This document summarizes major social media trends for 2016, including updates to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Key points include Facebook launching ads in Messenger and new Canvas and video ad formats, Twitter adding GIFs and improving livestreaming with Periscope, Instagram allowing longer videos and switching to an algorithmic feed, and Snapchat enabling on-demand geofilters. The trends are aimed at helping businesses benefit from changes on each platform through more engaging content, personalized customer service, and new advertising opportunities.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
TRENDS 2016
The Social Lights®

2. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
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Keeping up with social media updates
and trends can be overwhelming.
That’s why we put together this trend report
which includes a summary of major updates to
social networks and how businesses can benefit.
See what’s happening in 2016 on:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat

3. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
HERE’S
WHAT’S HAPPENING
ON SOCIAL MEDIA

4. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
Facebook
Messenger Ads
Facebook has leaked that they will be launching
ads within Messenger in Q2. Businesses will be
able to send ads as a message to people who have
initiated a chat with that company in the past.
With 800 million monthly active users, Messenger is
one of Facebook’s most popular and fastest-
growing products. Facebook has been trying to
figure how to best monetize this network, and
Messenger ads are a logical place to start.
How Brands Can Benefit
Facebook will only allow brands to initiate ad
messages with users who have previously
messaged a business voluntarily. This allows brands
to provide more personalized service to their
customers. Directing customers to a Facebook
message link allows businesses to provide quick
customer service more easily than they might be
able to via email or phone call.
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5. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
Facebook
Canvas Ads
Canvas ads invite users to click into a full-screen
mobile ad experience. This is designed to help
businesses tell stories and show products in an
immersive and beautiful format on mobile devices
using any mix of video, still images, text, and call-
to-action buttons.
How Brands Can Benefit
Canvas ads load as quickly as everything else on
Facebook mobile while providing users a full-
screen, attention-grabbing experience. Acting as
instant articles for ads, Canvas allows advertisers to
deliver a variety of relevant information through a
multi-media advertisement that’s free of
distractions.
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New Features
for Video Ads
on Facebook
Facebook is updating their video advertising
arsenal, starting with captions. The new automated
captioning tool generates captions for video ads
and delivers them to advertisers within the ad
creation tool. Facebook is also adding new metrics
to their video ad reports. Advertisers are now able
to see the percentage of people who have viewed
their videos with sound in Page Insights and
Ad Insights.
How Brands Can Benefit
By taking advantage of Facebook’s captioning tool,
brands will be able to make their videos more
accessible to a wider audience. Gaining new
insights into video ads will help brands adjust their
video content based on user interactions, making it
easier to create more effective video ads.
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Source: Getty Images

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New Features
for Facebook
Lead Ads
Facebook has rolled out context cards and optional
informational tiles that pop up after someone clicks
on a lead ad before they get to the form. Lead ads
are also now available in the carousel format, which
enables businesses to showcase three to five
images before people click through to the
lead form.
How Brands Can Benefit
People are more likely to sign up for (and stay
signed up for) information that they know they
want. By using context cards, it’s now easier for
businesses to gain new, high quality leads from
Facebook.
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Facebook
Reaction Buttons
Facebook introduced Reactions that include love,
haha, wow, sad, and angry buttons in addition to
the like button. Adding more reaction options gives
Facebook users the ability to express different
types of feedback beyond just “liking” something.
How Brands Can Benefit:
With the addition of Reactions, advertisers and
brand managers will be able to better understand
how different content resonates with their
audience. Ultimately, this feedback will help
companies continue to create better content that
triggers specific reactions.
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Twitter Adds
a GIF Button
Last year people shared over 100 million GIFs on
Twitter. GIFs can be used creatively to express
specific reactions or emotions in ways that 140
characters never could. Additionally, GIFs are more
engaging and often more relatable than simply a
picture or words.
How Brands Can Benefit
GIF integration makes it easier for brands to create
tweets that receive higher rates of engagement. By
leveraging GIFs that include humor and pop culture
references, brands can create tweets that are more
relatable and attention-grabbing.
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10. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2016 The Social Lights®
Periscope
Broadcasts on
Twitter
Periscope broadcasts, live and replay, are now
integrated into the Twitter timeline (starting with iOS).
Integrating broadcasts into the Twitter feed helped
Periscope quickly gain exposure and users, causing a
competing app, Meerkat, to pivot away from live
streaming. The platform is gaining traction, as people
have created over 100 million broadcasts thus far. You
can expect to see the number of live streams increase
dramatically in 2016.
How Brands Can Benefit
Periscope integration makes it easier for brands to
stand out on the Twitter timeline. Brands can capture
attention by leveraging live streaming to do Q&As,
take followers behind the scenes, or broadcast a live
event.
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New Customer
Service Features
on Twitter
To help businesses provide better customer service,
Twitter rolled out the private message deep link.
When businesses are tweeting to a customer and
need to get more private details, they can add a
call-to-action button that invites customers to
Direct Message the business.
Twitter also announced a new Customer Feedback
feature that enables people to share their opinions
privately with businesses after a service interaction.
How Brands Can Benefit
Adding the “send private message” button to a
public customer service tweet makes it easy for
businesses to invite customers to a private
conversation where customer service reps can
provide more personalized service and solutions,
without ever having to leave the platform. The
Customer Feedback tool enables customers to
provide more structured, measurable feedback
about each service interaction.
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Twitter First
View
Advertisers that pay for a first view position will
show up first in Twitter’s ad network and will get the
top ad spot the first time a person opens Twitter for
the first time in a 24-hour period.
How Brands Can Benefit
Getting the first impression upon a consumer
launching Twitter is an easy way to stand out. While
users can quickly scroll past tweets on the timeline,
the first tweet is more likely to be read by users.
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Conversational
Ads on Twitter
Conversational ads include call-to-action buttons
that encourage engagement with customizable
hashtags included within the ad itself. When a call
to action button is tapped, the Tweet composer
opens with a pre-populated brand message
accompanied by the creative and hashtag buttons.
The user can then customize the Tweet and post it
to their timeline.
Conversational ads give users a chance to share
their opinions with advertisers while engaging in
public conversation about a brand. These ads
provide a fun, intentional vehicle for driving
conversation around specific products and services.
How Brands Can Benefit
Each shared tweet drives earned media for the
brand at no extra cost to the business, resulting in
higher ROI. Conversational ads can boost organic
conversations by making it easier for consumers to
talk about the brand.
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Account
Switching on
Instagram
Instagram users can now easily switch between
multiple accounts without having to log out and
back in, adding up to five accounts with one login.
How Brands Can Benefit
Brand managers on Instagram often manage
several accounts at once. This update allows for
brand managers to save time by being able to be
switch between several accounts on Instagram
without having to log in and out every time.
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Instagram
Algorithmic
Feed
Instagram announced that it will be changing its
feed from chronological to algorithmic, similar to
Facebook and Twitter. The goal of the switch is to
ensure users don’t miss the content they care about
most, as Instagram has found that the average user
misses 70 percent of their feeds.
How Brands Can Benefit
Whether the algorithmic feed is a positive for
brands remains to be seen. Brands that create high-
quality, engaging content will likely see a boost
while brands that post low-quality advertisements
will likely see engagement rates drop.
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Instagram Video
Views
Instagram rolled out view counts on videos to help
advertisers better understand how consumers are
engaging with their ads. View counts can be found
underneath each video post. The ‘like’ count can
still be viewed by tapping on the view count.
How Brands Can Benefit
In addition to measuring engagement in the form
of likes and comments, brands should pay attention
to video views. Tracking the additional data point
will give brands and users a more accurate
understanding of audience engagement and
content performance.
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Instagram
Increases Video
Length Limit
Instagram extended the video limit from 15 to
60 seconds. The update will likely increase
user engagement as people and brands begin
to share longer videos on the platform.
How Brands Can Benefit
With the increased video limit, it’s now easier for
brands to tell complete stories through video on
Instagram instead of using it as a snippet or
highlight reel. Although, brands should keep
videos on Instagram as short as telling their
story requires.
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Snapchat Enables
On-Demand
Geofilters
Snapchat now lets anyone create and publish
custom Geofilters. Pricing starts at $5 per Geofilter,
increasing based on duration and square feet
covered.
How Brands Can Benefit
On-demand Geofilters will help brands increase
Snapchat activity and social media conversations.
For brands that have location-specific events,
Snapchat Geofilters provide users an easy and fun
way to interact with the brand’s content. Brands
should act quickly because the price of Geofilters
will likely increase as more brands discover their
value.
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