Our friends at Hootsuite just dropped their annual report on the latest global trends in social media. And wow, was it chock full of eyebrow-raising analytics and powerful stats. A 35 page, in-depth overview of global audience behaviors and social strategies based on the results of a survey taken by over 300 social marketing practitioners, qualitative interviews with 28 industry experts, ROI data from Altimeter and Hootsuite and so on. Hootsuite’s feedback also reflects how social media users connect to, share, view, decline, source and store, memories and information through various platforms. While every detail is worth-the-read, we’ve broken down the microscopic look into Hootsuite’s report.
Here’s 10 Social Media Trend Takeaways from Hootsuite’s Annual Report:
1. 56% of survey respondents reported that ‘not being able to prove the ROI of social media made it difficult for their organization to be successful with social media.”
– In other words, not being able to provide quantitative analytics associated to social media ad expenses makes the return on investment incredibly difficult to financially measure. Therefore, you simply don’t know how effective your ads are at the end of the day.
2. “Consumers trust peers just as much as technical experts and more than CEOs, governments, and academics.”
– Meaning, the common social media user refers to and trusts their preferred niche influencers and friends over paid ads, sponsored accounts and things of the alike. Just like old time, users are more likely to do or buy something because their peers do. Some things never change : )
3. “51% of respondents said that a lack of social ads budget made it difficult for their organization to be successful with social media.”
– Looks like social media hasn’t sold everyone just yet. While many start-ups and small businesses thrive off social media’s free marketplace, others struggle to find their place in its ecosystem. Unless they’re spending big dollars, they’re not gaining visibility but because it’s nearly impossible to measure that cost and it’s return (see #1), companies are not allocating marketing dollars towards paid social placements.
4. “41% of millennials will use ad blockers by the end of 2017.”
– Due to excessive ad redundancy and scary ‘are they listening to my conversations?’ thoughts and concerns, educated users are finding ways to eliminate ads on their feed altogether.
5. “Social overtakes search for 16-24 year olds.”
– Move over search engines, research through social media platforms is on the rise. Not only do 16-24 year olds prefer social over search engines, “41 percent of global internet users say they use social to research new brands or products.”
6. “Over 100,000 Messenger bots are not active on Facebook (a 233% YOY growth over last year’s 33,000).”
– We have a feeling you’re not surprised by this information. Neither were we. Bots are peppered throughout Facebook and appear to be as real as humans. However, bots/automations via Instagram were not reported.
7. “Social networks will encourage brands to become broadcasters as mobile video and social TV-style programming takes the spotlight.”
– Social media will now compete with television shows and commercials as it offers a platform to emerging brands. Unlike TV, social media allows for an organic and incredibly broad reach to a very vast audience in a matter of minutes.
8. “46% of respondents say they’re already implementing social videos, with another 26% planning to implement in 2018.”
– Here’s the deal – if you’re not already “creating social videos or using social video ads,” you’re behind. Catch up or get left behind!
9. “One in every three minutes online is spent on social networking.”
– Time spent on social increases every year across all markets and major demographics and we don’t see this trend declining any time soon…….or ever.
10. “Only 39% of analytics data is used for driving business decisions.”
– Big data problem! With multiple tools available to analyze data, only 39% of analytics data is useful to make business decisions.
While we highlighted 10 topline takeaways, there’s so much more to know. Email us at info@mondaycreatives for the full Hootsuite Social Media Trends 2018 Report or to chat about your social media needs. Together we can effectively maximize your position in the matrix we call social media!
Keep calm and we’ll see you Monday!
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