ListenFirst

ListenFirst is the most comprehensive social analytics solution that makes sense of billions of consumer signals across tens of thousands of brands from every social channel—in one powerful platform. We capture every social signal and marry them with complementary sets of data (like sales and web analytics), driving critical insights. We give brands the most complete view of their customer and performance, analytics to drive business outcomes, and insights to guide decision-making across the enterprise.

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What A World Without Instagram Likes Looks Like

At the F8 developer conference on April 30, Instagram made the surprise announcement that they would begin experimenting with publicly hiding the like counts for video and photo posts. Third parties would still be able to see who liked a post, and theoretically could manually add up the totals themselves, but Instagram would no longer provide their information automatically to anyone other than the account owner. 

For now, the testing will be limited to some users in Canada, but if Instagram thought this experiment was important enough to include in the F8 keynote address, there are likely eventual plans to make Private Like Counts the permanent and global status quo. 

To get a clearer picture of what to expect in a world without public Instagram likes, we picked the brain of our Chief Product Officer at ListenFirst, Jon Farb. 

What did you make of the news this week that Instagram is testing Private Like Counts? 

Jon Farb: I think it’s interesting and I understand why Instagram is doing it from a platform health standpoint. It’s great because so many people get caught up in only posting to get the highest number of likes, and I think that causes a lot of stress and adds emotional baggage. People get weighed down by worrying their posts won’t be very well received and that line of thinking actually prevents a lot of content from being posted.

By removing the risk that the community will perceive a post as unpopular because it has a low like count, people will be inspired to share content more often and post content they authentically care about. 

From a business standpoint, I don’t think it’s a terrible thing either. Yes, competitive analysis becomes more challenging, but in a way, it’s forcing migration to a path where every other channel of media already is. For example, if someone posts a billboard you don’t know how many eyeballs have seen it or how many people mentally liked that billboard or didn’t. Or even in the digital world, with ads and most organic content; that information is 100% trackable, but it’s not like there are engagement metrics publicly being shared about it. 

So, in a way it’s not a new problem, and how we’re combating that at ListenFirst is we have a very good benchmark framework so that even if the metrics are not public where you can see one brand’s post got a million likes and another brand’s post got two million likes, it doesn’t matter. Because ListenFirst has a great relationship with all of our customers, all the client data that comes in is aggregated, anonymized and contextualized to provide benchmarks.

For that client with the post receiving a million likes we can evaluate performance relative to different types of content or the industry as a whole; and we have the ability to say that post performed 30% higher than the average post for the type of content, or for a specific season, or for a type of event. That depth of insights is going to be more valuable than ever for our clients. 

Q: Twitter mentioned it might also experiment with publicly removing Like and Follower Counts; how do you think that would impact Twitter and how would that be different than Instagram? 

Jon Farb: It’s a similar situation where people might not Tweet today because it’s embarrassing to only get ten retweets vs. person B getting a thousand retweets. So, I think we might actually get better content on Twitter, and more genuine sentiment as opposed to someone just trying to make a bold statement because they know it’s going to be viral. That’s not a bad thing. 

Additionally, with the tools we have in our platform, specifically around content benchmarking, marketers who use ListenFirst won’t lose the context, and won’t lose the ability to see their share of voice vs. others in their competitor set. 

Q: How will it work with finding the right influencers for brands to target? 

Jon Farb: The changes might make it a little more challenging to find the right influencer strictly based on engagement numbers. However, if you think about how media companies sell to advertisers, they basically make a pitch for the numbers they reach, the type of the audience they hit, and why channeling the message through them is valuable. I’m not saying every influencer will be able to do this, but influencers will have to learn to sell themselves on more that public stats. 

There are a lot of influencers out there that have may have hacked growth numbers, which means they don’t have the most authentic traffic, yet probably pull in a lot of deals just based on vanity metrics rather than a more in depth buy/sell conversation. This will push brands to dive deeper into the audience breakdown for influencers.

Q: What does the changes with Instagram and the potential changes for Twitter mean for ListenFirst? 

Jon Farb: It validates the approach we’ve always taken at ListenFirst with getting context around content, and not just relying on a couple of key public metrics to make that happen. The public metrics were always an input but they weren’t the input. By using our benchmarking functionality and other types of competitive intelligence tools we’ve developed over the years to contextualize the impact of their marketing, brands working with us will still see that differentiation regardless of any social media metric suddenly not being publicly available. 

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What the Facebook Announcement About Groups Means for Brands And Users

In his keynote speech at F8 developer conference on April 30, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new vision for Facebook Groups, where the feature will be as prominent on the site as Friends are in their News Feed and where smaller communities would be encouraged.  

To get more context on this new strategy, we sat down with Jon Farb, our Chief Product Officer at ListenFirst, for his thoughts.

Q: What do you consider the most impactful thing about the F8 announcement and how do you think it’s going to be affecting the social marketing ecosystem?

Jon Farb: So, what’s interesting is Facebook has elaborated on their view of the world. They’re solving for two types of problems. They’re solving for the town square need where communication is public, you can connect to anybody in the world at any time, and you can collaborate on mutual interests. Then there’s the living room solution, which is all about the future being private, exchanging messages in secure ways and sharing the most sensitive content in an environment build around security and privacy.

The living room strategy, I think, has a clear path and it doesn’t actually change that much for the marketing ecosystem. There has always been one on one and group messaging and those capabilities will just continue to get bigger, stronger, and faster.

The town hall strategy, however, represents more of a directional change. All these social platforms went through a renaissance of making everything more and more open and global; now they’re trying to segment content and conversations to ensure only the most relevant part is right there in front of you.

I think is one of the greatest things from a user’s perspective. By Facebook bringing Groups and Events front and center in their app, users will get more content that’s related to their actual interests, as opposed to content that’s broadly popular, but that they don’t necessarily care about.  

Q: How will the Facebook Group changes affect brands specifically?

Jon Farb: I think it brings new challenges to brand marketers where they need to figure out once again how to evolve marketing strategy. However, whether they’re facilitating new groups or just being invited into them, there’s definitely the potential to connect with a more relevant audience. Even if the raw numbers of how many people see or interact with content may look like it’s getting smaller it could actually be a far more relevant audience.

For instance, if you’re marketing for a big superhero movie you can do so by fostering communities of people that like comic books, superheroes and other genre related interests, rather than just hitting a larger sector of people where only a fraction maybe interested in getting that message.  

It’s going to force changes in marketing strategy, but in a positive direction.

Q: How will ListenFirst approach the changes to Facebook?

Jon Farb: ListenFirst already does a great job of analyzing Facebook data from all the corners of Facebook including public data, client data, paid data, video data, and content data. Groups is another great thing that we’re going to add into the product over the next few months so people can analyze groups just like they could any other type of information on the platform.  Additionally, Groups have all the same elements that a page would have; including its own content, comments, shares, videos, and events; meaning our existing information model already works. The inclusion of Facebook Groups analytics will be quite seamless for our users.  

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ListenFirst Wins Silver Stevie® Award For Customer Service

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ListenFirst, the most comprehensive social analytics solution for the enterprise, was named a winner of a Silver Stevie® Award for Customer Service in the Computer Software Category for the second year in a row. The awards were presented to honorees during a gala banquet on Friday, February 22, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. More than 700 executives from the U.S.A. and several other nations attended.

"The team at ListenFirst functions seamlessly with our own in-house team, readily adapting to our needs and responding strategically," says Michael Kors Marketing. "They are insightful and lend a comprehensive social analytic point of view to our marketing plans."

"ListenFirst is able to combine ease of use with incredible depth to create a platform that helps to shape content, analyze results and improve campaigns. All of that functionality combined with the hands on availability of their staff to answer questions and create detailed reports, it's like having extra members on our team," added Dale Johnson, Social Media Manager, AT&T.

ListenFirst was one of 2,700 nominations from organizations across 45 countries evaluated in this year's competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 150 professionals worldwide in seven specialized judging committees. Past winners include Dell Technologies, NASDAQ Corporate Solutions, and Oracle (Bronto).

"We are thrilled to be honored with this Stevie Award for the second consecutive year," added Miranda McWeeney, VP, Client Success, ListenFirst. "This continued recognition of our team is a true testament to the second-to-none service we provide to clients each and every day."

"The 2019 judges were very impressed by the caliber of this year's nominations, which set another record for this competition. The quality of the accomplishments outlined in every Finalist nomination was remarkable," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About ListenFirst ListenFirst is the social analytics solution trusted by the largest companies in the world. With a breadth of analytics and domain expertise unmatched in the market, we provide a streamlined solution for leading brands seeking to unlock the power of social insights in an increasingly fragmented world. Founded in 2012, ListenFirst has been honored with multiple accolades including 2018 and 2019 Stevie Awards for exceptional client service, a 2019 High Performer recognition from G2 Crowd, and named one of Inc. 500's fastest growing companies. ListenFirst clients include major consumer brands including AT&T, NBCUniversal, Condé Nast, Time Warner, and Gap Inc., and is regularly featured in Variety, Ad Age, The New York Times, and more. For additional information, visit www.listenfirstmedia.com.

About The Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

To read the official release, click here.

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Social Year in Review: Top U.S. Retailers

While media publishers were largely focused on Facebook and Twitter, retailers were perfecting their Instagram strategies. Beauty and interiors have always been Instagram favorites, which is why it’s no surprise to see Sephora, Ulta Beauty, and Williams-Sonoma in the Top 10. However, in 2018, sneakers dethroned beauty, leading Foot Locker to take the #1 spot in the retail ranking.

To read how they Foot Locker took the top spot, download our Social Year in Review for free on the ListenFirst website.

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The Campaign of the Year

On September 5, 2018, Nike released its controversial 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. Fans reacted to the ad on social media the following day, drawing support from some and calling for a boycott from others. Press was quick to cover the news, which in many ways focused on the vocal critics. The reality, however, was very different.

Using the ListenFirst Brand Reputation Index™ we saw Nike’s reputation dip by 1% post campaign launch. However, the campaign resonated with consumers so much that Nike rebounded quickly and 13 days later its BRI™ had jumped above pre-campaign levels.

To learn more about the ListenFirst Brand Reputation Index™ and the Nike X Kaepernick ad, download our Social Year in Review

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Instagram Widened the Gap Significantly in Content Responses

As brands and audiences continue to flock to Instagram, and as brands perfect their Instagram strategy, we’re seeing a massive gain in likes and comments on brand content on the platform. Meanwhile, Twitter is closing in on Facebook’s organic engagement, possibly nearing, if not surpassing, Facebook in total content responses by the end of 2019.

Download our Social Year in Review to learn more trends and opportunities for 2019.

Total content responses score is the sum of likes, reactions, comments, shares on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for 75K+ brands

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The Facebook Algorithm Shift - A Year Later

A little over one year has passed since Facebook announced that it was overhauling its News Feed to prioritize posts from friends and family.  According to the announcement, the platform would start to de-prioritize posts from media and businesses to make sure that “time spent on Facebook was time well spent.”

CONTROVERSY WITHIN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

This news sparked an uproar in the industry, as many media publishers had recently adjusted, or even created their Facebook algorithm-favoring editorial strategies. While reach for media companies had been in decline since January 2017, media brands got hit even harder in Q1 with average reach hovering just north of 4% by the end of 2018. However, engaged users climbed, which means media publishers are reaching audiences most likely to engage.

THE GOOD NEWS FOR MEDIA

Media outpaced consumer brands, with the rate of engaged users for media brands on Facebook at 105% more than that of consumer brands, further widening the gap in 2018. This underscores the strength of media’s ability to target, scale, and create content that is not only aligned with the interests of its community, but also activates desired audiences.

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Cheating the system wasn’t an option anymore. Some overnight digital publishers whose sole existence heavily relied on gaming the Facebook algorithm completely fell off the map, while many had to readjust strategies to contend with a new normal. In 2018, we see the convergence of sports, music, fashion (sneaker fashion in particular) becoming stronger and dominating social. Check out the Top 20 Brands in Media of 2018 by ListenFirst Social Engagement Score below.

Facebook algorithm changes is just a small piece of our Social Year in Review 2018. To gain more insights, download the report for free on our website.

Source: % Facebook Organic Reach (reach/fans) for 2K media brands; % Engaged Users [(engaged users/reach) % of people engaging with posts or page] for 2K media brands; Top Media Brand Roll-ups ranked by Social Engagement Score, the sum of fan growth and content responses (likes, reactions, comments, shares) across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and conversation volume on Twitter

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ListenFirst's Social Year in Review Report Provides Key Insights To Drive 2019 Social Strategies

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ListenFirst, the most comprehensive social analytics solution for the enterprise, today released its Social Year in Review report with key insights into the growth of Instagram and Twitter, the rise in Facebook branded content, how consumers are engaging with social video, what's driving Instagram's takeover, and which industries and brands are coming out on top on social media. ListenFirst's report reveals that while consumers' social engagement grew 13% in 2018 across all social platforms, much of the growth in consumer engagement was driven by Instagram and Twitter. Meanwhile, Facebook's much publicized algorithm change in January 2018 hampered reach and engagement for all brands on the platform.

"2018 was the year of groundbreaking changes in the social universe that introduced new opportunities for brands, including Facebook leveling the playing field with their algorithm change, Twitter leading by example with bot purges, and Instagram focusing more efforts on brands connecting with their audiences through Instagram Stories," says Jason Klein, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, ListenFirst. "The unique insights in this report can help brands refine their 2019 social strategies to ensure they maximize return on investment in this dynamic space."

Key takeaways from the report include:

Instagram drives consumer responses: Between Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, Instagram accounts for 75% of responses (likes, comments) on brand content, a jump from 65% in 2017

Facebook traded breadth for depth: Facebook's algorithm change, announced in Jan 2018, saw organic reach drop by 41% between Jan and Dec 2018, but the percentage of engaged users climbed, outperforming the percent of consumers reached by brands

Facebook video organic reach is down but shares, comments, and lifespan are up: Facebook video declined to 2.61% in organic reach following the algorithm change, but shares and comments are up at +128% and +120%, respectively, as is the lifespan of video engagement

Instagram stories grew while posts declined: The number of Instagram stories posted by brands spiked by 68x in Q4, while Instagram posts by brands decreased by -6% in Q4 2018 YoY

Sports, fashion and technology led the way: Worldstar, Turner Digital and ESPN rounded out the Top 3 Media Brands of 2018; Foot Locker, Sephora and Amazon scored the Top 3 U.S. Retail Brands; the Top 3 Consumer Goods in 2018 was led by Samsung, GoPro and Red Bull

To download the report, please visit: https://www.listenfirstmedia.com/2018-social-year-in-review-report.html

About ListenFirst ListenFirst is the social analytics solution trusted by the largest companies in the world. With a breadth of analytics and domain expertise unmatched in the market, we provide a streamlined solution for leading brands seeking to unlock the power of social insights in an increasingly fragmented world. Founded in 2012, ListenFirst has been honored with multiple accolades including 2018 and 2019 Stevie Awards for exceptional client service, a 2019 High Performer recognition from G2 Crowd, and named one of Inc. 500's fastest growing companies. ListenFirst clients include major consumer brands including AT&T, NBCUniversal, Condé Nast, Time Warner, and Gap Inc., and is regularly featured in Variety, Ad Age, The New York Times, and more.  For additional information, visit www.listenfirstmedia.com.

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Gillette Sees Record-Breaking Social Response following #TheBestMenCanBe Campaign

By Emily Abby

Gillette recently released a new ad campaign bearing the slogan “The Best Men Can Be,” calls out the dangers of what is commonly referred to as “toxic masculinity.” Though controversial at the surface, the advertisement resonated with viewers on social, quickly becoming a viral topic of conversation.

Gillette is making a statement, and Twitter users, both men and women, had a lot to say. In just 48 hours, there were nearly 195K tweets mentioning the hashtag, #TheBestMenCanBe, most of which came from men. Many tweets were defensive, with some, under the impression that Gillette was placing a negative connotation on masculinity.  The top retweeted Twitter post supports this idea, as talk show host, Joe Pagliarulo says “Hey @Gillette, I have an idea, stay out of politics.  Real men already stop other guys from acting badly.  A razor company should want me to shave with your product.  And, btw, I'm extremely masculine.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  #TheBestMenCanBe” Pagliarulo’s sentiment was not unique, as others also felt Gillette should “stay out of politics.”  Some users even tweeted that they were going to boycott Gillette, and move over to Dollar Shave Club.

The competitor was quick to capitalize on the new campaign as news surrounding a Gillette boycott started to surface. Dollar Shave Club tweeted “Welcome to the Club,” only hours after Gillette’s campaign launched, and was met with a strong response from new fans. Dollar Shave Club’s tweet came in as their most engaging post across social since the beginning of 2018.

To fully gauge the response from social, we used the ListenFirst Brand Reputation Index (BRI), which analyzes brand health and predict performance. Gillette saw a slight spike on the day the campaign launched (+5%), but has since fallen, widening the gap between competitors Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club. This shows us that the positive reaction was short-lived, and as more people respond, Gillette’s reputation continues to fall. We also see that Dollar Shave Club's Brand Reputation Index also spiked on launch day, up 7% from yesterday, showing lift from the Gillette fallout.

That being said, the majority of original tweets around the ad came from those with a different stance. Those of the majority thanked Gillette, expressing their gratitude for such a genuine and “much-needed” commercial. One man said “Suddenly, I'm damn proud to have been a @Gillette user the last 25 years! Thank you, Gillette, for proclaiming that stopping violence against women begins with us holding other men accountable and setting an example for boys! #TheBestMenCanBe” It’s clear from the conversation that Gillette gained some new fans this week. Another user said, “[...] this makes me wanna consider shaving my beard for how well done this ad is. Fantastic message #TheBestMenCanBe”

Though controversy follows a social statement such as the one Gillette made, fortunately, so does engagement. Looking across Top Advertisers over the past week, Gillette came in with the #1 Twitter post, the #1 YouTube video in terms of responses, and #2 Facebook post, tracking only behind the new Game of Thrones trailer.

Gillette’s statement captured a new audience on social, gaining 59.1K new fans since the ad aired. That’s 51X more fans than the weekly average in 2018. The razor brand also saw a spike in content responses, generating nearly 1.7M content responses across social, 765X more responses than the weekly average in 2018.

Once again, value statements prove their strength on social. Curious to see how audiences are reacting to your new position, mission, or campaign? Request a demo and we’ll take a look together.

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The Real Winner of the Golden Globes Didn’t Take Home a Trophy

By Emily Abby

The 76th Annual Golden Globes crowned many winners in television and film, but the real winner of the night wasn’t even nominated. “FIJI Water Girl” caused an uproar on social, after the woman handing out bottled water, orchestrated a series of successful red carpet photobombs. Photos of the model (and soon-to-be FIJI Brand Ambassador, hopefully) went viral before the ceremony began - since then, there have been nearly 46K tweets mentioning #FIJIWaterGirl.

Viral fame is not the only thing to come out of the photos - FIJI Water itself saw some brand lift. There were over 24K tweets mentioning FIJI’s new breakout star during the Golden Globes, with FIJI seeing a 749% increase in official mentions versus last week. Along with FIJI Water blowing up on Twitter, responses on the brand’s owned content spiked 700%, generating over 17K responses.

FIJI Water was quick to capitalize on their new accidental spokesperson, publishing over 15 new #FIJIWaterGirl pieces of content, not including shares of other news sources covering the topic. Social responded to the involvement of the brand, and FIJI’s Golden Globes content came in as their most engaging content on Twitter and Instagram since January 2018.

FIJI Water quickly rose to the top of the social rankings, coming in as the #1 most talked about beverage company, ahead of Coca Cola and Pepsi, in the days following the Golden Globes. All in all, it’s safe to say that FIJI Water knows how to make the most of a sponsorship and leverage a good social media moment. If you want to track your branded partnership or dive into your social performance, don’t hesitate request a demo of partnership suite.

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PROGRAM CHAMPIONS in Q4 2018

By Emily Abby

The end of 2018 calls for yet another quarterly recap, so we’re calling out the champions among the TV Industry in Q4 of this past year. Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, and The Walking Dead top the industry, coming in as the most engaging programs across social. Riverdale has some competition, as Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars spinoff The Perfectionists comes in as the #2 most engaging program, despite having yet to air their series premiere.

Everyone is talking about The Walking Dead

Fans can’t stop talking about The Walking Dead, which is currently sitting as the #2 most talked about program this quarter with 2.6M official mentions. Though the AMC fan favorite still tracks behind the Freeform giant, Shadowhunters, The Walking Dead generated 184% more conversation than last quarter, coming off the premiere of its ninth season.

Netflix dominates search

Netflix upped their original programming game this quarter, introducing a variety of new programs with a darker twist. Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Narcos: Mexico generated the highest search volume among all programs in Q4. In fact, these three programs accounted for 5% of all search volume generated by over 1,800 other programs.

Comedy Reigns in the Views

Saturday Night Live had an impressive end to the year, ranking among the Top 3 Most Viewed programs on YouTube for the first time in 2018. Raking in over 540M video views, SNL outpaced top performers such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Late Show with James Corden, whose programs generated 456M and 440M views respectively.

Missed the first Program Champions for Q1 through Q3? Click the links below to get caught up.

Program Champions Q1

Program Champions Q2

Program Champions Q3

Data is reflective of Oct 1, 2018 - Dec 30, 2018. Social Engagement Score: Measures all public engagement across all Social Data Channels for the following types of activity: Fan Growth, Content Responses, and Conversation Volume. Conversation Score: Measures consumer mention of or about a brand referencing the brand’s owned digital presence (i.e. Twitter Handle) and/or official hashtags. Search Index measures consumer organic searches for information about a brand over a period of time (Wikipedia page views). Fan Growth Measures the total growth of a brand’s digital audience across all social channels.

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The Fastest Growing Retailers of 2018

By Emily Abby

As 2018 comes to a close, we looked back at the retail brands seeing the strongest performance across social, and more specifically, the channels driving fan growth. Looking at US Retailers,, the top 10 fastest growing retailers account for 73% of all new fans gained in 2018. Leading the competition are brands such as Sephora, IKEA, and Amazon.

For the Top US Retailers, Instagram and Facebook were the strongest channels of growth this year. Of the top 10 retail brands with the greatest fan growth, the majority of new fans gained were from either Facebook or Instagram. In fact, Facebook accounted for 48% of new fans gained in 2018 on average per brand. Instagram, on the other hand, drove 46% of new fans on average, slightly behind Facebook despite driving growth for 6 of the top 10 retailers by fan growth.

Instagram proved to be a fierce driver of fan growth for beauty brands like Sephora and Ulta Beauty, who came in as the #1 and #4 brands ranked by fan growth. Sephora dominated other retailers in terms of growth, gaining 4.1M new fans this year, 76% more new fans than any other retailer. Though Sephora saw the greatest growth this year among top retailers, the brand did not publish the most content among other retailers as one might assume. Though the beauty power brand ranked high in terms of posted content at the #3 most active retailer, Foot Locker is the retailer that holds the title as the #1 most active US retailer in 2018. Despite Foot Locker’s 6.3K posts spurring them on to becoming the most engaging retailer this year, it was not enough to grow their audience past competitors like Amazon.

IKEA surfaces as the #2 retailer with the greatest fan growth, gaining over 2.4M new fans in 2018, 85% of which were on Facebook. Amazon also showed tenacity on Facebook, emerging as the #3 retailer among the top 10. IKEA’s immense gain on Facebook is an interesting one, since the brand invested more effort in Instagram this year with 16% more content on Instagram.

It’s clear that more content doesn’t always mean more fans. It’s the classic quality over quantity. Fast growing brands like Sephora and IKEA created authentic, engaging brand experience in 2018, and it shows.

Check out the Top 10 Fastest Growing Retailers below:

Sourcing: Data reflective of Jan 1, 2018 - Dec 19, 2018 Fan Growth measures all new fans across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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What is Social Telling us About the 2019 Golden Globes

By Emily Abby TV Insights by Nicole Yoon & Karla Barone

Television and Film fans across social are buzzing about the The Golden Globes nominations, which were announced last Thursday, kicking off the anticipated 2019 award season. Social is pivotal in uncovering the fan favorites in entertainment, but can it be utilized for award predictions? We turned to our platform to investigate which programs and films rose to the top on social following their nomination, looking at metrics such as the ListenFirst Social Engagement Score, which measures all public engagement across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, and the ListenFirst Interest Score, which measures the sum of search volume and conversation volume. 

Check out our key findings on the TV nominations below:

The Good Place, nominated for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy, was the most engaging program on Golden Globe Nomination Day, yielding 109.6K social engagements.

American Crime Story (+7,483%) and The Handmaid’s Tale (+4,051%) generated the largest movement from the day prior as a result of their nominations, earning 22.9K and 29.1K Social Engagements respectively.

In terms of TV Interest, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel earned a score of 50.6K, which includes Twitter mentions and Wikipedia Page Views.

90% of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s TV Interest score was earned on Wikipedia with 45.5K page views yesterday alone.

Conversation surrounding the nominations for Best Television Series - Drama and Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy spiked on 12/6 between 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM PST.

Killing Eve (9.1K) and Pose (9.0K) received the most mentions among the Best Television Series - Drama category, while The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (3.3K) and The Good Place (2.3K) were the most talked about shows from Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy category.

Films making a scene:

Bohemian Rhapsody, nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama, was the most engaging film on Golden Globe Nomination Day with over 300K social engagements.

A Star is Born, also up for Best Motion Picture - Drama, also ranked among the Top 10 most engaging nominated films, coming in as the #2 film, generating 136K social engagements.

In terms of Interest, Best Animated Picture Nominee, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, topped the charts with a score of 68K, which includes Twitter mentions and Wikipedia Page Views.

66% of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Interest score was earned on Wikipedia with 44.7K page views on 12/6.

Conversation surrounding the film nominees also spiked on nomination day.

Black Panther was the most talked about of all nominated films with over 24K official mentions, followed closely by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse(23.5K) and A Star is Born (20.6K).

If audience response tells us anything, then the programs and films with the most conversation and engagement might be seeing some wins. Look out for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Good Place, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!

Sourcing: Data is reflective of all nominated programs and films for December 6, 2018. Interest Score: The sum of search volume (Wikipedia page views) and conversation volume (Twitter Hashtag + Handle mentions). Social Engagement Score measures all public engagement across all Social Data Channels for the following types of activity: Fan Growth, Content Responses, and Conversation Volume.

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Limited Edition Makeup Kits Help Beauty Brands Kick off the Season on Social

The Beauty Industry continues to assert its strength on social media, particularly dominating Instagram. The Holiday Season brings with it the opportunity for the promotion of new products, campaigns, and partnerships, and beauty brands know just how to leverage it.

Holiday-themed beauty kits are seen frequently, with brands launching new palettes and collections that highlight seasonal colors. Like many other CPG companies, beauty presents new holiday products as “the perfect gift” on social, encouraging followers to buy for family and friends. It’s clear that the 2018 holiday season has been a driver for engagement in the beauty industry, with with the average engagement per brand at 488K social engagements in November, up 10% from October. In fact, the average holiday beauty post generated 13.6K responses, nearly 3X more responses than the average non-holiday post.

Kylie Cosmetics, Sephora, and Morphe Brushes took the lead among Holiday Content, coming in with 18 out of the top 20 most engaging posts. Festive Lipkits from Kylie Cosmetics saw impressive traction on social; the promotion of Kylie’s new metallic lipsticks, featuring Kylie Jenner sporting the new colors, emerged as the most popular holiday content thus far this season coming in as the top 3 most engaging posts.

Instagram saw the highest volume of holiday content, with brands taking the opportunity to share photos of their newest makeup collections, as well as holiday tutorials and looks. While there is a variety of holiday content, the promotion of limited edition beauty kits perform best across social, generating 20% more responses than the average beauty post. Sephora utilized Instagram with multiple “Regrams” of brands they carry. For instance, the beauty store regramed DryBar, calling attention to its limited edition Glitter Gang holiday kit which includes the new Glitter Spritzer Sparkle Spray. Sephora also made the effort to regram popular makeup gurus, like Mackenzie Brown, showing her attempt at complementing a bold lip with the  ‘Pineapple of my Eye Holiday Kit’. These two posts surfaced as Sephora’s stop Holiday content, telling us that the best way to capture engagement during the Holidays is to step away from your standard product line and promote special initiatives and collaborations.

[listenfirstmedia]

Social Responds to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

By Emily Abby

The Victoria’s Secret Annual Fashion Show saw its lowest ratings ever this past Sunday, with 3.3M viewers compared to roughly 5M in 2017. The VS Show aired not long after L Brand’s CMO, Ed Razek, made comments regarding the exclusion of trans men and women in the show, causing public outrage. Though Razek issued an apology, many continued to challenge the inclusivity of the Fashion Show, asking for more diversity.

While there were 101K tweets mentioning the VS Fashion Show this year (12/2 - 12/3), body positivity continued to be a strong theme, with many influencers and fans condemning the VS Fashion Show for “yet another year lacking diversity.” In fact, among all tweets mentioning the show, two of the top ten URLs clicked were Washington Post articles discussing Victoria Secret’s poor inclusivity (See here and here).  

Body positive hashtags trended throughout the day Sunday, with influencers across social sharing their own lingerie photos with tags like #ImNoAngel, #WeAreAllTheFantasy, and #BeautyBeyondSize coming out on top. During the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, there were nearly 10K tweets mentioning the most popular body positive hashtags.

With the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show dredging up further discussion on the body positive narrative, it begs the question: does controversy sell in the social media age? Typically, amid controversy, the answer is apparent in the volume of social response. Unfortunately, keeping in line with TV ratings, social engagement also slowed this year with -13% less content responses and -32% less conversation overall this year versus the day of the 2017 show. That being said, Victoria’s Secret didn’t seem to suffer in terms of growth. The lingerie brand gained 54K new fans across all channels this past Sunday, surpassing the number of fans gained during last year’s show.

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Who Won Thanksgiving Sales on Social

One of the busiest days in shopping didn’t disappoint this year, with retailers competing to reign in the public with the newest and most exciting Black Friday deals. Conversation around the shopping holiday outpaced last year’s, with 1.8M tweets mentioning Black Friday since the beginning of November, 8% more than 2017. Despite seeing higher conversation, social engagement on the Top Retail brands fell from last year, with the average brand seeing 6% less engagement leading up to Black Friday than 2017.

There were some standout retail brands this year, leading the holiday promotions on social. Retailers like Target, Amazon, and Wal-Mart lead the industry with engagement holiday content that brought in competitive response. Aside from their strong performance on YouTube, Target’s use of influencers on Instagram helped drive engagement for their Holiday content. For instance, Target’s partnership with Emily Henderson came in as their #1 post outside YouTube content.

Amazon’s spanish-language content is responsible for their strong engagement, with the spanish version of their “Can You Feel It” commercial coming in as their #1 piece of Holiday content with over 1.2M interactions. The Black Friday powerhouse, Walmart, came in with the #1 post across Holiday retail content. Their Light Up Black Friday Commercial, which featured “neon light dancers,” generated over 7.3M interactions on YouTube. In addition to light dancing commercials, Walmart was all about Holiday preparation this November. The retailer centered it’s promotion on Instagram around prepping for the big day of sales, as well as the holiday itself. On Walmart’s Instagram you’ll see posts like “Holiday Hosting 101” and seasonal table landscapes, whereas the brand’s Twitter was home to announcements about Black Friday, like details on store openings and storewide sales.

Among the Top U.S. retailers, Sephora dominates Instagram, coming in with the #1 Instagram post among all Holiday Retail content with their Holiday makeup appreciation post featuring Huda Beauty Holiday Kits. Driving engagement for Sephora are sneak peeks of their new products like Anastasia Beverly Hills Loose Glitter and more makeup kits. Also generating strong response is Sephora’s 18 minute Holiday Gift Guide on YouTube, which debuts their best Holidays deals.

Kroger’s Holiday Sweepstakes came in as the #1 Facebook post across all retail holiday content with nearly 19K responses. The grocery store favorite asked their audience to share a photo of their favorite holiday hack, tip, or tradition for a chance to win $1,000 Kroger gift card. Kroger isn’t the only retailer garnering engagement through a holiday contest. Kohl’s employed the same tactic with their Twitter sweepstakes, asking followers to retweet this tweet for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Kohl’s. Their post came in as the #1 tweet among all retail content with over 10K responses.

[listenfirstmedia]

Measuring the Success of your Influencer Partnership

By Emily Abby

If you’ve read the first and second post of our influencer marketing blog series, you know how to select your influencer partner and optimize this partnership. Now, it’s time to track performance.

Understanding the kind of return your partnership delivered is crucial in determining whether or not the partnership was successful. Did your chosen influencer meet your partnership goals and complement your social strategy? Are there opportunities for growth or ways to optimize your influencer marketing strategies moving forward?

To measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign, you should be asking the following questions:

Did your influencer meet your contracted number of posts?

What were the response and engagement rates?

How does it compare to your own social posts?

What is the public reaction?

Did you see brand lift resulting from the partnership?

Once your influencer publishes the agreed-upon content, a good indicator of performance will be the engagement generated from these posts. Using the ListenFirst Platform, we can track total responses on all branded content, as well as how many new followers both your brand and your influencer garnered during the campaign.

An increase in followers isn’t the only way to measure brand lift -- depending on your goals, reach can be just as valuable as fan growth. If you choose the right influencer for your brand, odds are your branded content will be on display to a broader audience with greater reach, resulting in greater brand awareness. The truth is in the data -- take a look at how much engagement these branded posts generate in comparison to your brand’s owned content.

What is the public reaction to your partnership? Quantitative research can only tell us so much. In order to get the full picture, you need to pay attention to what your audience is saying. Sentiment analysis allows you to dive into the conversation and pull out common themes. What is the public reaction to your partnership? Aside from parsing out positive vs negative conversation, sentiment analysis provides much greater understanding of your partnership’s performance. You want to pay attention to spikes in official mentions of your brand or specific promotion during your campaign.

Are more people speaking positively about your brand following your influencer partnership? By pulling out common conversation themes and trends, you can better craft your narrative and overall content strategy. Our new Brand Love metric can also help parse out positive reactions to your content or overall campaign, by rewarding engagement that goes beyond the like, applying more weight to engagement like loves and comments.

If you’re interested in learning more about our platform and features such as our partnership analysis and sentiment measurement, request a demo and we will answer all of your questions!