ad blocking Archives - The Motherhood | A Social Media Marketing Agency

It has been a memorable year in social media, with many new platform functions and trends, but the best may be yet to come. We can’t help but be excited for all of the 2016 marketing predictions we’ve seen floating around and what’s in store for social media in the coming year.

Not enough time to read the heavy influx of marketing predictions for 2016? No problem! The Motherhood has skimmed the most newsworthy pieces and summarized the top trends.

Marketing Predictions for 2016

Here are the social media trends you need to know for the upcoming year:

1. Ad Blocking shifts eyes to organic and social

The quick rise of ad blocking in 2015 will lead to an increase in organic methods of reaching targeted consumers in 2016.
Marketers will need to rethink how and where to allocate advertising dollars as the effectiveness of online ads is drastically reduced.
This will lead to an increase in social media, native advertising and influencer marketing campaigns.

2. Shift from automated to authentic

Because online consumers have developed the keen skills to identify and ignore ads and automated sponsored content, authentic, personal content will rise as marketers realize its value in connecting with online audiences.
Simply searching for influencers in your space and asking them to push out stale messages will become less effective; greater strategy will be needed to engage key influencers.
Marketing that is less disruptive and more focused on fostering relationships will be conductive to building a loyal customer base.

3. Creativity will thrive

With online content becoming overcrowded, it will take creativity and originality to flourish.
Brands will continue to find more unique ways to engage with their audiences.

4. Experience = shared value

Content will continue to fuel the customer experience.
More and more consumers turn to third parties, such as online influencers, as trusted sources of information on brands/products.
Brands will recognize more that linking an experience or story with a brand/product better resonates with consumers than facts and figures.
Humanizing your brand helps to create shared trust through personal experience.

5. Engagement > Reach

Marketers will place a greater focus on identifying meaningful measurement metrics of engagement with sponsored content.
By evaluating engagement of online campaigns, marketers can gain better insights from, and connection with, targeted audiences.
We’ve already seen many of our clients begin to look at engagement metrics rather than impressions in our programs, as they recognize the value in targeted engagement.

6. Data and insights

Analytics and social insights will become more readily available, leading to a jump in automated data analysis and implementation of big data insights to create better social messaging.
Rather than trying to do it all, marketers will focus on key performance indicators and creating more valuable insights aligned with those indicators.
Using data to develop more personalized experiences for consumers will create more value for both businesses and customers.

7. Instant Gratification AND Snapchat

In-the-moment posts will dominate with the rise in popularity of Periscope and the addition of Facebook Live Streaming.
While reaching consumers organically via SnapChat is not a cost-effective option, SnapChat will become the “New TV.”
As this Ad Age article perfectly states, “Think appointment-watching, awareness and buying eyeballs.”

8. Video, video, video

70 percent of companies now say video is the most effective tool in their online marketing belts, and two out of three businesses expect it to dominate their strategy going forward.
Google now includes video content in search results, and Facebook and Bing have started offering video options for advertisers.
Using video to tell stories can be used as an advantage by marketers to effectively convey a brand message.
Social video is rapidly rising, and videos need to be tailored for each platform and target audience.

9. Social messaging and messaging apps

Messaging apps have seen explosive growth and have already evolved as a customer service feature.
While messaging apps are still a mystery, big brands are testing them out as marketing channels.
Messaging apps are the most-used of all category apps, meaning there is a largely untapped potential for advertising in this space.

10. Social isn’t free

The exponential growth of brands on social has led to less organic reach, so increases in social marketing spending will continue to increase.
Simply promoting posts or getting your message incorporated in authentic content from key influencers will increase in order to maintain a share of voice.
Online influencers know their value and demand for them as key content creators continues to increase, so navigating these relationships will become trickier.

The recurring theme we found throughout the plethora of predictions is that the customer will be heard in 2016, and as a result, marketers will be using more data and insight in their campaigns, and will need to implement authentic, personalized content programs.

Which predictions do you think are most accurate?

Imagine the day when you tell your kids about times when intrusive ads covered websites and appeared before you watched videos online. This day could be sooner than you think.

Ad blocking is on the rise and promises continued growth, especially now that big players like Apple have entered the space. Ad blockers are applications that remove or filter advertisements on webpages. Consumers pay for these services in exchange for less cluttered pages, faster browsing and savings in power. After the release of iOS 9, the top paid apps in the Apple Store included these ad blockers.

Some facts about ad blocking:

There are currently 198 million active ad block users around the world
Ad blocking in the U.S. grew by 48% in just 12 months
Oregon has the highest ad blocking rate at 16.4%
Industries highest hit by ad blocking include gaming, social media and tech
Mobile will facilitate future ad blocking growth

riseofadblockingsoftware — Image Source: Scribblelive

As ad blocking continues to grow, marketers are becoming concerned with the visibility of the online ads they are paying for. Website ads have been the go-to for online advertising because of their low cost and easy measurement. But with visibility as low as 44% on mobile and 52% on desktop, there is a need for an alternative.

Each U.S. Internet user is worth more than $215 a year in digital ad revenue, according to eMarketer stats, and desktop ad blocking is estimated to cost publishers $22 billion this year. Tech-savvy users who frequently browse online are estimated to be worth more than double the typical user; however, those are the same users who are more likely to use ad blocking apps.

Consumers are tired of intrusive ads, but they are also willing to accept the ads that are tailored for them and naturally fit into their browsing and social feeds. They don’t want to just see an ad for a stroller, for instance, when they are shopping around, but they want to know what others similar to them have experienced and suggested. Marketers now have an opportunity to provide value through naturally occurring online conversations, which aren’t blocked and are proactively sought out by consumers.

So instead of viewing ad blocking as a threat, innovative companies should see it as an opportunity to correct the imbalance, and shift the focus to where there is more value for the consumer-brand relationship. A great example of this is Yelp, who is transitioning advertising efforts to phase out display advertising and focus more on local. Yelp founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman stated, “While we recognize there’s a near-term impact on revenue, we believe this is the right decision for the long-term success of the company.”

What is your view on ad blocking? Is your company shifting with the industry?