Social Media Trends: February

What do Instagram users expect from brands?

• Facebook conducted a study of 21,000 Instagram users to gain insights on the platform’s future.
• 66% said that Instagram is a platform that allows interaction with brands.
• Instagram users are active regardless of age - 60% of users 25-34 and 49% of users 35 - 44 access the platform multiple times a day.
• Short (under 15-seconds), relevant ads are best received.

Facebook introduces household income targeting based on US Zip code averages

• Advertisers can now target ads based on where a user’s household income falls percentage-wise.
• Targeting is based on the top 5%, top 10%, top 10% - 25%, and top 25% - 50% of zip codes.

Improve Your Conversion Rate

• 80 percent of customers are likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences.
• Optimize your lead generation forms, and feature testimonials from a variety of clients.
• Run A/B tests on a variety of call-to-actions, images and headlines to determine what combinations drive the highest retention.
• Provide answers to the most referenced objections.
• Simplify your landing pages, copy and call-to-actions. The easier it is for your audience, the more likely they are to convert.

User-Generated Content is most trustworthy, survey says.

• 90% of consumers said that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support - up from 86% in 2017.
• 51% of consumers feel less than half of brands create content that resonates as authentic.
• While consumers are 2.4x more likely to say UGC is most authentic, marketers are 2.1x more likely to say brand-created content is most authentic.
• Purchase decisions made after seeing user-generated visuals include:
• 57% have made plans to dine at a particular restaurant
• 54% have purchased a consumer packaged good

Quick Hits:

• Instagram is rolling out IGTV promotions within the main feed to better promote the service.
• Half of Instagram’s 1 billion users are using Instagram Stories daily.
• Facebook will now reveal if a user is part of a custom audience within the ‘Why am I seeing this?’
• LinkedIn rolls out LinkedIn Live to provide another option for video content on the platform.
• Instagram is testing a web version of direct messaging that lets people chat without the app.
• Instagram is testing a 'Donation' sticker in Stories, allowing users to set up fundraisers for their favorite non-profit organizations.
• Pinterest is going public, with its last estimated value at $12B in 2017.
• Instagram is testing a public version of ‘Collections,’ a tool that enables users to gather sets of posts on specific topics using the ‘Save’ tool.