Keeping up with current content creation and marketing best practices is a full-time job by itself. The problem for you and most of our other readers is that you are being pulled in too many different directions to focus too much time only on keeping up on news and updates. Thankfully, Content Radar provides to you on a weekly basis the most important items you need to know.
Buffer’s 2019 State of Social report touts importance of stories
Social media stories will continue to have an important place in brands’ social marketing plans in 2019, according to Buffer’s just-released “State of Social” report, even though more than 1/3 of brands are unsure about how effective stories are. Conversely, more than 57 percent of brands — presumably those who are tracking effectiveness of stories — say that stories are either a “somewhat effective” or “very effective” part of their marketing efforts.Roughly 3 in 5 marketers say social media 'stories' are either a 'somewhat effective' or 'very effective' part of their marketing efforts. | #ContentRadar | #SocialMedia | #Marketing Click To Tweet
Stories effectiveness
One key indicator that shows that brands are finding stories to be effective is found in the fact that 37 percent of those surveyed say they have invested in ad spend on Facebook and/or Instagram stories. Similarly, 3 in 5 of those brand representatives surveyed claimed they would be spending more money on stories ads in 2019 than they did last year.More than 60 percent of brand reps say they will spend more on social media stories ads in 2019. | #SocialMedia | #Marketing | #ContentRadar Click To Tweet
Of course, as is true with any social media tool du jour, the potential for over-saturating stories with ads might be enough to turn social users away from them. However, you can keep people coming back to stories if you provide unique value. In a recent YouTube video, Instagrammer Lucy Martin discusses how important entertainment value is in Instagram stories.
“Essentially, [exceptional Instagram stories creators] all employ really great storytelling. To make a great story, it’s not about just throwing up random images—things that are unconnected. It’s about making a cohesive story.”
Video content opportunities
In the survey, a little under 15 percent of brands say they don’t publish any video content on social media — down more than 10 percent from the 25 percent who answered they didn’t publish any video content in the 2018 survey. Roughly 1 in 3 brands say they publish video content monthly, with nearly half of respondents claiming they publish video content on social media at least bi-weekly. Approximately 13 percent of these respondents say they publish video content daily.
Regarding the platforms that brands use to publish videos, Facebook is still king, with 81 percent of respondents saying they publish video content there. Other popular channels for video content include YouTube (63 percent); Instagram (58 percent); and Twitter (46 percent). Conversely, fewer than 5 percent of respondents say they post video content on Snapchat.
Social media strategy challenges
Perhaps one of the most surprising findings from the survey was that 51 percent of respondents said that the organizations they represent do not have a documented social media strategy. This lack of documentation may be part of the reason why several respondents said they were unsure about the effectiveness of their social media strategy. Approximately 1 in 5 respondents answered they were uncertain about how effective social media marketing has been for their business. Likewise, those who say their social media marketing efforts are ineffective (nearly 10 percent) may also have their lack of a documented strategy to blame.
Facebook plans to merge Messenger, Instagram Messenger, and WhatsApp, according to a report in the New York Times. The integration would allow each app to continue to stand alone as individual tools, but unify functionality so users on one platform can message to users on other platforms.
Google’s non-skippable 15-second ads will soon be available to all advertisers. Google says the 15-second format is its most popular ad type. The company also says it will continue to cap the number of ads a YouTube viewer sees.
Marketers say they will be spending more money on LinkedIn in 2019. In a recent Digiday survey of 290 media buyers, more than 40 percent said they would be spending more on LinkedIn this year.
Salesforce will soon provide a robust tool set to help marketers track customer journeys. The company says that connecting Datorama and Marketing Cloud will help marketers better understand all of the digital touch points that led to a consumer decision.
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