Metrics, Video and Shopping Lead 2020 Social Media Trends
Moving into 2020, AccuList’s clients using social media marketing have a busy, changing landscape to navigate, with expanding opportunities. Social media experts highlight some new trends, some ongoing trends, and some ideas just over the horizon.
Say Goodbye to Vanity Metrics, Marketers
Among the top trends highlighted in a recent Entrepreneur magazine article by Deep Patel is a de-emphasis of social media “vanity metrics,” such as follower counts and “likes.” In fact, Instagram is following Facebook in removal of public likes of other members’ Instagram posts, although you can still see the number of likes on your own posts, which will help combat the sometimes fake likes and followers that can misrepresent brand and influencer power. Hopefully, marketers will take it as a signal to seek more actionable metrics, such as the rate and quality of user engagement, or user demographics and data for audience targeting. While social media management provider Sprout Social’s “Sprout Social Index” monitoring still shows likes/comments as the leading measure of social success (72% of marketers), followed by shares/retweets (62%), nearly two-thirds of marketers surveyed felt that social listening will be more crucial in 2020, meaning a greater concern with what’s being said rather than how many people are talking or looking at a single post. One reason vanity metrics are fading is that social marketers are being held more accountable for bottom-line results as the Sprout Social Index now finds that 63% of marketers regularly report social data to their bosses.
Video’s Social Power Keeps Growing
Brent Barnhart at Sprout Social joins Patel at Entrepreneur in listing video as a continuing growth trend for 2020. Video will make up 82% of all internet traffic in 2020, according to Social Media Today, and, as Barnhart notes, YouTube is second only to Facebook in terms of active users now, with Chinese-owned social video app TikTok bounding up as the latest video market disrupter, catering especially to Gen Z and influencers. Patel urges brand marketers to prepare for video formats to reshape marketing strategies, with more stress on creative storytelling that engages viewers in seconds (especially on platforms where the like button goes away). Meanwhile, increased use of audience segmentation is expected to drive a new “personalized video” marketing trend toward content that is customizable and hyper-relevant to specific market segments, notes Patel. Now that social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, are pushing brands to produce video content through Story Ads that get higher click-through rates than traditional ads, personalization will take response, and video use by marketers, even higher.
Social Shopping Is More Direct and Targeted
Social shopping is now an integral part of the social media experience, per Barnhart and Patel. Patel advises marketers that, to meet user expectations for access to brands and products through social platforms, they need to combine creative and engaging storytelling (which often relies on videos and influencer marketing) and a frictionless shopping experience where customers don’t need to leave the social media site to buy products. Watch for an increasing number of shoppable posts, stories and links on all social media sites. Barnhart likewise sees increased direct business from customers on social media and points to examples such as Facebook’s roll-out of personalized ad experiences that deliver products dynamically to customers, changing formats (such as carousel and collection) and call-to-action varied by audience targeting. Other proofs of direct social-selling growth include Instagram’s introduction of shopping and even LinkedIn changes to its ad platform to help B2B brands push products to relevant customers.
Influencer Marketing Turns to Smaller, Tighter Connections
Patel predicts that big-is-better, celebrity influencer marketing, while not going away, will be increasingly supplemented by use of micro- and even “nano-influencers” with only a couple thousand followers. These nano-influencers have smaller, better-defined audiences that allow for greater personalization and stronger audience engagement, delivering more measurable results. Barnhart agrees and says brand-marketer interest in smaller-audience influencers is a reaction to both the rise in “fake influencers” and the trend away from “likes” as a key engagement metric. Brands are increasingly interested in influencers who can back up their cost with metrics and audience data. Nano-influencers also address another trend identified by both Patel and Barnhart: an audience shift from public to private, tight-knit communities on social media. Nano-influencers are one way to connect with those tight-knit communities and build trust and engagement there.
For many more social media trends, see the Entrepreneur article.
Election Year Is Double-Edged Sword for Nonprofit Fundraisers
AccuList’s nonprofit fundraising clients are entering a presidential election year, arguably one that is more contentious and partisan than usual. Will that be good or bad for fundraising? What strategies will help navigate the political crosscurrents to reap donations?
Political Ferment Can Churn Up Donations for Some
Research by online fundraising platform Classy has found that an “election effect” can drive an “unprecedented increase” in recurring donations for some nonprofits aligned with politically charged issues. For example, Classy reports that, after the 2016 presidential election, nonprofits directly opposed to President Trump’s policies, actions, or ideology saw a “surge in donations.” As another example, research by the Lily Family School of Philanthropy found donations increased significantly for “charities associated with progressive or liberal causes mentioned during the election” in the week after the 2016 election. Per 2019 Classy research, 46% of respondents said their political beliefs dictate the organizations or causes that will receive their donations. Classy suggests some basic strategies to use political winds to propel efforts to bump up new donors and recurring donations: 1) go back through donor data from the 2016 election to see how donations were affected before and after election day, taking into account political party as well as demographics and the timing of spikes; 2) pay attention to news about political issues that my relate to your cause for timely and targeted positioning of appeals; 3) reach out to existing donors and ask how the 2020 election is impacting plans to donate in order to decide how and when it’s best to ask for a donation; and 4) embrace flexibility in strategy so that you can adjust efforts to shifts in the national conversation.
Other Fundraising Efforts Can Be Pushed Offstage
Not all nonprofit causes can be linked to political issues. In a Forbes magazine post, Gloria Horsley, founder of Open to Hope Foundation, acknowledges the positive “election effect” for fundraisers that align with political agendas but notes a potentially negative impact on other nonprofits when more politically charged sectors noisily take center stage and siphon donor attention. She urges nonprofits that can’t find a way to make a connection to a political issue to reemphasize why the mission is just as critical despite the election noise. One approach is to illustrate how helping the nonprofit can produce tangible results, in contrast to the less certain outcomes of political efforts. People like to know they are making a difference and to have an emotional connection to a cause. Donors with an emotional connection to an organization will dig deeper and stay longer—even in an election year. That’s where good storytelling content makes a difference. In a post for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), fundraising consultant Linda Wise McNay cites storytelling as one of the top eight 2020 trends that nonprofits should embrace. She urges messaging to provide donors and prospects with a compelling case for support by collecting intimate, personal stories about beneficiaries of the nonprofit’s work, and then sharing those stories in print, online, on the phone and in person.
Taking Sides Can Result in Donor Losses, Too
Of course, McNay of AFP also lists the election as a major trend affecting nonprofits in 2020, but she sounds a note of caution: “Our conversations public and private are filled with comments and opinions on candidates and issues. Be wary of saying anything too controversial to your constituents that may be considered taking a position on one side or the other. Double up your efforts to fulfill the mission and goals of your organization, being careful not to take any political stance that might offend your donors and prospects and thwart your fundraising efforts. Your goal is to be still operating after the election, no matter which side wins the election in November.” One way to stay on the right side of your audience is to know them and target appropriately, and that means leveraging another key 2020 trend cited by McNay: access to, and analysis of, high-quality data on existing donors and prospects. AccuList will be happy to help with that data!
Mobile, AI Highlight E-mail Marketing Trends for 2020
AccuList’s e-mail list and data services clients can expect to ride some positive trends into 2020, according to e-mail marketing pros. While continuing to top other channels in terms of ROI, e-mail marketing worldwide in 2019 also showed improved delivery rates, rising open rates and increasing click-through-rates, per data from UK-based Data and Marketing Association. Digital marketing platform Smart Insights recently surveyed experts to find ways to further leverage the positives this year.
Mobile-Optimize E-mail to Target Lead Source of Opens
The impact of mobile usage on e-mail can’t be underestimated. In 2019, mobile browsing (53% of traffic) surpassed desktop/tablet browsing (47% of traffic), notes Smart Insights. And while mobile still lags in terms of purchase revenue (32%) versus desktop/tablet (68%), it’s growing fast, with a 23% year-over-year increase that has helped accelerate mobile optimization across digital channels. Data from Litmus shows that mobile devices also led in e-mail opens (41.9%) compared with desktop opens (18.2%) by Q1 of 2019. Clearly, mobile optimization is a priority for e-mail marketers. Coding for a mobile-viewing format is only the beginning. Changes to copy, images and overall layout can boost click-through by streamlining presentation to place the focus on quick engagement and links to landing pages, product pages, blogs, etc., note experts. Concise copy with enough white space for easy reading is a first goal. Other tips include using image dimensions that are small enough to render well and placing images on the “first fold” to encourage scrolling. Using e-mail design with short copy not only leads to quick scanning but also allows the call-to-action (CTA) to be seen early and avoids excess scrolling that loses click-throughs. Remember that the surge in wearable technologies is limiting even more of the space marketers have for messaging. Finally, make sure that e-mails are rendering correctly across all types of devices, a testing option offered by most e-mail service providers.
Watch for AI to Expand Potential Use in E-mail Marketing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming of age in marketing, including e-mail campaigns. Worldwide, 30% of companies will be using AI in at least one sales process in 2020, Gartner predicts, and 87% of current AI users say they are planning on using it for sales forecasting and e-mail campaign enhancement, per Statista. Connext Digital foresees seven ways that AI will begin to influence e-mail marketing: 1) applying algorithms and data insights for predictive personalization; 2) analyzing demographics, purchasing patterns and online behavior for smarter segmentation; 3) automating workflow for e-mail triggering, tailored messaging and lead nurturing; 4) using natural language technology to find the best words for response optimization of subject lines and CTAs; 5) improving e-mail timing and frequency by specific recipient;6) A/B and multivariate testing to quickly identify trends and develop predictive results; and 7) developing data to enhance broader analyses, for example to predict potential churn.
Facing Privacy Laws, E-mail Marketers Focus on Building Trust
Cold e-mailing, spamming and phishing have tainted e-mail’s reputation among consumers (and marketers), but recent privacy regulations, including the European Union’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, have spurred the e-mail marketing world to go beyond CAN SPAM to focus on privacy, compliance and subscriber trust. E-mail definitely continues as a strong communications channel despite past abuses. A 2019 Drift study found that e-mail is the leading communications channel for B2C, far above websites, social media, and even face-to-face meetings, with 65% of respondents saying that they used e-mail to communicate with organizations in the past 12 months. Compare that with 55% communicating via telephone and 42% via websites, the next most popular channels. So with the majority of recipients only receiving e-mails to which they have opted-in from particular senders, smart marketers will want to focus on building on recipients’ trust and providing value in 2020.
Read more detail from Smart Insights.
