Social Media Content on Rise for Brands, While Testing Remains Low [Survey]

Although most brands actively develop content to communicate with consumers on social media platforms, two-thirds of them don’t test the content with their potential audience before they publish, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

In its new survey report called Social Media Content Development, conducted in collaboration with Ipsos OTX, the ANA found that the majority of its members’ brands (more than 70 percent) have a social media content development policy or process in place. And in order to manage content production, 44 percent of brands have hired a social media leader, while 42 percent produce in-house content through their public relations department. Another 42 percent outsource content creation.

                           Image Credit: ANA

The survey also reveals that brands look to develop a wide variety of content, including posts, videos, product advertising, and sponsorships. However, posts and videos are the most widely used types of social media content, as 96 percent and 89 percent of respondents have produced them, respectively. And, perhaps because of their ubiquity, posts and videos have proven to be more successful than other types of social media content.

                      Image Credit: ANA

Interestingly, although the majority of brands actively produce social media content, 66 percent of them don’t conduct consumer research to plan or test their content, according to the survey.

A deeper look at the figures shows that 84 percent of respondents do measure the effectiveness of their content after it has been published. Among those that do, more than four-fifths use social media metrics, or “soft metrics,” which include likes, click-throughs, and retweets. In comparison, few brands use finance-based metrics, or “hard metrics,” such as sales and return on investment (ROI), to measure their social media content.