social media trends & innovations

Social Media Trends & Innovations

Hamutal Schieber | Feb. 2016

Social is not a platform. It is a way of life.

In the past, social media “happened” on networks such as Facebook. Then, chats became social (e.g., WhatsApp). Today, almost any marketing / sales interaction is enabled by social media.Soon, all content, purchase, communications – will be “Social at Core”: containing components of social networking which are immersed into any platform.

Social Networking

interaction

content

sales

marketing

Introduction

• Social Media platforms have been changing the way we interact, network, and collaborate, for years now. More recently, they began to change the way we shop and work.

• This presentation examines main platforms and behaviors in the “social media” sphere, as well as best practice in addressing each trend:

WHO WHERE WHEN HOW WHY WHATDemographics Geographies /

locationsSocial media & the path to purchase

Device trends What consumers are looking for

Content and behavior trends

WHO WHERE WHEN HOW WHY WHAT

Demographics Geographies / locations

Social media & the path to purchase


Content and behaviortrends

Globally, there are 2.31 billion active social media users, or 31% of the world’s population. According to GlobalWebIndex, Facebook is the most popular social network in the world, reaching more than 80% of the world’s Internet users, and with half its users actively using their accounts at least once per month. In some countries there are local social networks – Sina Weido in China, VK in Russia, for instance.

Source: We Are Social, Jan. 2016; GlobalWebIndex

Platforms’ demographic compositions differ. Yogurt maker Chobaniuses Snapchat’s young audience reach (86% of the platform’s users are 13 to 34 years old) by communicating college football content.

1550

900 860

700653 650

400316 300 300

249 230 212 211 200105 100 100 100 97

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Source: Statista, 2016

Platforms by users (million). Total: 8.23 billion users (overlapping)In yellow: instant messaging platforms (3.66 billion users)











East Asia, 769

Southeast Asis, 234

North America, 213

South America, 211

West Europe, 201

East Europe, 191

South Asia, 186

Africa, 129

Central America, 87 Middle East, 63 Oceania, 18 Central Asis, 4

Active Social Media Users, in Millions, 2015 (total: 2.31 billion)






• East Asia is the most active region social media wise, with 769 million active accounts on the top social network in each country. South Korea is the leading country in terms of penetration, with 76% of population active on the top social network in the country.

76%

66%

59% 59% 58% 58%

50% 49% 48% 48% 47% 47%

36% 36%

31%

24%

10%

Source: We Are Social, Jan. 2016

• It is important to understand the role of social media within the shopper’s path to purchase.

• In the past, social media was considered as an awareness-enhancing tool (marketing), evolving into “influence and advocacy” and later into Facebook “shop now” buttons (social commerce) and other call-to-action buttons.

• Today, changes in the presentation and content of the social timeline, particularly on Facebook, integrate the shopping journey with the content consumption journey.

• Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram offer buy buttons to help brands push product sales through their platforms.

• Although Snapchat does not offer such buttons, some brands (such as clothing brand MeUndies) are including special URLs in some of the Snapchat posts. MeUndiesreported that 10% - 12% of viewers are clicking those links.






• New social commerce start ups have emerged over the last few years, encouraging conversion and defining the new Social Shopping experience.






Fancy.com + Wanelo.com: Pinterest-like commerce platforms. Shoppers can ‘like’ and up-vote products which are featured by other users. A user’s feed is also updated according to their interaction history to deliver personalized recommendations.

Best in Class

Ecommerce giants Amazon.comand eBay have also implemented social-shopping measures.

• Real Time is a powerful marketing tool: relevant content delivered as-it-happens to consumers, can create a new “tribal fire” and drive engagement with the brand.






Twitter has been at the forefront of innovation in terms of real time. The company, whose “trending subjects” changed the face of brand reaction on social media, chose to acquire Periscope thus engaging in real-time video broadcasting. It seems like marketers are yet to exploit the full potential of this platform; but the idea is to leverage interesting events, influencers and immediate call to action.

Best in Class

On December, 2015 Twitter announced a collaboration with chat app Lookup to allow consumers to send a direct message to @lookuplite to enquire for goods and services, book appointments, and transact with local shops, salons, spas, restaurants, and more.

• Social media is the main source for daily news for many consumers. In Australia, for example, more than one third (35%) of consumers regularly read news first on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (source: Telsyte, 2016).

Best in Class






The “newsroom” approach has proved successful for the Oreo brand on Twitter, and many brands had followed its lead since. But we believe that it’s the chat apps that will become the primary source for news in the near future, so the newsroom strategy has to be utilized for the instant messaging sphere as well.

• The second screen: social media is integral to TV content viewing, with over half of consumers reporting that they like to keep up with shows so they can join the conversation on social media, according to Nielsen, 2015.






Fighting for the second screen, Snapchat launched a ‘Live’ section dedicated to Oscars coverage – on its website.






27% of the population access social media from mobile devices – 1.97 billion people. As chatting apps experience growth, we believe that this figure will increase significantly over in the next year.

Sources: We Are Social, Jan. 2016; Adage, Nov. 2015

Whatsapp (acquired by Facebook in 2014) is the leading mobile instant messaging app, and marketers are seeking ways to leverage the platform for loyalty and community building.

Youth-oriented Snapchat recently announced a new layer of Geo Tagging, further benefiting marketers.

Best in Class






As wearable technologypenetration increases, we expect more social media activity to take place through smart watches and other wearable devices

Source: IDC, 2015






Internet of Things adoption will also drive change in the way that people use social media; and appliances will be able to “post” messages (thus creating a new era of big data derived from home appliances).

Source: Ericsson, 2015

• Following text, emoji and video, voice might be the next trend: Bubbly already lists over 40 million users worldwide, primarily in Asia and the Middle East (according to Social Media Daily). And with this trend, marketers will have to find an authentic approach – a true “voice”.











• Social media is considered as an addiction by many experts, with consumers reporting that they want to, but can’t unplug from social media platforms. Main reasons: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and business demands.– high rates of social media email opt-out found by Unroll.me, , a Web-based

and mobile application that allows consumers to unroll from any email list they have subscribed to (Feb. 2016),

– A new US survey by Harris found that 67% of US adults decided to make a conscious effort to unplug from digital media with over 70% of them citing social media as the main need.

• Facebook has launched Facebook @ Work, for a “more connected workforce”. This version is accessible only within a company’s internal IT system. But we believe that the real game-changer will be Slack, a messaging app for teams, that’s suppose to help teams manage communications in a simple way. Its message is simple and intuitively smart: “Be less busy”.

Best in Class

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/pFMOI1AN/final_facebook_at_work_final_compressed_1080p_stereo_hd.mp4






• The future of work and the future of social networking are strongly interlaced: social platforms will enable teams to work better together, from anywhere around the world, which is important for Gen-Y and Gen-X employees, as well as a must for today’s multi-tasking, information-driven jobs.

Lean On is “a social, mobile app for women in the workplace”, that lets you upload any problem and get on-demand access to a qualified female mentor.

• Our conclusion is this: communication through social media has to be extremely relevantand consumer-focused, otherwise it will be considered as another disruption – and might alienate consumers instead of creating loyalty.






Vine [https://vine.co/] is a micro-video sharing platform with over 40 million registered users (57% are female). The largest age group is 18 – 20 years old users.

Vine refuses to run ads – demonstrating that it understands its users – but lets brands introduce branded content (accounting for 4% of top 100 vines). It also curates a personalized homepage.

Best in Class brands use this platform to create share-worthy content, using influencers and Vine stars, like this Coca Cola Freestyle / Lucas & Marcus example. Lowe’s vines garner many “loops”. The company has managed to turn DIY into a hot issue through great content.

Best in Class

https://vine.co/

https://vine.co/v/iqIHDb69ZJA

https://vine.co/Lowes

• According to surveys, people go to social media platforms to see what their friends are doing, as well as to post pictures: they don’t go to social media to get in touch with brands. This means that brands should address consumers’ motivations such as entertainment, curation of content, and information seeking, in order to take part in the social media sphere.

WHO WHERE WHEN HOW WHY WHATDemographics Geographies /

locationsSocial media & the path to purchase



• Research is increasingly performed on social networks, not search engines, prior to purchase. The ability to search Facebook for information will probably affect the platform’s role along the path to purchase. Pinterest enables users to perform a visual search – and search for similar items based on image search.

• Content and ideas are the most important levers for brand on Social Media. According to Warc analysis, 55% (11 out of 20) of the top 20 ranked campaigns in 2015 were digitally led, with social media and online video in particular delivering business results.

P&G Always’ #LikeAGirl is one of the most successful social media campaigns, aimed at delivering a female-empowering message. A content-led, cross-platform, shareable idea, the campaign resulted in a strong double digit percentage increase for Always’ brand equity, largely to having a hashtag that captured the idea and encouraged people to take part in changing the meaning of it (according to Judy John, Chief Executive Officer/Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Canada.)

Best in Class






https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M7FIvfx5J10

• Communities are what separates social media from any other means of media – and brands now turn to build communities on new social media platforms, such as chatting apps.

Airbnb’s success is largely attributed to the successful creation of an online community, built on the mutual interest in “collaboration economy”. The community shares ideas and tips from hosts and guests, and provide inspiration. The company even offers specific subject-related groups – and encourages face to face meetups.

Best in Class






• 360 degree video is the latest trend in social media, delivering a rich real-time and personalized experience to video, and bridging the physical world with the digital world.






360 degree video

Real time

personalizati

on

video

mobileGoogle is a leader in 360 degree video, as a result of 2 assets owned by the company: Youtube 360 videos delivering content – and Google Cardboard, delivering the watching device and providing an immersive experience. Google even developed 360 cameras in collaboration with GoPro.

Best in Class

Not surprisingly, automotivemanufacturers are among the first to embrace this technology, which enables them to transfer a holistic adventure. (for example, this Mercedesvideo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMTJQ1jhVUY

• Virtual reality (VR) is a growing technology, enabled by more affordable devices that were not available in the past. With 360 degree video making, VR may become integral to marketers’ strategies within a few years.






Facebook is targeting VR with its investment in 360 video and its acquisition of Oculus Rift viewing device.Best in

Class

• Messaging Apps are becoming an increasingly important communication, service and loyalty building tool






Best in class hotels have already begun implementing social media tools throughout the traveler’s path to purchase: from tweet to book (for example, #tweetstay by Stayful), to service (KLM lets Dutch consumers communicate with the company on Whatsapp), to community and loyalty (Hyatt communicates with Chinese consumers via WeChat).

Best in Class

• Emojis are emerging as a significant marketing and communication tool. Beyond instant messaging, latest additions such as Facebook emojis and a Coca-Cola proprietary Twitter emoji are expanding marketers’ possibilities.






Chevrolet’s new online videos use the Facebook Reaction buttons via a minute-long video on Facebook and YouTube that plays on the idea that you Love, not Like, the new Malibu sedan.

Best in Class

Coca Cola created its own emoji that shows two bottles if you tweet #shareacoke.

Social Media as a Facilitator of Real Life…

• Social media has stirred a major transformation in our daily lives, and is probably the number one reason for the emergence of the Collaboration Economy as well.

• Today, people turn to social media platforms for much more than just information: they look for apartment-swapping, buying / selling their own household items and much more. And today, social media platforms are also used for business purposes beyond networking, with social-media based internal communications.

• The next stage is the immersion of social media into shopping, with social shopping finally leveraging immediacy, community and crowd-recommendation attributes of social media instead of merely imitating e-commerce platforms.

Remember - It is important for marketers to adapt to the different characteristics and main user motivations of each platform, so as not to be considered as a distraction.

Thank You

The research was conducted by:

Hamutal Schieber

Schieber Research | Market Research & Competitive Intelligence

www.researchci.com | [email protected]

Executive Summary. For the full research - please contact

Carmelon Digital Marketing

http://www.carmelon-digital.com

http://www.carmelon-digital.com/