Social Media & SEO

Trust, thy name is not Facebook. Go, ahead, Google it. But is Google a trusted source? Joking aside, Facebook is not the sole tech brand with a trust deficit. Put Google in that category, based on a new Gallup

YouTube is once again in hot water for running ads on channels promoting disturbing content, a CNN investigation has uncovered. More than 300 organizations had their ads running on channels promoting Nazis and North Korean propaganda, to name two. For now, brands are still willing to take the risk.

Vero, the no-ad, no-algorithm social media app may go the way of Meerkat, Ping and Orkut. Time will tell. Still, brands can learn a few things about transparency, listening and authenticity from Vero’s early success. The bottom line: Customers across all industries value transparency in paid and organic messaging as well as increased attention to consumer insights.

Snapchat has announced a new feature, Shoppable Lenses, that aims to win brands’ advertising dollars by trading “soft” metrics like opens and impressions for clickthroughs, conversions and calls to action that can be tied directly to sales. The feature, which uses Snapchat’s AR lenses and allows users to virtually try a new product, could be a game changer for B2C brands, while acting as a proof-of-concept for companies wary of the platform.

Social media has become the foundation for communications measurement, in part because each platform comes with its own analytics feature that communicators can use to measure an endless variety of outputs and outcomes. But it’s important to remember that only using the native analytics features will not give you a full picture.

The social trends of 2017 seem to continue into 2018. In our first look at U.S. B2C brands for 2018 we see companies generally posting fewer pieces of content, but gaining consumer engagement. The data provided to us exclusively by Shareablee shows beauty and fashion brands dominating the first quarter of 2018 in terms of consumer engagement with social posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

How many ways can data show it? Facebook is the social platform of choice for those older than 18. PiperJaffray found another way to express this thought. It asked U.S. teens to name their favorite social platform. Just 9% of them responded that it was Facebook. Nearly 50% said Snapchat was at the top of their lists.

How are brands building relationships with micro-influencers to launch collaborations that result in compelling, authentic content, and what types of content resonate the most? Those are the central questions examined by “Major Insights From Micro-Influencers,” a survey of 400 micro-influencers from across the nation, conducted by Atlanta-based Everywhere Agency.

Criticizing a brand or famous individual on social can be a great way to blow off steam. For the critic, there’s much less of a price to pay than if you blow off steam face-to-face or on email with family members and co-workers. In that sense, social media fills a great human need—to vent without repercussions for those who vent. You know where this leaves brands—on permanent 24-hour alert.

In our examination of the Restaurant sector, with Shareablee data provided to us exclusively, we find fewer pieces of content posted in 2017 resulting in a reduction in consumer engagement with the industry. This is a trend buster in that nearly all the industries we’ve seen have reduced content and gained consumer engagement.