1.
1© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
TSL Social Review
Reviewing 2017 | Predicting 2018

2.
The last 12 months saw social media take on more
responsibility than many ever thought possible. From
protecting communities both on and off the platforms to
emerging moves in social commerce, social media grew to be
so much more than apps.
With more brands and advertisers finding home in social
platforms, the socialsphere has grown to be a hub for anything
and everything a user could want.
It’s not just a conversation space anymore, so what new
opportunities are available to you and your brand?
2017 | Reshaping the industry
2© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |

3.
Let’s start with a non-exhaustive list of what users can do on
social platforms heading into 2018.
• Shop from established and emerging retailers.
• Watch original, television-style content.
• Watch live streams from celebrities, brands, and public
users.
• Talk to machines to find products, get inspiration, order
food.
• Send payments between friends.
• Fundraise to support causes.
• Exchange used goods.
• Check the weather.
That’s a whole lot more than status updates, snarky responses,
and pretty pictures.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
3© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |

4.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
4© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Looking across platforms, what moves made the
biggest waves in 2017?
Let’s ask the team.

5.
Facebook
Stephanie Steiner
Facebook is taking video more seriously than ever. With the launch
of Facebook Watch and native content creation tools, it has the
potential to top YouTube. Facebook has more users who have shared
more data, meaning the platform can serve users more of the
content they want to watch, keeping users on the platform longer.
Brian Christensen
Facebook eliminating dark posts forces brands to be more
transparent with their consumers, helping ease tensions in a year
that brought strong uncertainty to advertising via social media.
Joe Bozic
Facebook's move to make Messenger the go-to place for group
texts, exchanging money, and keeping people connected helped
keep the company on people's devices, particularly the younger
demographics.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
2017 Top-5
1. Facebook Watch
2. Stories flop
3. Strengthening the “Web of Apps”
4. Stepping into social commerce
5. Whatever you need, when you need it
On Facebook’s biggest move in 2017
5© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

6.
Jasmine Graper
I loved the introduction of Collections. Giving users a way to save
posts and categorize them directly within the app makes it that
much more likely that they're going to try the recipe, buy the
shoes, or visit the restaurant. A save says a lot about future intent.
Kimberly Johnson
Changing the feed to algorithm-based was a big move for
Instagram. It ups the ante. Marketers either need to get
more savvy with what they share on Instagram or pay to
play.
Instagram
Alli Kahle
Instagram’s biggest wins were successfully copying
everything Snapchat did and proving it can continually
generate user growth.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
2017 Top-5
1. Stories success, slowing Snapchat’s growth
2. The algorithm
3. User growth
4. Pushing into social commerce; measuring intent
5. Evolving from one-trick pony into video, carousels,
and media sharing hub
6© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

7.
Twitter
Ashley Berset
Whether you're a fan of it or not, 280 characters is a big
move. It opens new opportunities for marketers and helps
users convey a complete thought without causing
confusion by having to cut elements.
Nick McVey
A huge win for Twitter was proving it can still generate
user growth. If it can continue to grow its audience,
especially in the younger demographics, the advertising
revenue will come.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
2017 Top-5
1. 280 characters
2. User growth
3. Success in live media
4. Politics
5. Wendy’s RT challenge
7© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

8.
Snapchat
2017 Top-5
1. Image recognition-based advertising
2. Going public
3. Spectacles
4. AR technology
5. Separation from traditional social platforms
Fatin Omerabi
Snapchat continues to be challenged by Facebook, but their
stance in separating the social from the media is a big victory
for the platform, as Snapchat doesn't want to be viewed as a
social media platform but rather a communication app.
Ben Nesvig
Introducing image recognition-based advertising
opportunities was a huge win for Snapchat, as visual search
and object recognition are the first steps for brands in tapping
into Dark Social.
Mollie Cook
Snap Map and location cards are a great move for Snapchat. The
platform has proven it can drive traffic and ROI for brick-and-
mortar locations, and these features push that capability even
further for brands.
2017 | Reshaping the industry
8© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

9.
Hello functional advertising platform! Pinterest exponentially
increasing its targeting capabilities made it significantly easier
for brands to reach their core consumer on the platform.
Pinterest
2017 Top-5
1. Lens
2. New advertising opportunities
3. Image search and discovery capabilities
4. Purchasing directly on the platform
5. Partnering with retailers (Target, Samsung, etc.)
Kelsey Anderson
Pinterest’s success in visual discovery really separated it from the
pack in 2017. Being able to see related products or recipes based on
an item or ingredient is a great for establishing and leveraging
utility for users.
Hanna Leadstrom
Pinterest Lens. As a consumer, it's disappointing when you search
for a product you saw in the outside world and fail to find it online.
With Pinterest lens, you can now use the tool to snap a quick photo
of the desired product and find similar items right in the app!
Tedi O’Brien
2017 | Reshaping the industry
9© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

10.
Chatbots
• Does it fill a need?
• What questions do people ask of your brand?
• Will people care if those questions are answered
instantaneously?
• What can you do to create a personal experience?
• How can you drive awareness to your bot?
BREAKOUT
10© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key Questions
• Kayak vacation planner
• Shake Shack live video, wait time, menu, more.
• Uber ride share capes.
• AdAge / CNN: Curated daily news.
• Canon: Product locator
Examples

11.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
So, what moves do we see platforms making in
the next 12 months?
What to watch for in 2018
Key Trends for 2018
1. Social CRM
2. Native content creation
3. Social commerce
4. Visual search and recommendations
5. Diving into AR / VR
6. Pushing the hardware
11© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |

12.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
12© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Social CRM
As the adoption of social commerce
practices grows, look for CRM-like
touchpoint and retargeting strategies to
build momentum. These strategies will
help brands better track consumers’
interactions with posts, landing pages,
advertisements, and more.
Native Content Creation
Platforms know that “made for social”
content outperforms a TV ad that is
cut and pasted into a post. While
marketers will start to recognize this,
platforms will get ahead of the curve
by introducing tools within the app to
streamline this process for creators.
Live Content Series
In 2018, more brands will develop
recurring, Live video content. These
recurring episodes give fans a reason
to return and stay for much longer
than traditional video. For reference,
live videos already average watch
times triple that of regular videos.
Visual Search + Targeting
Pinterest led the way in image
recognition and visual search in 2017,
with Snapchat opening the technology
to advertisers to close out the year.
While keyword-based search and
targeting are today’s gold mines, the
future is visual.
Hardware Push
Snap Inc. opened this conversation
nearing its IPO, branding as a camera
company. With that tagline, as well as
Facebook’s successes in AI, could we
see social media’s equivalent of Alexa,
Google Home, and more in 2018?
Virtual & Augmented Reality
Snapchat’s October announcement of
AR advertising opportunities opened
an untapped world of opportunity for
marketers. Who will shine using the
technology in 2018?

13.
Facebook
2018 Trends to Watch
1. Artificial intelligence
2. Social commerce
3. Trying to “be cool” with younger demos
Katie Mangan
Something big with AR. Whether it’s users using the
technology more regularly or releasing Snapchat-like
advertising opportunities, Facebook can’t afford to be far
behind Snap in that venture.
Drew Gneiser
I look forward to seeing how Facebook continues to better
integrate its “web of apps,” especially in the possibility
that Facebook makes Stories on Facebook, Instagram, and
Messenger all one cohesive experience.
Kelsey Marquardt
Facebook’s efforts in AI will pay off big in 2018, specifically in
social care and suggested content. In social care, look for
chatbots to finally become mainstream, especially as brands
look to create more personal experiences for their fans.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
13© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

14.
Instagram
2018 Trends to Watch
1. Social commerce
2. Stories expansion
3. Delivering tangible business impact
Joe Bozic
Clickable links. Instagram finally taps into its link-traffic potential.
Brands will finally set themselves free from the prison that is the
Instagram bio, and links will live freely in the post copy.
Kelsey Anderson
Watch for Instagram to build out a best-in-class “tap to buy"
feature. Amazon better watch out, especially with the expiration
of it’s one-click purchase patent! Personally, though, I'm just
hoping for an algorithm that allows users to see newer posts first
and improvements in reporting.
Kelsey Marquardt
Instagram has become such a key player in choosing destinations
(vacations, restaurants, parks, etc.). I think the platform will
introduce a “comments and reviews” section for destinations,
launching a service to compete against TripAdvisor.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
14© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

15.
Twitter
2018 Trends to Watch
1. User growth, ad revenue
2. Native content creation
3. Media coverage, consumption, and discovery
Ben Nesvig
I expect Twitter to improve and introduce more native content
creation tools. The text-first platform needs to adapt to the visual
age and quickly if it hopes to drive revenue.
Stephanie Steiner
I think Twitter will improve its Explore tab, following other platform’s
successes in “Discovery”-style sections. Adding in a 'top tweets'
approach based on user-specific topics / categories would make it
more relevant to users and a more popular option for discovery.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
Fatin Omerabi
Twitter’s recent user growth will generate an increase in advertising
revenue, leading to an upward tick in stock value.
15© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

16.
Snapchat
2018 Trends to Watch
1. Pushing AR capabilities
2. Separating social and media; improving content
discovery
3. Hardware
Jasmine Graper
Snapchat is going to launch some really, really cool AR stuff
in 2018, both in the user experience and its advertising
offering. How long until we see floating coffee cups above
every Starbucks?
Brian Christensen
I think Snap Inc. will lean into their stake as a camera
company, launching two new hardware products in 2018
(Spectacles 2.0, 360-degree camera, maybe a watch?)
Nick McVey
I’m watching for Snapchat to curate and leverage more
influencer content. Given its discovery capabilities, I think
this will be a great tool for brands in promoting live events,
trending content, etc.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
16© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

17.
Pinterest
2018 Trends to Watch
1. Image recognition-based ad offerings
2. Integrating into users’ everyday lives
3. Advertisers finally incorporating the platform
into their social strategy
Katie Mangan
With Pinterest’s recent improvements in ad targeting and
successes in visual search, I think advertisers will finally see
the value of the platform and flock to the space.
Kimberly Johnson
Pinterest has been asking for deeper engagement on the
platform, introducing checkmarks if you made what you saved.
I think Pinterest will enhance their comment sections under
pins so each pin becomes a mini-forum for tips and tricks.
Drew Gneiser
[Pinterest] will lean more into the learning arena in 2018 -
give users more ways to learn something new every day.
They might also release a new feature that helps people
build custom plans to get a big project done.
2018 | What’s on the horizon?
17© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key thoughts

18.
Image Search, Recognition,
and Targeting
• How do we use it now?
• What are some key factors in generating organic reach /
engagement via visual search?
• What do consumers use your product for?
• What products do consumers use your product with?
• What does vocal / audio SEO look like for voice
assistants?
• How long until chatbots and audio logos come to Alexa?
• What happens if Facebook launches a voice assistant?
DISCUSSION
18© 2017 The Social Lights® LLC |
Key Questions

19.
THANK YOU,
AND BE GREAT
IN 2018.
www.thesociallights.com
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