Ltap Research: December 2016

Sunday, December 18, 2016

#SocialSkim: Facebook vs. Netflix; Instagram Live Video; Twitter Livestreaming:

Update: Facebook announces plan to combat fake news

Responding to criticism after the US presidential election that Facebook acts as a hotbed of fake news, the social network Thursday released plans to start fact-checking, labeling, and demoting fake news and hoaxes in users' News Feeds.

The company is teaming up with the likes of Snopes, ABC News, and the Associated Press, along with an international fact-checking organization, to let users report misleading or fake stories until those stories are confirmed by the third-party fact-checkers.

If established as fake, stories will be labeled as such and demoted in Facebook’s News Feed algorithm.

This week's social roundup: Facebook explores offering its own original video content, admits new engagement measurement errors, and introduces 360-degree live video; Instagram give all US users the ability to livestream; once promising Millennial social app Yik Yak makes massive layoffs; How to grow your email list with YouTube ads; Tips to boost your Web traffic with Pinterest, and much more...

Skim for the latest social media news!

1. Facebook reportedly in talks for original video content

The social titan might just be getting into the Netflix and Amazon Prime Video battle, with reports that it's exploring the possibility of producing and buying original content: scripted and unscripted series, and sports.

A recent Facebook employee has said the social network is exploring the idea to kick-start an "ecosystem of partner content."

Do you see Facebook reaching Netflix status?

2. Instagram launches live video streaming for all its US users

Facebook-owned Instagram first unveiled its livestreaming capabilities back in November to a limited audience, allows them to livestream video and to explore the best livestreams of other. Now, Instagram has rolled out the feature to all users in the US.

Unlike Facebook, however, Instagram livestreams don't stick around. Broadcasts disappear once a user ends a broadcast; that likely means users on the platform will treat live video differently than they do on Facebook. If you don't see the new feature yet on your app, check your app store for updates!

3. Facebook is refining its approach as more measurement errors are uncovered

After an outcry in September when the Wall Street Journal uncovered Facebook's overestimation of video view metrics, the social giant this week disclosed even more mismeasurements.

None of the disclosed errors had any impact on how much advertisers paid for their campaigns, but they apparently led to the misreporting of engagement numbers for links and live videos, and Facebook has had to revise the ad reach estimates it shows advertisers.

4. Twitter now lets users livestream from their mobile app

Twitter's tighter integration with Periscope, which it acquired in 2015, means your brand can now broadcast live video from directly within the flagship Twitter mobile app itself. The result is more opportunities to livestream your events and showcase your company.

Users are now able to select "LIVE" directly from the compose screen, a core feature that had been missing from the Twitter offering. Just as on Periscope, users Twitter users can also join livestreams, comment, and send reactions, and users no longer need to have the Periscope app downloaded separately to join in on the fun.

What do you think? Is it just a little too late for Twitter?

5. Facebook emulates Snapchat with Facebook Live activity bar

The social giant wants to push Facebook Live wider, and it's taking a page out of Snapchat's playbook to do so. The company is conducting a limited test of a new navigation bar of livestreams at the top of the mobile app. The bar appears for some users after they select the play icon at the bottom of the mobile app.

Users who have access to the feature say the navigation bar prioritizes live content from publishers first, followed by those of friends. Users are also able to unfollow publications and disable notifications by selecting the publication from the menu screen.

Have you seen the new feature within your Facebook mobile app?

6. How to grow your email list with YouTube Ads

Growing your email list is a great step toward generating new leads, and optimized YouTube ads can help. The Social Media Examiner dives into exactly what it takes to target viewers interested in what your company has to offer.

Covered in detail: choosing which of your videos to promote, building your ad around a lead generator, setting your budget, and selecting the correct target audience. Good luck!

7. Facebook introduces 360-degree live video

What better way to launch a new Facebook product than to livestream a group of space scientists as they emerge from 80 days of isolation at the Mars Desert Research Facility? Facebook took the opportunity on Tuesday, alongside National Geographic, to launch Live 360, which allows users to watch live broadcasts with a 360-degree view.

Facebook says Live 360 will be made available to more pages via the Facebook Live application programming interface (API) in the coming months; all users and pages will receive the ability to partake in 2017. How cool is that?

8. Once-promising Yik Yak is laying off most of its employees

Yik Yak, the once widely recognized college-focused social network that allows users to anonymously post quips and statuses to those nearby, is set to lay off a significant number of its 50 employees as it fails to expand and attract users beyond the college demographic.

The social network wouldn't disclose download numbers, which third-party data shows has decreased 76% since last year, suggesting the company's app is fading from prominence as it discusses strategic changes.

Yik Yak found its core users on campuses nationwide, but it was often criticized for its anonymous nature and the nasty comments that sometimes resulted in. The social network appears increasingly likely to fade from the app store charts unless significant changes are made.

9. How to use Pinterest to increase your Web traffic

Did you know that Pinterest drives more online traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Reddit? With over 100 million users worldwide, Pinterest can help drive even more traffic to your website if you use the powerful visual discovery network in the right ways.

From creating a board for your blog posts, to adding your website URL to your profile and calls-to-action to your Pins, here are surefire ways to give your website more visibility on the platform and target the right customers at the right time.

10. Facebook launches Camera Effects Platform for custom picture frames

Users can now use Facebook's newly minted Camera Effects Platform to add and design frames for their photos and videos. Frames can be designed and uploaded from scratch so that users can use them for future profile picture and video uploads on Facebook's mobile app.

Brands could use the new camera effects to add creative frames to photos and videos based on special events or locations—similar to Snapchat's On-Demand Geofilters.

Brands and users must submit their frames to the social network for approval using these guidelines before the frames will be ready for use. The submission and approval process should typically take one week; once a frame is approved, all users can use it.

The social network will also allow creators to gather some insights such as the number of times people uploaded a photo or video using their frame.

11. Pokemon Go teams up with Starbucks for massive partnership

Niantic is looking to breathe new life into Pokemon Go, and it's teaming up with Starbucks to do so. The gaming and coffee companies announced a partnership for opening new PokeStops or Gyms (places where players must physically visit to battle or collect items within the game) at thousands of US Starbucks locations, which will be selling the "Pokemon Go Frappuccino."

Despite a reported decline in activity by players of the augmented-reality game, the new partnership suggests Starbucks still believes in the hyped app's ability to bring users in-store and promote social interaction.

12. We'll wrap with YouTube's and Facebook's more positive roundup of 2016

Each December, many of the top social networks release a video recapping the best of 2016, a sort of year-in-review that highlights the most important events, talked-about topics, music videos, and ads. That was likely more difficult this year, given the social media world's response to a year filled with agony.

But YouTube and Facebook both have released their tribute to 2016 anyway, with YouTube focusing on entertainment and music, and Facebook on the political and social issues that defined the year.

Check out both! They might just get you laughing... or crying.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Three Ways Snapchat Is Changing the Marketing Landscape

Just when brands get the hang of a new digital platform, they are introduced to another—or at least a whole new function of an existing one.

Snapchat is a great example. Once it was viewed as a simple photo-messaging app, but the increasing uses of the platform indicate those days are long over. Just look at some of the numbers behind the app:

Its user base is huge. Snapchat boasts 10 billion video views per day, and over 60% of all smartphone users have the Snapchat app installed. The app grew from 2 billion to over 12 billion daily views in one year, and in a matter of five years it has grown to be one of the largest social platforms in the world.

It's holding people's attention and capturing share of usage from other social platforms.Consumers average 25-30 minutes on the app per day, and 50% of its users are on the app every single day. Snapchat's 150 million daily active users also surpasses Twitter's 140 million daily users.

It has cross-generational appeal. More than 50% of new daily users are 25 and over, debunking the notion that Snapchat is for teens and Millennials only. The 25+ crowd is flocking to Snapchat at twice the rate of users age 24 and below.

Basically, Snapchat is a marketer's dream. And most brands do acknowledge that they should be on the platform, especially given the jaw-dropping stats behind its growth and usage. However, being on the platform is much different from using it in their marketing. Because of that, brand adoption has been slow, and it seems that many marketers don't know where to begin with Snapchat.

The marketers that win Snapchat will be the ones that don't lump it into the general social media category; that's because its many nuances make it much different from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It's new and unique, and it's not at all like those three.

If brands try to incorporate Snapchat into their marketing mix by using the content and strategy they use for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, they risk failure. That's because Snapchat is causing a pivotal shift in the marketing landscape, in at least three ways.

1. The Rise of Expiring Content

One of the most unique traits of Snapchat is expiring content. Allowing content to expire, or to disappear after a specified amount of time, goes against the instincts of most marketing experts. Why create something just to have it disappear?

However, allowing content to expire produces a sense of urgency in consumers. It is the ultimate call to action.

Snapchat was able to explode onto the social platform scene by providing that unique concept—one potentially successful enough to allow it to rebuff a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook. And Facebook is feeling the pressure to keep up; the social media giant recently debuted an expiring story option on its Instagram platform, and it is reportedly experimenting with some Snapchat-like features, such as face lenses and images that disappear after a certain amount of time.

Now brands need to figure out how to provide content that works within an expiration date, content that acts fast and engages quickly, before short attention spans lead consumers to move on to the next thing.

2. Exclusivity

Consumers want access to brand information that other users don't have. Expiring content highlights exclusivity and works amazingly well with the concept. Users can't share what no longer exists, meaning the content is exclusive to Snapchat users. That fact heightens consumers' sense of urgency and feeds their curiosity. If they can't get it anywhere else, they're going to keep coming back, as often as possible, to see what's new.

Limited-time or one-use Snapchat filters are another tactic that, when used properly, can be instrumental in promoting deals or special offerings or pushing greater brand awareness. Consider Taco Bell's Cinco de Mayo Snapchat filter. A simple and seemingly silly concept—turning the consumers' head into a giant taco shell—became the most-viewed campaign in Snapchat history, with 224 million views in one day.

3. Genuineness and relatability

Today's customers can sense being marketed to from a mile away. They want to form a closer relationship with the brands they use. Snapchat content is unlike Instagram or even Facebook in that it doesn't emphasize a curated aesthetic. It tends to be much more raw and spontaneous, playing on the impulses of a generation of consumers who are increasingly OK with showing moments that haven't been staged for social media. Brands will absolutely need to keep their content simple or genuine to better relate to their target audiences.

Now is the time for brands to capitalize on the unique offering Snapchat provides. It can offer something new and creative to audiences that are being bombarded with brand messages everywhere they turn. And that novelty is an invaluable advantage in today's competitive landscape.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

#SocialSkim: Facebook Grapples With Snapchat,

This week's dose of social: Facebook takes on both fake news and Snapchat's success; Google makes itself searchable with emojis—on Twitter; regulators give a final nod to Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn; Twitter Moments arrives for brands and users on mobile; the marketing conferences you shouldn't miss in 2017; social giants band together to take terror content offline; and much more...

Skim for what you need to know!

1. Facebook continues its siege with a new Snapchat Discover competitor

Facebook Collections is the new publisher program from the social network, and it's set to tackle Snapchat's Discover and Twitter's Moments features by showcasing lists of content curated by publishers directly within users' News Feeds.

Between the social titan's introduction of Stories to Instagram, emulating Snapchat's popular Story feature, the Collections rumors suggest an aggressive push by Facebook to make up for its failed acquisition of the ephemeral messaging app years ago.

No rollout schedule for Collections has been made public, but Facebook has held talks with media outlets and entertainment companies in recent weeks about creating content for it.

2. You can now search Google by tweeting with emojis

Have you ever wanted to search Google, but just couldn't figure out a way to put your query into words? Well, now you can use emojis to help out. That's right, Twitter users will now receive search results from the search engine simply by tweeting an emoji to the Google Twitter account.

Tweet an umbrella emoji to receive the chance of rain in your area, or the burger emoji to receive a listing of burger joints nearby. The only catch? Location services need to be enabled for the service to work.

The system currently understands and responds to around 200 emojis, so users can begin exploring and get quicker search results with this new shorthand form of Google searching. We've officially become lazy (or illiterate).

3. Final regulators clear the path for Microsoft-LinkedIn deal

The European Commission—the final regulatory body needed to sign off on the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft—was given the green light this week.

To appease the European regulators, Microsoft and LinkedIn had to provide some concessions, such as commitments to making sure that LinkedIn competitors don't become completely disadvantaged on Microsoft platforms. In June, Microsoft announced its intentions to acquire LinkedIn.

4. Twitter Moments now available for mobile users

After initially launching the feature with only a few publishing and media partners, Twitter opened up Moments—its curated content feature—to all users globally back in September on the Web. Now, the company wants users to be able to create a narrative with a collection of linked tweets on mobile.

That means there's now an even easier way to create a Moment about your company's latest event or product launch, crafting a more professional narrative about your brand on the social network.

To get started, all you do is hit the down arrow in the top right of any published tweet and select "Add to Moment" to launch your collection of posts. Moments also allow companies—and users—to search for material from other Twitter users to help flesh out their collection, and get some user-generated content in the mix. Happy posting!

5. Social media ad spending set to overtake newspaper ad spend

Despite political and economic concerns, advertising agency Zenith Optimedia predicts, global advertising spending on social media will continue to grow to account for 20% of all Internet advertising in 2019 and should take over newspaper ad spending by 2020.

Marketers continue to shift spending to social media networks, where the near native-advertising format easily blends into newsfeeds as opposed to lower performing, more interruptive display advertising. The report forecasts ad spending growth to reach 4.4% in 2017, the same rate as in 2016.

6. Facebook taking on fake news with survey to users

It appears part of the social network's solution to combating fake news on the platform lies partially in asking users what they think constitutes fake news. The new Facebook survey appears at the bottom of certain posts and requests that users rank to what extent the identified story uses misleading language.

Facebook has confirmed the survey, but it hasn't given any indication as to how it's being used to identify clickbait or fake news, nor how the data is retained or used. Users can bypass or simply scroll past the call-to-action survey, if desired, but perhaps answering one or two would be beneficial to all of us.

7. How to find social media micro-influencers for your small business

Need to promote your business, but don't have the funds to secure top-dollar influencers with millions of followers on social channels? Highly targeted micro-influencers could be the answer to your brand's gaining visibility, engaging with its audience, and promoting its products and services for less. The Social Media Examiner offers help.

Covered in detail: Finding micro influencers among your followers, researching hashtags to find influential users, locating relevant local bloggers, and using third-party tools to find people in your brand's niche.

Want more on the topic? Here you go:

8. Facebook testing new feature to find—and meet up with—nearby friends

The social network is expanding its Nearby Friends feature and testing a new "Send Wave" capability that lets users send nearby friends a waving hand emoji to say hello and make it easier to organize meetups.

A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the test, and suggested it's a way to help users interact with each other in fun and lightweight ways.

9. Five ways to connect with your customers on Periscope

Looking to foray into live video, but not quite sure what approach would be best for your brand? The live video format is set to explode in 2017, so you probably don't want to be left in the dust. Luckily, here are five great ways to dip your toes in and get your customers engaged.

Receive a lot of email inquiries regarding the functionality of a specific product? Organize a livestream event that showcases its use first-hand, and let consumers engage and ask questions. Want suggestions for an event you plan to host next month? Check in with those that might attend via a live stream to see what their expectations are. There are dozens of ways to make Periscope work for you.

10. The state of social media in 2016

A recent survey from the Pew Research Center gives us an inkling of where social platforms stood in 2016, and marks a moment of reflection for brands to review where they focused their social media marketing strategy throughout the year.

Facebook was still by-and-far No. 1, with 68% of American adults claiming to be users, while Instagram took the second slot with 28%. Some 51% of Instagram users reported visiting the platform daily, and 42% of Twitter users claim the same level of usage.

Find out how the rest of the platforms stack up, and use the insights to reflect on where your brand might need to go in 2017.

11. 2017 marketing conferences you shouldn't miss

Cost, value, and timing are three key things to look at before you decide which marketing conferences you'll set your sights on in 2017. Luckily for you, the folks at TrackMaven have already dug in and identified the 12 gatherings guaranteed to serve you best—and social media is certainly bound to play a big role at each.

12. Social, Internet giants join forces to remove online terror content

Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube, and Twitter announced plans on Monday to cooperate on steps to minimize the spread of terror content online via the use of digital "fingerprints."

The companies will work on a shared industry database to identify content by assigning them each a unique identifier, subsequently determine whether items flagged by their algorithms and matched with those within the database should be removed.

Although Facebook notes that personal information will not be shared, it didn't say it wouldn't be collected. The government can still use the law to find out on which accounts the questionable content originated, and the social networks will continue deciding how they handle those requests and which requests are disclosed to the public.