Social Media Advertising Predictions For 2015 And Beyond

With more than one-quarter of the world’s population using Social Media, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses to remain up-to-date with the latest trends in Social Media Advertising.

More than ever, people from every part of the world and every stage in their life are posting, tweeting, instagramming and pinning.  In fact, the average American spends more than 3 hours a day on Social Media.

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Here are my Social Media Advertising predictions for 2015, and Beyond.
1) Promoted Pins on Pinterest

In May of 2014, Pinterest launched a Promoted Pin beta and saw promising results.  They also learned a thing or two along the way.  Advertisers saw that Promoted Pins performed just as good, if not better, than organic pins.  In fact, advertisers received free impressions from users who saw their Promoted Pin and Pinned it on their own board!  This means that even after the campaign is over, since the Pin is ‘evergreen’, the Promoted Pin is still being shared amongst other Pinners on their boards.

On New Years day of 2015, Pinterest is making Promoted Pins available to all U.S.-based partners, on a reservation-basis. Pinterest is also working on making major upgrades in 2015 to their Promoted Pins, including more advanced targeting and new brand ad formats.

Join the wait list at https://ads.pinterest.com/

No word yet on when this will be available in Canada.

2) Social Media Commerce a.k.a sCommerce
If your business is focused on selling goods and services online, a big trend for 2015 will be Social Media Commerce, also known as sCommerce.

Take Facebook, for example.  Facebook has created ‘The Facebook Store’, which allows you to sell your products directly from your Facebook Page.  Users can go onto your Facebook Business Page, select the ‘Shop’ tab, and start shopping right from Facebook.  They can also view product details and recommend or share the product to their Facebook friends.

The Facebook Store is available in Canada and the U.S.

Another example of sCommerce is the Twitter ‘Buy’ button.

In September of 2014,  Twitter along with their test partners, started testing the ‘buy’ button to a small percentage of U.S. twitter users.  The ‘Buy’ button allows users to make a purchase directly from a tweet, with a few simple taps!

Twitter is still in early testing, and planning on taking on more partners in 2015.

3) Instagram Sponsored Posts
Over the next few months, Instagram will be slowly rolling out 'Sponsored Posts' on users' Instagram feeds. This means that users will start seeing photos and videos from brands they don't currently follow and those they do. Instagram is staying true to their brand, ensuring that brands deliver high-quality images and videos.

To target users, Instagram will use information on how users are using Instagram, along with information from Facebook (their parent company). With 150 million active users and 55 million photos posted every day, Instagram will become a massive platform for advertisers! However, it's important to keep in mind that 37% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18-29 and that 68% of Instagram users are female (source: http://www.jennstrends.com/instagram-statistics-for-2014). This means that Instagram Promoted posts may not work for every brand.

Instagram Promoted Posts are currently available in Canada and U.S.