Adaptly Asks: Are you ready to adapt to 2017’s biggest trends?

What to expected may be unexpected...

The Rise of Social Disruptors and Importance of Differentiation

● “New platforms like Snapchat are changing the way we talk to friends and share content. Snapchat has altered the user experience and disrupted the social sphere by changing the way users relate to each other on social, and now Snap Inc. has the potential to disrupt the product sphere. Spectacles could be one of the more tangible and realistic Internet of Things products, and has already begun changing the purchasing experience with their pop-up vending machines.” - Ruth Arber, VP of Strategic Accounts
  
    
  
● “Apple is a huge underdog in this space because people don’t necessarily include them when they talk about Facebook and Snapchat, but Apple has something that competes with them at every level. They have iMessage, one of the biggest messaging apps with features similar to Facebook Messenger; they have one of the biggest camera apps with filters like Instagram and Snapchat; they have iTunes with capabilities that rival YouTube. The only challenge is that there isn’t a network in place for sharing those things, but that’s only one step away. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them enter the VR/AR space in the next year as well.” - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder and CEO

Advertising Dollars

● “Walled gardens will continue to take a bigger share of advertising budgets. In particular, they will steal dollars away from traditional mediums. The loser in 2016 was print, and the loser in 2017 is shaping up to be television. Especially with formats like Stories emerging, which are linear distribution channels similar to television, ad dollars that would be devoted to TV ads will increasingly go into walled gardens.” - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder and CEO

● “Increasingly, brands are realising that the days of solely relying on organic social are over, with recent reports showing lower than ever reach figures on both Facebook (2%) and Twitter (3%). As a result, digital marketers are likely to increase their focus on paid social initiatives while continuing to explore platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. As more brands begin to understand the unprecedented potential to connect with and engage consumers through social, I expect to see a correlating increase in spend on paid social; not only on Facebook (which so far has been dominating platform) but also on the more recently established channels.” - Emily Huff, Client Partner EMEA

Live Video

● “The opportunity to own live TV streaming on social is up for grabs and we can expect to see every major social player compete for it. Cord cutters have created an opening on mobile that platforms can fill if they are able to dominate TV networks looking to reach unplugged viewers. So far, Twitter seems to have the best handle on livestreaming, with deals with every major sports league and several networks. Snapchat moving to a licensing model with its Discover publishers suggests that it has an eye on becoming a content media channel.” - Ruth Arber, VP of Strategic Accounts

● “2016 was the year when Facebook made its live broadcasting feature available to all users. Next year, I expect we will see a significant increase in advertising spend on boosting live stream coverage on the platform. Video has long been one of the vital elements of social media marketing, especially for building brand awareness, and we will see brands utilise Facebook Live for branding purposes by engaging users in current happenings and events. Moreover, Snapchat has proved to be an enormous hit with U.K. users and businesses alike, and is set to keep on thriving as a new and exciting advertising platform next year. Real-time communication focused on in-the-moment and live content is likely to see an increase in advertising spend across all verticals, ranging from filters to video ads within the Snapchat user feed.”
- Milana Saric, Account Director EMEA

● “87% of consumers use a second screen while watching TV, oftentimes to participate in a larger conversation around a live TV event. This behavior has created an exciting opportunity for social platforms to provide a full viewing experience through livestreaming. Twitter in particular, the go-to platform for live events, has the ability to bring user content together with live video to give viewers comprehensive coverage without forcing them to split time between screens. Keeping an eye on social conversations about a favorite team can distract users from watching the game itself, but by placing related tweets and trending content alongside the action, Twitter is able to put all relevant gametime content in one place. While sports livestreaming on the platform is still in its early stages, there is potential for Twitter to integrate with any sports league app through smart TV apps to provide the fullest viewing experience to fans, and bring them closer to the heart of real-time content.” - Matt Burgoon, SVP of Media Operations

Messaging Apps

● “Privacy will be a key focus for messaging apps in 2017. Facebook is building out capabilities for brands to reach out to customers via Messenger, but there may be friction there with users actually welcoming unsolicited contact. There is a lot of potential in that medium, but the challenge will be scaling up those products based on user adoption.” - Ruth Arber, VP of Strategic Accounts

● “Brands can’t afford to ignore that fact that an increasing number of consumers are migrating to messenger apps such as Facebook Messenger, Slack, and WhatsApp. Therefore, I expect to see marketing and advertising opportunities arise in this space. 2017 will be the year of greater paid social platform diversity and also the rise of messenger app marketing.” - Emily Huff, Client Partner EMEA

● “Messenger represents one of Facebook’s biggest opportunities for 2017. It will interesting to see bots’ presences grow and how advertisers will use them to interact with customers in a way that is not intrusive.” - Kyle Benedetti, VP of Partnerships

Virtual Reality

● “Virtual reality will continue to evolve, but not necessarily to practical purposes yet. Eventually, Facebook Workplace and Oculus have the potential to intersect and connect businesses by getting people more or less in the same room, but for now Oculus is just a fun way to explore a new medium. All of the big players are moving into VR so we can expect to see bigger and more practical advances take shape in 2017.” - Kyle Benedetti, VP of Partnerships

Pinterest

● “Of all the walled gardens, Pinterest has truly carved out a definitive and unique niche for itself as a search and discovery platform, and I see its trajectory as really nailing down the best way to approach the consumer purchasing journey. People come to the platform searching for something, so Pinterest’s greatest value is making that something, be it a sweater, a lamp, a hotel stay or a recipe, easy to attain.” - Kristen Donnino, VP of Product

Privacy/Security/Fraud/Regulations

● “Privacy and security are going to continue to be big concerns in 2017, primarily because we can expect to see the number of hacks to increase. It seems like every day a new site is hacked and the credentials of millions of users are leaked. This uncertainty may lead to people to fear their behavior being tracked online. If users start opting out of letting advertisers understand their full purchase journey, which is the holy grail for advertisers, that will affect their ability to provide full-funnel marketing solutions.” - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder and CEO

● “There is a lot of fraud going on at the moment, and we can expect to see the government get involved to start cracking down on this because it does hurt the consumer in many ways. This fraud will ultimately have a positive effect on the world of paid social as it will move dollars towards environments that are more transparent. Transparency will win at the end of the day.” - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder and CEO

Adaptly is a marketing technology and services company that enables advertisers to scale campaigns across walled gardens, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest. Clients spanning 15 industries include MasterCard, Viacom, FOX, Banana Republic, Etsy, KFC, Frito-Lay, Quaker, and more. Adaptly is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, and London.