Q4 2015 SOCIAL TRENDS REPORT WWW.KINETICSOCIAL.COM
Q4 Topline Summary Q4 is an exciting time of year in the advertising space. The speed of work picks up significantly as brands clamor for share of wallet in the biggest consumer buying season of the year. This quarterly report tells the story emerging from campaign data across all the advertisers we work with, and in Q4 it s important to read that story within this holiday season context. Overall, we saw a sharp increase in demand, correlating with greater competition for ad space and thus increased pricing. The majority of that increase came in the form of performance or direct response advertising, driving to a specific online action, which is to be expected in Q4. Below we ll explain the implications of that shift by social network. Throughout the quarter, Kinetic helped all our clients, across a diverse swath of categories including CPG, travel, financial services, fashion and education to reach their respective audiences across social platforms. These findings are based on Kinetic s client base specifically and are not meant to be representative of all advertising running on social networks. For more information about our data, please see the final page of this report. Table of Contents 3-8. FACEBOOK 9-11. TWITTER 12-13. PINTEREST 14-15. INSTAGRAM
Q4 2015 SOCIAL TRENDS REPORT FACEBOOK CAMPAIGNS FACEBOOK OVERVIEW Facebook CTR dropped and ecpc increased significantly, which on the surface looks like an aberration. Some of that was due to increased demand typical of Q4. An even bigger factor was the shift of much of our clients business objectives to direct response. Today, best practices on Facebook involve optimizing campaigns to users who are converting or buying. Doing so de-emphasizes clicks and focuses instead on those users who buy even if they don t click. As a result, CTR will drop and ecpc will increase, but more importantly Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) will improve as non-clickers purchase at a greater rate. Whereas in Q3 our most prominent campaign objective was Engagement, in Q4 it was Website Conversions, while Video Views decreased slightly. We expect those trends could reverse somewhat in Q1 as we move away from the holiday buying season.the CPG vertical had both the highest CTR and lowest ecpc for Q3, highlighting the continued efficacy of CPG advertising on Facebook. Video ads continue to be very effective, with the lowest ecpc and a high CTR. Link ads show the opposite, again as a result of the focus on conversion rather than clicks. Mobile inventory continues to dramatically outperform Desktop inventory, and the Carousel Link ad unit continues to be far more effective than other forms of Link ad units.
Social Trends Report - Facebook OVERVIEW OF KINETIC RUN CAMPAIGNS FACEBOOK CTR -32% 1.6% 1.2% 1.30% Q3 2015 TO Q4 2015 0.8% 0.80% The decrease in CTR can be attributed to an increased focus on conversions instead of clicks in Kinetic s optimization strategy. 0.4% 0.0% 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 FACEBOOK ecpc +74% $0.60 $0.54 YEAR-OVER-YEAR $0.40 $0.32 Effective Cost Per Click (ecpc) is up 74% from last quarter due to increased competition for ad space $0.20 in the holiday season and an increased focus on conversion-based rather than click-based optimization. $0.00 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 FACEBOOK ecpm +10% $5.00 $4.00 $3.99 $4.43 YEAR-OVER-YEAR Effective Cost Per Thousand (ecpm) remained relatively flat throughout 2015, moderately increasing 10% year over year. $3.00 $2.00 $1.00 $0.00 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4
Social Trends Report - Facebook CLICK THROUGH RATES FACEBOOK CTR BY AD TYPE 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% Click Through Rate (CTR) was highest for Photo ad units in Q4 (1.7%), closely followed by Video ads (1.5%). 0.5% 0.0% Video Photo Link Page Ad 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 FACEBOOK CTR BY VERTICAL IN Q4 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% Looking at the data by vertical, in Q4 CTR was incrementally highest for Telco (2.64%) and Travel and Tourism (2.67%) campaigns. 0.5% 0.0% Health & Wellness Hobbies & Games Tech & Computing Telco Travel & Tourism 2015 Q4
Social Trends Report - Facebook EFFECTIVE COST PER CLICK FACEBOOK ecpc BY AD TYPE $0.80 $0.60 $0.40 $0.20 Video ad units continue to dominate, garnering the lowest effective Cost Per Click (ecpc), with an average ecpc of $0.30 in Q4, with photo ads a close second ($0.32). Link ads ecpc increased due to holiday period competition and an increased focus on conversions rather than clicks. $0.00 Video Photo Link Page Ad 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 FACEBOOK ecpc BY VERTICAL $0.40 $0.30 $0.20 $0.10 $0.00 2015 Q4 Health & Wellness Home & Garden Tech & Computing Travel & Tourism Utilities HEALTH & WELLNESS SHOWS LOWEST ecpc BY VERTICAL IN Q4 In Q4, ecpc was lowest for Healthcare and Wellness ($0.25), followed closely by Travel & Tourism ($0.27).
Social Trends Report - Facebook FACEBOOK CAROUSEL AND VIDEO ADS CAROUSEL vs NON-CAROUSEL ADS - LINK CLICK CTR 1.60% 1.20% 0.80% 0.40% Carousel units continue to out-perform non-carousel units in terms of link click CTR. The best performance occurred in the month of November, when these Carousel units outperformed the non- Carousel link click CTR by a factor of 4.4x. Carousel Ads - Link Click CTR 0.00% Non-Carousel Ads - Link Click CTR JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Q4 VIDEO VIEWS 100% COMPLETION BY VIDEO LENGTH Video length continues to be heavily correlated with completion rates, with considerable drop-off for any videos longer than 30 seconds. We recommend advertisers should therefore focus on engaging and impactful short form video messaging. 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Auto-Play Click to Play Total 0% 15 sec 30 sec 1 min 2 min 3 min > 3 min Q4 VIDEO CTR & ecpc - MOBILE vs DESKTOP 2.00% 1.50% $1.60 $1.20 Mobile continues to dramatically outperform Desktop from both a CTR and ecpc perspective and we expect this trend to continue. 1.00% 0.50% $0.80 $0.40 ecpc CTR 0.00% $0.00 News feed on mobile News feed on desktop
Social Trends Report - Facebook SPEND BY AD TYPE COMPOSITION OF FACEBOOK SPEND BY AD TYPE 100% 80% Use of link ads in the 4th quarter increased by roughly 20% due to the shift of more of our business to direct response, to be expected in Q4. 60% Link Photo Video Other Page Ad 40% 20% 0% 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 COMPOSITION OF FACEBOOK SPEND BY OBJECTIVE 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 Website conversions overtook Engagements as the most popular objective in client campaigns in Q4 vs Q3. Dynamic Product Ads, Carousel, and Conversion optimization are all product enhancements that have made direct response increasingly efficient and attractive for advertisers. 0 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 Website Conversions Post Engagement Website Clicks Video Views Mobile App Installs Other
Q4 2015 SOCIAL TRENDS REPORT TWITTER CAMPAIGNS TWITTER OVERVIEW Twitter shifted drastically in November and December from primarily being a branding platform to becoming more of a direct response or performance marketing platform, with website clicks being the objective for nearly 55% of all media running in December. This is to be expected during the holiday period. The cost of those clicks, however, increased signifcantly over prior quarters. This is likely due to increased competition among advertisers during this period of heavy media investment. Twitter video continues to perform extraordinarily well and increasingly so. December showed the lowest Cost Per View (CPV) Kinetic has seen on Twitter, and nearly 35% of video viewers completed the video, higher than the rate we see on Facebook.
Social Trends Report - Twitter PERCENT OF SPEND BY OBJECTIVE ON TWITTER BY MONTH - SECOND HALF, 2015 The primary campaign objective shifted drastically toward performance or direct response as the holidays approached. The vast majority (about 88%) of all advertising by Kinetic clients on Twitter in Q4 targeted three primary objectives: Tweet Engagement Video Views Total Clicks 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Website Clicks Custom 10% Tweet Engagement Video Views Followers App Engagements 0% JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Lead Generation App Installs $0.32 CPE FOR 2015 CAMPAIGNS DRIVING ENGAGEMENTS $0.30 $0.24 $0.20 CPE hovered around $0.30 for most of 2015, with the exception of June and July. $0.10 $0.00 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC $0.80 CPV FOR 2015 CAMPAIGNS DRIVING VIDEO VIEWS $0.60 $0.53 CPV has held very steady since July, when it underwent $0.40 a dramatic drop overnight with the launch of Autoplay. December was its lowest month ever, showing Twitter continues to improve as a video branding vehicle. $0.20 $0.00 MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV $0.11 DEC CPC FOR 2015 CAMPAIGNS DRIVING TOTAL CLICKS CPC was abnormally high throughout Q4, especially December, suggesting intense competition for performance marketers during the holiday season. $1.20 $1.00 $0.80 $0.60 $0.39 $0.40 $0.20 $0.00 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV $1.04 DEC
Social Trends Report - Twitter TWITTER TOP 4 ecpe BY VERTICAL* Kinetic s Financial Services advertisers doubled Twitter ad spend quarter on quarter and saw a comensurate increase in ecpe given the competitive bidding environment in the holiday period. The Style and Fashion vertical saw the lowest ecpe in this quarter, though it also experienced a modest increase in effective cost per engagement. The CPG category experienced an increased ecpe for the first time in 4 quarters, matching the overall trend in rising prices we saw around the holiday season. *Data based on the biggest verticals by ad spend for which Kinetic ran campaigns in Q4. $1.40 $1.20 $1.00 $0.80 $0.60 $0.40 $0.20 $0.00 2014 Q4 2015 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 CPG Financial Services Style & Fashion Travel & Tourism
Q4 2015 SOCIAL TRENDS REPORT PINTEREST CAMPAIGNS PINTEREST OVERVIEW Kinetic has seen incredible growth in both the number of advertisers and the amount of ad spend on this platform as Pinterest s advertising program matures.
Social Trends Report - Pinterest SUM OF EARNED MEDIA METRICS 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 +62% Q3 2015 TO Q4 2015 Q4 saw a large uptick in earned media, with a 62% increase vs. the 3rd Quarter. This attests to the channel s hugely engaged audience and should sound a positive note for marketers seeking lasting value from their promotions. PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN SPEND & ADVERTISERS QUARTER OVER QUARTER 80% 78% 76% 74% 72% 100% 70% 68% 66% 0% 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 200% 150% 50% As Pinterest s advertising program matures, we ve seen an 80% increase in the number of advertisers quarter on quarter with an ad spend increase of 200% in Q4. % increase in Advertisers % increase in Spend
Q4 2015 SOCIAL TRENDS REPORT INSTAGRAM CAMPAIGNS INSTAGRAM OVERVIEW This platform rolled out its API program just a few months ago and is already showing tremendous growth in both the number of advertisers and in ad dollars spent. About 35% of Kinetic s active Facebook advertisers also included Instagram in their December media buys.
Social Trends Report - Instagram PERCENT OF SPEND AND ACTIVE ADVERTISERS ON INSTAGRAM PER MONTH 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Spend on Instagram continues to grow at a fast clip, with a 30% month-over-month growth rate in the number of advertisers running, signaling strong adoption of Instagram as an advertising product. * The blue line denotes the % of our H2 spend that occurred in each month. Percent of Spend per Month Percent of Advertisers Active per Month AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 30x 20 10 0 OCT NOV DEC RETAIL ADVERTISER RETURN ON INVESTMENT BY MONTH One retail advertiser experienced a mind-blowing 21x return on investment in Q4, proving Instagram as an effective platform for direct response advertising.
ABOUT THIS REPORT The data in this report reflects all of the campaigns that ran through Kinetic Social s proprietary social marketing platform, serving over 3.3 Billion impressions in Q4 2015. This report includes ad spend on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, on both desktop and mobile, and for all ad types. We have broken out platformspecific data and indicated the corresponding platform in each chart. This data report reflects a mix of awareness, engagement and direct response campaign initiatives. The social marketplace rapidly and constantly evolves; thus, this report should be taken strictly as an indicator of current marketplace trends that Kinetic has observed, and not necessarily an indication of future trends. The data in this report represents Kinetic campaigns only and should not be used as an indicator of the entire current or future Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram landscape. KINETIC IS A PROUD PARTNER ABOUT KINETIC SOCIAL Kinetic Social s social marketing platform and team of experts help brands create welcome, engaging and empowering experiences for consumers. Through every level of service, we design and manage campaigns across social channels and the open web. Our powerful, intuitive technology reflects how the modern marketer thinks and works. We combine that proactive innovation with strategic thinking at every step to deliver quality encounters that delight consumers, build brand value and drive sales. Kinetic is based in New York with offices in Toronto, Chicago and San Francisco. We are a Facebook Marketing Partner, a Twitter Official Partner, a Pinterest Marketing Developer Partner and an Instagram Partner. More at www.kineticsocial.com WWW.KINETICSOCIAL.COM