Look at the numbers, and you quickly see that social media is on the up and up. Consider that, according to new data from BI Intelligence, the amount spent on social-media ads in the US have topped $8.5 billion in the year 2014, up $2.4 billion from the previous year. Some other key points this new study shows are that growth in spending will continue through the year 2018, reaching a projected apex around $14 billion with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%.
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Additionally, social media ad spending might have reached a threshold on mobile devices. This is not all that surprising when you consider that by the year 2018, some two-thirds of total social media ad dollars will be spent on mobile platforms, making for a whopping $9.1 billion market.
And all this advertising on social media is working; as metrics come back demonstrating an improvement in performance and targeting of ads, prices for said ads are increasing. All this growth on mobile makes sense as more people are finding themselves the owners of smartphones, more people are downloading apps – many of them social media apps – and this is all helping drive the growth of revenue through targeted ads.
The question remains: what industries are taking advantage of this trend? The short answer is that there almost does not exist an industry in the zeitgeist that is western pop culture that is not already plugged into social media, reaping its many fruits. Let us take a look at what the major industry leaders are doing to capitalize on the emergent phenomenon of greater targeting with the help of social platforms.
Hollywood
Remember when Ellen DeGeneres, the host of 2014’s Oscars Ceremony, took what seemed like an impromptu selfie with her new Samsung Galaxy S phone (branding prominently displayed and all) and live-posted it to her millions of Twitter followers, all on live international television? Of course you do, because virtually everybody on social media was talking about it. That was a first, a landmark as far as being a major social media moment, consumed not just by the millions watching it at the time, but also by the millions who saw it tweeted and retweeted on their feeds, and then those who watched replays of the event and read reports as they saw them in their newspaper – or even on their social media sites like Facebook. The lesson here is that social media is the gift that keeps on giving – at least during the churn of a ‘news cycle,’ until the next big thing goes viral.
This is the kind of clever orchestration those in the entertainment industry dream up, and this trend, like most other social media trends, looks to continue indefinitely. But that is just one example. When you are sitting on the couch watching TV by yourself, you probably have a dual-screen setup where you are browsing Facebook at the same time, or chiming in on the latest hashtag to hit the Twittersphere. Advertisers know this and encourage interactivity via Twitter to influence the show in certain ways. Apps like Shazam even incorporate functionality whereby the viewer can have the app listen to a song playing and bring up a related website.
In the same way Spotify has become a social media network of its own, allowing users to share songs, create playlists, and follow each other. And it’s been a huge success too, recently announcing 20 million subscribers.
Gaming
Social media has long been engrained in gaming, and will only continue to become more embedded as digital platforms like Steam and Good Old Games along with console manufactures like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo continue to add more layers of social interaction. One of the latest trends in gaming is the Spectator Mode; recently, a developer for the hit Activision first person shooter franchise Call of Duty even admitted that, with the rise of services like Twitch TV that allow for watching other people play games, developers are designing game presentation with keeping spectators interested in mind.
Sony famously unveiled a new button to the mostly otherwise tried and true DualShock design with their PS4 controller, namely, a share button that lets you upload clips from a game you are playing to YouTube or even livestream from Twitch for certain games. More and more 3DS and Wii U games have Miiverse functionality where players can share hand-drawn messages in lobbies. And gaming memes run rampant on social media sites like Reddit, 4chan, and 9gag.
Indeed, it should come as no surprise that social media in gaming is even finding its way into game reveals. Long after any new DLC or updates came to Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a release some two years old, an update hits consoles without any apparent gameplay tweaks, just a mysterious ghost icon that looks suspiciously like the Snapchat logo. As it turns out, scanning said icon on posters throughout the game with the Snapchat app links the user to the Call of Duty account, which in turn shows a vague teaser of what we can safely assume is hinting at the next Black Ops instalment.
Social media has even enabled professional gamers to increase their presence and have more interaction with fans. Live Twitch streams will offer little perks and incentives for viewers to subscribe to the channel and interact via chat, or even offer donations. For instance, per every five subscribers to a popular live streamer’s Twitch channel, a startling shrieking sound will automatically play during a live Let’s Play segment of a horror game. This has the effect of making the player on live stream jump out of his seat each time, much to the delight of the viewers.
Or take the PokerStars social power table as another example of fan interaction through social media. Not only can players challenge some their favorite professional poker players online through the website or app, but they of course can interact with these celebrities through their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Snapchat (if they have one) accounts. The social power table adds a further level of interactivity with their fans by letting followers track their favorite players’ social media success while also allowing for another layer of competition for social influence amongst the professionals themselves.
Retail
Companies like Groupon and Living Social exist largely thanks to social media platforms. Everyone loves a bargain, so when sizeable, discussion-worthy discounts hit the web for popular destinations, restaurants, or events, people start talking about it online. Huge stores like Walmart and Target then take advantage of this, and their advertising departments know that their customers expect them to have a social media presence.
Consumer Technology
Another huge winner in the realm of social media has to be producers of consumer technology; the big brand names like Apple and Samsung thrive off of their huge install-base of loyal customers who seemingly swear devotion to their products on the lives of the first-borns. Hyperbole aside, these companies rely on tech enthusiasts – typically early adaptors of new gadgetry – and watch the word spread (hopefully positively) like wildfire over blogs, Facebook feeds, and the Twitter universe at large. Of course, they spread the word with their brand new iPhones, creating a synergistic effect on social media as a whole where consumerism leads to more consumerism. Not surprisingly, the manufacturers of these products do everything they can to keep that cycle alive and well.
Social media is here to stay; it is merely up to the imaginations of companies and marketers to determine how to best leverage the digital platform and come up with the next great viral sensation.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1Luqkvv via local SEO company
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