(And How Your Brand Should Use Them)

By Paige Zidek and Stef Kula

Manager, Integrated Media

@PaigeZidek

@pzidek

Paige Zidek

Senior Associate, Integrated Media

@StefanieKula

@steffieekulaa

Stefanie Kula

• 2019 social media trends (that you can actually use)

• Key social channel updates

• Q&A/Discussion

4

5

• All media is social…

• …And social media matters

• You’ve gotta pay to play

• Think visual (storytelling)

• Giving is social

• Activate advocates—not influencers

11

• THEY CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT: Half of journalists

cannot do their work without social media1

• THEY’RE MULTI-CHANNEL: 68% of journalists use

at least three types of social media 1

• THEY SOURCE STORIES FROM SOCIAL: 51.8%

are using it to find and build stories1

1 Cision’s free 2016 Global Social Journalism StudYof the Media 2016 Report”

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This year, Facebook made significant

changes to its platform to prioritize content

from local, trusted news sources. CEO

Mark Zuckerberg said, “Local news helps

us understand the issues that matter in

our communities and affect our lives.”

This is a good thing for local nonprofits.

If you have a compelling story, people are

more likely to see it.

Think of your social channels like an agile, diverse news engine

If you aren’t following reporters on social, you should be

Local news is more visible – use this to your advantage!

It's just cat videos, GIFs, memes and branded

content that doesn’t apply to me or my business.

ads

Social justice, causes and political topics have started and gained major traction on social media in the last year, bringing issues to the attention of those who had previously been unaware.

• Already champion strong causes and (often) have personal connections to them, which make for stronger storytelling

• Have a clear CTA that tells audiences how to get involved

• Audiences are passionate about what you do and are willing to engage

Use social to showcase authenticity and impact.

Make sure your social storytelling is compelling and engaging

Treat social as a change agent vs. a tactic

Well, kind of.

With more messages on social media, ads are a can’t-miss opportunity to ensure your messages are reaching the right audiences.

Ads allow you to target, manage spend, and test messages with different audiences.

Small budgets can do big work for you.

Boosted posts for as little as $5 can make a huge difference in reach and engagement.

Optimization is critical for stretching your ad dollars.

Play around with modestly boosting posts and tweets to understand how social ads can work for you.

Helpful resources, like Nonprofits on Facebook, take some of the guesswork out of ads, and can help you along the way.

• Mobile users spend on average 5 hours per day on mobile devices. When we look at social media specifically, this becomes 95% of Facebook users accessing via mobile, and only 31% using desktop.

• Social is now a mobile first world, and video usage reflects that as video consumption shifts from horizontal to vertical.

25

hours

95%

5 daily

> Snapchat kicked it off.

> Instagram swooped in and claimed it.

> Then shared with Facebook.

> YouTube now has it for super users.190m

300m

400m

2018 Global daily active users

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+

Instagram’s Q4 2018 earnings call showed that roughly half of Instagram’s 1bn users use Instagram Stories every day.

27

150mJan 17

200mApr 17

100mOct 16

300mNov 17

400mJun 18

500mJan 19

Instagram Stories surpasses

Snapchat user count

Launch Aug 16

+

Insta

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m S

tori

es d

ail

y a

cti

ve u

sers

• As mobile viewing and Stories developed, attention spans have regressed. The max length of an Instagram Story video is 15 seconds long.

• While a 60 second narrative video can still hit, brands need to shift their focus to snappier storytelling to cater for vertical video.

90%

80%

66%

46%

24%

17%

9%

>10 sec

>20 sec

>30 sec

>60 sec

>2 min

>3 min

>5 min

Au

die

nce a

tten

tio

n s

pan

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Start making vertical-first content to speak authentically with users.

Step away from long-form narratives to create shorter form, disposable content.

Stories are the future. If you aren’t experimenting with them yet, you should this year.

Social can now be a big part of your fundraising efforts.

Make sure your pages are optimized for giving by using Nonprofit / Fundraising tools from Facebook, link in profile in IG, and including a clear CTA in any donation asks.

A person with the ability to

influence potential buyers of a

product or service by

promoting or recommending

the items on social media

“”

Source: Dictionary.com

• Aligned contextually with a brand or cause

• People with loyal followers (usually on social media) who trust them

• Individuals who have a quality, engaged audience who can attract

people to what they are buying or doing

• Credible

• Authentic in their recommendations

Source: Grouphigh

• Don’t have to be high-profile—can be your partners, employees,

volunteers and other stakeholders

• Already have an affinity for your organization or cause, and usually

show public support

• Prioritize one-to-one referrals versus mass reach

• Less expensive

• You already have lots of them!

Source: Tapinfluence

To create content

Advocates with a strong social presence can help round out your content strategy by providing user-

generated content, by capturing content at organization events, or by sharing thought leadership.

To promote new content

Advocates want to be seen as mini-influencers, sharing relevant content with their networks. All you

have to do is ask them to share it!

To drive awareness for your organization and its campaigns

Unlike influencers, advocates tend to already be dedicated followers of your organization. Incent

them to spread the word via social media, reviews, 1:1 conversations with peers, at events, etc.

Think of advocates you already have and how you can creatively use social to activate them

If budget supports, consider larger influencer partnerships for mass reach

• Focusing away from national news and

toward community; posts from Groups and

local news are prioritized in the news feed.

• Combining Instagram, Facebook

Messenger and WhatsApp into one app to

promote more conversations

• Younger audiences (Millennial and Gen Z)

are slowly leaving the platform, in favor of

others

• Most widely used social channel, with over 100

million users

• Stories continue to see high reach and

engagement

• Building its e-commerce capabilities by letting

people shop without leaving the app. No word yet

on if this will ex

• Continues to be the place to participate in

conversations around news, sports and

cultural conversations as they are happening

(e.g., Game of Thrones, the Olympics, etc.)

• Still a hub for media to source news stories

and communicate with other journalists

• Daily use continues to grow among younger

audiences (Gen Z)

• Often where viral content starts or spreads