Trends

Shopping, Wearables & Video: 2015 Trends to Watch

February 2, 2015 by The Motherhood

Fun fact: Statista reported there were 1.8 billion users of social media for 2014, and predicted 2.4 billion social media users by 2018. So what trends are on the horizon this year?

Social Commerce

Last year, we saw Twitter and Facebook test out “buy” buttons, and Tumblr introduce “action” buttons to purchase directly on the site, and we expect more networks will follow suit. Additionally, Facebook announced it will allow people to use its Messenger service to send money to friends.

As users of social networks are discovering that they can purchase items on the spot without ever leaving a network’s site, brands are responding and online commerce is changing fast. Social commerce sales of physical goods are projected to grow by 93% per year in the U.S., reaching $14 billion by 2015. Payment methods like Square, PayPal and Apple Pay no doubt are working hard to adapt to this big shift in the marketplace.

Wearables

While 2014 was a big year for wearables, designers will be thinking beyond functionality and more about what consumers will actually wear in 2015. Coming up are 50 wearable game-changers for 2015: Everything from watches to fitness trackers to cameras are taking on a new look – all that are looking more fashionable. Even shoe accessory and jewelry makers are jumping on the bandwagon.

The Video Competition Heats Up

Facebook purchased video compression company QuickFire to give Facebook users a way to upload or download videos directly to the site without compromising quality. The social media site averages more than 1 billion video views every day, and as of November 2014 the number of videos uploaded directly to Facebook overtook YouTube videos on the network for the first time. (We all know that Google owns YouTube.) Read more about the potential hurdles and advantages Facebook faces in this latest endeavor.

Twitter just released a new video offering, as well.

2015 promises exciting developments in social media and we look forward to determining how we can incorporate these new opportunities into our client programs!

What trends have you seen on the rise this year?

Trend Round Up: New Features for Your Everyday Apps

January 28, 2015 by The Motherhood

This has been a week of change for some of our favorite social media platforms. Read on to learn about three big announcements made by social media leaders this week:

1. Twitter released two new features: video and group messages. With Twitter’s new video capability, you can capture, edit and share videos lasting up to 30 seconds directly from the Twitter app (an increase from Vine‘s 6-second limit). With group messages, users can now direct message a group of up to 20 people instead of just one at a time. Additionally, users can exchange messages through the group function whether they are following each other or not.

2. Snapchat introduced Discover. Discover is a section of the app that aggregates stories from major news companies including National Geographic, CNN and People. Artists and publishers compile content that will then be available for users to watch for up to 24 hours.

When Snapchat described the new Discover feature on their blog, they said they don’t post stories based on what’s recent or popular, but instead, they “count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important.”

3. Pinterest announced Tuesday that they will now be placing “Promoted Pins” directly in users’ home feeds, making Pinterest ads more visible to users. More than a year ago, Pinterest began testing promoted Pins in search results and category feeds, and a year later they released data from the testing that showed “promoted Pins perform just as well and sometimes better than organic Pins.”

As Pinterest has promised from the beginning, promoted Pins will be tasteful and relevant to users’ interests. If you don’t like a promoted Pin, you can always hide it and can even offer feedback on how the site can improve their ads in the future.

Which of these new features are you most excited to use?

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons – William Hook

Trends Roundup: 2015 Super Bowl Ads

January 23, 2015 by The Motherhood

On February 1, people all across the country will come together to watch the Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots during the 2015 Super Bowl. While The Motherhood team is excited for the camaraderie and great food that accompanies most Super Bowl parties, we’re most looking forward to seeing how brands execute their related ad campaigns this year.

Here are three Super Bowl advertising trends and predictions we’ve been seeing this week:

15306144963_24b87f8b0a_z — Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons – atTRAZIONE MOTORI

1. Auto brands bow out.

Auto brands have always filled the Super Bowl advertising spots, but not this year. Audi and sibling brand Volkswagen, as well as General Motors, Lincoln, Ford, Jaguar, Honda and Acura, have announced they won’t be airing a Super Bowl commercial this year. For Audi, this will be the first time in seven years that they keep themselves on the bench!

You’ll still see at least six automakers during game-day commercial breaks, but that’s a significant decrease from the 11 auto brand commercials that appeared last year. Right now, the only explanation for the sudden change is the cost of a 30-second ad spot: $4.5 million. Forbes points out that auto brands have a harder time standing out among other other auto brands and rarely see results worth the price tag of a Super Bowl ad.

2. Hashtags!

In 2012, only seven percent of Super Bowl ads contained a hashtag. That percentage jumped to 50 percent in 2013 and 57 percent in 2014. We can only expect the number will continue to increase as brands attempt to reach the widest audience possible via social media. Some are predicting that up to 75 percent of commercials will contain a hashtag in 2015 Super Bowl ads.

3. Ads that live on beyond the 30-second screen time.

Forbes is also predicting that “many advertisers have woken up to the fact that a spot on the Super Bowl is not effective as a standalone effort,” and are therefore developing campaigns that can be accessed before or after the commercial’s airing.

Budweiser is one example: The company built a life-size Pac-Man maze in Los Angeles’ Fashion District that will be seen in its Super Bowl ad this year. Another bubbly brainchild comes from PepsiCo and their filming of a reality show video series called “Game Day Grub Match.”

With hashtags reaching ubiquitous status, brands are smart to increase the lifespan of their hashtag beyond Super Bowl Sunday. Brands that air Super Bowl ads have invested heavily in their creative concepts, so getting more mileage out of them with pre- and post-game extensions is a worthwhile strategy to sustain engagement among consumers.

The Motherhood team is looking forward to watching Super Bowl 2015, as well as paying attention to how brands aim to make a big splash on game day!

Top Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons – Parker Anderson