Emplifi, the leading unified customer experience platform, released its “State of Social Media and CX” report, highlighting key data points for social media ad spend by industry and region, organic post performance, influencer marketing, and CX trends for Q2 2021. Emplifi’s data shows global ad spend on Facebook and Instagram increased 50% year-over-year during Q2, while Facebook ad reach dropped 12.4% globally. The report also examines IGTV performance rates, finding that IGTV videos performed nearly as well as photo-based posts and delivered higher engagement rates than standard video posts on Instagram.

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“The ongoing increase in social media ad spend is proving to be more than just a pandemic-related ‘bounce-back’ scenario. More and more brands are relying on social media marketing to engage with their audiences meaningfully and at scale”

“The ongoing increase in social media ad spend is proving to be more than just a pandemic-related ‘bounce-back’ scenario. More and more brands are relying on social media marketing to engage with their audiences meaningfully and at scale,” said Zarnaz Arlia, Chief Marketing Officer, Emplifi. “Social commerce and the formats which support it are also becoming more prevalent as the year goes on. As more brands recognize the value of live streaming and start to leverage more live content to cater to users at different stages of the customer journey.”

Emplifi’s report also includes influencer marketing trends and vital data on organic social media content. For example, the number of posts with the hashtags #Pride and #PrideMonth from brands more than doubled year-over-year in 2021, a clear indicator that brands are boosting their efforts to better connect with audiences through more empathetic messaging.

“As more and more consumers begin to expect a brand’s social media channels to facilitate outstanding customer experiences across many stages of the customer journey, the importance of engagement and interaction data is taking on a greater significance. What we’re seeing is that an engaging and responsive social media presence is no longer just a “nice-to-have” for consumer facing brands, it’s a key point of differentiation,” said Arlia.

Another takeaway: Facebook Live videos earned the highest number of organic post interactions and delivered three-times the engagement rates of standard videos, but account for less than 1% of branded posts. Social media users are engaging far more with live video than traditional content. Ultimately, the report looks at how social media marketing is helping close the customer experience gap.

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