Social media study releases report in September

Image via 123RF

From this report, the team has released its first four issues, with many more to come.

1. Twitter engagement on brand content has dropped significantly compared to last year. Brands are posting more content than ever before on the social network, but Twitter users do often not see even paid-for campaigns as relevant. For the first time, more than 50% of all surveyed brands post content once per day or more - but this is translating to a sea of noise that doesn't necessarily result in business value.

2. Instagram is the number 1 network to watch, with 24.4% of surveyed brands looking to join the network in the next 12 months. Engagement per follower on Instagram has skyrocketed and is an order of magnitude higher than Twitter - presenting the largest opportunity for brands to maximise their social engagement in an uncrowded market.

3. In a surprise finding, corporate blogging has seen a strong resurgence as the importance and relevance of long form content surpasses 140 character updates. Corporate blogs are seen as more effective marketing channels than any social network, as surveyed by South African corporates.

4. Budgets allocated to social media have significantly increased, with 62% of brands increasing the budget further in the next 12 months. The budget is largely being allocated to training and upskilling current staff, with social analytics also being a prime avenue for investment.

The programme is identical in each city. For more information, click here.