New year, new social strategy? Find out what trends are guiding brands into the next few months. We'll also tell you about Twitter's new CTA buttons, Snapchat's leap into ad tech, and a video trend that literally challenges you not to cry. Skim for a strong start!
Here's where brands will play in 2016
Instagram and Snapchat aren't the only way to reach Millennials. From mobile messaging and payments to a meme-generating Pinterest-style site for men, brands will experiment with more under-the-radar social media like Kik, Venmo and Imgur.
Take a peek at all the goods—and for more niche inspiration, check out this case study-packed SlideShare on harnessing the collaborative economy. It's filled with smart partnerships that helped brands take their promises further, like Whole Foods' Instacart partnership to bring food to people's doors.
1. Twitter launches tweets with CTA buttons
Brands can now encourage followers to tweet about them with ads. The new format, dubbed conversational ads, lets users interact with custom hashtags or call-to-action buttons—which can yield all kinds of Choose Your Own Adventure-style creative opportunities, like what you see below. Twitter then leads the user to a pre-filled tweet alongside a branded message which, once shared, will hopefully incite a chain reaction among that person's followers.
2. How would you feel about a 10,000-character limit for Tweets?
The network famous for its brevity is scrounging for ways to lure new users without decreasing engagement, a problem it's faced in the past (which resulted in larger imagery and more dynamic content). A possible 10,000-character limit may be a natural next step, considering its DM feature already operates by that rule, and users would still see just 140 characters on their feeds (with the option to view more if they wish).
No official launch date has been set, but as 2016 kicks off, it may already be worth considering what kind of long-form content you could push once Twitter's limit rises!
3. Need engagement-boosting interactive formats?
Looking to freshen up the editorial calendar? Switch things up with five new takes on fun, compulsively engaging content. Covered in detail: Interactive infographics, quizzes, interactive e-books, calculators, and even interactive video.
4. How social can power B2B sales
You often hear about the importance of building value-adding content that connects with the people you want as clients, but how do you do that in practice? This Harvard Business Review article explains how companies like Adobe, IBM, and Maersk generated sales leads—and even changed brand perceptions—by patiently constructing a content strategy that led to a qualitative, cross-channel whole. Examples include Adobe' use of CMO.com to cultivate C-suite relevance, and #wintermaersk, which yielded 150 unique sales leads—no small figure in the shipping industry.
"@MaerskLine: Photo of the day: #MaerskLine in Russia. #wintermaersk #icy #ontimedelivery pic.twitter.com/LYHkBc8PI7" #basilkaratzas
— Karatzas Marine Adv. (@KaratzasMarine) March 8, 2014
5. Is Snapchat building an ad tech platform?
Snapchat's reaching out to ad tech companies to develop an API that lets brands execute campaigns with new ad types, and possibly also provide an easy automated path to placing, targeting, and (ultimately) measuring success.
Snapchat noq works directly with companies to sell its ad formats. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others have already developed and launched APIs, and Snapchat's could be ready for testing by spring.
With all these changes in the air, analysts predict the company will take on Twitter and go public with an IPO sometime this year.