2016 Internet trends…major Instagram business updates…why you MUST use Facebook ads….plus Periscope begins ‘trial by jury’.

The 13 most important things you need to know this week from the world of digital and social marketing.

Taking the Pulse is our fast weekly summary of latest news on key digital marketing and social media platforms, plus essential need-to-know information for marketers and business owners. Keeping you updated on the stuff that matters to your business. Presented live on Facebook by Carlton Jefferis.

This is the show’s companion blog post. The show replays are available right here on the blog, on Facebook and on YouTube.

Internet trends 2016

• Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins shares over 200 slides of insight in her annual Internet Trends report
  Go check the full report, it’s worth it. (If you’re after a summary, Techcrunch has a useful 49 slide version).
  My key takeaways are surrounding the explosive growth of real-time video and messaging services. No coincidence then that in April Mark Zuckerberg stated that these are two of the three main areas of focus for Facebook over the next ten years.

 Instagram

• Business profiles and suite of tools officially announced
  Instagram announced the imminent arrival of business profiles. We initially covered this back in Taking the Pulse Episode 3, but the official announcement has even more juicy stuff for us:
  • Business profiles which can include one-tap contact by phone, email or text message. Also offers map and directions embedded. NOTE: not everyone can migrate to a business profile. You will need to have a connected Facebook Page. To do this navigate to your Page settings and connect your Instagram profile:
  •  Insights for Instagram will be available right within the Instagram app. This will provide post performance (top posts, reach, impressions and engagement) plus audience demographics (gender, age and location).
  • Mobile ad creation. This will enable you to boost posts and create ads out of Instagram posts on-the-fly within the app. Basic options will be provided but for power-users you’ll want to stick with Facebook’s Ad Manager or Power Editor tools which provide significantly more targeting and audience options.
• Instagram API shuts out apps
  • This isn’t exactly new news, but the cut-off date has arrived! From June 1st a whole bunch of apps that relied on Instagram’s Feed API will find they no longer work. Fortunately this doesn’t affect all the Instagram management tools, like Hootsuite for example, but rather the apps that pull posts and display them in another environment. Makes sense; Instagram want its users consuming content within the walled (and monetised) garden of its own app.
• Images generate the most engagement
  • Locowise study reports images receive 31% more engagement than videos on Instagram during April 2016. The same study highlights a rapid decline in follower growth, down over 90% during the previous 12 month period. Finally, some useful data from L2inc highlights the near-ubiquitous adoption of Instagram across every industry sector. Bonus: Snapchat is nowhere near, but catching rapidly.
    

Google

• Competitive threats to Google and what it means to your business
  A really interesting and detailed article over at Search Engine Land reveals some of the credible threats to Google’s position as the definitive search engine. I strongly recommend you read the article. Key takeaways:
  • Search: Bing (which, if you didn’t know, incorporates Yahoo search) has a market share of around a third of all searches in the US (although under 10% in the UK). Should Bing form a larger part of your search strategy?
  • Messaging: Google is late to the party that’s already well underway with WhatsApp, Snapchat, Messenger and many more players.
  • Ad Blockers: the impact of ad blockers on Google’s core ad business (and possibly your core source of traffic?) can no longer be ignored. No, I really do mean that. Facebook ads and native advertising within other platforms are clear winners. Should you be looking to diversify?

Facebook

• Facebook Pages pay for 32% of their Reach
  Further useful research from Locowise illustrates what we at The Digiterati have been saying for a LONG time: if you only publish organic Facebook posts on your Page you’re likely WASTING YOUR TIME.
  If you only publish organic Facebook posts on your Page you’re likely WASTING YOUR TIME

  Click To Tweet

  Businesses need to pay to reach people and the study shows a 50% increase in paid reach year-on-year. If you’re not paying for reach – or your results so far have been poor – we can help you.

• Facebook Reactions fail to impress
  Marie made a great point in her post (below) about the Facebook’s Reactions – the happy, sad, angry faces launched in February – when it emerged that after 3 months 97% of reactions are still the traditional ‘Like’. Seems some still don’t have the Reactions feature, or perhaps people simply don’t care for it.

• Facebook Ads can now target non-users of Facebook, EU privacy concerns continue
  Last Friday Facebook announced plans to extend ad tracking (via cookies) to non-users of Facebook. This is very similar to how Google AdWords operates, meaning that advertisers can target people who are not logged-in to Facebook (or don’t even use the service at all). This is why Facebook displayed a cookie compliance notice when EU users checked their profiles on Friday, as we reported at the time:

Messenger

• Social customer service: Messenger gains while Wall posts decline
  Those following our reporting over the last few weeks know that we’re fans of Messenger as a customer support channel, rivalling (even bettering) stalwart social-service platform Twitter. Seems that customers like it too. Research from SocialBakers points to a steady and large upwards trend in private message customer care (aka Messenger messages) versus a decline in public posts (aka wall posts) by customers on a business Facebook Page. This is fantastic news for business; shifting customers from a potentially damaging and unmanageable one-to-many scenario to a controlled, private one-to-one message. Brands harnessing the power of instant replies and AI chatbots in tandem with human responses can be a win for customers too because they feel more confident that you’re actually listening and reacting to their needs.
• BONUS link – a counter viewpoint
  Intercom’s Paul Adams – a real mover and shaker in social media circles – opines the business messaging market isn’t a zero-sum game in his excellent post entitled Why Facebook or Twitter Won’t Own Business Messaging.
• Messenger is the number 2 messaging app
  Research from SimilarWeb shows the popularity of all messaging apps across the world. Messenger comes in at number 2, behind (Facebook owned) WhatsApp. Notably, WhatsApp leads in the UK and other European countries whereas Messenger leads in the US, Canada and Australia. This fragmentation will, I believe, lead Facebook to launching a universal messaging hub in the not-too-distant future. This would enable users to send, receive and perform actions on messages from whichever app(s) they use into one main inbox.

Facebook Live

• Go Live from Windows 10
  Facebook Live has up to now been limited to use on smartphones and tools which access the Live API, but now users of the Facebook app on Windows 10 can now go live directly within the app (on desktop, laptop and tablet) when posting a status update.

Periscope

• ‘Scopes automatically saved. No need for #save In little less than 3 weeks Periscope has added the ability to save your streams, firstly by you adding the #save hashtag to your title and now automatically without any intervention.

It’s here! Update your Periscope app to permanently save your broadcasts by default (no #save needed). pic.twitter.com/Tv8O48jImQ

— Periscope (@periscopeco) May 25, 2016

• Trials by Jury for comments
  In an unusual approach, Persicope last night announced Comment Moderation, a system for community patrol of comments that have been marked as spam or abusive. It basically works likes this:
  • During a broadcast, viewers can report comments as spam or abuse. The viewer that reports the comment will no longer see messages from that commenter for the remainder of the broadcast.
  • When a comment is reported, a flash-jury comprising five other viewers is randomly assembled to vote on whether they think the comment is spam, abuse, or looks okay. (NOTE: it’s unclear how this works if 5 or less viewers of the ‘scope).
  • The result of the vote is shown to voters.
  • If the majority votes that the comment is spam or abuse, the commenter will be notified that their ability to chat in the broadcast has been temporarily disabled. Repeat offenses will result in chat being disabled for that commenter for the remainder of the broadcast.
    

My crying-with-laughter emoji award this week goes to…

Anyone who still thinks Facebook is completely free and is reluctant to pay for reach using ads. Remember: if all you’re doing is posting on your Facebook Page you’re likely WASTING YOUR TIME. So get with it and have a go, and if you want get some help!

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About Carlton Jefferis

Carlton Jefferis is a senior consultant and trainer at The Digiterati. He has over 20 years experience working on pioneering Internet and digital marketing projects for a wide range of clients including Sony, AOL, Manchester United FC, Nationwide Building Society, AT&T, Autographer and a large number of start-up tech businesses. He advises clients of The Digiterati on commercial and sales strategy, digital marketing strategy, ecommerce and product development. As a skilled, active social media practitioner he delivers public training and bespoke in-house courses on social media marketing, digital strategy and digital transformation. He also blogs for leading global digital marketing publisher, Smart Insights.

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