Social Media News: Facebook Lookalike Audiences, positive effects of Twitter advertising, & DianDian Interactive social gaming success

Thanks for checking back in! Let’s recap on what’s been happening this week in Social Media news.

Facebook expands capabilities for Lookalike Audiences

Facebook has made it easier to target audiences that are similar to those that have purchased from your website or used your service. Facebook has expanded its lookalike audiences capabilities to allow advertisers to create lookalikes based on people who have visited their websites, used their mobile apps, or are connected to their Facebook pages. With Facebook Conversion Pixel or Custom Audiences for Websites pixel, Facebook uses data pixels to reach people who are most similar to those who previously made purchases. This is beneficial to businesses engaging with customers in ongoing conversations because now they can reach people that are like their fans. Lookalike audiences are designed to protect users privacy, allowing marketers to reach specific groups without needing Facebook to share which specific person are in those groups. Source

Twitter releases new findings on positive business effects of Twitter advertising

Recent studies by Nielsen’s Social Guide show that TV and Twitter work well together. With these findings, marketers and networks are finding the benefit of TV and Twitter. Here are three findings.

#Hashtags within TV ads drive positive brand conversation. It has been found that hashtags drive significantly more earned media for brands. TV ads using hashtags are tweeted about 42% more than those without hashtags. They drive immediate conversation and higher quality responses, showing 18% more relevant responses to what was communicated in the ad.

Twitter keeps viewers tuned in to advertising. Using Symphony Advanced Media, it was found that people using Twitter while watching TV were less likely to change channels during ads. Viewers not using mobile devices tune away 17% of the time during ads, but this number drops to 13% when multi-tasking on their phones, yet among Twitter users, tune-away drops to 8%. This tells brands and advertisers that viewers using Twitter while watching TV are more likely to see a brand’s ad.

Lastly, Twitter makes TV ads more effective. Twitter worked with Millward Brown Digital to conduct a study to find out the impact ads had on users who use Twitter. It was found that viewers watching TV without a second screen had an average TV ad recall of 40%, yet those using Twitter showed an ad recall of 53%. Not only are Twitter users impacted more by ads, they are 13% more likely to discuss shows and 3% more likely to recommend programs. Also, it was found that brands benefited from a TV spot to help build a brand. The impacts of TV commercials are measured by lift in brand favorability. Those tweeting gave brands a lift of 18%. Also the lift in purchase intent among those tweeting was 30% compared to 16% in TV-only group. The relationships between TV and Twitter have complimented each other. TV ad targeting boosts key brand metrics, while Twitter lowers cost-per-acquisition and increases television ROI. Source

DianDian Interactive receives largest funding for social gaming in over a decade

Social gaming company DianDian Interactive, also known as FunPlus, raised $74 million, the largest funding round for a social gaming company in nearly a decade. The company is remaining private, using the funds to launch more games and to expand offices in Beijing, San Francisco and Vancouver. The company is based in China, but makes most of its revenue from North America and Europe. The success stems from its “Farm Family” franchise. Farm Family on Facebook has seen a 20% increase in growth in the past year in both monthly users and daily users. While Zynga’s Farmville and Farmville 2, its leading competitors have seen a decrease in monthly and daily users in the past year. Source

Be sure to check back in next week for another Social Media News update. Have a great weekend!

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