Social media caused a technological disruption that was unexpected for not only World Wide Web users, but publishers and advertisers as well. From Facebook to Snapchat, users are connecting and sharing information in ways never before imagined.
Currently, there are approximately 2 billion social media users worldwide. This number is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018. While news media organizations have previously steered clear of these platforms, there are several reasons why social media should be an attractive opportunity in the digital transition.
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Some generations value social media as an important news source.
In the battle for millennials, media companies and advertisers must pay close attention to this demographic and not only what engages, but also motivates them. Consumers ages 18-34 have interests, activities, and needs that are uniquely different from generations before them. Approximately 90% report getting their news from Facebook. It’s no surprise then that, being the first generation born in the age of the Internet, over 50% of millennials find Facebook and Twitter an important source of news, at minimum. Users report being exposed to a more diverse set of opinions than they would normally encounter via traditional news sites. In addition, social media sites allow them to easily investigate these diverse opinions. Three out of every four millennials who obtain news through social media report investigating opinions different from theirs. Not only are users finding more news that matters to them, they are also learning more about the world around them.
Related: What Every News Media Company Needs to Know About Millennials
Publishing straight to social media will increase reach.
Even though the percentage of Americans using social media has remained steady, the increased percentage using it for news consumption indicates that these are attractive opportunities for news media organizations to extend their reach, via platform-specific tools. Twitter’s Project Lightning provides real-time content to users, whether they are logged into Twitter or have an account at all. Facebook’s Instant Articles similarly allows users to share articles with other Facebook users and non-users. These are attractive opportunities for monetization, as ads can be embedded within Instant Articles. Publishers even have the option of selling their own ads for 100% of the revenue received.
There is potential for more distribution control.
Research shows that consumers seek different types of content on each social media platform. Twitter’s unfiltered feed makes it more popular for breaking news. Approximately 60% of social media users report obtaining breaking news from Twitter, versus 30% from Facebook. Conversely, Facebook is more popular for political content, with over 61% of millennials reporting it as their main source of weekly political news.
Each platform offers a set of unique features that allow publishers to tailor content for their users. Instead of developing a single, blanketed strategy to target all social media users, more effective strategies can be developed that allow for control of not only who to target, but also how to best target them. With the opportunities to monetize on each platform, this level of distribution control results in more effective revenue generation.
Related: What Advertisers Should Know About News Consumption Across the World
Make sure every message counts.
While social media platforms provide new and innovative ways of bringing consumers together, Mediaspectrum provides the most effective solutions for delivering targeted content that matters to them.
Our single, unified environment allows both content and advertising teams to work together — helping media companies simplify the creation and publishing of targeted content, while also increasing revenue by selling more ads to more people across all channels, including social networks.
How are you leveraging social media to reach consumers? Contact us today to see how Mediaspectrum can help it work for you.
