This week we got even more evidence of how much the social (and digital for that matter) landscape is changing. eMarketer released their predictions for time spent by users across Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. The findings aren’t all that surprising given the latest trends, but the implications could be interesting.
Read MoreOriginal, high-quality video content is here, there, everywhere. We’ve hit peak video. It’s not just publishers focusing on building up their video content. It’s platforms as well.
Read MoreInstagram Stories are here, and you may not be that excited for them because they kind of already existed on Snapchat as Snapchat Stories. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories allow users to create video and photo slideshows that disappear after 24 hours. And again much like Snapchat, users can add emojis, text and even drawings to the images in their stories. It’s a blatant copy and paste from Snapchat to Instagram, which Instagram’s Kevin Systrom freely admits. That doesn’t really matter though, especially when you consider the implications for marketers.
Read MoreVideo has changed. Today, 1 in 3 adults use a smartphone as the primary device for watching online video. The video landscape has undergone a pivotal shift as users turn away from TV and big screens to smaller, in-the-moment video content.
A commitment to video is no small thing. It involves greater levels of production and often more time to really do it right, but with the launch of in-the-moment platforms like Periscope and Facebook Live, consumer expectations on production levels are all over, and it matters less when the content is valuable.
Level of production is far from the first question marketers should be asking themselves when they are creating videos. Motivation and context are.
Read MoreThis Week in Social is a weekly digest of some of the biggest stories in social media marketing news. These stories are the show notes for the Brave Ad World Podcast. Each story is discussed at a deeper level on the podcast.
This week’s headlines: Facebook Instant Articles Get More Brand Friendly, Facebook Expands Canvas to Organic Posts, Twitter Giving Users More Seconds of Video, Tumblr Gets Live Streaming Video, Facebook Brings MSQRD Integration to Facebook Live and YouTube App Gets Live Streaming Capabilities.
The week’s news quick hits: Twitter Acquires Magic Pony, Instagram Has Half a Billion Users, Twitter Launches Analytics App for Power Users, Twitch Launches Friends Feature, Instagram to Offer Automatic Translations, Pinterest Acquires Shopping App Tote, Facebook Brings Reactions to VR, Uber Expands Upfront Pricing and WhatsApp Delivers 100 Million Calls Per Day.
Read MoreInstagram’s proven itself to be an excellent platform for brands to communicate their value propositions and ethos through visuals, and now it’s ready to pivot to help brands further with the launch of business profiles. They’re already in testing with a small group of users, and they have the potential to make Instagram a much more powerful tool for brands.
Read More