Marketing - Communications Hub

Latest Social Media Stats for Ireland

The latest Ipsos MRBI stats on social media use in Ireland don’t yield many surprises – not least the huge growth that Instagram has enjoyed in Ireland over the last few months.

Instagram is now officially the fastest growing social media platform in Ireland and has grown by a huge 7% from November 2016 to November 2017 – leaving the once ‘Golden Child’ Snapchat in its wake, with a growth of only 3%.

The other big winners of 2017 were Pinterest – which experienced a much-needed boost of 5% to make it the 5th most popular social media platform in Ireland.

Likewise, Twitter has enjoyed a growth of 4% in account ownership, although it has been pushed into 3rd position in terms of daily use of a social media platform, having been overtaken by everyone’s current favourite, Instagram.

The biggest loser of 2017 has been Google+, an increasingly redundant platform save for its ties in terms of its Google/ search engine optimisation association.

Facebook has experienced a drop of 2% in account ownership and a further 2% in daily usage. Although, with 65% of the population still having accounts and 69% of those using it daily, it’s far from its demise.

Below are the stats for account ownership in Ireland up to November 2017

account ownership nov17 — Ipsos MRBI Nov 17

And daily usage up to the same period

So, what does this mean for Irish businesses in terms of digital marketing going forward?

Video is still King
Infographics reflect the trend for bite-size info
In the moment/Live content is still the most engaging type of content
Micro-blogging is going from strength to strength
Less is more – and less than that is more again

So there you have it – social media continues its charge forward and is cementing its place as the most popular and effective marketing tool in Ireland.

Karen Twomey is a freelance Public Relations and Social Media Consultant with Communications Hub For further information Tel: 087 7642576 or email: Karen@communicationshub.ie

Why Video is now King

Move over Content, there’s a new King in town….

With video content now receiving up to 60% more online interaction than photos, it’s becoming a key part of content marketing strategies.

According to Cisco video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic by 2017 and video-on-demand traffic alone will have almost trebled.

In the U.S. mobile video ad spend is growing faster than all other digital advertising tactics. EMarketer states that $7.46 billion was spent by companies on digital ads, an increase of 42% from 2014.

Social media platforms are reaping the benefits of this shift to video, with Facebook reporting 8 billion video views daily, while Snapchat delivers over 7 billion videos to users each day. This represents an unbelievable growth of almost 50% in video usage on Snapchat in just 4 months.

In this era of information overload, video is naturally engaging and easy to digest. It also delivers a message in a more personal way, evoking more passion and emotion, and creating better community engagement.

Here are some useful tips when creating video content:

Be Passionate, not attention grabbing -your audience will know the difference.
Be engagement-driven, not hit driven – communities are built on interaction, not selling.
Think small to achieve big – creativity wins over cost of production.
One size does not fit all – have a multi-platform video strategy.

Online video is set to continue its rise and will remain an important element in marketing and communications strategies going forward.

Ignore it at your peril!

For further information on communications and marketing strategies for your business, contact us today.

New Year, New Marketing Tools?

Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone is refreshed after a break and ready to take 2016 by storm!

I may be the exception here, but I love January. It’s a great month to take stock and plan the year ahead. It’s also a time to try something new. To think outside the box.

It’s so important in business to ‘step outside the building’ every now and again, and a new year is a great time to do this. We’re all guilty of complacency, especially when things are going well. But to continue to be successful in business, we must always look ahead and stay ahead.

This is especially true when putting together a marketing strategy for your brand and your product. How will 2016’s strategy differ from that of 2015? How will you ensure that you continue to reach your customer? And most importantly, that they connect with your message?

The best way to do this is to make sure your marketing strategy is current and relevant. Of course, creative content will alway be the best way to do this – freshen up your website, start blogging and use social media content to connect all your platforms together.

It’s also important to research what industry influencers are saying about future trends. According to the Huffington Post the following five trends will drive social media marketing in 2016:

Micro-Targeting Audience Segments – When consumers are faced with significant lifestyle events, like having a baby, moving house, or getting married, they are more open to changing their purchasing habits. This means if you can send the right message at the right time, you have a higher chance of gaining their loyalty.

Importance of In-The-Moment Content – The popularity of streaming apps, such as Snapchat and Periscope, is continuing to grow. A recent Comscore Report found that Snapchat is the 3rd most important social app among 18 – 34 year olds.

Consumer is now the Influencer – Thanks to social media, everyday consumers have built a follower base, giving them stronger voices and the ability to influence public opinion.

Micro-Video and Gifs – Young consumers are obsessed with immersive video and gifs as a means of expression. Cinemagraphs alone get 60% more engagement than static images.

Messaging Apps and Emojis – These are providing quicker, simpler and more engaging opportunities for social media users to connect and look set to grow in influence in 2016.

All in all, it looks like 2016 will see the continued growth of ‘less is more’ with regard to content, as well as a strong reliance on video and live streaming to connect with consumers. Snapchat looks set to capture even more of the commercial market, with more and more companies using the platform to advertise. There’s little doubt that Facebook and Twitter will continue to be valuable tools for business, but companies will need to be clever and fresh in their use of content.

Why Facebook Marketing Matters

Despite the fact that 70% of Irish businesses are now on Facebook, many still don’t take it seriously as a valuable marketing tool.

It’s an accepted fact that newspaper readership is on the decrease, yet many businesses are still investing enormous amounts of their marketing budgets on print advertising. It often seems more acceptable to some marketers to spend hundreds on a one-off advert in a weekly paper, then to invest that money into a long-term Facebook marketing strategy.

Why is that?

It’s hard to say. Some companies still view social media as a ‘kids game’. That may have been true some years ago, but now, those kids are the very customers these companies are so desperate to reach. So whether we want to accept it or not, from here until eternity, all of those leaving college and entering the workforce will be digital natives. A generation who live their lives through the world wide web – be it researching products, booking services or purchasing goods – it all happens online.

In Ireland Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, with 60% of the population having accounts. To put that into context – 2.4 million people use Facebook in Ireland each month. That’s a lot of potential customers. The largest Facebook demographic is 18 – 24-year-olds, who make up 29% of the Irish audience, while women tend to be more active on the platform then men.

Although Facebook has experienced a slight decrease in users over the last year or so, it is still the most used social media platform in the world. So despite the decrease in popularity, it’s hard to see Facebook becoming any less relevant in marketing terms over the coming few years. In fact, in Ireland 70% of social media users follow brands and businesses online. Talk about leading the horse to water….but of course, we all know the next line to that old saying….

So, the simple truth is – If you’re not investing time and money into marketing your business on Facebook, you’re quickly becoming irrelevant. Call Communications Hub today and let us put together a successful social media strategy for you.

Stay relevant online