Q&A with We Are Social

Ahead of their appearance at Digital Day Scotland on April 24, we caught up with Toby Southgate and Mobbie Nazir from We Are Social.

How can brands keep up with the fast pace of social media, where new trends appear and disappear constantly?

Brands shouldn’t react to every moment or trend. Culture moves at the speed of social, but ‘the speed of social’ is getting faster. What’s important is knowing when and how to show up, and having a reason for being in the conversation, based on a value exchange with the audience. The ability to spot the right moments via great social listening, react in a timely manner and, crucially, have a relevant point of view (within established editorial guardrails) is key.

With social media becoming more critical for brand discovery, which platforms are the most dominant here?

Social search is the new shopfront - it’s increasingly central to brand discovery. Social search is an increasingly common behaviour, particularly amongst younger people, which means marketers adapting their approach to accommodate this. Half of all adult social media users now visit social platforms with the intention of learning more about brands; a figure that has steadily increased over the last year. Instagram tops the research charts, with 62.3 percent of its adult users researching brands on the platform. Facebook ranks second, (52.5 percent) with TikTok third (51.5 percent). We also know that social platforms have been leaning into search for a number of years, evidenced by campaigns like 'It starts with TikTok', and the growing number of search tools available on social platforms.  The ultimate goal is for platforms to become the new marketplace - the place where you start and end your purchases.

As ad spend on influencers increases, how can brands determine the right kind of partners, and ensure authenticity and effectiveness?

When it comes to the type of partner, ultimately it really depends on the brand, the campaign and the objectives. Macro influencers or celebrities are better for mass awareness and social clout, while micro influencers build trust and brand relevance. Understanding the wider creator ecosystem is essential for brands to bring all these things together. Working with influencers can also be a good way to experiment with their brand values, or reach into new spaces and new audiences, because it allows the brand some space. When it comes to authenticity, the old cliche still stands - it’s about trusting the influencer as a creative partner and appreciating that they know their audience and what resonates with them best. And for effectiveness, the best influencer work takes a full funnel approach. Brands must combine marketing superpowers, from highly engaging social-first content, authentic influencer partnerships and high performance paid media, to drive outsized influence and impact on social.

With people looking for quality over quantity when it comes to online content, how do brands determine what to focus on in their marketing?

There’s no one size fits all for brands as each will have different targets; in our talk we’ll explain how our work with brands like Booking.com, Amazon Music and Activision helped drive fame, build communities and create cultural salience.

From a global perspective, are there any key regional differences in digital and social media that marketers should consider when building global campaigns?

The beauty of our Global Digital Report series is that, in addition to the huge global report, it also covers every single country on an individual basis. So you can see which platforms are significant, age demographics, investment in different areas of digital, who people are following and lots more. At a glance you can see a cross section of exactly which countries in the world are the most chronically online, who spends the most time on any major social platform, and who invests the most in social. For example, people in Kenya spend the most time on social media each day (4h 13m) and people in Japan the least (46m), with the global average at 2h 21m. It’s a great place to start for anyone looking to better understand the global digital landscape.