Sprout Social Index Table of Contents 03 Introduction and Key Findings 05 Redefining ROI 09 Social Content Strategy in 2018 24 Network Trends: Marketer Perspective, Consumer Perspective 31 The State of the Social Marketing Team 38 Conclusion 39 Appendix: Consumer Preferences by Vertical and Age 45 About the Data sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 3 Introduction The days of social as an optional marketing channel are over. Now that social has its rightful place at the table, it is vital to understand where in the funnel social efforts should be targeted. As marketers, we hear about ROI every single dayand social marketers remain anxious about it. To truly understand what ROI means in the social marketing industry, and how social marketers are aligning with consumer preferences, we asked more than 2,000 social marketers how they approach structure, goals and content. We asked about their priorities and what they need to do their best work. Then we cross-referenced their efforts against what consumers actually want. We found that social is still very much a personal platform. People spend time on social, first and foremost, to interact with family and friends. As brands put together campaigns and messaging, they must remember that they are guests at dinner, not members of the nuclear family: their role in user feeds is delicate, valuable and should be treated with great care. So how can brands disrupt the user experience in the least intrusive and most relevant way? Our data shows the answer: with awareness and consideration stage content. Think long-term, not quick fix. Think relationships, not attribution. Our latest and most comprehensive Sprout Social Index shows how marketers should realign and redefine their social strategies and how serving audiences contributes to the bottom line. sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 4 Key Findings Consumers want brand awareness and consideration stage content from brands on social. But 80% of social marketers are hyper-focused on awareness activities, leaving out the consideration piece of the puzzle. The social marketers No. 1 challenge is still ROI. Return on investment is the top concern for 55% of social marketers. This makes sense for two reasons: They arent meeting the full needs of their social audience with both brand awareness and consideration content; and theyre defining ROI incorrectly to begin with. Where there is alignment: customer service. On the front lines with customers and prospects everyday, an overwhelming majority (88%) of social marketers understand the importance of customer service on social; nearly half (45%) of consumer respondents have reached out to a company on social. Employee advocacy is the new influencer marketing. Social marketers in 2018 see the value in employee advocacy as a cost-effective, scalable alternative to influencer marketing. Seventy-one percent of social marketers use employees as influencers or advocates today or want to in the future, while only 19% of marketers surveyed had the budget for an influencer program. This shift reflects consumer tastes: 61% of consumers said they would be more likely to research a product or service recommended on social by a friend vs. 36% for influencers/celebrities. Social marketing departments are under-resourced. More than half of social marketers dont have access to all the software they need, and 65% of social marketers indicate needing a dedicated resource for content development. Facebook remains a dominant force in marketing strategies and consumer behavior. A whopping 97% of social marketers list Facebook as their most used and useful social network, and Instagram blows Snapchat out of the water by social marketer usership and consumer adoption. In fact, 83% of marketers use Instagram and 13% use Snapchat; 51% of consumers use Instagram and 30% use Snapchat. sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 5 Redefining ROI Social marketers have been racking their brains and utilizing a lot of resources to tie social directly to salesreflecting what they think or have been told social ROI should be. However, after surveying more than 3,000 marketers and consumers, it is clear that the “return” in ROI needs to be redefined. Before we can redefine ROI, we need to understand how big a challenge ROI is for social marketers today. More than half of social marketers (55%) say that measuring ROI is a top challenge for them. Challenges for Social Marketers sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 6 Traditionally ROI for social has been focused on direct attribution to saleshow is your Facebook campaign driving people to the checkout line? However, that model doesnt actually reflect where social marketers are focused. Eighty percent of social marketers say increasing brand awareness is their primary goal on social, and another 80% say their key strategy is increasing engagement across their social channels. In fact, only 14% of marketers say they are able to quantify the revenue from social. Looking at social primarily through the sales lens breeds an overly microscopic perspective. Social Marketers Biggest Goalssproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 7 Thats not because social marketers arent sophisticated enough to focus on conversions. Its because socials true value isnt in direct attributionits in the awareness and consideration stages of the funnel. Its in expanding the net of people who know about your brand and offerings, and then nudging them down the funnel with quality content and customer service topics well cover later in the Index. But true ROI isnt based on marketers goals and best practices; it is defined by what consumers want and what they take action on. When asked what they want from brands on social, consumers say they prefer content that aids in awareness and consideration, not the end sale. Consumers top preference for social content falls into the consideration category, with 30% of consumers surveyed wanting links to more information from brands on social, and most preferring discounts, sales and educational posts (more on that later). This validates social media a strong distribution channel for web content that supports the consideration phase, when your audience wants to learn more about your brand and/or topic area. Second comes awareness stage content, with nearly one in five respondents preferring graphics and images, and 17% preferring produced videos. This is where entertaining posts, inspiring posts and posts that tell a story are more useful. Content Types Consumers Want From Brands on Socialsproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 8 Sprout Stance Expanded awareness is ROI. Increased consideration is ROI. To build strong, long-term relationships on social that go beyond click-and-buy, you must expose people to your brand in a visually satisfying way, link them to more information and make authentic engagement a primary focus. This is the content that consumers, who use social primarily to interact with friends and family, are most interested in from brands. Make sure that your performance metrics ladder up, too. Track progress towards increased awareness with KPIs like impressions, reach, engagement, audience growth and video views; track progress towards increased consideration with metrics like engagement, link clicks and, again, video views. For as much as marketers are thinking and worrying about ROI, they certainly arent having those conversations with their leadership: 60% of social marketers arent having frequent conversations about ROI with their bosses. 3 in 5 Social Marketers Arent Having Regular Conversations About ROI With Their Boss This is major missed opportunity to get aligned with leadership on what ROI is and how social affects the entire business. It prevents social marketers from having the conversations they need to shift organizational perception of social ROI, so that all members recognize the incredible value social brings to driving authentic awareness and sustainable consideration. sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 9 Social Content Strategy in 2018 If social marketers redefine ROI from the top and underscore the true value of social among leadership, CEO included, they can stop wasting time and resources on content and campaigns that dont resonate. In this section, well review missed opportunities for reaching consumers today and discuss how to realign with what consumers actually want to see from brands on social. Missed Opportunities for Reaching ConsumersOur data shows that the top three content priorities for social marketers are misaligned with consumer preferences. Marketers are focused on posts that teach (61%), tell a story (58%) and inspire (53%), while consumers are looking for discounts and sales (73%), posts that showcase new products and services (60%) and posts that teach them something (59%). sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 10 What Marketers Post vs. What Consumers Want on Socialsproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 11 Sprout Stance The sole overlap between top marketing priorities and consumer preferences is “posts that teach.” If you arent already, meet consumers in this sweet spot in the consideration stage. This content takes consumers a step beyond knowing who you are, to knowing what you do and what space you are a part of or an expert in. Remember, too, that educational content covers a wide range of topics, from how to use a product, to how to make a recipe, to how to do a workout move, to how to travel well and beyond. It does not necessarily have to put your product at the forefront to create educational value for your audience, but it should relate to your industry and expertise. Its important to note here that everyone loves a deal, but social marketers cant build strategies solely around deals and promotions. This content, while it leads to conversions, does not build long-term relationships with target audiences. The most enlightened social marketing strategy integrates awareness and consideration stage content opening the door with entertainment and inspiration, then carrying audiences across the threshold with education, information about new product offerings and discounts and sales.sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 12 Brands want their campaigns to resonate. To do this, they need to develop content that is tailored to their audience and designed to engage. When consumers were asked which brand content they are mostly likely to engage with vs. which they were most likely to share with their audiences on social, there several key takeaways. Most notably, the threshold for sharing content was higher than for engaging with content across almost all content types. The one exception was inspirational content, which consumers were equally likely to engage with and share with their audiences. Consumers are 13% more likely to engage with entertaining brand content than share it with their audiences. Consumers are equally likely to engage with and share inspirational content. Consumers are 31% more likely to engage with storytelling content than share it. Consumers are 24% more likely to engage with promotions and deals than share them. Consumers are 150% more likely to engage with employee advocacy posts than share them. Consumers are 90% more likely to engage with posts that showcase company personality and announce company happenings than they are to share with friends on social. Consumers are 50% more likely to engage with posts showcasing new products and offerings than share them. Social marketers who want to expand brand awareness and content reach, as opposed to generating engagement on their owned accounts, should make inspirational and entertaining content a focusespecially since consumers are more likely to digest brand content when it comes from people they know, care about and trust. But they should also be offering up posts that showcase new products or services to increase web traffic and drive consideration. sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 13 Brand Content Consumers Engage With vs. Share on Socialsproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 14 Sprout Stance If you want consumers to share your content, head for their hearts (and funny bones, as youll learn more about in the next section) with content that inspires and entertains. To inspire and entertain your audience effectively, you need to understand what they care about and are entertained by today. Use a social listening solution to keep a pulse on what your target audience is talking passionately about right now. If you want to make consumers aware of or consider your new products or services, showcase them but dont set primary goals around amplification. Finally, remember that your success metrics need to be tailored for the content youre planning and promoting. You dont need a singular goal to be successful, but you do need to be clear about the results you want and can reasonably expect from each goal and subsequent strategy. Your educational content might not get sharesinstead you should be looking at reach, engagement and link clicks. Entertainment, Inspiration & the Growing Power of Social Video Consumers are interested in a wide variety of content formats from brands on social. Sixty percent of consumers want to see posts that showcase new products or services, 59% want to see educational posts, 56% want to be entertained and 49% want to be inspired by brands on social. The common thread here is that consumers prefer content to be strongly visual. Over half (58%) prefer visual-first content, with graphics and images and produced video taking the lead in this category. Social marketers agree, listing “more video content” as the key ingredient to success on social in 2018 on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. sproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 15 What Social Marketers Need to Succeed, by Networksproutsocial | prsproutsocial | SproutSocial 16 This also fits with social marketers acknowledgement that a dedicated video producer or graphic designer is exactly what they would need to do their best work, closely followed by social analytics software. Additional Resources Social Marketers Need to SucceedBut what kind of videos should social marketers be delivering to their audiences? Surprisingly, consu