What to expect in social media in 2016
The growth trend of the 65+ demographic of Facebook users will continue while at the same time, the 18-24 demographic will show a slight decrease. Facebook has been the effective “icebreaker” for the older users who previously were averse to sharing private information and being a regular part of the social online scene.
Facebook advertisers will be taking advantage of course, and we will see laser-targeted, “post-demographic” advertising campaigns directed at the users in the growth curve. New ad formats are constantly being rolled out and advertisers have to be working hard at keeping up with the changes.
Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and this platform has now hit 400 million monthly active users, taking it way above its rival platform, “Twitter”. About 75 million of these users use Instagram daily; about 51% of the users are male and 49% are female. In 2015, 41% of Instagram’s users were in the 16-24 year demographic while 35% were in the 25-34 year demographic.
Facebook, that has steadily grown its advertising business, becoming the world’s second-largest digital-ad platform after Google, is now looking at new ways to expand ad revenue and Instagram is the obvious choice. A recent article on Hufftington Post stated that, “ ‘Instagram could produce more than $250 million in revenue for the current quarter,’ Evercore and International Strategy & Investment analyst Ken Sena estimates. Businesses will spend about $600 million on Instagram ads this year — and nearly $1.5 billion in 2016, according to research firm eMarketer.”
Twitter, which was founded in 2006, has been surpassed in growth by Instagram which was started four years later in 2010. Twitter currently has approximately 304 million monthly users according to a recent CNBC news report.
Marketing Land shared that, “On the topic of real time engagement, there is no better place to take advantage of trending topics and engaged audiences than Twitter during a live event. With the new Promoted Moments native ad product rolling out, plus event targeting, advanced retargeting and new native video ads options, there is significant opportunity for advertisers in 2016.”
Watch for the Twitter “Buy Button”.
Pinterest has topped 50 million monthly active users in 2015. Although mashable.com mentioned that, “It’s worth noting, however, that a separate estimate from comScore puts Pinterest’s unique visitor number at 75.8 million as of January.”
Pinterest launched in 2010, some years after Facebook and Twitter; it grew steadily in spite of initially receiving less coverage from the tech press than either of these competitors. Pinterest’s first live ad campaign was launched back in 2013. The great thing about Pinterest is that its users are shoppers. A great percentage of Pinterest users leave boards and go to websites to search for products to purchase.
Lots of consumers go straight from Pinterest to vendor websites. This statement from the eMarketer report, ‘Will Pinterest Reach Its Potential in 2015?’, finds that the platform does more than just connect people. It sends people to online vendors more than any social channel other than Facebook.
The Social Media Examiner states that, “Shareaholic’s January 2015 study of more than 300,000 websites revealed that by December 2014, Pinterest users were skipping from Pinterest to company websites at a rate almost seven times higher than they were in 2011.” Pinterest is set to soar in 2016.
Google Plus
Google Plus was initially Google’s attempt to challenge Facebook. However Google retired this idea when it became obvious that Google Plus was a bit confusing for users. The common Google account to log in to and comment on YouTube videos among other things was laid to rest. CNBC reported that, “Google confirmed that this would no longer be the case and users would only need a standard Google account to access all of the company’s services.”
Snapchat
Snapchat which launched in 2011 and is based in Venice California, boasts around 100 million daily users watching 3 billion videos daily as compared to Facebook’s 4 billion videos daily. Advertisers are jumping on to this ship!
International Business times stated that, “Advertisers may be buying ad packages as high as $10 million. Brands can pay for video ads on Snapchat’s curated live event feeds called ‘Live Stories’ or place within the Discover network, daily content from 13 media partners. Companies can also sponsor geo-filters, or stickers.”
With all of these social-marketing opportunities to prioritise in your strategy for 2016, it’s hard to know where to begin. Consult with a social media expert to get the best out of your social media campaigns. You only have one chance at a first impression and the power of social sharing and third-party validation is not something to be ignored.
Melanie Phillibert is a web developer and Internet marketing consultant. She can be contacted via e-mail at melanie@ internetmarketingsynergies.com.
