This week's all about Snapchat's taking over the reins of the social media scene, with projections that its ad revenues will reach nearly $1 billion next year and speculation that it will start building hardware, such as augmented reality glasses.
The 'Skim will also give you the scoop on Google's attempt to socialize shopping, let you in on Twitter's latest attempt to monetize Periscope for advertisers, and share four great ways to target business prospects using Facebook ads. Skim to stay in step!
Snapchat ad revenue to reach nearly $1 billion in 2017
Snapchat is poised to take in nearly $1 billion in ad revenue next year according to eMarketer, an incredible projected increase over the $366 million in ad revenue anticipated this year.
The projected jump is down to the social network's ability to reach highly coveted young Millennials, as well as its new ad products and application programming interface, which allows Snapchat ads to be sold by third parties.
Oh, and keep in mind that the US now accounts for 95% of the company's ad revenue, so imagine what global expansion could mean!
1. Facebook Messenger's Instant Video looks to trip up Snapchat
The social giant's messaging app introduced a new tool that lets people broadcast live video in Messenger text threads, making it even easier to converse with friends when tapping away on the keyboard just isn't convenient.
In the most recent version of Messenger on both iOS and Android, users can simply tap a video icon to begin sharing real-time video, and they can enable sound quickly and easily (the default setting is silence).
The update comes just weeks after Facebook introduced Stories on Instagram, a rip-off of the popular Snapchat feature that accomplishes pretty much the same thing.
2. Twitter adds Periscope to lineup for monetization
Brands are now able to sponsor, promote, and thus monetize Periscope broadcasts... so long as they're a part of a broader campaign across Twitter and its other properties.
Chase and Grey Goose kicked off the new combination of Twitter's Amplify advertising program for the US Open, inviting viewers to watch the tennis broadcasts alongside professional player Andy Roddick.
With the new program, Periscope broadcasts will be shared through Tweets; select broadcasts can appear as Promoted Tweets from brand partners; and branded broadcast highlight videos can be tweeted by influencers or spokespersons, and shared by the brand partners themselves.
3. Snapchat fuels speculation that it's set to test the hardware waters...
...which might mean there's a set of Snapchat-branded augmented reality glasses coming your way. The company joined the industry group that handles the Bluetooth wireless standard, a prerequisite step for any brand that wants to use the technology in its devices.
The ephemeral messaging app also recently hired a batch of talent from Microsoft's Hololens and other major augmented reality (AR) players, so the social network joining the Bluetooth team further strengthens speculation that the company's next move might be one into hardware and wearables—and particularly AR glasses, as a pair of those could easily transform Snapchat's "lenses" and filters currently available to users. Keep coming back to the 'Skim for all the developments.
4. Google fights social effect, makes fashion fit to search
As the world's social networks fight to get more and more content hosted directly on their platforms (think Facebook's Instant Articles), Google risks losing out on ad dollars since that social content isn't easily indexed to appear on its search engine results. Now, it's doing something about it—at least in the world of fashion.
The Internet giant introduced Shop the Look this week, which lets Google pull images from fashion bloggers' social posts into the search engine results. Users can tap on those images to see a gallery of each clothing item found in the pictures, as well as links to purchase them.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
5. Instagram now lets you zoom in on photos and videos, but how should brands use it?
People united in their mutual love or hate for Instagram's lack of a zoom function within its app, with some wanting to see more details, and others posting to the app precisely because their followers couldn't see more detail.
That's now all changed with Instagram's introduction of zoom, but how can your brand use the new capability? See how top companies harnessed the feature to engage their followers and stay on top of the latest social updates.
6. Facebook testing feature to make us even more conversational
"What friends are talking about" is the social network's latest attempt to get users to talk to use social media to be... social. Facebook is testing the feature, which collects multiple posts from friends and indicates how many people engaged with them, in a section just below the beginning of the News Feed for some Android users.
There's no telling whether the addition ties back to the social network's promise to prioritize posts from friends and family over that of brands, or whether the feature will roll out to all users, since Facebook is constantly tweaking and testing new features with different groups of users.
7. LinkedIn finally makes hashtags searchable
You heard that right: LinkedIn has officially made hashtags clickable and searchable on the platform, meaning you've one more thing to think through when drafting posts, but more potential in driving your message.
The new capability is currently only live within LinkedIn's mobile app, but it will be expanded to all users and all platforms in the near future. #Finally.
8. We finally found out why Apple didn't use its Twitter account until now
The tech behemoth, notoriously absent from social networks, signed up for Twitter in 2011 but hadn't used it until Wednesday. That's when a series of accidental Tweets announced the iPhone 7 ahead of CEO Tim Cook's official keynote address in San Francisco, setting the Internet ablaze in retweets—and at least one social media manager deep in regret.
The Tweets, which revealed the core upgrades to the iPhone, were quickly taken down... but not before the damage was done. It appears training wheels might be necessary to bring Apple into the world of social media in 2016.
9. Four ways to reach business prospects with Facebook ads
Facebook ads might not be the first leverage point B2B marketers think of when generating leads, but their advanced targeting features can help your brand get granular enough to drill down to a narrowly defined list of prospects.
From reaching Facebook group members and importing your LinkedIn connections for targeting on Facebook, to targeting those with relevant interests or those with specific job titles at desired companies, Social Media Examiner's got four foolproof ways to reach your business prospects with Facebook ads.
10. What share of budgets are CMOs allocating to social media?
Chief Marketing Officers are poised to nearly double share of budget they allocate to social media within the next five years, eventually reaching 22.2% of their overall marketing budgets.
The study, which polled 427 high-level marketers in the US, also shows that CMOs currently spend 11.7% on social. But how does that vary between B2C and B2B players? Dig into MarketingProfs to find out!
11. We'll wrap with Millennials versus Baby Boomers on Twitter
It was bound to happen at some point: Enough Twitter-using Baby Boomers came together to create a trending hashtag that targeted Millennials as a spoiled, lazy, and mostly inept generation. However, #HowToConfuseAMillennial quickly backfired, with Millennials using one of their favorite forms of communication—tweets of 140-characters or less—to combat the Boomers.
Jokes about inability to spell without autocorrect and Millennials' apparent lack of desire for gainful employment were countered by those born after 1982 who cited the irony of a generation that destroyed the economy lecturing Millennials on finding jobs and buying homes.
One lesson in all of this: some speak Twitter more fluently than others, so pick your social media battles wisely.
#HowToConfuseAMillennial
Destroy the housing market
Replace grad jobs with unpaid internships
Tell them to buy a house
