Welcome to this week’s Social Marketing Cluster Facts! Every week we dig into the social media marketing news scene and uncover the goods. What’s up this week?
Facebook stands with mobile, Snapchat advertising throws it back and Twitter opens submissions for top advertisement campaigns. Watch SMCF!
Transcript:
The strength of Facebook’s mobile ad sales has blown up their sales revenue. After an astoundingly successful second-quarter, Facebook reported sales were up to approximately $6.44 billion and profit had tripled reaching $2.06 billion. Sales revenue has risen by 59 percent since last year and Facebook doesn’t seem to be counting their chickens just yet. Facebook is still looking to the future of advertising and in their eyes, the gold lies in video. Facebook has been aggressively, yet methodically moving towards boosting the presence of video on its platform for a few years with the introduction of new ways to capture and share video, and adding more functions for live streaming. Companies and publishers such as Buzzfeed and The New York Times have partnered with Facebook to create content specifically for the site while more and more look to strike similar deals.
Facebook is pushing to move past Twitter as the preferred platform for current events and news. Facebook’s search feature now sees 2.2 BILLION searches a day, a 33 percent jump in use over the past 9 months and a sign it’s moving in the right direction. It looks like we can all look forward to many more long-winded political rants on Facebook for years to come.
Are you one of the hundreds of those people who don’t have a TV but still want to watch the Olympics? Well, you are slightly in luck! NBC has decided to partner with Facebook and Instagram to showcase highlights and footage from the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio. Twitter and YouTube will also be hosting content from the games but do not have an official partnership with the broadcasting company. Slow motion replay season will be in full effect.
Snapchat may be the hip new tech company on the block, but they still appreciate some good old-school marketing moves. They’ve used billboards in the past and most recently the’ve started putting their logo on mats in TSA bins. We’re not really sure why they’ve chosen one of the least phone friendly places in the world to advertise, but we’re also not sure why they made a selfie lens that makes users barf rainbows. Whatever it is they’re doing, it seems they’ve got the right stuff.
A few weeks ago, AIMCLEAR Account Manager Gretchen Gautreaux appeared on Cluster Facts to talk about Twitter’s ads manager beta, which we spotted in the wild. This week the platform officially announced the rollout of the new ads manager platform, which will be available out to all advertisers in the coming months.
Remember when we told you Twitter ad awards were coming? They’re now open for submissions. Marketers, you have until September 23 to submit your entry for any one of the six categories. Check out twitterawards.com for the full scoop.
Are you kind of a big deal? Do you want to get Twitter verified? Twitter announced its new verification process application this week. Head to support.twitter.com to see if you’ll make the cut.
And that does it for this episode of Social Marketing Cluster Facts. Make sure to tune in next week for more up to date news on your favorite platforms. Check out the AIMCLEAR blog to go even deeper. I’m Al LeBlanc, we look forward to seeing you soon.
Sources:
Facebook Profit Nearly Triples on Mobile Ad Sales and New Users, @MikeIsaac, The New York Times
Facebook sees 2 billion searches per day, but it’s attacking Twitter not Google, @joshconstine, Tech Crunch
You’ll be able to watch Olympics highlights on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, @KurtWagner8, Recode
Snapchat raised so much money they’re doing something really weird with it, @juanbuis, The Next Web
Introducing an easier way to manage and report on Twitter Ads campaigns, @chrstnelee, Twitter Blog
Prizes, bragging rights, and more: enter your campaign for the first annual Twitter Awards, @joell, Twitter Blog
Announcing an Application Process for Verified Accounts, @tinab, Twitter Blog
