Content Marketing | Social Trends

Weekly Content Marketing Trends3.9.2018 1

Pew ResearchThe new Pew data reveals insights on social media use among U.S. adults.● Facebook still stands as the primary platform for most Americans. ○ Nearly 68% of U.S. adults have a Facebook and ¾ of users visit the platform daily.● Pew noted platforms that capture a younger audience than Facebook. ○ YouTube is now used by 75% of U.S. adults, and 94% of 18-24 year olds. ○ Younger audiences are more likely to be connected to social apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. ○ Instagram has seen increases in users and usage, but Snapchat’s popularity stood out to researchers.● Any of these platforms can be advantageous depending on the desired audience. 2

Facebook Feed UpdatesThis week, Facebook announced updates to the News Feed and revealed a new way to post.● Facebook’s two-feed test, where users saw a normal News Feed as well as a new Explore Feed, revealed that people are not interested in split feeds. ○ Facebook has ended its Explore Feed, which featured content only from Pages and public figures. ○ The separate feeds seemingly did not help users connect to friends and family in a unique way, and a common complaint was that it made it harder to find important information.● Users in India have reported seeing a “Voice Clip” option to share status updates. ○ With no current length limit, users can share their thoughts unfiltered with the voice post. ○ Facebook is looking to provide a new, verbal posting medium that adds a level of authenticity. 3

Messenger BroadcastAdvertising may be making its way to Facebook Messenger.● Last week, Facebook confirmed Messenger Broadcast would soon be available for testing to businesses in the U.S., Mexico, and Thailand. ○ Messenger Broadcast allows businesses to send marketing content to users on the Messenger app. ○ The format is similar to promoted posts on Facebook, utilizing titles, text, images, and CTAs.● A common concern for Messenger Broadcast is that it is merely a new form of email marketing. Advertisers are concerned it is just a path to users inboxes, and not an actual way to start a conversation. 4

Direct Messaging: InstagramInstagram may bring new features to its direct messaging.● The platform is reportedly looking into adding voice/video calling features into the direct messaging section of the app. ○ 375 million people use Instagram DMs every month. The platform also revealed that 85% of people’s DMs are between the same three friends. ○ Instagram’s direct messaging has become more of an intimate, immediate form of communication, and adding voice/video calls would only contribute to that.● Voice and video calls have not yet been confirmed by the platform, but users point out that it is a realistic feature to expect from the platform since it is in the backend code. 5

Twitter TrendsTwitter is making progress on their promises, and eyeing new goals for 2018.● In a recent trends blog post, we discussed Twitter’s crackdown on bots and automation after it was discovered that 15% of users (49.5 million) may be fake. ○ For the month of February, Twitter saw 2.18 million accounts created on the platform. Conversely, Twitter removed/suspended 3.18 million accounts. This is the first time the platform reported a monthly net loss in user count.● Twitter also announced that it is considering opening its advertising to allow programmatic buying as a way to drive growth. ○ This would allow advertisers to control their spend on Twitter depending on the success of the campaign. ○ Traditionally, social media tends to limit outside programmatic technology as a way to maintain control over advertising on their platform. 6

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