SlideShare ist ein Scribd-Unternehmen logo
1 von 45
Downloaden Sie, um offline zu lesen
STATUS UPDATE
A quarterly publication from The Social Lights®
Q2 | 2017
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 2
SOCIAL MEDIA MOVES FAST. REALLY FAST.
That’s where we come in. Every 3 months, we bring you all the updates from
around the social sphere. So, what went down in Q2?
The Social Camera.

Through editing capabilities, image
manipulation, and the ever-present
Facebook vs. Snapchat battle,
social media has made the phone
camera one of the most powerful
pieces of tech in the world.

Find out: What new creative tools
could help set your brand’s
content apart from the pack?
The rise of the machines.

Over the first half of the year,
social media platforms gave bots
the power of sight. Now, these
bots are being integrated into
more and more areas on social
media.

Find out: How can chatbots and
AI improve your brand’s social
presence?
All you need is Facebook.

Zuckerberg and Facebook’s
family of apps continued its
conquest in becoming anything
and everything someone could
need in the 21st century.

Find out: Which platforms did
the social giant knock off this
quarter? Do these moves have
wider-reaching effects on
Facebook’s product offerings?
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 3
ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK
Family, friends, products, entertainment. That’s about all
any of us need in this life, and that’s what Facebook
wants to give us, all of it.
Zuckerberg and Co. have had their eyes set on becoming
the end-all, be-all, one-stop-shop for its users. Facebook
adds a new feature seemingly every day, with the greater
majority of updates either knocking off a competitor in an
adjacent field (GoFundMe, Snapchat once or twice, Slack,
etc.) or improving community care (Newsfeed algorithms,
battling fake news, stopping spammers, etc.).

With recent developments in bots and ePayments on
Messenger, shopping capabilities on Facebook, and product
discovery on Instagram, the Facebook family is poised to
make a splash in eCommerce. Pair that with the platform’s
advancements on the broadcast media front, and you have
a formidable beast that can do just about anything in the
internet world.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 4
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES.
Over the first half of the year, we’ve given social media
platforms the power of sight, and they’re watching over
more and more aspects of our social communities.
Visual search and object recognition became buzz words in
Q2, with nearly every major platform developing features
around the technology. Snapchat and Pinterest have been
the most aggressive on the front, but Facebook’s efforts in
AR are more than noteworthy as the social giant continues
to lean heavily on Snapchat’s growth aspirations.

Pairing this with AI and bot technology, programs can now
analyze visual content, scale one-to-one messaging in
customer service, and even offer you suggestions on what
to do. This is just the beginning.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 5
THE SOCIAL CAMERA
Image sharing has become as second nature as
texting in today’s conversation. The phone camera
has evolved into something much more powerful.
Posting images to a story, responding with an image of your
own, and creating moments and group stories among friends.
The phone camera has become something more. It’s become
the social camera. What does that mean?

Get creative, people! Social platforms have made the camera
one of the most powerful tools on the planet. Whether you’re a
brand or individual, the camera is capable of recognizing
objects. It lets users doodle on the world and superimpose their
face onto animal bodies. It helps people showcase raw,
uncurated moments in life. 

Most importantly, at least for marketers, it represents the bridge
to augmented reality and all of the advertising potential that
comes with it. Many of today’s mainstream features are laying
the foundation for advertising opportunities of tomorrow.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 6
We’re always digging into the latest platform updates and
content-creation features. When these updates arise, we’re
quick to recognize brand impact and offer applicable
perspective on our blog.

Become a subscriber today and keep your brand’s social
media advertising practices ahead of the curve.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
LIKING WHAT YOU’RE SEEING?
There’s more where that came from.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 7
All you need is Facebook.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 8
Facebook to Instagram, Messenger
Instagram to Facebook
Facebook to Messenger
Facebook made several moves in Q2 that further
intertwined its family of apps. Towards the end of 2016,
the platform announced that it would convert its inbox to
bring all page messaging into one place, and social media
managers everywhere cheered.

The three-headed monster that is Facebook, Instagram,
and Messenger added more cross-platform integrations
that showcase the strongest features from each platform.
ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK
Bringing the family together.
Instagram to Messenger
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 9
ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK
Tackling the eCommerce equation.
An additional element of Facebook bringing its family of apps
together is the move’s potential impact on eCommerce. By
bringing everything together and showcasing the strongest
features of each platform, Facebook is on the cusp of becoming
a shopping network with Instagram’s inspiration and product
discovery, Messenger’s customer service, and Facebook’s scale
and ePayment capabilities. Consider the following scenario…

You like an Instagram post featuring a men’s sport coat because, hey, you’re
in the market for a new sport coat. You’re immediately served a promoted
post for 20% off that same sport coat. You’re interested, so you go to the
brand’s profile and tap “Message”, which pulls up a customer service bot in
Messenger. You ask if said jacket is available in a 42L. The bot checks
inventory and responds “Yes. Do you have any interest in purchasing?” You
respond “Yes.” The bot transfers you to a checkout page at the brand’s
Facebook page, and you proceed to purchase the jacket.
The above scenario took place in less than 60 seconds. You’re
out 20% less cash than you would’ve spent, and you’ve got the
exact jacket you liked less than 1 minute ago. We won’t even go
into what happens when AR dressing rooms are mainstream.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 10
Media Deals
Sports Streaming
Gaming Streams
Original TV Shows
Live Streams
Channels & Categories
An ongoing narrative, Facebook continued its pursuit in
doing anything and everything for its users. Q2 of 2017
was no different. A recurring target from the past 3
months, Facebook made waves in moving into broadcast
media and live-stream content.
ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK
Taking on TV.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 11
Broadcast MediaAmazon
Twitter
The sky is blue, grass is green, and Facebook launched
lookalike features aimed at knocking out platforms in
social-adjacent spaces. Here’s a sampling of who
Zuckerberg and Co. targeted in Q2, 2017.
Twitch
ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK
Anything and everything.
Snapchat Print Media (also here)
Slack Pinterest
YouTube Reddit
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 12
The rise of the machines.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 13
From product discovery to ad targeting to content
curation, object recognition technology had a busy few
months. It has as many intriguing opportunities in content
consumption as it does in ad targeting. It’s a technology
that begs to be mastered and is setting the table for key
features to come (see next slide).

Pinterest has been among the most active in the space,
leveraging the technology in its journey towards real-world
relevance.

One of its most-entertaining applications is in augmented
reality. As platforms are able to more accurately recognize
objects, interactive content will become more realistic and,
in turn, more immersive.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Object Recognition.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 14
What happens when you take these advances in object
recognition and integrate geo-location and infrastructure?
Hello, AR advertising, we’ve been expecting you.

With Snapchat launching World Lenses and building
Spectacles 2.0, along with Facebook prioritizing its AR
platform, it’s only a matter of time until these tools are put
into the hands of advertisers.

Is your brand prepared for a world where ads are
superimposed through consumers’ sunglasses? No?

This is a good place to start opening your mind to the
opportunity.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Object recognition setting the stage.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 15
From Pinterest Lens to Snapchat World Lenses to
Facebook’s AR platform, advertisers have never had more
information at their fingertips. In addition to recognizing
users actions (likes, saves, retweets, etc.), we can now
analyze the creative elements that drive those actions. 

If you like a bunch of pictures staged in a kitchen, you
might start seeing more ads for kitchen utensils and
appliances appear in your feed, even if those items
weren’t the subject of the images you liked. Creative can
now be analyzed by lighting style, object integration, color
scheme, and more.

Currently, platforms are showing off the capabilities with
features like Pinterest’s “More Like This” technology and
Snapchat’s publicly-sourced stories based on content.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Machines viewing your content, ad targeting.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 16
When managing smaller pages, holding conversations
with each fan that chooses to send you a private message
is a reasonable task. However, as your page grows (see
these 10 tips), so does the inbox. When pages reach tens
and hundreds of thousands of followers, some even in the
millions, managing the inbox can be an exercise in futility.
Chatbots aim to change that, offering the promise of
scalability in one-to-one messaging.

On the plus side, there is tremendous opportunity for
those willing to put in the time to build out a
comprehensive Q&A strategy. The downside, Chatbots
are lagging as a tech feature. Relatively few brands are
using them, and many of those who are, are doing so
poorly. There is hope, though, as a small number of social
teams are doing them extremely well.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Machines holding your conversations.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 17
In community moderation, nearly every platform added
features to protect users against harmful and negative
content and bring them more preferred content.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Machines monitoring your community.
TwitterMessenger
InstagramFacebook
Additionally, platforms are leveraging artificial intelligence
to cut down on clickbait, fight fake news, deliver activity
suggestions, and limit the reach of trolls.

Oh, and they’re about to start reading your face.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 18
The social camera.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 19
The key contributor in the phone camera’s rise in
becoming one of the most powerful tools in tech has
been messaging. Between Snapchat’s camera-first
platform, Facebook’s kill-Snapchat strategy, and
continued development in creative tools, the camera
has redefined messaging in the 21st century.
THE SOCIAL CAMERA
Messaging in 2017.
Image via The Verge.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 20
In social media, the camera is the vehicle in delivering
creativity. Whether through impressive photography,
handmade doodles, individual handwriting, or AR
integrations, brands have numerous tools at their
fingertips in giving their audiences first-hand, ‘day in
the life’-style content.

As always, developing consistency across aesthetic
and posting cadence generates loyalty and higher
engagement over time.
THE SOCIAL CAMERA
Showcase your creativity.
BRAND IMPACT: Ephemeral, camera-first content
offers a much more human, uncurated feel for your
audience. This ‘human-to-human’ connection with
your fans will lead to higher engagement rates as
social continues to delve into one-to-one messaging.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 21
THE SOCIAL CAMERA
Advertising in a personal space.
Stories, regardless of platform, are inherently a very
personal space. It’s where users message their friends
and where they go to see in-the-moment clips from
others’ day-to-day lives. As a result, the content is
typically less produced (less produced doesn’t mean
sloppy) and feels much more real.

Advertisers have cited exit rates as a major concern in
the stories space. This is largely a result of
advertisements not being made specifically for the
individual platform. However, as content makers start
focusing on the platform, not just cropping a TV ad
and posting to Instagram, brands are seeing major
success in the space.
Image via Adweek.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 22
What’s Instagram been up to? Why have so many platforms
been digging into geolocation? I missed that event last
week. What did they talk about? What’s been going on at
The Social Lights’ office?

If you find yourself with more questions than answers in
social media, our monthly newsletter is for you.

Every month, we pull news from around the industry, as well
as our own content and updates, and put it into one handy
newsletter.

Subscribe today, and let us do the heavy lifting in keeping up
with social media.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
HOW DO I KEEP UP WITH ALL THIS?
Make your inbox your go-to source for Social Media
updates.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 23
What else happened in Q2?
Platform by Platform
Facebook
Messenger
Instagram
Snapchat
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube
Miscellaneous
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 24
Facebook
Over the past 3 months, Facebook’s actions and updates
typically fell into three main focal groups.

1. Advertising Focused.

2. Community Focused.

3. Product Focused.

As we continue to beat a dead horse, all updates made by the
platform centered around having anything and everything you
could ever want.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
From new content opportunities to ad-targeting capabilities,
Facebook is determined to flex its muscles in audience
engagement, and it’s making strides in delivering new, more
accurate metrics.

BRAND IMPACT: As Facebook continues to improve both its
reporting and eCommerce capabilities, it will be able to better
quantify its ROI to brands and advertisers.

On the advertising front, here’s a look at advances made for
marketers.
25
Facebook
Advertising Focused
• Improved transparency.

• Ads in Instant Articles.

• Blacklist undesirable publishers.

• New metrics.

• Improved targeting.
Image via Facebook.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
With a community now 2 billion strong, Facebook has made
protecting its users a top priority. Its primary effort was in
stopping the spread of fake news. The platform is going to
major lengths to stop this epidemic and acted similarly towards
clickbait and bad advertisements.

Facebook is making efforts to protect its users outside of the
platform as well, making location data available during times of
emergency.

BRAND IMPACT: We wrote about this back in February, but
brands need to be aware of restrictions and favorable actions
on the platform. In doing so, brands can get the most out of
their organic strategy, and if your organic strategy performs
well, odds are that your paid strategy will also benefit.
26
Facebook
Community Focused
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 27
Facebook
Product Focused
From an overall product and experience standpoint, Facebook
added and updated several sections of the app. It continued
attempts in trending content, introduced a second News Feed,
and brought cross-platform profiles into one convenient location.
It pushed into the VR Arena and even launched its own 360-
degree camera.

For experience, Facebook added video categories in a channel-
guide format and introduced a Pages tab to view content
specifically from the brands you follow on the platform. When
viewing those brand pages, you may notice that some feature
cover videos rather than static images. Some may even have text,
giving you a brief description of what they’re all about.
Image via the Facebook Newsroom.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 28
Facebook
Product Focused
During Q2, Facebook also made the following moves within its
flagship app…

• Updates to Live video broadcasts.

• Opening albums to include posts and check-ins, as well as
capabilities to allow friends to contribute material.

• Launched a competitor against Amazon’s Twitch.

• Launched a competitor against Reddit.

• Helping users find WiFi.

• Threaded comments.

• Log in to various services and websites using your Facebook
account.

• Telling you when a brand admin is online and prompting a new
window in Messenger.

Yeah, Facebook was pretty busy.
Image via Social Media Today.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 29
Messenger
Facebook’s Messenger app pushed hard in two main areas in AI
assistance and user experience. The app underwent major
reconstruction, now sporting a new home screen, discover
section, games, and app extensions. You can send payments to
your friends if you owe a few bucks. You can even download
the lite version of the app to conserve your mobile data.

In artificial intelligence, M, the platform’s AI assistant, now offers
suggestions based on your conversations, can negotiate deals,
and will track your interactions to help you remember important
events.

BRAND IMPACT: Facebook is doing its best to make the
platform as attractive for users and enticing for advertisers as
possible (Spoiler Alert: advertisements are coming to your
inbox).
AI and a UX revamp.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 30
Instagram
Image via Instagram.
The Instagram population continued to boom during Q2, reaching
700 million users in April. Its proudest number, however, lies in
Stories. The feature passed Snapchat’s usership in April and now
boasts over 250 million users.

With an ever-growing audience, Instagram stepped up its
advertising efforts, reaffirmed its commitment to a positive and
welcoming environment, and improved its creativity tools in growing
its Stories feature.

BRAND IMPACT: Have your content serve two masters, the
platform and your audience. Instagram is a positive, aesthetic
platform. Create content that fits these descriptors while aligning
with your brand purpose. This will lead to content that is viewed
favorably by the platform algorithms and your fans.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 31
Instagram
As the Stories feature gained popularity on the platform, so did
the platform’s one-to-one messaging. So much so, Instagram
Direct got a makeover, combining both permanent and ephemeral
messaging content.

Additionally, as users enjoyed Stories more, so too did
advertisers. As mentioned before, brands are seeing benefits to
advertising within Instagram stories, and in response, the platform
announced several new advertising options. Instagram also made
the following updates within the Stories and Instagram Direct:
Stories take off.
• New face filters.

• Stories searchable by
hashtag and location.
• Live videos replayable for
24 hours.

• Link sharing in DMs.
Image via Business Insider.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 32
Instagram
As previously noted, the Facebook family of apps is on the verge
of an eCommerce empire. Taking a note from Pinterest’s book on
purchasing power, Instagram introduced collections, a private-
facing board where you can save favorite posts, ideas, and
inspiration. To further its push into eCommerce, users will soon
be able to purchase products directly within the platform.

With eCommerce within reach, influencer marketing has
continued to boom on the platform, and the powers that be took
notice, forcing brands and influencers to be more up front about
their relationships and when a given post is promoted or
sponsored.
eCommerce looms. Influencer marketing under watch.
Image via TechCrunch.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 33
Instagram
With an ever-growing audience, Instagram took extra measures to
make sure that users are protected and that the platform remains
a place of inclusiveness and positivity. Additionally, the platform
finally shut down Instagress, the third-party service users
leveraged to automatically like, follow, and unfollow accounts to
game the system.

Instagram is also showing users that the platform respects and
values privacy, giving Instagrammers the ability to hide old posts,
rather than delete them altogether. On top of that, the platform
announced that users can develop lists privately, curating favorite
posts, messages, and notes to yourself or within a group.
Protecting the community.
Image via Instagram.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 34
Snapchat
Snapchat faced wide scrutiny in Q2, as Instagram’s growth in
Stories continued to stymie Snapchat’s user growth. While this is
cause for concern, Snapchat is still winning the younger
demographics.

The platform launched a flurry of new creative tools, announced
its newest headliner in Snap Maps, and is showing promise in
driving foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores.

Additionally, Spectacles dropped in Europe, and Spectacles 2.0
are on their way (and they could have AR capabilities).
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 35
Snapchat
Publishing companies are betting on Snapchat through on-
demand TV programming, seeing the platform as a valuable way
to reach the younger demographics.

To generate more interest in advertising on the platform,
Snapchat upped its reporting capabilities and began incentivizing
brands to advertise.

Overall spending increased substantially by mid-April as well,
some advertisers spending nearly 6 times more on the platform.
As advertisers looked to spend on the platform, Snapchat
responded by making self-service ads available to the public.
Advertising and media efforts.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 36
Snapchat
As true as ever, Snapchat wants friends to make cool stuff and
send it to friends. Asking potential investors to focus on the
creative side of the platform rather than growth, Snapchat
unveiled numerous new tools to help users show off their creative
chops…
Creative tools.
• World Lenses (very fun).

• Public-facing, group-sourced stories.

• Magic erasers and looping videos.

• Link sharing, backdrops, and custom voice filters.

• In-app geofilter creation tools.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 37
Twitter
Twitter appears to be thriving in its new role in live media and
video streaming. The platform is riding the wave, adding a live-
content channel guide, continually winning live-streaming deals,
and even launching a Roku TV app. Looking to capitalize on the
success, Periscope now offers monetization capabilities for live
streams.

Twitter also welcomed back co-founder Biz Stone and launched a
new look.

All this resulted in the platform growing in usership, increasing its
growth rate each quarter over the past year.

As usual, Twitter also made improvements in battling harmful
content. The platform also began leveraging AI to show users
more desirable content.

Oh, and you can now search emojis on the platform.
Image via Social Media Today.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 38
Twitter
#NUGGSFORCARTER
We would be remiss to not mention the phenomena that captured
the attention (and hearts) of Twitter users everywhere.

The world record for most-retweeted tweet of all time was broken
by Carter Wilkerson, who asked @Wendys how many retweets it
would take to get a year’s supply of free chicken nuggets.

The hashtag #NuggsForCarter caught fire, resulting in the brand
rewarding Wilkerson with a fast-food king’s bounty.

BRAND IMPACT: Amid the constant hailstorm of “Twitter is
dying” headlines, the platform still owns the trending topic. Twitter
remains the best platform for capturing and magnifying interest
around pop-culture and everyday phenomena. The platform is
unrivaled in helping your brand keep its thumb on the pulse of
your audience. Deprioritize? Maybe. Delete all together? Don’t.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Pinterest raised $150 million from investors as it continued efforts
to entice advertisers ahead of its looming IPO. The platform’s
push into object recognition and visual search carried over into its
advertising offerings, allowing brands to target users based on
related content.

Pinterest has not been shy in differentiating itself from Facebook
and Instagram, aiming to inspire users to get out and do, rather
than immerse themselves within an app. To read more on the
world’s favorite idea catalog and its efforts to integrate into users’
everyday lives, check out this blog on Pinterest and the 5 W’s.

BRAND IMPACT: By nature, Pinterest shows products in the
context it which they will be used. When advertising on the
platform, be sure your audience sees both the final product and
its utility for best results.
39
Pinterest
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 40
YouTube
The verdict is in on YouTube TV, and the verdict is pretty good.
The response was strong enough, in fact, that the platform
launched a second service through its TV app. YouTube Kids is
here, and it aims to capture the youngest generation of cord
nevers.

With live streaming continuing as a theme across all platforms,
YouTube gave users with over 1,000 subscribers the ability to go
live on the platform and indicated that the ability would soon be
available to all users.

YouTube also added features around hateful content and now
offers monetization for content (depending on your follower
count).
Image via YouTube.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 41
YouTube
YouTube made a slew of announcements at VidCon this year,
none as attention grabbing as its updated monthly user count,
which now stands at 1.5 billion strong.

Alphabet’s video platform will also be adapting to new video-
consumption formats. YouTube announced that the mobile app
will now support and adapt to vertical video, and that the platform
is launching it’s new virtual reality format, VR180.

Finally, YouTube’s social viewing app Uptime launched. The app
is a major effort by the platform to tap into conversations similar
to the capabilities of Twitter and Facebook.
Image via TechCrunch.
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 42
• Amazon beat out YouTube, Twitter, and
Facebook for rights to live stream Thursday
Night Football during the 2017-18 NFL season,
where it will likely show off its 4K live-streaming
capabilities.

• You might (maybe) have heard, but Amazon is
also attempting to buy Whole Foods (don’t feel
bad if you didn’t hear…it was pretty hush-hush).

• Musical.ly will be launching original TV shows
geared towards teenagers.

• LinkedIn surpassed the 500-million-user
milestone.
• Mastodon is a Twitter clone that is growing really,
really fast.

• Brands and agencies are starting to fight back
against the Facebook-Google duopoly, and now
newspapers are stepping into the ring.

• Looking to capitalize on the explosion of
influencer marketing, influencer agencies are
gaining traction.
Some extra notes from around the industry in Q2…
Miscellaneous
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 43
Go beyond the platform with our top-10 best practices for success
on social media.

On the event trail, we brought back key marketing takeaways from
the Social ShakeUp, Social Media Week (Los Angeles), and
Hashtag Sports.

Object recognition and geolocation are setting the stage for mixed-
reality advertising. See how.

Pinterest believes the real world is its final hurdle in attracting
advertisers. Do they have it figured out?

We got some new decor at the office, thanks to iMPuLSe Creative.

In case you missed it or have a little extra time over
lunch, catch up on our musings from Q2.
Supplemental Reading
Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 44
BEFORE YOU GO
If you haven’t already, here’s one more chance to
subscribe to a pair of valuable resources to help you keep
up with the social media industry.

Our blog, your home to brand impact, TSL perspective,
and overall thought-leadership on the world of social
media. Subscribe.

Monthly eNews, a regular rundown of our office ongoings,
social media news and industry updates. Subscribe.
THANK 

YOU
www.thesociallights.com
45Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Empfohlen

AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfAI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfmarketingartwork
 
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024Neil Kimberley
 
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)contently
 
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024Albert Qian
 
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsKurio // The Social Media Age(ncy)
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Search Engine Journal
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summarySpeakerHub
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Tessa Mero
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentLily Ray
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best PracticesVit Horky
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementMindGenius
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...RachelPearson36
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Applitools
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at WorkGetSmarter
 

Empfohlen (20)

AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfAI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
 
Skeleton Culture Code
Skeleton Culture CodeSkeleton Culture Code
Skeleton Culture Code
 
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
 
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
 
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
 
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
 
How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations
 
Introduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data ScienceIntroduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data Science
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project management
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
 
ChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slidesChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slides
 
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike RoutesMore than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
 

Status Update: Social Media Trends and Updates from Q2, 2017

  • 1. STATUS UPDATE A quarterly publication from The Social Lights® Q2 | 2017
  • 2. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 2 SOCIAL MEDIA MOVES FAST. REALLY FAST. That’s where we come in. Every 3 months, we bring you all the updates from around the social sphere. So, what went down in Q2? The Social Camera.
 Through editing capabilities, image manipulation, and the ever-present Facebook vs. Snapchat battle, social media has made the phone camera one of the most powerful pieces of tech in the world. Find out: What new creative tools could help set your brand’s content apart from the pack? The rise of the machines.
 Over the first half of the year, social media platforms gave bots the power of sight. Now, these bots are being integrated into more and more areas on social media. Find out: How can chatbots and AI improve your brand’s social presence? All you need is Facebook.
 Zuckerberg and Facebook’s family of apps continued its conquest in becoming anything and everything someone could need in the 21st century. Find out: Which platforms did the social giant knock off this quarter? Do these moves have wider-reaching effects on Facebook’s product offerings?
  • 3. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 3 ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK Family, friends, products, entertainment. That’s about all any of us need in this life, and that’s what Facebook wants to give us, all of it. Zuckerberg and Co. have had their eyes set on becoming the end-all, be-all, one-stop-shop for its users. Facebook adds a new feature seemingly every day, with the greater majority of updates either knocking off a competitor in an adjacent field (GoFundMe, Snapchat once or twice, Slack, etc.) or improving community care (Newsfeed algorithms, battling fake news, stopping spammers, etc.). With recent developments in bots and ePayments on Messenger, shopping capabilities on Facebook, and product discovery on Instagram, the Facebook family is poised to make a splash in eCommerce. Pair that with the platform’s advancements on the broadcast media front, and you have a formidable beast that can do just about anything in the internet world. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 4. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 4 THE RISE OF THE MACHINES. Over the first half of the year, we’ve given social media platforms the power of sight, and they’re watching over more and more aspects of our social communities. Visual search and object recognition became buzz words in Q2, with nearly every major platform developing features around the technology. Snapchat and Pinterest have been the most aggressive on the front, but Facebook’s efforts in AR are more than noteworthy as the social giant continues to lean heavily on Snapchat’s growth aspirations. Pairing this with AI and bot technology, programs can now analyze visual content, scale one-to-one messaging in customer service, and even offer you suggestions on what to do. This is just the beginning. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 5. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 5 THE SOCIAL CAMERA Image sharing has become as second nature as texting in today’s conversation. The phone camera has evolved into something much more powerful. Posting images to a story, responding with an image of your own, and creating moments and group stories among friends. The phone camera has become something more. It’s become the social camera. What does that mean? Get creative, people! Social platforms have made the camera one of the most powerful tools on the planet. Whether you’re a brand or individual, the camera is capable of recognizing objects. It lets users doodle on the world and superimpose their face onto animal bodies. It helps people showcase raw, uncurated moments in life. Most importantly, at least for marketers, it represents the bridge to augmented reality and all of the advertising potential that comes with it. Many of today’s mainstream features are laying the foundation for advertising opportunities of tomorrow. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 6. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 6 We’re always digging into the latest platform updates and content-creation features. When these updates arise, we’re quick to recognize brand impact and offer applicable perspective on our blog. Become a subscriber today and keep your brand’s social media advertising practices ahead of the curve. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | LIKING WHAT YOU’RE SEEING? There’s more where that came from.
  • 7. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 7 All you need is Facebook.
  • 8. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 8 Facebook to Instagram, Messenger Instagram to Facebook Facebook to Messenger Facebook made several moves in Q2 that further intertwined its family of apps. Towards the end of 2016, the platform announced that it would convert its inbox to bring all page messaging into one place, and social media managers everywhere cheered. The three-headed monster that is Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger added more cross-platform integrations that showcase the strongest features from each platform. ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK Bringing the family together. Instagram to Messenger Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 9. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 9 ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK Tackling the eCommerce equation. An additional element of Facebook bringing its family of apps together is the move’s potential impact on eCommerce. By bringing everything together and showcasing the strongest features of each platform, Facebook is on the cusp of becoming a shopping network with Instagram’s inspiration and product discovery, Messenger’s customer service, and Facebook’s scale and ePayment capabilities. Consider the following scenario… You like an Instagram post featuring a men’s sport coat because, hey, you’re in the market for a new sport coat. You’re immediately served a promoted post for 20% off that same sport coat. You’re interested, so you go to the brand’s profile and tap “Message”, which pulls up a customer service bot in Messenger. You ask if said jacket is available in a 42L. The bot checks inventory and responds “Yes. Do you have any interest in purchasing?” You respond “Yes.” The bot transfers you to a checkout page at the brand’s Facebook page, and you proceed to purchase the jacket. The above scenario took place in less than 60 seconds. You’re out 20% less cash than you would’ve spent, and you’ve got the exact jacket you liked less than 1 minute ago. We won’t even go into what happens when AR dressing rooms are mainstream.
  • 10. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 10 Media Deals Sports Streaming Gaming Streams Original TV Shows Live Streams Channels & Categories An ongoing narrative, Facebook continued its pursuit in doing anything and everything for its users. Q2 of 2017 was no different. A recurring target from the past 3 months, Facebook made waves in moving into broadcast media and live-stream content. ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK Taking on TV.
  • 11. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 11 Broadcast MediaAmazon Twitter The sky is blue, grass is green, and Facebook launched lookalike features aimed at knocking out platforms in social-adjacent spaces. Here’s a sampling of who Zuckerberg and Co. targeted in Q2, 2017. Twitch ALL YOU NEED IS FACEBOOK Anything and everything. Snapchat Print Media (also here) Slack Pinterest YouTube Reddit Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 12. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 12 The rise of the machines.
  • 13. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 13 From product discovery to ad targeting to content curation, object recognition technology had a busy few months. It has as many intriguing opportunities in content consumption as it does in ad targeting. It’s a technology that begs to be mastered and is setting the table for key features to come (see next slide). Pinterest has been among the most active in the space, leveraging the technology in its journey towards real-world relevance. One of its most-entertaining applications is in augmented reality. As platforms are able to more accurately recognize objects, interactive content will become more realistic and, in turn, more immersive. THE RISE OF THE MACHINES Object Recognition.
  • 14. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 14 What happens when you take these advances in object recognition and integrate geo-location and infrastructure? Hello, AR advertising, we’ve been expecting you. With Snapchat launching World Lenses and building Spectacles 2.0, along with Facebook prioritizing its AR platform, it’s only a matter of time until these tools are put into the hands of advertisers. Is your brand prepared for a world where ads are superimposed through consumers’ sunglasses? No? This is a good place to start opening your mind to the opportunity. THE RISE OF THE MACHINES Object recognition setting the stage.
  • 15. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 15 From Pinterest Lens to Snapchat World Lenses to Facebook’s AR platform, advertisers have never had more information at their fingertips. In addition to recognizing users actions (likes, saves, retweets, etc.), we can now analyze the creative elements that drive those actions. If you like a bunch of pictures staged in a kitchen, you might start seeing more ads for kitchen utensils and appliances appear in your feed, even if those items weren’t the subject of the images you liked. Creative can now be analyzed by lighting style, object integration, color scheme, and more. Currently, platforms are showing off the capabilities with features like Pinterest’s “More Like This” technology and Snapchat’s publicly-sourced stories based on content. THE RISE OF THE MACHINES Machines viewing your content, ad targeting. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 16. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 16 When managing smaller pages, holding conversations with each fan that chooses to send you a private message is a reasonable task. However, as your page grows (see these 10 tips), so does the inbox. When pages reach tens and hundreds of thousands of followers, some even in the millions, managing the inbox can be an exercise in futility. Chatbots aim to change that, offering the promise of scalability in one-to-one messaging. On the plus side, there is tremendous opportunity for those willing to put in the time to build out a comprehensive Q&A strategy. The downside, Chatbots are lagging as a tech feature. Relatively few brands are using them, and many of those who are, are doing so poorly. There is hope, though, as a small number of social teams are doing them extremely well. THE RISE OF THE MACHINES Machines holding your conversations.
  • 17. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 17 In community moderation, nearly every platform added features to protect users against harmful and negative content and bring them more preferred content. THE RISE OF THE MACHINES Machines monitoring your community. TwitterMessenger InstagramFacebook Additionally, platforms are leveraging artificial intelligence to cut down on clickbait, fight fake news, deliver activity suggestions, and limit the reach of trolls. Oh, and they’re about to start reading your face.
  • 18. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 18 The social camera.
  • 19. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 19 The key contributor in the phone camera’s rise in becoming one of the most powerful tools in tech has been messaging. Between Snapchat’s camera-first platform, Facebook’s kill-Snapchat strategy, and continued development in creative tools, the camera has redefined messaging in the 21st century. THE SOCIAL CAMERA Messaging in 2017. Image via The Verge.
  • 20. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 20 In social media, the camera is the vehicle in delivering creativity. Whether through impressive photography, handmade doodles, individual handwriting, or AR integrations, brands have numerous tools at their fingertips in giving their audiences first-hand, ‘day in the life’-style content. As always, developing consistency across aesthetic and posting cadence generates loyalty and higher engagement over time. THE SOCIAL CAMERA Showcase your creativity. BRAND IMPACT: Ephemeral, camera-first content offers a much more human, uncurated feel for your audience. This ‘human-to-human’ connection with your fans will lead to higher engagement rates as social continues to delve into one-to-one messaging.
  • 21. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 21 THE SOCIAL CAMERA Advertising in a personal space. Stories, regardless of platform, are inherently a very personal space. It’s where users message their friends and where they go to see in-the-moment clips from others’ day-to-day lives. As a result, the content is typically less produced (less produced doesn’t mean sloppy) and feels much more real. Advertisers have cited exit rates as a major concern in the stories space. This is largely a result of advertisements not being made specifically for the individual platform. However, as content makers start focusing on the platform, not just cropping a TV ad and posting to Instagram, brands are seeing major success in the space. Image via Adweek.
  • 22. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 22 What’s Instagram been up to? Why have so many platforms been digging into geolocation? I missed that event last week. What did they talk about? What’s been going on at The Social Lights’ office? If you find yourself with more questions than answers in social media, our monthly newsletter is for you. Every month, we pull news from around the industry, as well as our own content and updates, and put it into one handy newsletter. Subscribe today, and let us do the heavy lifting in keeping up with social media. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | HOW DO I KEEP UP WITH ALL THIS? Make your inbox your go-to source for Social Media updates.
  • 23. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 23 What else happened in Q2? Platform by Platform Facebook Messenger Instagram Snapchat Twitter Pinterest YouTube Miscellaneous
  • 24. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 24 Facebook Over the past 3 months, Facebook’s actions and updates typically fell into three main focal groups. 1. Advertising Focused. 2. Community Focused. 3. Product Focused. As we continue to beat a dead horse, all updates made by the platform centered around having anything and everything you could ever want. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
  • 25. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | From new content opportunities to ad-targeting capabilities, Facebook is determined to flex its muscles in audience engagement, and it’s making strides in delivering new, more accurate metrics. BRAND IMPACT: As Facebook continues to improve both its reporting and eCommerce capabilities, it will be able to better quantify its ROI to brands and advertisers. On the advertising front, here’s a look at advances made for marketers. 25 Facebook Advertising Focused • Improved transparency. • Ads in Instant Articles. • Blacklist undesirable publishers. • New metrics. • Improved targeting. Image via Facebook.
  • 26. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | With a community now 2 billion strong, Facebook has made protecting its users a top priority. Its primary effort was in stopping the spread of fake news. The platform is going to major lengths to stop this epidemic and acted similarly towards clickbait and bad advertisements. Facebook is making efforts to protect its users outside of the platform as well, making location data available during times of emergency. BRAND IMPACT: We wrote about this back in February, but brands need to be aware of restrictions and favorable actions on the platform. In doing so, brands can get the most out of their organic strategy, and if your organic strategy performs well, odds are that your paid strategy will also benefit. 26 Facebook Community Focused
  • 27. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 27 Facebook Product Focused From an overall product and experience standpoint, Facebook added and updated several sections of the app. It continued attempts in trending content, introduced a second News Feed, and brought cross-platform profiles into one convenient location. It pushed into the VR Arena and even launched its own 360- degree camera. For experience, Facebook added video categories in a channel- guide format and introduced a Pages tab to view content specifically from the brands you follow on the platform. When viewing those brand pages, you may notice that some feature cover videos rather than static images. Some may even have text, giving you a brief description of what they’re all about. Image via the Facebook Newsroom.
  • 28. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 28 Facebook Product Focused During Q2, Facebook also made the following moves within its flagship app… • Updates to Live video broadcasts. • Opening albums to include posts and check-ins, as well as capabilities to allow friends to contribute material. • Launched a competitor against Amazon’s Twitch. • Launched a competitor against Reddit. • Helping users find WiFi. • Threaded comments. • Log in to various services and websites using your Facebook account. • Telling you when a brand admin is online and prompting a new window in Messenger. Yeah, Facebook was pretty busy. Image via Social Media Today.
  • 29. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 29 Messenger Facebook’s Messenger app pushed hard in two main areas in AI assistance and user experience. The app underwent major reconstruction, now sporting a new home screen, discover section, games, and app extensions. You can send payments to your friends if you owe a few bucks. You can even download the lite version of the app to conserve your mobile data. In artificial intelligence, M, the platform’s AI assistant, now offers suggestions based on your conversations, can negotiate deals, and will track your interactions to help you remember important events. BRAND IMPACT: Facebook is doing its best to make the platform as attractive for users and enticing for advertisers as possible (Spoiler Alert: advertisements are coming to your inbox). AI and a UX revamp.
  • 30. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 30 Instagram Image via Instagram. The Instagram population continued to boom during Q2, reaching 700 million users in April. Its proudest number, however, lies in Stories. The feature passed Snapchat’s usership in April and now boasts over 250 million users. With an ever-growing audience, Instagram stepped up its advertising efforts, reaffirmed its commitment to a positive and welcoming environment, and improved its creativity tools in growing its Stories feature. BRAND IMPACT: Have your content serve two masters, the platform and your audience. Instagram is a positive, aesthetic platform. Create content that fits these descriptors while aligning with your brand purpose. This will lead to content that is viewed favorably by the platform algorithms and your fans.
  • 31. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 31 Instagram As the Stories feature gained popularity on the platform, so did the platform’s one-to-one messaging. So much so, Instagram Direct got a makeover, combining both permanent and ephemeral messaging content. Additionally, as users enjoyed Stories more, so too did advertisers. As mentioned before, brands are seeing benefits to advertising within Instagram stories, and in response, the platform announced several new advertising options. Instagram also made the following updates within the Stories and Instagram Direct: Stories take off. • New face filters. • Stories searchable by hashtag and location. • Live videos replayable for 24 hours. • Link sharing in DMs. Image via Business Insider.
  • 32. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 32 Instagram As previously noted, the Facebook family of apps is on the verge of an eCommerce empire. Taking a note from Pinterest’s book on purchasing power, Instagram introduced collections, a private- facing board where you can save favorite posts, ideas, and inspiration. To further its push into eCommerce, users will soon be able to purchase products directly within the platform. With eCommerce within reach, influencer marketing has continued to boom on the platform, and the powers that be took notice, forcing brands and influencers to be more up front about their relationships and when a given post is promoted or sponsored. eCommerce looms. Influencer marketing under watch. Image via TechCrunch.
  • 33. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 33 Instagram With an ever-growing audience, Instagram took extra measures to make sure that users are protected and that the platform remains a place of inclusiveness and positivity. Additionally, the platform finally shut down Instagress, the third-party service users leveraged to automatically like, follow, and unfollow accounts to game the system. Instagram is also showing users that the platform respects and values privacy, giving Instagrammers the ability to hide old posts, rather than delete them altogether. On top of that, the platform announced that users can develop lists privately, curating favorite posts, messages, and notes to yourself or within a group. Protecting the community. Image via Instagram.
  • 34. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 34 Snapchat Snapchat faced wide scrutiny in Q2, as Instagram’s growth in Stories continued to stymie Snapchat’s user growth. While this is cause for concern, Snapchat is still winning the younger demographics. The platform launched a flurry of new creative tools, announced its newest headliner in Snap Maps, and is showing promise in driving foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores. Additionally, Spectacles dropped in Europe, and Spectacles 2.0 are on their way (and they could have AR capabilities).
  • 35. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 35 Snapchat Publishing companies are betting on Snapchat through on- demand TV programming, seeing the platform as a valuable way to reach the younger demographics. To generate more interest in advertising on the platform, Snapchat upped its reporting capabilities and began incentivizing brands to advertise. Overall spending increased substantially by mid-April as well, some advertisers spending nearly 6 times more on the platform. As advertisers looked to spend on the platform, Snapchat responded by making self-service ads available to the public. Advertising and media efforts.
  • 36. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 36 Snapchat As true as ever, Snapchat wants friends to make cool stuff and send it to friends. Asking potential investors to focus on the creative side of the platform rather than growth, Snapchat unveiled numerous new tools to help users show off their creative chops… Creative tools. • World Lenses (very fun). • Public-facing, group-sourced stories. • Magic erasers and looping videos. • Link sharing, backdrops, and custom voice filters. • In-app geofilter creation tools.
  • 37. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 37 Twitter Twitter appears to be thriving in its new role in live media and video streaming. The platform is riding the wave, adding a live- content channel guide, continually winning live-streaming deals, and even launching a Roku TV app. Looking to capitalize on the success, Periscope now offers monetization capabilities for live streams. Twitter also welcomed back co-founder Biz Stone and launched a new look. All this resulted in the platform growing in usership, increasing its growth rate each quarter over the past year. As usual, Twitter also made improvements in battling harmful content. The platform also began leveraging AI to show users more desirable content. Oh, and you can now search emojis on the platform. Image via Social Media Today.
  • 38. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 38 Twitter #NUGGSFORCARTER We would be remiss to not mention the phenomena that captured the attention (and hearts) of Twitter users everywhere. The world record for most-retweeted tweet of all time was broken by Carter Wilkerson, who asked @Wendys how many retweets it would take to get a year’s supply of free chicken nuggets. The hashtag #NuggsForCarter caught fire, resulting in the brand rewarding Wilkerson with a fast-food king’s bounty. BRAND IMPACT: Amid the constant hailstorm of “Twitter is dying” headlines, the platform still owns the trending topic. Twitter remains the best platform for capturing and magnifying interest around pop-culture and everyday phenomena. The platform is unrivaled in helping your brand keep its thumb on the pulse of your audience. Deprioritize? Maybe. Delete all together? Don’t.
  • 39. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | Pinterest raised $150 million from investors as it continued efforts to entice advertisers ahead of its looming IPO. The platform’s push into object recognition and visual search carried over into its advertising offerings, allowing brands to target users based on related content. Pinterest has not been shy in differentiating itself from Facebook and Instagram, aiming to inspire users to get out and do, rather than immerse themselves within an app. To read more on the world’s favorite idea catalog and its efforts to integrate into users’ everyday lives, check out this blog on Pinterest and the 5 W’s. BRAND IMPACT: By nature, Pinterest shows products in the context it which they will be used. When advertising on the platform, be sure your audience sees both the final product and its utility for best results. 39 Pinterest
  • 40. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 40 YouTube The verdict is in on YouTube TV, and the verdict is pretty good. The response was strong enough, in fact, that the platform launched a second service through its TV app. YouTube Kids is here, and it aims to capture the youngest generation of cord nevers. With live streaming continuing as a theme across all platforms, YouTube gave users with over 1,000 subscribers the ability to go live on the platform and indicated that the ability would soon be available to all users. YouTube also added features around hateful content and now offers monetization for content (depending on your follower count). Image via YouTube.
  • 41. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 41 YouTube YouTube made a slew of announcements at VidCon this year, none as attention grabbing as its updated monthly user count, which now stands at 1.5 billion strong. Alphabet’s video platform will also be adapting to new video- consumption formats. YouTube announced that the mobile app will now support and adapt to vertical video, and that the platform is launching it’s new virtual reality format, VR180. Finally, YouTube’s social viewing app Uptime launched. The app is a major effort by the platform to tap into conversations similar to the capabilities of Twitter and Facebook. Image via TechCrunch.
  • 42. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 42 • Amazon beat out YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for rights to live stream Thursday Night Football during the 2017-18 NFL season, where it will likely show off its 4K live-streaming capabilities. • You might (maybe) have heard, but Amazon is also attempting to buy Whole Foods (don’t feel bad if you didn’t hear…it was pretty hush-hush). • Musical.ly will be launching original TV shows geared towards teenagers. • LinkedIn surpassed the 500-million-user milestone. • Mastodon is a Twitter clone that is growing really, really fast. • Brands and agencies are starting to fight back against the Facebook-Google duopoly, and now newspapers are stepping into the ring. • Looking to capitalize on the explosion of influencer marketing, influencer agencies are gaining traction. Some extra notes from around the industry in Q2… Miscellaneous
  • 43. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 43 Go beyond the platform with our top-10 best practices for success on social media. On the event trail, we brought back key marketing takeaways from the Social ShakeUp, Social Media Week (Los Angeles), and Hashtag Sports. Object recognition and geolocation are setting the stage for mixed- reality advertising. See how. Pinterest believes the real world is its final hurdle in attracting advertisers. Do they have it figured out? We got some new decor at the office, thanks to iMPuLSe Creative. In case you missed it or have a little extra time over lunch, catch up on our musings from Q2. Supplemental Reading
  • 44. Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC | 44 BEFORE YOU GO If you haven’t already, here’s one more chance to subscribe to a pair of valuable resources to help you keep up with the social media industry. Our blog, your home to brand impact, TSL perspective, and overall thought-leadership on the world of social media. Subscribe. Monthly eNews, a regular rundown of our office ongoings, social media news and industry updates. Subscribe.
  • 45. THANK 
 YOU www.thesociallights.com 45Confidential. Do Not Distribute | © 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |