Pinterest Publishes Listing of Top 100 Trends for 2020, Based on User Behavior

Pinterest has announced the launch of a new tool called ‘Pinterest Trends’ which will provide insight into the most popular search terms on the platform over the preceding 12 months, as well data on when the top searches peak throughout the year, in order to help marketers with their campaign planning.

Read full article HERE. 

116 Video Marketing Stats to Guide Your Online Marketing Strategy in 2020 [Infographic]

Are you looking for ways to improve your online marketing strategy in 2020? Want to learn more about video to see if you can make it work for your business?

The team from Review42 share the stats you need to know in this infographic.

They break things down as follows:

• The popularity of video
• The state of video marketing today
• How video marketing can help your business
• Video as a marketing tool
• Video marketing effectiveness
• Top video marketing benefits
• The types of video marketing

See the full article HERE.

A Beginners Guide to Using TikTok to Market Your Small Business [Infographic]

Are you looking for new ways to maximize your online marketing strategy? Have you considered what TikTok could potentially add to your content marketing efforts?

They break things down as follows:

• What is TikTok?
• TikTok functions
• A social network on the rise
• Who uses TikTok?
• Should your brand use TikTok?
• What about advertising?
• Case studies

Check out the infographic below for more detail HERE

LinkedIn Stats for 2019 [Infographic]

This infographic will inform you about some statistics that you must know to build a successful social media strategy for LinkedIn in 2019.

We’ve divided the statistics into various sections:

• Demographics – The kind of people who are using LinkedIn, for instance, their gender, age, income etc.
• Usage – How people are accessing and using LinkedIn.
• Engagement – The kind of content users are engaging with on LinkedIn and also how and where they’re engaging with brands.
• Businesses – How businesses are using LinkedIn to market themselves – social selling, customer service, content marketing, etc.
• Ads – How brands are investing in LinkedIn ads, their returns and the kind of response ads receive on LinkedIn.

See full infographic HERE.

Facebook Has Launched Another Teen Focused App, This Time to Make Memes

For pretty much its entire history, Facebook has been afraid of losing touch with the kids.

Well, maybe not since its inception, as it came to prominence by superseding former youth champ MySpace. But likely because of how it overtook MySpace as the cool place to be, Facebook knows that it too can be trumped by the next big app, if such an option manages to gain significant traction among younger users. And that’s a fate that Facebook is desperate to avoid.

Enter Facebook’s latest attempt to stay cool with younger folk:

Read full article here. 

4 Things You Need to Know Before Using Google Analytics [Infographic]

Google Analytics is a key tool used by virtually all digital marketing managers to help maximize their online performance.

Google Analytics enables you to track a range of key stats and insights related to your website performance, including total traffic, popular pages, backlinks, on-site behavior and more.

Are you getting the most out of Google Analytics for your business?

There’s a range of functions and tools available in the app, and you’re likely not tapping into all the data points you could be. To help, the team from MilkWhale have put together this overview of Google Analytics essentials to help keep you on track.

See full infographic here.

Worldwide Snapchat Usage to Grow More than 14% This Year

Following a redesign in late 2017 that prompted some US users to leave the platform and stifled growth elsewhere, Snapchat is making a comeback. New features and a rebuilt Android platform are giving the social network new momentum. In its latest forecast on worldwide social network users, eMarketer has upgraded its estimates for Snapchat users for 2019 through 2023.

By the end of the year, Snapchat will have 293.01 million users worldwide, up 14.2% over last year. That’s an upward adjustment from 281.27 million in our Q2 forecast. With higher growth rates built into our new forecast, we expect Snapchat to add more than 63 million users by the end of 2023, vs. our previously estimated 52 million.

“Snapchat has reported gains in users every quarter so far in 2019, and we believe that the relaunched Android app has reinvigorated growth,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “In addition, features such as the successful baby face and gender swap filters earlier this year have driven increases in user engagement with the app.”

The US is Snapchat’s largest market, representing 27.4% of its 2019 users. The market was particularly hard-hit by the unpopular redesign that rolled out to most users by early last year, with its user base declining 1.4% in 2018. Growth will return to positive territory by the end of this year, increasing 5.9%, and pushing its US user base past 80 million for the first time. The biggest turnaround will come from users ages 12 to 17, 1.1 million of whom left the platform last year. This year, the social network will add more than that number back.

The number of users ages 35 to 64 is also growing in double digit percentages, but from a very small base. This year, just 15.4 million of Snapchat’s 80.2 million US users will be in that age group.

Despite a resurgence, Snapchat faces stiff competition from Instagram, which will grow its US user base 6.7% to 107.2 million this year. Worldwide, Instagram will grow 11.6% to 788.43 million users.

“Snapchat has regained momentum, but Instagram never lost it,” Williamson said. “These apps will continue to compete for users as we head into 2020.”

Instagram not only has more users than Snapchat, but also commands a larger slice of the worldwide digital ad pie. Instagram net revenues globally will reach $15.01 billion this year, giving it a 4.6% share of digital ad spending. Snapchat will generate $1.53 billion in net ad revenues this year, capturing 0.5% of worldwide digital ad spend.

30+ SEO Stats from 2019 to Guide Your Strategy in 2020 and Beyond [Infographic]

Are you trying to decide your SEO budget for the year ahead? Want to know the most effective SEO tactics used by others?

The team from Zazzle Media conducted a survey recently covering all this and more, and they’ve collated the results in this infographic.

They break things down as follows:

• SEO Budget
• Importance and effectiveness of SEO
• Most and least effective SEO tactics
• Most important KPIs

See article here. https://www.zazzlemedia.co.uk/the-state-of-seo-survey/#1

How Marketers Are Responding to Recent TikTok Headlines

Though TikTok has become a craze among some younger Americans over the past year, recent headlines about a US government investigation into the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance regarding national security concerns have some marketers worrying.

It was reported that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) launched an investigation into ByteDance over its purchase of the US app Musical.ly, as well as any potential censorship of content and collection of data about US social media users.

“For advertisers on the conservative end of the brand safety spectrum, the press around the national security investigation certainly merits a discussion,” said Emily Anthony, senior director of media services at marketing agency Merkle. ­­

Trust is “paramount” for advertisers who are focused on personalization efforts, and data security would be a “universal consideration for advertisers in the evaluation of media partnerships,” she said.

An executive at a major advertising agency said that some clients have grown concerned about brand safety on TikTok. The executive spoke with us under the condition of anonymity because of potential sensitivities around investigations into the platform.

“TikTok is rapidly growing, but as a platform it still has a level of immaturity to it regarding questions like brand safety,” the executive said, adding that while brand safety can be a “significant issue” on all digital platforms, it’s especially true for TikTok.

The charges of political censorship and potential connection to the Chinese government are also under consideration. “We live in an age where more and more of what marketers and brands do gets viewed through a political lens, and I think it’s important that brands spend a bit of time understanding what those implications are,” the executive said.

ByteDance acquired the Musical.ly video app in 2017, merged it with TikTok, and relaunched the combined entity in August 2018, keeping the name TikTok.

In the past year, TikTok has risen in popularity in the US, particularly among teens. According to Comscore, TikTok had 17.6 million US mobile app unique visitors ages 18 and older in August 2019, a 135% increase from August 2018.

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While TikTok is not nearly as popular as Instagram and YouTube, teens ages 13 to 16 are just as likely to use TikTok as Facebook and Twitter, according to September 2019 survey data from Morning Consult.

“Consumer usage continues to grow, and for relevant clients, it’s an interesting place to be,” said Noah Mallin, head of content and experience at media agency Wavemaker US. News of the investigation hasn’t impacted Wavemaker’s short-term plans for TikTok, but that could change depending on the outcome of the investigation. “But for now, it seems to be status quo,” he said.

“TikTok has a lot of appeal for marketers that want to reach the youth audience, but they shouldn’t go blindly into partnerships with the app,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “Marketers should ask TikTok hard questions about what it does with user data and how it approaches content moderation. Then, they should ask themselves if they are comfortable with the answers they receive.”

News of the investigation broke after Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent a letter to the acting director of National Intelligence last month, expressing concern that Beijing-based ByteDance’s adherence to Chinese law poses a risk to the US. The senators cited security experts who have “voiced concerns that China’s vague patchwork of intelligence, national security and cybersecurity laws compel Chinese companies to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Prior to that, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) requested a similar investigation citing comparable security concerns, referencing reporting that ByteDance may be censoring content related to ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong.

In an October 2019 statement, TikTok said it does not operate in China, and that it stores US user data in the US. It also denied that the Chinese government ever requested content removal, and stated it wouldn’t comply if asked. The company followed up in November by publishing an explainer on how it approaches content moderation and data security.

Snapchat Releases Latest Update of Trending Topics on the Platform [Infographic]

Wanna’ get down with the 4-1-1 with the youth?

I don’t really even know what that means – but if you are looking to get a better handle on what’s trending among younger users, the monthly ‘Snap Chatter’ reports, which highlight the key topics of discussion among Snapchat’s audience, can offer some great insight to help in your planning.

The Snap Chatter report covers a range of key areas, including general trending topics, entertainment, celebrities, and for those who are really game, trending slang. We’d recommend not trying to add ‘vibe check’ into your brand vocabulary, but maybe, if you think it’ll work…