Just Media has been running client paid social media campaigns since 2012 when targeting was rudimentary, spends were tiny and most B2B marketers never thought they would see their brand on Facebook. How times have changed. Our large team now handles everything from the complex interactive ad deployments, intricate audience set up using first and third party data and interpreting mind numbingly large data reports across a myriad of platforms both large (as in Facebook or LinkedIn) and more niche (as in Reddit or Xing). In this two part blog our social team gives their thoughts on the various platforms and what exciting developments they hope to see over the next 12 months…..

Enjoy!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

A Look inside LinkedIn for 2017

LinkedIn has always positioned itself as a superior platform because of the data it collects from users. However, we have seen that this is not enough and that competitors have been much quicker in implementing many of these options in their platforms and thus creating value for themselves and their users in other ways. While this past year has been full of changes and surprises, 2017 shows promise to be an amazing year for LinkedIn advertising.

• Retargeting: We are so excited to finally be able to create custom audiences and cater messaging, images, and content that it is serving to users that have visited their website. Retargeting will be available as a self-serve feature in campaign manager.
• Self-Serve InMail: Starting in 2017, Just Media will be able to self-manage InMail campaigns with no minimums; allowing us to test InMail without initially investing $25k.
• Autofill Feature: The autofill feature will allow us to place a button on your landing pages that gives users the option to automatically fill out forms with their LinkedIn information.
• Call to Action Button: LinkedIn reps have ensured said that we can look forward to call-to-action buttons that live within in the actual LinkedIn ad, similarly to Facebook. We will now be able to include CTAs like “Register Now” and “Learn More” buttons directly in the body of the ad.
• Lead Ads: LinkedIn will finally be releasing ads that can collect user’s personal data directly from a Sponsored Update to capture leads.

Now that LinkedIn Advertising is finally catching up; the possibilities for 2017 are endless and all B2B advertisers should prepare to utilize this platform more than ever.

CONTRIBUTED BY
SUBI  D’AGUIAR

Facebook to Run into Ad Space Issues in 2017

Continuing to dominate the social media world, Facebook reported a 59% year-over-year increase in Q3 advertising revenue from $4.3 to $6.8 billion dollars. While this may be quite an impressive stat for the social networking giant, the platform is actually projected to run out of ad space due to the increase of advertising outweighing its user growth. However, this won’t stop Facebook, as the company is looking to monetize its search tool in 2017.

Facebook has stated that it has a “pretty big navigational use case” to look at user behavior, but is now focused on making it easier for users to interact with the content they search for. These initial strides into the search world has Facebook knocking on Google and Twitter’s doors, but in order for them to capture a large share of this market, the social networking giant will have to encourage users to search in more depth and detail than ever before.

So, what does this all mean? Likely that Facebook ads will continue to increase CPM wise, thus driving up all back-end metrics. It will be imperative to continue to A/B test scientifically, ensuring that the right audiences are being found at the right price, and testing creatives to ensure the right image or message is catching the users’ eyes.

CONTRIBUTED BY
SEAN  BRENNAN

Video Trends on the Horizon in 2017

2016 was an incredible year for video marketing as we have witnessed quite a number of ups and downs and new trends, leading us to believe that 2017 will be an even bigger year for this channel.

Live Platform advertising is going to rise. With the launch of Facebook Live, Periscope, Meerkat everyone can now provide a live update on their network. Come 2017 we’ll see a major push from Facebook for selling through Facebook, and better content, faster connection speeds will lower the barriers for adoption.

Immersive video viewing experiences are looking to make a ground-breaking entry in 2017. One dimensional videos are no longer going to be a thing of the future, providing shoppable films and 360⁰ videos enhance the user-experience.

The Dedicated Video Tab on Facebook delivers a newsfeed of live videos and various other video content based entirely on a user’s interests and subscriptions. This new tab will allow Facebook to grab more ad dollars from TV and video sharing platforms like YouTube.

It would be wise for brands to stay abreast of these trends, as it will be an exciting and action-packed year.

CONTRIBUTED BY
DHIVIYA NARAYANA &
NIKKI LEE ANDERSON

How will these trends affect your social media strategy for 2017? Stay tuned for part two of our 2017 Social Media Forecast, and hear additional updates from the rest of the Just Media Paid Social Team.

Resources:

https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2016/Facebook-Reports-Third-Quarter-2016-Results/default.aspx
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/07/28/facebook-running-out-ad-space-its-news-feed-search-its-next-big-money-spinner