amazon

Nissan

Disney

Whole Foods

Monster.com

Miami Dolphins

Early adopters of niche networks:


WHAT TO DO IN 2015

•  Embrace the ad – on Facebook and beyond

•  Use microtargeting to reach the right people

•  Post with personality, not promotion

•  Audit your brand voice to make sure it aligns with your values and your customers

•  Research new networks and carefully evaluate whether they are right for you


THE SOCIAL LIGHTS®

thesocial-lights.com [email protected]

612-803-8833


social media: 4 factors to focus on in 2015

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