This document summarizes recent updates and new features across several social media platforms. Facebook is introducing 5-star ratings for pages and more granular targeting options for ads. Google+ is focusing on restricted communities for workplace collaboration. Instagram ads are seeing conversion rates of 3-5%. LinkedIn is offering certification of online courses and new showcase pages for products. Pinterest is launching location-based pins and APIs for third-party integration. Overall the document highlights new ways for marketers to engage audiences across major social networks.
The Patch, Dec. 2013: Google+ is your (workplace's) friend, Pinterest getting sexy for ROI
1. The Patch
Social media new features updates for marketers
December 2013
• 5-stars rating coming to Facebook Pages
• Google+ Restricted Communities for the workplace
• 3-5% conversion rate with Instagram ads
• LinkedIn Showcase Pages for your products
• Pinterest “Place Pins” on maps: Travel should care
2. Facebook
5-star rating incoming for Pages
Reputation of brands on Facebook less on volume, more on value, with star ratings:
•
Stars now coming to Desktop for a selection of pages and users, initially it was a feature to rate
businesses on mobile (after checking-in, for instance)
•
Implication: more granularity and sentiment beyond the “Like”.
=> If reputation on Facebook = Talking about this + Star rating, more value needs to be offered
3. Facebook
More and more granularity on Facebook ads
Three features to try out this month with Facebook Advertising:
•
Facebook Ads merging "Interests" and "Broad Categories" to help better target your audiences
•
Ads in News Feed tested with no Like or comment options, to drive more conversions to website
•
“Partner Categories” have doubled since inception in April, you can for instance target easily active
buyers of women's accessories or Auto intenders in the market for a Subaru Outback
=> Why not trying a Facebook campaign with us for a very specific target for Chinese new year?
4. Facebook
Facebook losing ground on teens & social logins
Facebook loses dominancy bits by bits with
two “weak signals” to bear in mind
•
Currently, Facebook login holds 51% of
social logins, down 1% from the previous
quarter, while Google+ has risen 2% to
26%.
•
A “social login” is when you log to a new
website through your social media profile
rather than registering from scratch
•
Facebook admits losing momentum on
Teenagers, a key target, and opens new
options for the 13-17 to publish “public”
posts and be “followed” by anyone.
=> Again, Google+ is not an option anymore
in your digital strategy, just don’t see it as a
“Facebook #2”
Market share for social logins on websites, Q3 2013
5. Google+
More collaborative tools for the office with Google+
Two cool features to enhance work group and collaboration at the office with Google+
•
Restricted Communities are like mini, in-house social networks, with G+ features (Hangout, Circles)
•
You can now invite more easily employees to a Hangout or Community with “Global Address List”
=> Consider these communities as a substitute to Yammer or Facebook groups as it’s free with more
features. If you’re a Google Apps users, it’s even more easy to join
6. Google+
Google Helpout: a paid-for Hangout with an expert
A Google+ experiment to check in the B2B field with Google Helpout:
•
Same Google Hangout technology (realtime video) with curated experts & brands (such as Sephora)
•
Google+ certifies its community of helpers, you can apply in Computers, Cooking, Repair, Health…
=> An awesome opportunity for anyone B2B or B2C to sell skills & increase the efficiency of idle times
7. Youtube
Youtube Capture 2.0 pushes forward video-editing
Youtube now offering even more tools to create, remix videos with Capture 2.0:
•
You can do multi-clip editing, stitching a few ones into a new video
•
You can import soundtracks and manage pause/resume of the recording
=> The internet culture is about remixing more than creating, do try to produce content with Capture
8. Instagram
3-5% conversion rates on Instagram Ads!
Instagram ads rolls out and make a hit in
conversion statistics:
•
The first ever Instagram ad by Michael Kors
(pictured) got 3x as many likes as average post
(150k vs 50k)
•
“Like” percentage can reach as high as 5%, says
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom
•
71% of the world’s top 100 brands are on
Instagram. Why? Mobile, easy, part of
Facebook.
=> You’re in the luxury, travel, art business: think
of your content strategy in pictures, and prepare
to experiment these mobile-only and quality ads.
9. Twitter
Twitter advertising gets more accurate on mobile
Twitter advertising gets better with three things to remember this month:
•
Twitter ads rolls out in the UK, Ireland, Canada. Companies can pay per follow or action on post
•
Twitter ads also allows now to target users based on mobile device, os or wifi connectivity
=> More than ever, data on users (Google Analytics, Facebook Insights) must drive campaigns
10. Twitter
Twitter advertising + TV advertising = wow
Twitter ads which target users talking of a TV show help decrease acquisition cost and increase sales:
•
“TV Conversation targeting” is easy: identify #program and target users talking of it
•
Twitter and TV are highly complimentary as data from this Twitter study show
=> You don’t even need to be part of a TV program to play Be creative, and get into the TV
conversation on Twitter.
11. LinkedIn
Linkedin for people: new certifications for your MOOCs
LinkedIn keeps expanding its “economic graph” with certifications from MOOCs
•
Online courses you took at Coursera, EdX, Udacity or Udemy now recognized in certifications
•
MOOCs? Free online courses provided by top universities in the world. Get your employees on it.
=> These last months, LinkedIn has launched a LOT of personal branding features (Stats for your
updates, Endorsements, University pages with a place for alumni…) Don’t miss a great B2B/HR tool.
12. LinkedIn
Linkedin for business: Showcase Pages for your products
Create sub-pages dedicated to your products, markets or line of businesses with Showcase Pages:
•
HP has for instance Showcase Pages for Apps, Converged Infrastructure…
•
Showcase Pages acts like company pages: they can be followed, publish news, push ads
=> Again, tons of new opportunities this year for B2B on LinkedIn, check them with us.
13. Pinterest
After raising money, Pinterest launches APIs
Pinterest, reputed to be good to drive traffic to websites (2nd to Facebook), launches APIs:
•
Websites can now show Top pins (on a keyword), Most Recent, or Related Pins
•
First set of brands includes Disney, Walmart, Nestle, Zappos
=> For the retail/e-commerce, media & women-related industries, Pinterest is a key driver for traffic
14. Pinterest
Pinterest plays with location to create great maps of pins
You can now “Place Pins” and a location to your favorite pictures on Pinterest:
•
You can design easily “maps of Pins”, as TimeOut London did for a Christmas map of gifts
•
The “travel” category will get increased opportunities, as Pinterest wants to focus on trip-planning
with partners such as Lonely Planet and National Geographic
=> Why not creating a brand’s vision of every big city with Pinterest?
15. Foursquare
Brands without location can now push ads
Foursquare adds a new channel for
advertisers without a location:
•
MasterCard is the first to push its offers to
nearby locations
•
Ads remain on a cost-per-action basis, not
per impression, so it’s ROI-focused
=> Other brands who partner with merchants
and local businesses should try out this type
of Ads.
16. Thanks!
Agence Tesla, a social media agency in Singapore and Paris
Martin.pasquier@agencetesla.com
Follow us on Twitter @agencetesla or www.agencetesla.asia
Why “The Patch”? In computing, a “patch” is a software update to correct bugs, improve
performance or update a program. We want to “patch” marketers with the latest curated
social media new features.