It’s been yet another amazing year for social media. We’ve seen the likes of Instagram and Twitter continue their transformation into mature businesses, developments like 360 degree video content hit our screens on multiple platforms and of course, Facebook continues to take over the world.
Over the last 12 months, we’ve been keeping you up to date with the latest news and developments on our blog, as well as sharing research, insights and our perspective. So, to recap on what’s been keeping you interested over the last year, we thought we’d share We Are Social’s top ten posts from 2015.
Digital, Social and Mobile Worldwide
Once again, our Social, Digital and Mobile Worldwide reports proved popular, particularly the 376-page Compendium of Global Digital Statistics. It looks at the staggering numbers and impressive of growth of all things digital, as well as the change in the ways that people are using digital connectivity. Simon Kemp, our Managing Partner in Asia, topped our most read posts in 2015 with his blog introducing the report. Our APAC, China and India reports were also well read, as was Simon’s Bloomberg TV interview on how the data revealed in our Global report impacts marketers.
The UK’s top social networks
As well as sharing our own research, we also covered data from trusted third parties – GlobalWebIndex being one of these. In this post we exclusively previewed GWI’s research profiling users on the UK’s top eight social networks – their active usage, membership, growth and more. Other well-read GWI research included this post detailing social networking motivations.
Our new home in London
In September, we waved farewell to our old home in Clerkenwell and shared the exciting news that we’d moved into swanky new offices in the Alphabeta building in Finsbury Square. Double the size of our last office, we now have in-house production capabilities, a huge events space, a cycle-in ramp and everything else you’d expect from a grown up, creative agency. Want to see more? Here’s our MD in London, Jim Coleman, with the guided tour.
The evolution of social in 2015
Early last year, our leadership team from all over the world shared what they thought would be big in social in 2015. Digital transformation, 24/7 marketing, influencer engagement and more have been on the agenda for businesses this year, so maybe they were on to something…
Facebook: life after organic reach
The decline in Facebook’s organic reach was a key discussion point for social media marketers early last year. In this post, Nicki Page, Senior Account Manager in London, looked at how brands could make the most of what little organic reach was up for grabs, and the paid-for options available.
The future of social
Last July, Simon Kemp spoke at The International Advertising Association’s ‘What’s Coming Next?’ conference in London, focused on the future of marketing. Here, he summarises his talk on the most important changes and trends in social, from creating value to listening and learning.
Why brands should use influencers
2015 has been a big year for influencers. Whether it’s controversy (Essena O’Neill’s breakdown) or popularity (Zoella’s star keeps rising), they have been a growing area of focus for marketers over the last 12 months. This trend is what inspired this post from our MD in Sydney, Suzie Shaw, who looked at the influencer landscape, what brands were doing, and should be doing, when it comes to working with influencers.
Three changes to Facebook’s algorithm
In May, Facebook changed its News Feed algorithm to make sure its community was seeing what really mattered to them. Its aim was to serve users with “the right mix of updates from friends and public figures, publishers, businesses and local organizations”. Here, Crisina Forlani, Senior Account Director at We Are Social in Sydney, looked at what the changes were, and what they meant for brands.
We are Cannes Lions winners
It’s been a fantastic year for awards at We Are Social – possibly our best yet. But the highlight had to be the 2015 Cannes Lions where we picked up our first ever nominations, with four in the Cyber category for our work with Hello Bank! in Paris and adidas in London. We had even better news when it was announced that Hello Play! for Hello Bank! was awarded two Bronze Lions in Engagement Platform and Financial Services. An amazing achievement and what we hope will be the first of many Lions for We Are Social. Staying on the theme of Cannes, we also created the Cannesogram – an interactive cartogram based on Cannes Lions wins over the last decade – ahead of the 2015 festival, which proved popular amongst the marketing community.
Burberry’s social innovations at London Fashion Week
We’ve seen some incredible innovations on social this year – check out our latest Curiosity Stop to see what’s cropped up within the last few weeks. One brand that’s always setting the standard for innovation in social is Burberry, who used London Fashion Week as an opportunity to use live streaming, messaging app Line and #Tweetcam to show off its collection. In this post, Senior Designer in London, Jenni Smit, talks through Burberry’s strategy in more detail.
That’s all from us for 2015. Thanks for reading our blog this year – we hope you enjoyed it. See you in 2016!
