Social and Digital Media News: 2020 Trends, Stories, and Going Beyond Likes and Shares

info on March 2, 2020

Social Shorts: Facebook Launches Pinterest Lookalike App, Instagram Tests ‘Latest Posts’ Feature, Snapchat Could Be Getting a New Look

Facebook is working to improve speech recognition technology. According to Marketing Land “Facebook is recruiting users to be part of its ‘Pronunciation’ program” by asking qualifying participants to record phrases to help improve speech recognition.

Twitter is working to combat false news by labeling misinformation shared by politicians and public figures in bright noticeable colors.

Marketing Land also points out that Twitter is “rolling out a feature that lets you add ‘a new thought to an old Tweet’ so you can thread Tweets posted days apart.”

TikTok developed a set of safety controls to allow parents to set limitations for their children on how often they’re on TikTok

Marketing Land reports that LinkedIn is adding a profile feature “that lets users showcase key achievements and updates in a separate featured section”.

“Instagram has been spotted internally prototyping a ‘latest posts’ feature, which provides a way for users to see the most recent pictures and videos from people they follow”. Reports Marketing Land.

Facebook is developing a new product that is reported to be very similar to Pinterest called Hobbi. Hobbi is a photo-sharing app that allows you to categorize your pictures into different pages.

Snapchat is in the process of redesigning its layout by adding a black navigation bar which makes navigating to different sections of the app much easier.

Why Businesses Should Still Be Using Email Marketing in 2020

Mike Gingerich of The Goshen News is reminding us that even with the rise of social media email still stands to be one of the best ways to market

Email is low cost while also being one of the easiest marketing strategies to implement

Gingerich notes that “Marketing research company Radicati predicts there will be 4.25 billion email users in the world in 2020, a 230 million increase from 2019”

Email is a great tool to help measure analytics. Gingerich points out  that “If you opt to work with an email services provider, you will get free access to audience analytics, such as the average age of your contacts, where they live, when they are active on the internet, and so much more.”

Gingerich offers an example on how email marketing is complimented by saying “once you know where a customer lives, you can use that information to personalize your messages when replying to their posts on Facebook.”

10 LinkedIn Stats to Guide Your Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2020

Social Media Today points out 10 statistics you need to know in order for you to improve your social media marketing strategy in 2020:

  1. Number of LinkedIn Users: 660 million users in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe
  2. Demographics- Gender: 43% of LinkedIn users worldwide are female compared to 57% of male
  3. Demographics- Age: 37% of US adults—or more than one out of every three—ages between 30 and 49 years old use LinkedIn
  4. Demographics- Education: Half of all US adults with college degrees use LinkedIn
  5. Average Time Spent on LinkedIn: An average LinkedIn session lasts six minutes & seven seconds
  6. LinkedIn for Business: There are more than 30 million companies listed on the platform
  7. LinkedIn’s Popularity Among B2B Marketers: LinkedIn is the 2nd most popular platform among B2B marketers, just behind Facebook.
  8. Largest LinkedIn Audience for Advertising: The US offers the largest LinkedIn advertising audience with a reach of 150 million users.
  9. LinkedIn’s Role in Buyer’s Journey: 52% of buyers list LinkedIn as the most influential channel during their research process
  10. LinkedIn’s Mobile Traffic: 57% of LinkedIn’s traffic comes from mobile devices.

Emerging Social Media Channels & Trends

Search Engine Journal provides some statistics on social media channels: 3.5 billion social media users worldwide have with devices with social media platforms downloaded, more than 90% of millennials are active social media users, almost 2.5 hours a day is spent on social media, more than 73% of marketers say social media is effective in generating a positive ROI.

According to Search Engine Journal, Multi-networking is out. Today’s social media users are starting to have a “less is more” mindset and are trying to focus on one or two channels rather than many.

“More than 28% of users from four major social media platforms engage with live streams each month on any services” claims Search Engine Journal

Matt Johnston, CEO, and Founder of Guide Social supports the rise of video saying “Video is the hottest platform on the planet right now and the cheapest to distribute through social media channels, A reminder to brands, video does NOT have to be expensively produced to be effective.”

Social media users are demanding better privacy policies, to meet that need Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder stated, “the future is private”.

“TikTok was one of the most downloaded apps in the Apple Store for 2018 giving Facebook and Instagram a run for their money.” this statement Supports to The Search Engine Journal’s claim that video is on the rise.

The Search Engine Journal that advises to be effective on TikTok, business owners must utilize elements of strategy from the platform especially hashtags, the limited characters in the description of the video forces you to be creative with the different combinations of hashtags you use.

5 Ways To Boost Your Digital Marketing Campaign ROI

Smart Brief emphasizes the necessity for digital marketing campaigns by highlighting 5 things your company needs to do:

  1. Establish Campaign Goals: Smart Brief provides the acronym “SMART” goals- standing for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Having strategies mapped out allows you to be able to see how each step you are taking will lead you to that campaign goal.
  2. Create Content Your Audience Wants: Create valuable content, make your content user-centric, conduct regular surveys, and understand influencer marketing.
  3. Use Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to draw insights generated through massive datasets, models, and algorithms to predict the future behavior of consumers.
  4. Leverage Automation Technology: Utilizing automation tools to preform repetitive tasks saves you time, allowing you to focus on the main points of your campaign goal.
  5. Avoid Vanity Metrics: Vanity metrics such as, Facebook fans, raw page views, registered users and others that often do not correlate with revenue, can distract you from your business goals and are recognized as press release shares