This week, the news was all about communication: innovations in messaging, email rates, attention spans and more.
F8 INTRODUCES SPONSORED MESSAGES
Facebook’s F8 conference introduced their latest updates to messaging—now including sponsored messages. The announcement marks a significant opportunity for paid advertising in the U.S. messaging business.
FACEBOOK SHARING IS DOWN
One reason Facebook is going all-in with their messaging app is that overall sharing on their regular Facebook platform is down. According to the website, The Information:
EMAIL CLICK THROUGH RATES DECLINE
While email remains one of our most powerful tools for marketing and advertising, the overall click-through averages are declining:
“North American email engagement fell again in Q4 on a year-over-year basis, reports Epsilon in its latest quarterly analysis of clients’ email activity. The click-through rate of 3.2% was down from 4% during the year-earlier period and from 4.4% in Q4 2013, maintaining this metric’s gradual descent. Meanwhile, the average open rate stood at 30.6% in Q4 2015, down from 32.2% in Q4 2014.”
DO YOU KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE’S ATTENTION SPAN?
A new study suggests that millennials prefer very, very short videos (as in ten seconds or less) while older generations prefer slightly longer videos (but not tooooo long: just thirty seconds).