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Growth Hack #1 – Increase Adds to Cart +11.9% Without Social Sharing:
Social proof can work both ways. Taloon.com removed social sharing buttons from its product pages. This one change increased ‘add to cart’ actions by 11.9%.
Why?
The number of shares on most of the product pages was zero.
While a high number of shares and likes acts as positive reinforcement, a low number of shares breeds distrust in the mind of the customer about both the company and the quality of the product.
Growth Hack #2 – Geo-Target Your Testimonial Pages:
Pipedrive’s testimonials are dynamic. Based on where you are located, they show you testimonials from local businesses in your area.
If you’re in San Francisco and log into their platform, you’ll notice only Californian testimonials.
It’s a subtle thing to do, but people are far more likely to recognize brands and companies that are in their local area, making the testimonials far more powerful.
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Growth Hack #3 – +63% CTR With Negative Headlines:
Outbrain, the leading native content advertiser, compared 65,000 paid blog articleadvertisement titles. They contained positive (“always” or “best”) superlatives, negative (“never” or “worst”) superlatives, and no superlatives.
RESULT:
Headlines with negative superlatives performed 30% better than ones without superlatives.
And the average click-through rate on headlines with negative superlatives was a staggering 63% higher than that of their positive counterparts.
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Growth Hack #1 – The One Addition to a Job Posting That Attracts Top Talent:
Your growth depends on a great team, but it’s hard to compete with giants in the marketplace.
Try to include a “Who You’ll Work With” section in your job posting as a personal touch that’s rarely applied. It stands out and adds a human element in a meaningful way.
Here’s how that section should look:
1. Highlight the 3-4 people they’ll work closest with. 2. Place emphasis on why it’s rewarding to work with them. 3. Include at least one person in a leadership role.
Bonus: Include articles from your peers about your company culture.
Growth Hack #2 – How MailChimp Promotes Their New Products:
Mailchimp does something a little differently when it comes to displaying their latest products or features to existing users.
Instead of taking you directly to their home site to – as many web apps usually do – they show these in the logout screen.
What they’re doing is taking advantage of that user action to get a last opportunity to get your attention.
If you want to see it live, sign out of your Mailchimp account. You’ll notice you’re taken to a split-screen, with some type of Mailchimp promotional content on the right.
CrazyEgg tested the following modifications to their signup process to get overtwice as many people to give them credit card info:
1. Added a FAQ answering, “Why do you need my credit card for a free trial?” (Answer: To prevent multiple free trials for one person). 2. Added an explanation: “Nothing will be billed for 30 days. You can cancel at any time.” 3. Added a list of companies that use their product. 4. Order total: Changed from “$49 per month” to “$0 for 30 days” + small text “after 30 days: $49 per month”.
How did Crazy egg even think to do this?
Well, they installed a survey tool on the checkout page so they could understand what objections were on the minds of visitors right there.
This helped to create an FAQ box that countered those objections.
So, let’s continue investigating what the Facebook insights guide revealed about trends for 2020.
In part two, we’re exploring the heightened importance of everyday moments, the rise of new platforms and channels for entertainment, and the popularity of more hands-on activities.
As in the previous part, we’ll dive into what each of these Facebook trends entails.
We’ll then look at examples and explain how to leverage these in your Facebook marketing.
When you create a marketing strategy based on what you know people are talking about, your chances of success skyrocket.
So, get informed and keep reading to learn about the Facebook trending topics of today.
Creating a Special Moment From the Mundane
Even the most seemingly common parts of a daily ritual present opportunities for creating special, unique moments.
This is the idea behind the micro-experience Facebook trend.
In Thailand, this is reflected in the growing craft coffee scene.
For many of us, coffee is an essential part of the day – if not the only way we can start the day.
In Thailand, coffee drinking has a different connotation.
Many people didn’t drink coffee, in fact, due to its high cost and the fact that the grounds were often cut with fillers that changed the flavor.
Now, however, foreign establishments and independent coffee entrepreneurs are changing the caffeinated landscape of the region.
Coffee shops are becoming popular hangouts, where knowledge around coffee culture is shared and spread.
That’s where specific terms are gaining popularity, like “Espresso” and “Caffe Americano”.
Each of these terms enjoyed a 1.6X and 1.5X YoY increase in Facebook conversation, respectively.
As coffee culture continues to grow, the enjoyment around coffee becomes a moment in itself.
And though here in the U.S., we’ve already been enjoying a robust craft coffee scene since 2017, the idea of enjoying it as an experience in and of itself is a trend to watch this decade.
Speaking of the U.S., we have a daily routine experience of our own: the bath.
The importance of self-care is clearly visible in the U.S.
Wellness, self-care, and taking “me time” are all contributing factors to the fact that bathtime landed in the Facebook insights report.
Terms like “sea salt” and “milk bath”, which each grew over 1.1X YoY on Facebook, indicate that people are making this routine special.
Bathtime is no longer just about hygiene or even relaxing.
While it still has the benefits of both of those things, it’s now a special experience that people enjoy connecting about and sharing their tips on.
Connecting With Your Audience Over Daily Moments on Facebook
Everyday moments give you as a marketer the opportunity to connect with audiences regularly and effectively.
Get to know your audience’s routines and leverage that in your Facebook ads.
Facebook and Instagram Stories, in particular, are great for this due to their spontaneous, in-the-moment nature.
McDonald’s is an excellent example.
With a goal of boosting awareness and driving sales of their new McCafé offerings, they created these Stories targeted at millennials in Malaysia.
Animated elements, value callouts (e.g. 100% Arabica beans), and an engaging format led to 3X more in-store sales over the two months the ads ran.
This quote from Dorothy Fong, CEO of digital agency IDOTYOU, provides some key insights:
“Creating ephemeral content on Instagram for McDonald’s is one crucial digital strategy we will be focusing on a lot this year. We have started early in experimenting with ads in Instagram Stories for McDonald’s to capture the target audience’s attention in a less “advertising” fashion and in a more native way. So far, the results have been amazing and we’ll continue to develop on it.”
With OTT as the new normal, it’s easy to understand how people have become more open and used to alternative entertainment channels.
This is where the Facebook insights guide comes in.
The rise of new entertainment mediums, like podcast adaptations in the US and esports in Indonesia, are the key Facebook trending topics to watch.
In Indonesia, the number of people playing mobile games is increasing by 12% annually.
Meanwhile, conversation around online gaming grew 2.2X YoY on Facebook.
These trends, combined with the fact that Indonesia is now hosting some of the largest regional esports competition, is contributing to the rise of this entertainment form.
In the U.S., the rise of screen adaptations of favorite podcasts is a Facebook trending topic to watch in 2020.
The terms “podcast” and “adaptation” each experienced 1.1X more conversation on Facebook compared to the previous year.
And clearly the topic of miniseries is a popular one, with 4.5X YoY growth.
And remember what we said earlier about the rise of OTT?
Well, many of these podcasts hitting the small and big screens are offered on OTT services, including free ones like Facebook Watch and Youtube TV.
With more programs and publishers on streaming services, expect cross-platform entertainment to become the norm in 2020 and beyond.
Reach People On the Platforms They’re Using
As with the other examples we’ve provided on how to leverage these Facebook trending topics, it doesn’t mean taking things literally.
We’re not suggesting you get into esports or bring a podcast to Netflix.
(But it’s not the worst idea if you do…)
Instead, we’re focusing on the broader consequences of these trends and how that can influence your marketing strategy.
If there’s any major theme that these Facebook topics of 2020 have in common it’s that cross-channel functionality matters.
Your customers have access to more platforms than ever.
That means they’re also spending their time across these apps and streaming devices in entirely new ways.
And they expect to be reached on more than one of them.
In fact, 72% of customers prefer an integrated marketing approach.
So, you should create ad campaigns and target audiences on multiple platforms.
From the newer options like TikTok and YouTube TV to the old standbys of Facebook and Instagram, there’s an abundance of marketing channels to choose from.
But, how can you decide which channels are right for your business?
Roger Maftean, a content marketing specialist at Zety, sums it up pretty well:
“Figuring out channel product fit is a balance of resources, monetization strategy, and customer interests,” Mastrandrea added. “When thinking about which new channel(s) to prioritize, reverse engineer who your customer is and pick a channel based on where their interests take them. Always test before you lean in and continue to keep an eye on your metrics as you measure efforts.”
Let’s take a look at some examples of cross-channel ad campaigns so you can see how this strategy works.
Multi-Channel Marketing Examples
Starbucks’ Frappuccino Happy Hour Tests Innovative Ways to Reach Customers
When Starbucks launched their Frappuccino Happy Hour Campaign, they took advantage of everything from SMS to calendar reminders.
Engaging with customers in unique ways while continuing to drive towards the goal of in-store conversions is a major takeaway of this Starbucks campaign.
Maybe you want to try out innovative new marketing features.
Or, perhaps your multi-channel strategy is all about creating compelling, engaging copy across social media.
Regardless, there’s a lot that you can learn from this Starbucks example.
How Spotify Leverages the Multi-Platform Facebook Trending Topic
Spotify’s Wrapped campaign shows how effective a cross-channel campaign can be even when its main focus isn’t conversions.
Their campaign compiled listener data and presented it in an interactive, engaging format at the end of the year.
From exploring most-listened-to artists to total minutes spent streaming music, the platform presented data in a digestible and sharable format.
In order to encourage this, Spotify integrated the ability to share subscribers’ Wrapped results as a personalized card to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
They also included big calls to action and share buttons within the campaign.
Oh, AND they ran a contest in which listeners could submit their Wrapped playlist to the designated website for a chance to be featured on billboards around the world.
But, there was no clear call for unregistered users to subscribe to Spotify or upgrade to Premium.
So, how did it succeed in terms of both brand awareness and conversions?
Clearly, driving this much traffic and brand awareness helps when it comes to attracting new subscribers.
But, another big reason this is true is that it made people that couldn’t participate feel like they were left out.
That FOMO from non-subscribers can be a real conversion driver.
Nearly 69% of millennials identify FOMO as a major reason for their purchase decisions.
Overall, even though this cross-channel campaign didn’t explicitly try to get people to subscribe, it definitely helped in attracting 7 million new subscribers over 6 weeks during this holiday period.
Clearly, a brand awareness campaign can be just as effective across channels as one focusing on conversions.
Within that, creating highly shareable, personalized content is the key to emulating the type of success that Spotify enjoyed.
Immersive Activities Are on the Rise
A growing interest in adventure and craftsmanship is seizing the globe.
At least that’s what 2020 Facebook trends are indicating.
From Brazil to Canada to India, tactile activities are on the rise and are a key Facebook trending topic.
The appeal of outdoor activities, DIY, and more is all helped by the popularity of photo-based platforms, like Instagram.
Take India, for example.
The popularity of adventure sports there grew 178%.
But, conversation on Facebook around travel photography grew 2.2X YoY.
Sharing the adventurous spirit on social helps make this Facebook 2020 trend even more appealing and popular.
In the UK, the fitness trend was already well-established, but recently got a party makeover.
Fitness classes under neon lights, trail running festivals, and traveling strength training workouts all made working out more of a celebration.
With the fitness market surpassing £5 billion in 2019, expect this trend to only grow in the next decade.
Canada takes this Facebook trending topic in a more DIY direction.
As Canadians flocked to more urban areas, the rise of indoor gardening became a very clear trend.
Facebook trending topics like “houseplant” and “succulent plant” grew 1.5X and 1.3X YoY, respectively.
And again, photo-sharing is a key player here.
On Instagram in Canada, #Plantstagram became a trending hashtag and the rise of the “plant influencer” became a very real phenomenon.
So once again, the question is how to leverage a Facebook trend today that values immersive experiences, both indoor and outdoor.
Leverage this Facebook Trending Topic and Show People Actually Doing Things in Your Ads
These 2020 Facebook trending topics are all about people getting their hands dirty and fully immersing themselves in an activity.
So, transport people directly into an experience with your ads.
One of the best ways to do this is to show people engaging in an activity or project.
For example, Athos shows a split screen of its clothing and its app.
More importantly, it shows someone in the clothing and using it.
This compelling and aspirational image helps people picture themselves using the product and enhancing their workout.
Consider using video ads, too, which can help create an even more immersive ad experience.
For their Baggies shorts line, Patagonia shows a video montage of people wearing them and staying active.
Another aspirational ad, this clothing brand leverages the Facebook trend by highlighting fit-focused individuals that love staying active in order to inspire their customers to do. the same (in the shorts, of course).
Arts and crafts retailer, Blick, also uses video in their project-focused Facebook ads.
They then make it feel more personal by highlighting an individual artist who shows off how they use a Blick product.
Again, this is a way for customers to imagine themselves using the product.
Additionally, it helps inspire and show what real people like them have created.
Making people the focus of your ad creative can be incredibly effective for leveraging this Facebook trend.
Then, showing those individuals engaged in an activity while highlighting the product helps people imagine themselves doing the same.
And don’t forget to use video!
That’s a Wrap On 2020 Facebook Trending Topics!
The new decade is here, and these are the Facebook trending topics every marketer needs to know.
Stay relevant and reach people in the most effective ways by understanding what they’re interested in and talking about.
These Facebook 2020 trends are likely to stick around for a while.
So study up (remember to check out the first part of this guide if you haven’t already!) and get acquainted with how these can apply to your own marketing strategy.
Maybe that means targeting these topics literally and going after esports audiences in Indonesia or getting into the plant-based meat game.
Or, maybe it means taking these topics and turning them into concepts that inform you about how people are thinking and communicating in the new decade.
Whichever it is, make 2020 your best year by understanding and leveraging these Facebook trending topics.
Growth Hack #3 – The Perfect Piece of Content, According to Top Editors:
More than 500 editors at top sites like BuzzFeed, TIME, Lifehacker, Scientific American, TechCrunch were asked, “What characteristic does the perfect piece of content possess?
Here’s what they said:
15% said “Emotional Stories” 19% said “Relevant Content” 27% said “Breaking News” 39% said “Exclusive Research”
Offer these kinds of stories and you’ll land more press.
The New Year usually means excitement, new opportunity, and discovering a new sense of drive and motivation.
For marketers, though, a new year can also come with an entirely new sense of dread.
Every January 1st, we see the beginning of marketing trends and strategies change.
Sometimes, there are even entirely new platforms to acquaint ourselves with (looking at you, Tik Tok).
While everyone else is ringing in the New Year, we marketers are biting our fingernails in a dark corner somewhere, worrying about what the latest trends will be and how we can keep up.
Ok, so maybe it’s not that severe.
But, it’s definitely essential to get to know the predictions for a new year so you don’t get lost in the strategies that were #so2019.
That’s where we come in.
We’re focusing on Facebook for this two-part trend prediction guide because they helpfully publish a Facebook Insights Report every year.
Another reason to focus on Facebook?
Because the platform continues to grow and dominate the advertising landscape.
It’s time to bring your Facebook advertising into the new decade (yeah, we said it).
We’re looking not only at what the Facebook trending topics are, but also how to apply these to your ad strategy.
Check out the Facebook trends set to define 2020, distilled directly from the platform’s insights guide.
In this first part of two, we’ll look at the rise of simplicity and sustainability.
We’ll explore what these Facebook trends mean, their impact, and how you can leverage them in your ads this year.
Facebook Trends Indicate A Return to Minimalism
Simple is better in 2020.
Already a Facebook trend today when it comes to ad design, bringing it back to basics is a concept that applies to an even greater extent in 2020.
We’re talking about simplicity not only in ad creative but in defining entire e-commerce concepts and how people are transforming their routines.
For example, the Facebook insights report highlights skincare routines in the Philippines.
In a country with a strong skincare tradition, routines often used to involve 10+ steps and multiple products.
Facebook’s trend prediction for 2020, though, is a pared-back routine focusing only on the basics.
This means opting for the essentials: cleanser, moisturizer, and UV protection.
Each of these products experienced over 3X more popularity YoY in the Philippines in terms of Facebook conversation about it, indicating the clear emergence of a Facebook 2020 trend.
But let’s see how the simplicity trend applies beyond just skincare.
Avoiding Choice Overload
In the past decade, customers have enjoyed increasingly more options when it comes to brands and products.
However, this also saw the emergence lately of choice overload.
This refers to the fact that too many choices make deciding on a purchase both more difficult and less satisfying.
The solution?
Build a brand around a few – if not just one – offering.
Additionally, make sure all assets (e.g. website, blog, etc.) are minimal in their design, too.
That’s because it’s been scientifically proven that minimal design appears to adults.
From compelling copy to great customer experience, the Casper team did everything right to enhance the fact that their most groundbreaking feature was their lack of options.
And you can guess that their Facebook ads followed their simplicity ethos, too.
Brands like Allbirds, Harry’s, and Quip all quickly followed suit by carving out a niche and defining their brand through one quality product.
And what else do all of these minimalist brands have in common?
Minimalist Facebook ads, of course!
Everything from the product itself to the marketing strategy should reflect the focus on simplicity.
With people’s routines and philosophies highlighting the essentials, brands can speak to this through minimalist design, copy, and product offerings.
Sustainability Steps Into the Spotlight
Facebook trends today can often shape those of tomorrow.
Sustainability and a focus on going green is a great example of this.
In 2019, there was a shift in people’s awareness on a global scale of their environmental impact and the very real threats of climate change.
Not just a perception shift, eco-friendliness was visible in tangible ways, too, in 2019.
Amazon pledging to be carbon-neutral by 2040 and to buy 100,000 EVs
The Norwegian Sovereign Fund, European Investment Bank, and other major firms pledging to stop investing in fossil fuels and coal
Beyond Meat scoring the highest IPO of the year when it went public
As the Facebook trends guide for 2020 points out, sustainability is truly a global phenomenon.
For example, in Sweden, they are setting a new standard for sustainable fashion.
They even canceled fashion week in order to draw attention to the industry’s environmental impact.
But let’s look at that Beyond Meat/plant-based trend a bit further because it’s something that came to define the Facebook trending topics in both the U.S. and Germany.
Plant-Based is the New Beef
For many, German cuisine brings to mind meat-heavy dishes, like good ol’ knockwurst or schnitzel.
But, Facebook trends today have shown they’re transitioning towards veggies for both dietary and sustainability reasons.
They’ve even earned one of the top spots for the most vegetarians in the world.
Conversation on Facebook around vegetarianism and veggie burgers has increased 1.5X and 2.4X YoY, respectively.
This is reflected in the U.S., too, where “flexitarianism” has seen a huge rise.
Discussion around the impact of beef when it comes to methane emissions is a significant driver in this shift towards a plant-based diet that allows occasional indulgences of meat.
In fact, the topics of methane and plant-based diets each experienced over 1.1X YoY growth.
Also according to the Facebook insights guide, vegetarian-friendly protein replacements, like pea protein, were brought into the spotlight.
It’s clear that this is a trend that’s sticking around in 2020, too.
At the end of 2019, there were 18 major fast-food chains that offered plant-based versions of their menu items.
These include:
White Castle (Impossible Slider)
McDonald’s (P.L.T Burger)
Burger King (Impossible Whopper)
Dunkin’ (Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich)
But, what does a shift to plant-based foods and a sustainable diet mean for Facebook advertisers?
Go Green
Whether you’re an e-commerce brand or a B2B SaaS company, you can launch your own green initiatives.
Highlighting these in your Facebook ads and/or organic social is a great way to spread the word and get customers on your side.
How Physical Brands Do This
E-commerce retailers are major culprits when it comes to dangerous environmental impact.
Packaging is one of the biggest reasons behind this.
With e-commerce rates expected to double in the next decade, many brands are pledging to combat this with more sustainable solutions, like Target’s reusable box initiative.
The more that eco-friendliness dominates the conversation, the more that this Facebook trend translates into sustainable initiatives, product launches, and messaging from e-commerce brands.
Here’s how a couple of those brands do it:
Watch brand Mondaine keep the message short and sweet by including their eco-friendly benefits as one in a list of other appealing features.
Others, like tentree, really push the message because it embodies what they built their brand on.
Tentree became a Facebook success story with their smart targeting of sustainability-focused users and compelling ad creative.
As a result, they experienced a 1.39X increase in purchase intent and a 30% increase in unaided brand awareness.
With each of these retailers, the lesson learned is to position the messaging in a way that feels authentic to the brand.
If you built your organization or a product line on an eco-friendly platform and its at the core of your ethos, then highlight that in a comprehensive way like tentree.
If sustainability is just a part of the greater whole when it comes to your brand’s value-props, then make it more subtle, like Mondaine.
Either way, it’s worth highlighting your eco-friendly efforts.
How Service-Oriented Brands Do This
If you offer a software or service, you can still apply an eco-friendly message to your social media.
The best way to do this is through organic posting.
For example, Autodesk posts links to their blog content, with captions that relate to both the topic and its relation to sustainability.
By continuing to post about green initiatives, Autodesk positions itself as a leader in sustainability among the tech industry,
Dell, too, is another great example of a tech leader taking advantage of the sustainability Facebook trend.
Like Autodesk, Dell regularly posts about their sustainability efforts on their Facebook page.
If your company gets involved with eco-friendly initiatives (which you most definitely should), use your social media channels to highlight these.
Not only will you position yourself as a green company, but also you can drive traffic to your blog or website, depending on where you direct the link in the post.
More Facebook Trends Coming Soon
A return to the basics and a surge in sustainability already drove Facebook trends to an extent today.
However, expect them to play an even greater role in the trends of tomorrow.
These two subjects round out part 1 of our Facebook insights guide for 2020.
Hopefully, you now have a greater awareness of what these trending topics are all about, plus an action plan for how to use them in your Facebook marketing strategy.
Don’t miss out on part 2, which will be the final installment of this guide.
We’ll be looking into three more Facebook trends that are shaping the future of both how people use the platform and – on a larger scale – perceptions and values across the globe.
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Growth Hack #1 – The NUMBER ONE Reason People Abandon Their Carts on eCommerce Sites:
The answer is super simple: Unexpected shipping costs. Seriously.
A survey by Visual Website Optimizer found that 28% of shoppers who abandoned their carts did so because of unexpected shipping costs. In fact, it was the greatest cause cited by respondents.
The solution: You can charge for shipping, but be super visible about it.
What do we mean? Well, include it on the product page so that your users know exactly what they’ll be paying.
People don’t mind paying for shipping, they just don’t like being surprised.
Growth Hack #2 – The 3 Magic Words of Mobile Advertising:
Adbasis created a lot of ad tests before they were acquired by AirBnB – a LOT. We’re talking over 3,000 ad tests in a year.
Some were mobile ad tests, some were not. But no matter what industry, vertical, or audience, there are three magic words that can drastically improve your mobile conversion rate.
It doesn’t matter if you’re B2B or B2C, you need mobile-specific content and these three words will help.
What are these 3 magic words?
FROM. YOUR. PHONE.
The average increase in conversion rate based on the 42 positive examples is +36.6%. Yes, this single test on average increased conversion rate by 36.6%.
12 times out of 48 this test more than doubled conversion rate (100%+ lifts).
Also, Crazy Egg has shown that 38% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase online if live chat services are available.
A Cheaper Alternative
Since traditional call centers are expensive to operate, using live chat for your website and/or social media is an excellent way to reduce your customer support costs.
In fact, live chat is over 50% cheaper than handling phone calls!
Call center agents can deal with just one request at a time.
Another one of the benefits of live chat, though, is that the software allows you to manage several chats at once.
What this offers is the ability to drastically cut the costs of your customer service.
If you want to find out what other benefits that live chat can have for your business, don’t miss the infographic below by The Website Group!
