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By Liam Dowd - February 4th, 2015
The most trusted social media networks. Facebook dominates content sharing and why social media drives engagement.
Mobile social media drives engagement
According to the latest survey from Mondo customer engagement will increasingly focus on social media channels delivered across mobile platforms. Email also maintains its strength with video making the most gains.
The report succinctly concludes: “The digital era has disrupted traditional marketing methods. In order for marketing leaders to stay relevant, not only do they need the right talent, but they also need to be immersed in technologies that will transform the way they engage with customers. Data will be critical to informing those decisions and without that, companies will be left behind.”
Mondo offer digital talent recruitment services, with their research speaking volumes about how corporations need to ensure the people they hire are digitally savvy and understand how social media is driving engagement, sentiment and much of the commercial space that is rapidly evolving on across mobile channels. Your corporation needs digitally talented people to develop marketing messages that speak directly to todays and tomorrows connected consumers.
Facebook dominates sharing
The constantly reported demise of Facebook is clearly not a reality, as according to the latest stats to come from eMarketer, the social media giant is still the most popular channel for sharing content. Shares grew by 8.2% in Q4 2014. And mobile sharing also sees a huge leap with Facebook shares on mobile gaining 85% o the market, Twitter securing 5% and Pinterest 8%.
“Recent eMarketer estimates put Facebook’s mobile phone audience at nearly 1 billion worldwide, and sharing activity on the social network reflects this trend. A large chunk of that mobile traffic is likely coming via smartphones. According to a November 2014 study by Frank N. Magid Associates, smartphones accounted for about 44% of US Facebook users’ weekly time with the social network. Tablets grabbed 25% of time spent with Facebook each week, and desktops 32%.”
Facebook revenues expand by nearly 60%
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “One interesting sign of our continued growth in engagement is through our progress on visual and public content. More than two billion photos are now shared daily on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Video also grew significantly this year, with an average of more than three billion video views daily on Facebook. And there are now more than two billion interactions every week on Facebook between public figures and their fans.
“Instagram is also growing and helping people share and consume the most engaging content in different communities across the world. Instagram reached 300 million monthly actives, with more than 70% outside of the U.S. Average time spent using the app continues to be very strong compared to other mobile services. Across Facebook and Instagram, we’ve done a very good job on engagement, especially when it comes to helping people find and consume content they like.
“We expect WhatsApp and Messenger to connect hundreds of millions of more people and become indispensable services for the world, as well as important contributors to our business. Messenger and WhatsApp recently achieved impressive new milestone: In November, Messenger reached 500 million monthly actives, and at the beginning of January, WhatsApp reached 700 million monthly actives, with more than 30 billion messages sent each day. These numbers speaks the quality of both products and the size of the opportunity ahead to help billions of people communicate and collaborate.”
And tellingly about video content, COO Sheryl Sandberg commented: “In just one year, the number of video posts per person on Facebook increased 75%t globally and 94% in the U.S. Today, over 50% of people in the U.S. who come to Facebook daily watch at least one video per day, and globally, over 65% of Facebook video views occur on mobile.”
- Revenue for the full year 2014 was $12.47 billion, an increase of 58% year-over-year.
- Income from operations for the full year 2014 was $4.99 billion.
- Net income for the full year 2014 was $2.94 billion.
- Free cash flow for the full year 2014 was $3.63 billion.
- Daily active users (DAUs) were 890 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 18% year-over-year.
- Mobile DAUs were 745 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 34% year-over-year.
- Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.39 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 13% year-over-year.
- Mobile MAUs were 1.19 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
Facebook then continues to be at the core of all social media marketing activity. Video content marches onto dominate the views and shares of content hosted on Facebook, placing this content at the centre of all corporate marketing campaigns that want to achieve maximum exposure.
One third of Twitter users now in Asia Pacific region
A new infographic from Go-Global will make for interesting reading if you corporation operates or intends to target consumers across the Asia Pacific region. According to the company’s research the region accounts for 426 million monthly users across Facebook alone. Add to this the third of Twitter users in that region as well, and your business has a massive market to address.
Social media trust
The question of which social media networks do consumers trust the most has been answered by the Social Recommendation Index that reveals that Facebook comes out on top, as the most trusted social network. Facebook and Instagram lead the pack for sharing product purchases, with Pinterest not far behind. Trust in Pinterest increased from 56% in 2013 to 64% in 2014.
Personal stories are better than star ratings. More than 90% (93%) of those surveyed said the most valuable reviews are those that contain personal stories.
The closer the relationship, the greater the influence. According to 77% of those surveyed, close friends and family impact purchase the most, while only 11% said a celebrity impacts purchase. Consumers are not turned off by facilitated reviews, especially if it's written by a friend or family member. Close to 90% (88%) said they trust a review from a friend or family member who has received a free product in exchange for a review.
Until next time….
The Useful Social Media team.
Next Reads
The Corporate Social Media Summit New York 2015
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