Twitter, Facebook and Google are always innovating, and it can be hard work just keeping abreast of the latest developments. Here’s our summary of the biggest changes of the past year, and why they matter for arts marketers.
Livestreaming is the new black.
Twitter’s most significant launch was early in the year. Periscope – a mobile livestreaming app allows any Twitter user to broadcast a live event to other users. Like Skype, but one to many, the platform has built a significant user-base in its nine-month life according to Omnicore and this is set to grow significantly now that Twitter users can watch Periscope videos without leaving the Twitter app. Social Media Week’s piece on its launch advocates enthusiastically for Periscope’s potential applications for creative marketers.
UX changes
The look and feel of Twitter’s user interface – both within the web browser and in Tweetdeck – has been changing this year. Brand managers will have noticed that this summer account pages were stripped of wallpaper (which previously allowed you to fill the whole page – including the space at either side of the central tweet column – with an image) resulting in the loss of full-page, coherent branding. Check out Econsultancy’s summary of the best user responses to the change.
Late in the year the company changed their star shaped ‘favourite’ button to a love heart that indicates ‘like’. Twitter’s rationale for this change was that ‘not everything can be your favorite.’ It also brought their three major brands – Vine, Periscope and Twitter – into alignment. Although commentators like The Atlantic queried whether the change would do much to generate new users or improve Twitter’s sagging bottom line.
Hot now
Twitter’s new Moments feature helps people find important content, even if it is happening outside their core networks. Currently curated by Twitter and key corporate partners, the new service has potential for marketers. As Social Media Week’s guide points out, it’s a great place to link into external trends.
Live voting
People have opinions and Twitter’s new polls feature lets you tap into them. Polls stay live for 24 hours and offer a simple either/or choice. For now, it only works on the mobile app and in the web browser, so the Guardian is reluctant to embrace it fully but there’s a lot of potential there for content managers to get instant input into audience preferences in real time.
#GlobalEvents
Twitter is the best place for things that are of the moment – think live events, breaking news or political movements. See this at work in Twitter’s short film presenting the biggest hashtags of 2015, providing a flavour of Twitter at its most relevant. Capitalising on this strength, the company launched event targeting, accessed through the Twitter Ad portal. Marketers can browse a list of holidays and events by date, category or country and even give basic stats for the reach and demographics of each one. It’s good for forward planning, and Econsultancy’s got ideas for how agile marketers can put it to work.
Donate Now
The new fundraising button is big news for charities. Charity Digital News offers tips on how to use the ‘Donate Now’ button; introduces some early improvements to its functionality, and explains why Facebook is an increasingly important channel for nonprofits.
Ticket sales
Facebook’s ‘buy’ buttons are powered by Shopify, and this could be the year they make a real difference to your bottom line. Ad Week gives the lowdown on the pros and cons of Facebook’s e-commerce solution, comparing it with equivalent features from Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
Video
Daily video views on Facebook passed the four billion mark last year and 75% of those were on mobile devices. With rich content opportunities all around us, that’s big news for arts marketers everywhere. An especially snazzy new development is the 360 degree video option, introduced in September. Check out the Royal Opera House’s Nutcracker video for a nice example from the arts.
Multicultural affinity targeting for marketers
If you’re targeting specific ethnic groups through your programming and comms this year, then Facebook’s new multicultural affinity targeting solution might help. Nanigans explains how Facebook now looks across a mix of inputs and preferences to help brands reach people of a specific ethnicity, based on users’ known content preferences.
Facebook Live
The Facebook response to Periscope and Meerkat is coming soon to a smartphone near you! Social Media Week introduced Facebook’s first steps into livestreaming.
… and finally …
Check out this handy infographic from Charity Digital News for a quick round-up of other key Facebook trends of 2015. All the changes seem to be working! According to Ad Week, Facebook’s ad revenue is up by 45%.
Most of us are grateful for Google’s constant algorithm tinkering when it means we get relevant results faster. For website managers looking to maximise their search results, though, it’s more of a love/hate relationship as Google’s changes often require a quick and appropriate response.
Twitter + Google = BFF
Early in 2015 Google partnered with Twitter to show tweets as results in our Google searches. The idea was to give up-to-date results for real-time events. Social Bro covered the initial roll out with a series of useful prompts for marketers to consider in the newly linked world. The feature subsequently expanded to include desktop and mobile results and, as the change bedded in, Social Media Week advised on how to optimise across the two channels.
Mobile optimisation is no longer optional
This year, Google rolled out a significant change to prioritise websites optimised for mobile browsing and the marketing world went crazy for Mobilegeddon as in this blog from Michelle Bassett. It happened because, as OfCom research showed, there was a significant growth in tablet and smartphone use – summarised in this visualisation from Charity Digital News. Although this was the most hyped update in recent memory, algorithm updates are Google’s bread and butter. It remains important to keep your eye on things.
More arts content
Near the end of last year, Google moved strongly into providing arts content by vastly expanding access to museum and performing arts materials via the established Google Cultural Institute. It has been highlighting artworks, world heritage sites and cultural figures since 2011. In 2015 the Institute launched significant partnerships with UK arts organisations:
Visual Arts and heritage: Google partnered with The British Museum to digitise the museum’s collection and allow you to tour the museum via Street View.
Performing arts: the Stage reported Google’s launch of over 150 interactive stories from drama, dance, music and opera that saw the platform working with the likes of like of the RSC, the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sadler’s Wells and Battersea Arts Centre. As with the Facebook videos above, the newest technology allows for an immersive 360 degree view of the performance taken from the perspective of the stage.
Arts organisations can partner with Google to digitise their collections and share an archive of their content. Arts marketers may find that audiences become more and more comfortable with (even growing to expect) high-quality online access to arts products.
Keep learning in 2016
If you want to improve your online marketing practice and learn how to create better online content, be on the lookout for our Know How workshop series launching in February 2016 with hands-on sessions including how to get the best from Twitter; creating great podcasts and more. Culture Republic Partners should also check out February’s First Wednesday where expert trainer Brian Tait will explore the perennial question, ‘Is my website working hard enough?’
Want to know more? Drop us a line to make sure that you get the word early.
Main image credit: That's The Connection by Ian Sane (CC BY 2.0)