Mar 14 2023
Social Media Engagement Rates Dropping Across Top Networks via @sejournal, @kristileilani

Do you know what social media success looks like for your business?

Like most areas of marketing, results vary based on industry, target audience, and the ability to create content that attracts customers.

Rival IQ released its annual Social Media Benchmark Report for 2023, where brands in 14 industries compare their social media performance against other brands in the same competitive landscape.

The data set covers social media engagement on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter for 2,100 companies across numerous industries, ranging from food & beverage to tech.

The Facebook following of the companies analyzed ranges from 25,000 – 1,000,0000, and all have over 5,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

The following are the top insights marketing professionals need to know.

Overall Engagement

Between 2019-2022 all industries have seen a drop in overall engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Facebook and Twitter only showed a slight change in engagement.

For Facebook, it dropped to 0.06% in 2021, maintaining that rate the following year. For Twitter, it dropped  0.01% between 2019-2022.

Weekly posting over time for both networks has fallen from 5.8 to 5 posts per week on Facebook and 5.4 to 3.9 posts per week on Twitter.

On the other hand, Instagram saw a much larger drop, from 1.22% to 0.47%. But unlike Facebook and Twitter, weekly posting on this platform has increased from 4.3 to 4.5 posts per week.

Facebook Engagement

Across all industries, Facebook’s median engagement rate per post by followers is 0.06%.

The median number of weekly posts across all industries is 5.04, with media posting the most at 73.5 times weekly. This is likely because media companies publish more news content than brands in other industries.

Instagram Engagement

Across all industries, Instagram’s median engagement rate per post by followers is 0.47%.

The median number of weekly posts across all industries is 4.6, with sports teams posting the most at 15.6 times weekly.

TikTok Engagement

Across all industries, TikTok’s median engagement rate per post by followers is 5.69%.

The median number of videos per week across all industries is 1.75, with media posting the most at 4.2 times weekly.

Twitter Engagement

Across all industries, Twitter’s median engagement rate per post by followers is 0.035%.

The median number of weekly tweets across all industries is 3.91, with media tweeting the most at 70.2 times weekly.

Top Post Types

The best types of posts on each social network vary by industry.

Photo and video posts drive the most engagement on Facebook, while link and status posts have the least.

Social Media Engagement Rates Dropping Across Top NetworksScreenshot from Rival IQ, March 2023

For Instagram, the data indicates that businesses should focus content creation efforts on Reels, carousels, and photos. Video posts not uploaded as Reels tend to have the least engagement.

On Twitter, posts with photos, videos, and statuses show the most engagement, while Tweets with links tend to have the least.

Top Hashtags

Hashtags vary significantly across industries and platforms. Holiday hashtags tend to generate the most engagement across all industries, while contests and giveaways have dropped in popularity compared to previous years.

Social Media Engagement Rates Dropping Across Top NetworksScreenshot from Rival IQ, March 2023

Key Takeaways

The key takeaway is that each industry’s audience is slightly different. While food & beverage brands see the best engagement with Instagram Reels, higher education brands see the best engagement with Instagram carousels.

To get the most out of your social media strategy, find ways to transform your content into the format that gets the best engagement on each of the top social networks. This will ensure you reach the most potential customers with the content they enjoy consuming.

For 100+ pages of industry-specific insights, visit Rival IQ and download the 2023 Social Media Bookmark Report.

Featured Image: 13_Phunkod/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 22 2023
Google Search Console Update: More Granular User Permissions via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google Search Console update improves security and collaboration with more granular user permissions.

  • An update to Google Search Console allows you to grant more specific permissions to team members.
  • Users can be given different levels of permissions within a property, such as read-only, full editing, or restricted editing access.
  • The update provides a more secure and efficient way for users to work together on Search Console accounts.
Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 10 2023
How to use social media to reach your audience

Your social media endeavors need to be a part of your SEO strategy. Especially now that the younger generations (Gen Z) are using platforms like TikTok and Instagram instead of Google. This means your site’s popularity on social media ties into your SEO more than ever!

But which social media should you focus on? With so many platforms out there, you can feel overwhelmed with choices. Don’t worry, though! You don’t have to be active everywhere. That isn’t always sustainable. And if your most loyal customers are on Twitter, and you’re focusing on Pinterest, then you miss out on many opportunities.

Instead, decide which platform your audience uses the most, then find a rhythm that works for you and build on that. Once you’ve got your social strategy in place, it’s time to start posting! Below are some tips you can use to set up or improve your social media strategy.

1. Keep your account alive

The most crucial advice when using social media is that you need to keep your account alive. But what does this mean? You’ll see a lot of advice about posting daily, but that’s not always realistic, especially if you’re a small business owner.

Our advice: keep your account alive by posting regularly and going at your own pace. If you can only post a couple of times a week, then do it. A good starting pointing is:

People will be able to tell that you’re being genuine and fall in love with you for that. What’s more, they’ll want to continue to follow you if you’re posting genuine content that they can relate to.

Of course, everybody needs a vacation, but you don’t want to abandon your followers. That’s why we recommend scheduling posts for the time you are away or letting people know when you’ll be back. And be sure to share some photos of your vacay!

Save time by automating

If you also have a blog where you write regularly, Yoast SEO Premium can help you automate some of your postings. With our Zapier integration, you can automate your social sharing and stay in control of what your social link posts look like. This integration makes it possible to automatically post to your favorite social network whenever you publish new content to your site. It saves you time without compromising on the quality of your social posts.

For social media like Instagram and TikTok, there are also a number of platforms that you can use to stay on top of your schedule and keep all your media in one place, ready to post.

2. Write captivating excerpts

Depending on the type of content you want to share, you need to make sure the copy that goes with your posts is appealing enough to draw people in. There are a number of ways you can approach this. For instance, you can choose the most important sentence or the main point of the blog post you’re going to share. You could also share the introduction of the post if you feel that is captivating enough.

Depending on the platform, you could share a story behind a photo you’re posting or the failures you’ve had when testing new products. Or maybe you just want to jump on the latest trend and apply it to your brand.

Is it thumb-stopping?

You want this piece of copy to get people to click on the link in your bio or read the whole caption on the platform. But the basic formula is:

Hook: Something that is going to grab their attention.

Pain point: What is it that your followers are struggling with?

Solution: Well, it’s a good thing you have an answer!

CTA: Don’t forget to ask your readers to do something.

If you want to learn more about copywriting for social media, check out our article about social media writing tips.

3. Diversify your posts

Having a few solid content pillars is important. They are particularly helpful in keeping you on track with your content creation. Need some inspiration? Here are a few different types of posts you could create. Remember, you’re no longer limited to just posting photos!

To help you out, let’s look at a few examples. First, you could share your blog posts with a link post. This is one of the most basic post types you can use:

But don’t be afraid to change it up. Not all your social media posts need to necessarily direct people to your website. They can also be focused on informing people about a recent piece of news or simply increasing engagement on your social media platforms themselves.

And like we said in the intro, short-form videos are huge right now. They’re a great way to give your audience a few quick tips or take your fans behind the scenes.

To decide which posts do well on social media and which content you should make more of, you need to analyze the numbers. This could be the number of views, the number of comments, and how many times a post was shared or saved. Of course, numbers won’t mean anything if you don’t have a goal in mind. However, it’s a good rule of thumb to post more of the content that received numerous views, saves and shares.

Speaking of diversifying your content

At Yoast, we believe in the importance of inclusivity. In addition to diversifying when it comes to types of posts, you should also pay attention to making your content accessible and relatable, for as many people as possible. You need to show diversity to make this happen and being as visual as it is, social media is a great place for that. That being said, the topic of diversity shouldn’t be limited to your social media presence. This is a company-wide issue that you need to take seriously and nowadays is non-negotiable in both marketing and social media. Be aware of the image that you’re currently putting out there and invest time and resources into making that relatable to everyone.

But it’s not all about visuals. You should also use inclusive language, language that avoids excluding marginalized groups of people as much as possible. You might not get all of it right in one go, but becoming aware of it and changing it as you go is a great start. Not only does inclusive language help you reach a bigger audience, but it also helps all of us move toward a more inclusive society. And you might have noticed that social media platforms are being used a lot to talk about this and create more awareness on the topics of inclusiveness and diversity. So be part of the change and use inclusive language on your socials and in your website content. If you’re not sure where to start, our inclusive language analysis in Yoast SEO gives you feedback on which words might be harmful and provides you with alternatives to use!

4. Handle comments

If you share your posts on social media, you’ll get comments. This is something many people forget about, or try to do in some cases. Because sometimes comments will be good, and sometimes they will be bad. But the comment section is also where conversations are happening. Answering questions, then following up with one of your own is a great way to keep your audience engaged.

While you may get the odd troll in the comments, most of the time you’ll find your fans cheering you on and recommending you to their friends. There are some wonderful people in the comment section. Longtime followers can also become huge advocates for you and your brand, so make sure to have a chat with them.

But you should handle the trolls quickly! You don’t want your comments section to become a toxic place. Your fans won’t like it, but it can also have an effect on your mental health. So make sure your comments section is a safe space.

5. Use eye-catching photos or illustrations

Even with all the recent updates and focus on short-form video content, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said there is still a place for photo posts on Instagram. Just like on Facebook, where visual content is also essential. And let’s not forget Pinterest, which is all about images.

However, you might not have a graphic designer on staff or a photography department at your disposal. Don’t worry, though! There are plenty of online tools that can help you create your posts. Just remember to use clear images that either show your products or yourself. This could either be a crisp photo or a delightful illustration. Great quality will make your post stand out in someone’s feed, which can increase the post’s engagement, saves and shares.

Thankfully, if you’re using Yoast SEO Premium, you can check what your blog posts, product page or collections will look like before sharing them on social media. So you can easily adjust your content before posting it online. See how easy it is!

If you’re not already part of a community, make one! Being active in a certain community or niche can help build allies, brand ambassadors, and new ideas. In any community, you’ll soon discover other interesting people. What’s more, talking to customers and end-users can be a great way for you to develop your product. And make sure to let people know that they are always welcome to join.

Additionally, you can make these people fall in love with your brand quicker by giving them exclusive access to discounts, Betas or just generally behind the scenes.

7. Add metadata

All the social platforms are becoming their own little search engines. So in order to be found, you need to make sure that you’re including some metadata in the form of hashtags. These can help your growth immensely. For instance, if you are at an event, include the hashtag for that event in your post. Everyone searching for the event will then come across it. There are also hashtags for certain interests or technology.

Some people also have bots set up that retweet everything that is posted in a certain hashtag, which is a great way to boost your post. But don’t go overboard! Nobody likes a post that is filled with all kinds of random hashtags. Keep them relevant to your post, and make sure they are accessibility-friendly!

Note that tags on social media work a lot differently than tags on your site. If you’re using tags on your site the same way you would on social media, take a look at this post to find out why that’s not good for your SEO.

Conclusion

Social media is a key aspect of every (off-page) SEO strategy. Setting up a comprehensive social media strategy can be hard. It will certainly ask for a bit of creativity, and it’ll definitely be time-consuming. But trust us when we say that it’ll be worth it! And if you think about it, social media and blogging are very similar in many aspects. You just need to get into the flow of it! Good luck!



Marieke van de Rakt

Marieke is the head of strategy at Yoast and founder of Yoast SEO academy. She loves coming up with new ideas and products to make SEO attainable for everyone, and ensure a healthy growth for Yoast!

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 4 2023
Twitter Will Share Ad Revenue With Twitter Blue Verified Creators via @sejournal, @kristileilani

Elon Musk, owner and CEO of Twitter, announced that starting today, Twitter will share ad revenue with creators. The new policy applies only to ads that appear in a creator’s reply threads.

The move comes on the heels of YouTube launching ad revenue sharing for creators through the YouTube Partner Program in a bid to become the most rewarding social platform for creators.

Social networks like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat have similar monetization options for creators who publish reels and video content. For example, Instagram’s Reels Play Bonus Program offers eligible creators up to $1,200 for Reel views.

The catch? Unlike other social platforms, creators on Twitter must have an active subscription to Twitter Blue and meet the eligibility requirements for the Blue Verified checkmark.

The following is an example of a Twitter ad in a reply thread (Promoted by @ASUBootcamps). It should generate revenue for the Twitter Blue Verified creator (@rowancheung), who created the thread.

Twitter Will Share Ad Revenue With Twitter Blue Verified CreatorsScreenshot from Twitter, January 2023

To receive the ad revenue share, creators would have to pay $8 per month (or more) to maintain an active Twitter Blue subscription. Twitter Blue pricing varies based on location and is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

Eligibility for the Twitter Blue Verified checkmark includes having an active Twitter Blue subscription and meeting the following criteria.

  • Your account must have a display name, profile photo, and confirmed phone number.
  • Your account has to be older than 90 days and active within the last 30 days.
  • Recent changes to your account’s username, display name, or profile photo can affect eligibility. Modifications to those after verification can also result in a temporary loss of the blue checkmark until Twitter reviews your updated information.
  • Your account cannot appear to mislead or deceive.
  • Your account cannot spam or otherwise try to manipulate the platform for engagement or follows.

Did you receive a Blue Verified checkmark before the Twitter Blue subscription? That will not help creators who want a share of the ad revenue. The legacy Blue Verified checkmark does not make a creator account eligible for ad revenue sharing.

When asked about accounts with a legacy and Twitter Blue Verified checkmark, Musk tweeted that the legacy Blue Verified is “deeply corrupted” and will sunset in just a few months.

Regardless of how you gained your checkmark, it’s important to note that Twitter can remove a checkmark without notice.

In addition to ad revenue sharing for Twitter Blue Verified creators, Twitter Dev announced that the Twitter API would no longer be free in an ongoing effort to reduce the number of bots on the platform.

While speculation looms about a loss in Twitter ad revenue, the Wall Street Journal reported a “fire-sale” Super Bowl offer from Musk to win back advertisers.

The latest data from DataReportal shows a positive trend for Twitter advertisers. Ad reach has increased from 436.4 million users in January 2022 to 556 million in January 2023.

Twitter is also the third most popular social network based on monthly unique visitors and page views globally, according to SimilarWeb data through December 2022.

Featured Image: Ascannio/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 2 2023
How the Supreme Court ruling on Section 230 could end Reddit as we know it

When the Supreme Court hears a landmark case on Section 230 later in February, all eyes will be on the biggest players in tech—Meta, Google, Twitter, YouTube.

A legal provision tucked into the Communications Decency Act, Section 230 has provided the foundation for Big Tech’s explosive growth, protecting social platforms from lawsuits over harmful user-generated content while giving them leeway to remove posts at their discretion (though they are still required to take down illegal content, such as child pornography, if they become aware of its existence). The case might have a range of outcomes; if Section 230 is repealed or reinterpreted, these companies may be forced to transform their approach to moderating content and to overhaul their platform architectures in the process.

But another big issue is at stake that has received much less attention: depending on the outcome of the case, individual users of sites may suddenly be liable for run-of-the-mill content moderation. Many sites rely on users for community moderation to edit, shape, remove, and promote other users’ content online—think Reddit’s upvote, or changes to a Wikipedia page. What might happen if those users were forced to take on legal risk every time they made a content decision? 

In short, the court could change Section 230 in ways that won’t just impact big platforms; smaller sites like Reddit and Wikipedia that rely on community moderation will be hit too, warns Emma Llansó, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Free Expression Project. “It would be an enormous loss to online speech communities if suddenly it got really risky for mods themselves to do their work,” she says. 

In an amicus brief filed in January, lawyers for Reddit argued that its signature upvote/downvote feature is at risk in Gonzalez v. Google, the case that will reexamine the application of Section 230. Users “directly determine what content gets promoted or becomes less visible by using Reddit’s innovative ‘upvote’ and ‘downvote’ features,” the brief reads. “All of those activities are protected by Section 230, which Congress crafted to immunize Internet ‘users,’ not just platforms.” 

At the heart of Gonzalez is the question of whether the “recommendation” of content is different from the display of content; this is widely understood to have broad implications for recommendation algorithms that power platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. But it could also have an impact on users’ rights to like and promote content in forums where they act as community moderators and effectively boost some content over other content. 

Reddit is questioning where user preferences fit, either directly or indirectly, into the interpretation of “recommendation.” “The danger is that you and I, when we use the internet, we do a lot of things that are short of actually creating the content,” says Ben Lee, Reddit’s general counsel. “We’re seeing other people’s content, and then we’re interacting with it. At what point are we ourselves, because of what we did, recommending that content?” 

Reddit currently has 50 million active daily users, according to its amicus brief, and the site sorts its content according to whether users upvote or downvote posts and comments in a discussion thread. Though it does employ recommendation algorithms to help new users find discussions they might be interested in, much of its content recommendation system relies on these community-powered votes. As a result, a change to community moderation would likely drastically change how the site works.  

“Can we [users] be dragged into a lawsuit, even a well-meaning lawsuit, just because we put a two-star review for a restaurant, just because like we clicked downvote or upvote on that one post, just because we decided to help volunteer for our community and start taking out posts or adding in posts?” Lee asks. “Are [these actions] enough for us to suddenly become liable for something?”

An “existential threat” to smaller platforms 

Lee points to a case in Reddit’s recent history. In 2019, in the subreddit r/Screenwriting, users started discussing screenwriting competitions they thought might be scams. The operator of those alleged scams went on to sue the moderator of r/Screenwriting for pinning and commenting on the posts, thus prioritizing that content. The Superior Court of California in LA County excused the moderator from the lawsuit, which Reddit says was due to Section 230 protection. Lee is concerned that a different interpretation of Section 230 could leave moderators, like the one in r/Screenwriting, significantly more vulnerable to similar lawsuits in the future. 

“The reality is every Reddit user plays a role in deciding what content appears on the platform,” says Lee. “In that sense, weakening 230 can unintentionally increase liability for everyday people.” 

Llansó agrees that Section 230 explicitly protects the users of platforms, as well as the companies that host them. 

“Community moderation is often some of the most effective [online moderation] because it has people who are invested,” she says. “It’s often … people who have context and understand what people in their community do and don’t want to see.”

Wikimedia, the foundation that manages Wikipedia, is also worried that a new interpretation of Section 230 might usher in a future in which volunteer editors can be taken to court for how they deal with user-generated content. All the information on Wikipedia is generated, fact-checked, edited, and organized by volunteers, making the site particularly vulnerable to changes in liability afforded by Section 230. 

“Without Section 230, Wikipedia could not exist,” says Jacob Rogers, associate general counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation. He says the community of volunteers that manages content on Wikipedia “designs content moderation policies and processes that reflect the nuances of sharing free knowledge with the world. Alterations to Section 230 would jeopardize this process by centralizing content moderation further, eliminating communal voices, and reducing freedom of speech.”

In its own brief to the Supreme Court, Wikimedia warned that changes to liability will leave smaller technology companies unable to compete with the bigger companies that can afford to fight a host of lawsuits. “The costs of defending suits challenging the content hosted on Wikimedia Foundation’s sites would pose existential threats to the organization,” lawyers for the foundation wrote.

Lee echoes this point, noting that Reddit is “committed to maintaining the integrity of our platform regardless of the legal landscape,” but that Section 230 protects smaller internet companies that don’t have large litigation budgets, and any changes to the law would “make it harder for platforms and users to moderate in good faith.”

To be sure, not all experts think the scenarios laid out by Reddit and Wikimedia are the most likely. “This could be a bit of a mess, but [tech companies] almost always say that this is going to destroy the internet,” says Hany Farid, professor of engineering and information at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Farid supports increasing liability related to content moderation and argues that the harms of targeted, data-driven recommendations online justify some of the risks that come with a ruling against Google in the Gonzalez case. “It is true that Reddit has a different model for content moderation, but what they aren’t telling you is that some communities are moderated by and populated by incels, white supremacists, racists, election deniers, covid deniers, etc.,” he says. 

(In response to Farid’s statement, a Reddit spokesperson writes, “our sitewide policies strictly prohibit hateful content—including hate based on gender or race—as well as content manipulation and disinformation.”)

Brandie Nonnecke, founding director at the CITRIS Policy Lab, a social media and democracy research organization at the University of California, Berkeley, emphasizes a common viewpoint among experts: that regulation to curb the harms of online content is needed but should be established legislatively, rather than through a Supreme Court decision that could result in broad unintended consequences, such as those outlined by Reddit and Wikimedia.  

“We all agree that we don’t want recommender systems to be spreading harmful content,” Nonnecke says, “but trying to address it by changing Section 230 in this very fundamental way is like a surgeon using a chain saw instead of a scalpel.”

Correction: The Wikimedia Foundation was established two years after Wikipedia was launched, not before, as originally written.

This piece has also been updated to include an additional statement from Reddit.

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Jan 30 2023
Twitter Introduces New Appeal Process For Suspended Accounts via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Twitter is making a significant change to its account suspension policy starting on February 1.

Per an announcement from the Twitter Safety team, users will be able to appeal account suspensions for evaluations based on new criteria for reinstatement.

Twitter notes that it’s taking a more nuanced approach to policy violations, opting for less severe actions such as limiting the reach of individual tweets rather than removing accounts.

From now on, Twitter will only suspend accounts for severe or ongoing, repeat violations of its policies.

Examples of severe violations include, but are not limited to, engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, privacy violations, platform manipulation or spam, and targeted harassment of users.

Twitter is proactively reinstating previously suspended accounts and has clarified that accounts that engaged in illegal activity, threats of harm or violence, large-scale spam, and platform manipulation will not be reinstated.

The company’s new account suspension approach aims to balance promoting healthy online discussions while protecting users from harm.

Twitter hopes these changes will provide a fairer and more transparent way for users to reinstate their accounts, which it didn’t offer before.

Users are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the new criteria and to appeal their suspensions if they feel that their accounts were suspended unjustly.

On rare occasions, Twitter may permit controversial content or behavior that might otherwise violate its policies to remain on the site because it thinks the public is interested in seeing both sides of an issue.

A cross-functional team evaluates each circumstance individually before making a decision.

The potential influence on the general public, the source of the content, and the availability of alternative coverage of an event are some elements that Twitter considers when making content decisions.

Twitter’s enforcement philosophy is documented on this help page.

Featured Image: KateV28/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 27 2023
Where Are The Advertisers Leaving Twitter Going For The Super Bowl? via @sejournal, @gregjarboe

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October 27, 2022, things at the social media company have gone from bad to worse.

You probably saw this coming from a mile away – especially if you had read about a study by Media Matters that was published on November 22, 2022, entitled, “In less than a month, Elon Musk has driven away half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers.”

If you missed that, then you’ve probably read Matt G. Southern’s article in Search Engine Journal, which was entitled, “Twitter’s Revenue Down 40% As 500 Top Advertisers Pull Out.”

This mass exodus creates a challenge for digital advertising executives and their agencies. Where should they go long term?

And what should they do in the short term – with Super Bowl LVII coming up on Sunday, February 12, 2023?

Ideally, these advertisers would follow their audience. If they knew where Twitter users were going, their ad budgets could follow them.

But it isn’t clear where Twitter users are going – or if they’ve even left yet.

Fake Followers On Twitter And Brand Safety

According to the latest data from Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform, there were 6.9 billion monthly visits to Twitter worldwide during December 2022 – up slightly from 6.8 billion in November, and down slightly from 7.0 billion in October.

So, if a high-profile user like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has taken a step back from the frequent posts on her Twitter account, @wutrain, which has more than 152,000 followers, then it appears that other users have stepped up their monthly visits.

This includes several accounts that had been banned previously for spreading disinformation, which Musk unbanned.

(Disinformation is defined as “deliberately misleading or biased information,” while misinformation may be spread without the sender having harmful intentions.)

It’s also worth noting that SparkToro, which provides audience research software, also has a free tool called Fake Follower Audit, which analyzes Twitter accounts.

This tool defines “fake followers” as ones that are unreachable and will not see the account’s tweets either because they’re spam, bots, and propaganda, or because they’re no longer active on Twitter.

On Jan. 24, 2023, I used this tool and found that 70.2% of the 126.5 million followers of the @elonmusk account were fake.

According to the tool, accounts with a similar-sized following to @elonmusk have a median of 41% fake followers. So, Elon Musk’s account has more fake followers than most.

Sparktoro screenshotScreenshot from SparkToro, January 2023

By comparison, 20.6% of the followers of the @wutreain account were fake. So, Michelle Wu’s account has fewer fake followers than accounts with a similar-sized following.

Sparktoro results for fake followersScreenshot from SparkToro, January 2023

In fact, most Twitter accounts have significant numbers of fake followers.

This underlines the brand safety concerns that many advertisers and media buyers have, but it doesn’t give them any guidance on where they should move their ad dollars.

Who Are Twitter’s Top Competitors And What Are Their Monthly Visits?

So, I asked Similarweb if they had more data that might help. And they sent me the monthly visits from desktop and mobile devices worldwide for Twitter and its top competitors:

  • YouTube.com: 34.6 billion in December 2022, down 2.8% from 35.6 billion in December 2021.
  • Facebook.com: 18.1 billion in December 2022, down 14.2% from 21.1 billion in December 2021.
  • Twitter.com: 6.9 billion in December 2022, up 1.5% from 6.8 billion in December 2021.
  • Instagram.com: 6.3 billion in December 2022, down 3.1% from 6.5 billion in December 2021.
  • TikTok.com: 1.9 billion in December 2022, up 26.7% from 1.5 billion in December 2021.
  • Reddit.com: 1.8 billion in December 2022, down 5.3% from 1.9 billion in December 2021.
  • LinkedIn.com: 1.5 billion in December 2022, up 7.1% from 1.4 billion in December 2021.
  • Pinterest.com: 1.0 billion in December 2022, up 11.1% from 0.9 billion in December 2021.

The most significant trends worth noting are monthly visits to TikTok are up 26.7% year over year from a smaller base, while monthly visits to Facebook are down 14.2% from a bigger base.

So, the short-term events at Twitter over the past 90 days may have taken the spotlight off the long-term trends at TikTok and Facebook over the past year for some industry observers.

But based on Southern’s article in Search Engine Journal, “Facebook Shifts Focus To Short-Form Video After Stock Plunge,” which was published on February 6, 2022, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is focused on these trends.

In a call with investors, Zuckerberg said back then:

“People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly. And this is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long term.”

Meanwhile, there were 91% more monthly visits to YouTube in December 2022 than there were to Facebook. And that only counts the visits that Similarweb tracks from mobile and desktop devices.

Similarweb doesn’t track visits from connected TVs (CTVs).

Measuring Data From Connected TVs (CTVs) And Co-Viewing

Why would I wish to draw your attention to CTVs?

First, global viewers watched a daily average of over 700 million hours of YouTube content on TV devices, according to YouTube internal data from January 2022.

And Insider Intelligence reported in 2022 that 36.4% of the U.S. share of average time spent per day with YouTube came from connected devices, including Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, and Xfinity Flex, while 49.3% came from mobile devices, and 14.3% came from desktops or laptops.

Second, when people watch YouTube on a connected TV, they often watch it together with their friends, family, and colleagues – just like they did at Super Bowl parties before the pandemic.

There’s even a term for this behavior: Co-viewing.

And advertisers can now measure their total YouTube CTV audience using real-time and census-level surveys in over 100 countries and 70 languages.

This means Heineken and Marvel Studios can measure the co-viewing of their Super Bowl ad in more than 100 markets around the globe where Heineken 0.0 non-alcoholic beer is sold, and/or 26 countries where “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” is scheduled to be released three to five days after the Big Game.

It also enables Apple Music to measure the co-viewing of their Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show during Big Game parties worldwide (except Mainland China, Iran, North Korea, and Turkmenistan, where access to YouTube is currently blocked).

And, if FanDuel has already migrated to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), then the innovative sports-tech entertainment company can not only measure the co-viewing of their Big Game teasers on YouTube AdBlitz in 16 states where sports betting is legal, but also measure engaged-view conversions (EVCs) from YouTube within 3 days of viewing Rob Gronkowski’s attempt to kick a live field goal.

Advertisers couldn’t do that in 2022. But they could in a couple of weeks.

If advertisers want to follow their audience, then they should be moving some of their ad budgets out of Facebook, testing new tactics, and experimenting with new initiatives on YouTube in 2023.

Where should the advertisers leaving Twitter shift their budgets long term? And how will that change their Super Bowl strategies in the short term?

According to Similarweb, monthly visits to ads.twitter.com, the platform’s ad-buying portal dropped 15% worldwide from 2.5 million in December 2021 to 2.1 million in December 2022.

So, advertisers were heading for the exit weeks before they learned that 500 top advertisers had left the platform.

Where Did Their Ad Budgets Go?

Well, it’s hard to track YouTube advertising, which is buried in Google’s sprawling ad business.

And we can’t use business.facebook.com as a proxy for interest in advertising on that platform because it’s used by businesses for other purposes, such as managing organic content on their Facebook pages.

But monthly visits to ads.snapchat.com, that platform’s ad-buying portal, jumped 88.3% from 1.6 million in December 2021 to 3.0 million in December 2022.

Monthly visits to ads.tiktok.com are up 36.6% from 5.1 million in December 2021 to 7.0 million in December 2022.

Monthly visits to ads.pinterest.com are up 23.3% from 1.1 million in December 2021 to 1.4 million in December 2022.

And monthly visits to business.linkedin.com are up 14.6% from 5.7 million in December 2021 to 6.5 million in December 2022.

It appears that lots of advertisers are hedging their bets by spreading their money around.

Now, most of them should probably continue to move their ad budgets into Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn – unless the “Chief Twit” can find a way to keep his microblogging service from becoming “a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

How will advertisers leaving Twitter change their Super Bowl plan this year?

To double-check my analysis, I interviewed Joaquim Salguerio, who is the Paid Media Director at LINK Agency. He’s managed media budgets of over eight figures at multiple advertising agencies.

Below are my questions and his answers.

Greg Jarboe: “Which brands feel that Twitter has broken their trust since Musk bought the platform?”

Joaquim Salguerio: “I would say that several brands will have different reasonings for this break of trust.

First, if you’re an automaker, there’s suddenly a very tight relationship between Twitter and one of your competitors.

Second, advertisers that are quite averse to taking risks with their communications because of brand safety concerns might feel that they still need to be addressed.

Most of all, in a year where we’re seeing mass layoffs from several corporations, the Twitter troubles have given marketing teams a reason to re-evaluate its effectiveness during a time of budget cuts. That would be a more important factor than trust for most brands.

Obviously, there are some famous cases, such as the Lou Paskalis case, but it’s difficult to pinpoint a brand list that would have trust as their only concern.”

GJ: “Do you think it will be hard for Twitter to regain their trust before this year’s Super Bowl?”

JS: “It’s highly unlikely that any brand that has lost trust in Twitter will change its mind in the near future, and definitely not in time for the Super Bowl. Most marketing plans for the event will be finalized by now and recent communications by Twitter leadership haven’t signaled any change in direction.

If anything, from industry comments within my own network, I can say that comments from Musk recently (“Ads are too frequent on Twitter and too big. Taking steps to address both in coming weeks.”) were quite badly received. For any marketers that believe Twitter advertising isn’t sufficiently effective, this pushes them further away.

Brand communications should still occur on Twitter during Super Bowl though – it will have a peak in usage. And advertising verticals that should dominate the advertising space on Twitter are not the ones crossing the platform from their plans.”

GJ: “How do you think advertisers will change their Super Bowl plans around Twitter this year?”

JS: “The main change for advertising plans will likely be for brand comms amplification. As an example, the betting industry will likely be heavily present on Twitter during the game and I would expect little to no change in plans.”

In the FCMG category, though, time sensitivity won’t be as important, which means that social media teams will likely be making an attempt at virality without relying as much on paid dollars.

If budgets are to diverge, they will likely be moved within the social space and toward platforms that will have user discussion/engagement from the Super Bowl (TikTok, Reddit, etc.)”

GJ: “What trends will we see in advertising budget allocation for this year’s Super Bowl?”

Joaquim Salguerio: “We should see budget planning much in line with previous years in all honesty. TV is still the most important media channel on Super Bowl day.

Digital spend will likely go towards social platforms, we predict a growth in TikTok and Reddit advertising around the big day for most brands.

Twitter should still have a strong advertising budget allocated to the platform by the verticals aiming to get actions from users during the game (food delivery/betting/etc.).”

GJ: “Which platforms will benefit from this shift?”

JS: “Likely, we will see TikTok as the biggest winner from a shift in advertising dollars, as the growth numbers are making it harder to ignore the platform as a placement that needs to be in the plan.

Reddit can also capture some of this budget as it has the right characteristics marketers are looking for around the Super Bowl – it’s relevant to what’s happening at the moment and similar demographics.”

GJ: “Do you think advertisers that step away from Twitter for this year’s Big Game will stay away long term?”

JS: “That is impossible to know, as it’s completely dependent on how the platform evolves and the advertising solutions it will provide. Twitter’s proposition was always centered around brand marketing (their performance offering was always known to be sub-par).

Unless brand safety concerns are addressed by brands that decided to step away, it’s hard to foresee a change.

I would say that overall, Super Bowl ad spend on Twitter should not be as affected as it’s been portrayed – it makes sense to reach audiences where audiences are.

Especially if you know the mindset. The bigger issue is what happens when there isn’t a Super Bowl or a World Cup.”

More resources:

Featured Image: Brocreative/Shutterstock

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Jan 25 2023
Twitter Rolls Out Search Keywords Ads To All Advertisers via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Twitter is rolling out a new ad unit called Search Keywords Ads that allows users to promote sponsored tweets in search results.

Advertisers will now be able to pay for their tweets to appear at the top of search results for specific keywords.

The feature is similar to the promoted tweets that appear in users’ timelines but with the added benefit of appearing in search results.

This will allow advertisers to reach a wider audience, as users searching for specific keywords will now be exposed to sponsored tweets.

Advertisers can find Search Keywords Ads as a new campaign objective within the Twitter Ads interface.

As the company states in the tweet above, the new Search Keywords Ads objective is designed to drive conversions to advertiser websites.

Twitter’s Search Keywords Ads are unique in that they only target users actively searching for specific keywords, which provides a more accurate signal of user intent.

For maximum relevance, you’ll need to utilize the Twitter Pixel or Conversion API on your website.

Twitter intends to expand Search Keywords Ads to other advertising objectives in the future.

Like other promoted tweets, search ads will be clearly labeled as “promoted,” which will help differentiate advertisements from organic tweets.

Search Keywords Ads can potentially be a significant revenue generator for Twitter, which the company needs right now.

Reuters reports that in December, ad spend on Twitter dropped by 71%.

This decline is attributed to top advertisers reducing their spending on the social media platform following the takeover by Elon Musk.

Will the introduction of search ads help lure advertisers back?

We may learn more about Twitter’s plans to boost revenue later this week when the company holds its earnings call.

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Jan 18 2023
Twitter’s Revenue Down 40% As 500 Top Advertisers Pull Out via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Twitter is facing a crisis in its core advertising business, as a senior manager at the company recently informed employees that daily revenue is down 40% compared to last year.

This news, first reported by The Information, comes on the heels of reports that more than 500 of Twitter’s top advertisers have ceased spending on the platform since CEO Elon Musk took over.

The continued decline of Twitter’s advertising business makes it difficult for the company to break even in 2023, as Musk previously stated it would.

Why Are Advertisers Pulling Out?

Some major advertisers have expressed disapproval of Musk’s approach to content moderation, including the reinstatement of previously banned accounts and the dismissal of the company’s key executives responsible for curtailing hate speech.

Musk also terminated most of Twitter’s sales team, including many who were in charge of the company’s major advertisers and approximately 50 engineers and data scientists working on enhancing Twitter’s advertising product.

Which Advertisers Are Pulling Out?

Notably, Omnicom and Interpublic Group ad-holding companies have recommended that their clients temporarily stop all advertising on Twitter as they wait to see what Musk will do next.

Clients of GroupM, the world’s most prominent ad-buying firm, have also reduced their spending since Musk became CEO, saying the company has become high-risk.

What Does This Mean For Twitter Users?

The issues with Twitter’s advertising business could lead Musk to make further cost-cutting measures following his previous reduction of 75% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees and the closure of one of its data centers.

This can impact Twitter’s quality of service, potentially leading to more frequent outages or a lack of new features for non-paying users.

With the limited resources Twitter has available to develop new tools, it wouldn’t be surprising to see new offerings locked behind the Twitter Blue paywall.

Also within the realm of possibility is Twitter charging for previously free features, similar to how Musk monetized verification checkmarks.

This is speculation, of course, as Twitter hasn’t made any public statements regarding its declining ad business.

It remains to be seen what Musk will do to diversify revenue.

With the company’s future at stake, the actions of Musk and Twitter will be closely watched by the industry and its investors.

Featured Image: Gearstd/Shutterstock

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Jan 16 2023
Twitter Cuts Off Access To Third-Party Apps via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

In a move sparking controversy across tech and developer communities, Twitter appears to have cut off access to third-party apps like Twitterrific and Tweetbot.

By cutting off access to its API, Twitter limits developers’ ability to offer alternative ways to access the platform.

This change could impact those who depend on third-party apps for their daily Twitter content.

While it’s unclear why Twitter is making such drastic changes to its API access policy, a report from The Information suggests it’s no accident.

Erin Woo, a reporter at The Information, writes:

“In the day and a half since users started reporting problems with the apps, neither Twitter’s official account nor the Twitter support account have explained what caused the outage, including whether it was deliberate or accidental. Musk also hasn’t commented on his Twitter account.

But a senior software engineer wrote Thursday night that “Third-party app suspensions are intentional,” in an internal Twitter command center Slack channel, used by employees to handle outages and interruptions to Twitter’s services. The engineer declined to comment when contacted by The Information on Saturday afternoon.”

While no official communication has been provided to developers or users, many speculate the decision to restrict API access is motivated by a desire to increase revenue.

Third-party apps drive less ad revenue for Twitter. Forcing people to use the official Twitter app can increase ad impressions and make it a more attractive platform for advertisers.

Additionally, funneling more users to the official app can potentially drive more subscriptions to Twitter Blue, which isn’t available to purchase on third-party apps.

Regardless of the reasoning behind the decision, Twitter is damaging relationships with developers and users alike.

Giving third-party developers access to the Twitter API is beneficial for users because they’re often able to create more efficient and user-friendly tools than those available through Twitter itself.

Moreover, allowing access to the API can help stimulate innovation and creativity within the industry, leading to more advanced technologies and better services.

The fact that this change came without warning has soured relationships with developers, with some vowing not to continue working on their app if API access is restored.

Craig Hockenberry, the developer of Twitterrific, writes in his blog:

“What bothers me about Twitterrific’s final day is that it was not dignified. There was no advance notice for its creators, customers just got a weird error, and no one is explaining what’s going on. We had no chance to thank customers who have been with us for over a decade…

Personally, I’m done. And with a vengeance.”

Matteo Villa, developer of Fenix for iOS, says he’s considering pulling his app from the App Store

Paul Haddad, co-creator of Tweetbot, writes in a post on Mastodon that he’s on to “smaller but greener pastures.”

If you’re waiting for your favorite third-party Twitter app to come back online, there’s no telling if that will ever happen.

As Twitter laid off its public relations and communications team, a company representative couldn’t be reached for comment.

Featured Image: Postmodern Studio/Shutterstock

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