Three Things We Learned About Social Media in 2013

Social Media is Primarily Visual

Before 2013, videos were predominately saved for Youtube. However, in January Twitter launched the six-second video sharing network, Vine. Vine has grown to 40 million registered users in just one year. By June, Facebook had responded to Vine by adding videos to its photo-sharing app, Instagram. And just two weeks ago, Facebook enabled auto-play videos and announced that the social network would be introducing video advertisements. Snapchat, the photo and video-messaging app that allows users to record and send 10-second videos, announced this year that it processes 400 million photos and videos each day. Marketers are taking advantage of the shift towards visual. (I highly recommend checking out Lowe’s Fix In Six Vine Campaign and Taco Bell’s Snapchat announcement of the Beefy Crunch Burrito.)

Social Media is No Longer a Free Place for Marketers

In December, Facebook announced that organic reach of marketers’ posts is declining. Reason being – Facebook now wants you to pay to reach your fans, even those fans you already paid to acquire. Additionally, the once advertisement-free photo app, Instagram, introduced ads in November.

Social Media isn’t Just For Teens Anymore

Times are changing and so are the demographics on social media. This year we saw a huge shift of demographics on several social media platforms. In the past, the majority of Facebook users were in the 18 to 24 age bracket. According to Statista, over 75% of Facebook users are now over the age of 25. The majority of the 18 to 24 aged crowd has shifted more towards Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, which means if you’re chasing this demographic, it’s time for you to make the shift as well.

Here at The Brandon Agency we’re excited to see what’s to come for social media in 2014. So, we want to know, what do you think the new year will bring for social media?