Trends from global conversation and what they mean for gaming
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This article has been written by Lisa Cowie, Head of Agency Research at Twitter, and Thomas Bailly, Global Agency Lead at Twitter. When people care about something, they talk about it. There are hundreds of millions of Tweets sent everyday around the world. What we choose to share says something about us — about who we are, about what interests us, about what we believe in. Conversation gives a window into culture. Whilst Twitter isn’t short of data, gaining insights from that data requires the right analytical tools. We partnered with Black Swan to analyse 300,000+ topics of conversation. Using AI-driven network science to map conversations into clusters, we looked over 2 years (Jan ‘19 - Dec ‘20) to detect evolving trends. Tweets were analysed across 8 markets - US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Brazil, Australia and India. Many conversations persist across markets From a macro perspective, people around the world are talking about a lot of the same things — but they can manifest differently depending on the cultural context. Our analysis surfaced 6 key spaces: Understanding culture isn’t about honing into one area that is most obviously connected to a brand or vertical. Conversation is fluid and therefore trends are interconnected. It’s important to consider all the ways that consumers are thinking and behaving, to know what matters to them across many facets of their lives. Trend #1 - Wellbeing Of course, wellbeing. Conversation has increased by at least 40% in all markets. The notion of #ItsOkayNotToBeOkay has come to the fore, with increasingly frank and open exchanges. #CollectiveHealth. Wellbeing is increasingly being shaped by conversation around ‘communities of care’. Healthcare systems, nursing care, health tech, telehealth services and “looking out for each other” have all seen growth. Trend #2 - Creator Culture A new generation of entrepreneurs and everyday makers is emerging: the creator class. Spanning those who create for a living through to everyday people who want to inject a bit of creativity into their days. #Participation. Everyone can create. Involvement is more prominent than ever. This notion is fueling the entertainment space as content proliferates from everyday creators and consumption becomes much more social. Conversation around creator culture has increased by +26% in the US and as much as +135% in Brazil. Trend #3 - Everyday Wonder Escapism is a fundamental human desire. From the cosmos to spirituality to wanderlust, people are immersing themselves in content and experiences. There’s renewed wonder in imagined realities. Fantasy worlds, role-playing, cosplay, sci-fi, and superhero culture are providing ways for people to lose — and find — themselves. The conversation is steadily growing everywhere, with particular resonance in Spain, +35%, and Brazil, +31%. Trend #4 - One Planet The notion of #BuildBackBetter is emerging as a key driver of the conversation around sustainability and the environment. #TheGreatReset in the US, #GreenRecovery in the UK or #Agenda2030 in Spain are setting the tone, with a focus on regeneration not just sustainability. There has also been heightened interest in nature and local surroundings — from the impact of climate change to an appreciation for green spaces and the land around us. Trend #5 - Tech Life A changing dialogue about the way we live, work, and create. As the pandemic hit, a burgeoning reliance on tech in our homes saw more mentions of everything from video calling to smart sensors to connected entertainment to ed tech. Tech Life is expansive - people are talking about smarter living, tech for good and tech angst. The conversation has grown between 30-40% across all markets. Trend #6 - My Identity People are feeling more supported — and celebrated — to live out loud. #RepresentMe. Equality has become one of the most prominent themes on the platform, as individuals and communities push for real representation. This doesn’t stop at politics, it’s increasingly a topic within entertainment. As people increasingly define themselves against their values, beliefs or ethics, #BeAnAlly and #TakeAStand are concepts that are gaining traction not just for individuals but within fandoms too. Who you stan says a lot about what you stan. People are realising the power of their fandoms to drive real social change. The US is seeing the highest growth around this theme, 61%, but with 40%+ growth in all markets the conversation around identity is happening everywhere. ------------- We see those conversations shaping global culture. One of the recurring themes, showing up in conversation and making its way into mainstream culture, is gaming. Let’s look at how the gaming conversation has evolved, and what that means for content creators and brands. Everyday prevalence of gaming Gaming is a huge area of opportunity for brands, irrespective of their vertical. It sits at the intersection of culture, tech, and content. Mainstream, but also a multitude of niche communities, gaming is spreading far and wide into peoples’ lives, accelerated by the pandemic. ●2B+ gaming related Tweets globally in 2020, up +75% YOY ●Globally, people on Twitter are 1.7X more likely to have a connected gaming console and 2.2X more likely to watch competitive video gaming, vs. those not on Twitter. Gaming shows up within conversation in various ways, driving two of our trend spaces: Gaming Focus Trend #1 - Creator Culture: Conversational Entertainment Game talk A new era of gaming, one where games become social experiences. Mentions of games like Among Us, Animal Crossing, Pokemon and Fortnite have all seen huge growth. Conditions of the pandemic have driven usage, but these games inspire connection and conversation. Streamers Gaming as video content. Increasing mentions of live streams show that gaming is also a consumption experience. #SupportSmallStreamers is gaining traction as more people move into the role of creator, putting out content for their audiences. Gaming ecosystems Franchises are converging with film and music. In-game social events like concerts are driving conversation around music artists in the same context as gaming. Gaming Focus Trend #2 - Everyday Wonder: Imaginative Escapism Nostalgic experiences As people seek out comfort in the familiar and iconic, classic franchises like Pokemon, Pacman, Mario, Star Wars characters and countless others have been delighting new and old fans alike. Immersive narratives Not quite a video game, not quite a movie. Gaming is increasingly being talked about in the realms of characters, settings and stories as people desire full immersion into fantasy-worlds. Beyond gaming itself Animal Crossing wasn’t just something to do during lockdowns. Conversation on Twitter spiraled into everyday dreaming about travel, holidays and IRL experiences. Hype and conversation around Cyberpunk, the long-awaited game, has moved into story-telling and cosplay (costume play) as people throw themselves into character role-playing. Acting on the gaming phenomenon If it’s happening in the world, it’s happening on Twitter. Particularly when it comes to the gaming conversation, fans around the world come to Twitter to talk about the biggest moments of the year — the game drops, the fandom, and more, all year long. We see this in the consumption habits of our audiences — during live events, while attention shifts away from other social media, it shifts towards Twitter. This is why game publishers and esports teams alike are prioritising using Twitter as an immediate distribution platform for their biggest moments. With Amplify, Twitter’s pre-roll video offering, brands can reach the younger demographic who are difficult to reach by TV and the increasing cord-cutters and cord-nevers. From always-on packages with our gaming press partners, to live events and esports opportunities, Twitter has a wide range of solutions to allow brands to align with premium, brand-safe content that resonates with a younger audience, globally. For more information on Twitter Trends please visit marketing.twitter.com/trends 0
7 mins read
Optimisation of Checkout Flow on the Mobile
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Want to improve your website's checkout flow on your mobile in order to increase your conversions? 9 out of 10 Danish webshops miss sales. By focusing more on your users' experience through the flow, it is possible. In this blog post, you will get some pointers on what a good user experience (UX) is on mobile and how you can improve your checkout flow on mobile with a focus on UX. What is good UX on mobile - and what is not? There are several different definitions of what good UX is. However, the core definition centers around meeting the specific needs of users in specific contexts. By focusing on mobile, you will also be ready for Mobile-First indexing. When we talk about good UX for mobile, there are some best practices that are an important part of the design process, such as: · Prioritise the user · Make the navigation intuitive · Focus on the user's goals · Make the user’s tasks easy to do · Build speed into the UX · Give feedback to the user · Minimise the amount of extra information · Layout the design according to the user's hand (see image below) By having these best practices in mind, you can create a better user experience for users who either visit your home page via mobile or app. Remember that the future of search is about one overall user experience. How do I create a better checkout flow? Buy-ready users often leave the checkout flow because they experience some form of frustration during the buying process, giving them a poor user experience. Below are some best practices for how you can minimise the users’ feeling of frustration in the checkout flow and thereby give them a better user experience. Getting started with conversion optimization is easy. Visualise the curve It should be easy and clear for the user to understand and control what is in his/her basket. A rule of thumb is that the user must have clarity about the product, which includes product images and information, such as price and delivery costs. In addition, the user should have the feeling of control when it comes to making changes to the curve. Therefore, the user must be able to update the number, colors, size, etc. as well as remove products from the basket. Save for later The Save for later feature can be an important factor in the checkout flow, as it allows users to save a product on the page itself and come back to buy it later. Some users assume that websites or apps automatically store the information in the basket, which can create great frustration when they return and discover the basket is empty. Delivery information Filling out a long form is both time consuming and can result in errors and frustrations among users. Therefore, minimise the number of fields to make it easy and fast for users to enter their information. Another thing you can do to optimise the process here is to insert a field with the option to use shipping address as billing address. This eliminates the need for users to enter the same information twice. Auto-fill and error One of the primary purposes of auto-fill is to make it easier and faster for users to fill out a form. At the same time, auto-fill reduces the risk of user error which creates a better user experience. There are several different types of auto-fill options, such as filling in delivery information or finding an address by entering a postcode. Should it happen that a user enters information that contains an error, it is important that the user receives feedback on this. This could be, for example, if the user has entered his telephone number with a 7 or 9 number instead of 8. Then it must be clear in the form where the error is, so that the user can easily and quickly correct the error. The feedback that helps the user detect the error provides a better experience as the user can quickly and easily locate and correct the error. Order overview In the order overview, it is important that the structure of the information is organised in a way that will help streamline the users' checkout. Therefore, the shipping address should be at the top where users have the option to change it. Then the number of products and their details should be displayed to avoid the user going back in the process to make sure that they are the right products. Discounts, delivery costs, VAT and the total price should also be included in the order overview. This way, you avoid an unexpected cost for users later in the process, which prevents them from converting. Payment methods For many users, entering card information on their mobile phone can be cross-border and time consuming. Therefore, you can create a better user experience by offering different payment methods - including the ability to use MobilePay. That way, users avoid entering card information, and some users perceive the method as more secure compared to entering it directly on the website. Another way to create a great user experience is by displaying security and verification images in the payment step. It gives users a sense of confidence and security in the checkout flow. Purchase confirmation Last but not least, a purchase confirmation contributes to a good user experience, as users now know that the transaction has been completed and a confirmation email has been sent. There are several elements you can consider including in the purchase confirmation to create an even better user experience. For example, you might add an image or illustration that clearly shows the purchase has been completed. Here, users get a sense of a successful checkout process and confirmation they completed their goal, namely, to buy a product. How do I know if it works? As mentioned earlier, good UX is characterised by meeting the specific needs of the users in specific contexts. The optimizations that are meet your users’ needs and work for your business may not work for another business and their users. It is important to be clear about what your optimizations should improve. The easiest way to do this is to set up different KPIs. With a KPI framework, you always have an overview of what to measure and how it goes. Although the previous sections provide examples of best practices in UX optimization of a checkout flow on mobile, it is not possible to know in advance whether the optimizations you make on your website or app will work with your users. Therefore, it will be important to perform A / B split tests of the optimizations before they are implemented. Here, the different versions are tested against each other, making it possible for you to find out whether the optimizations perform in your checkout flow or not before they are implemented. You should never implement anything without testing it first. Need help getting started? You are always welcome to contact us if you want to hear more about how we can help you optimise your checkout flow and UX. We are happy to help you get started, so that together we can create a digital success that drives business performance. 0
6 mins read
TikTok's Uncertain Fate Paves Way for Instagram Reels, As Triller Climbs To No. 1 In App Store
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With the future and fate of TikTok remaining unclear, Instagram Reels and Triller are taking center stage in the short-form category.
9 mins read
Google just became Amazon's biggest competitor
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In an announcement made last week, Google made several changes to their marketplace product. We've highlighted the changes and what it means for small and big businesses.
1 mins read
5 Considerations in Light of COVID-19
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In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our experts have compiled 5 quick tips for each of their areas of expertise. Watch these short videos for brief updates which will help you pivot your strategies in each channel to better serve your clients as the effects of the pandemic continue to influence consumer behavior. 5 Considerations for #commerce in Light of COVID-19 by Nate Shurilla, Global Director of Commerce and Voice. 5 Considerations for #commerce in Light of COVID-19 by Nate Shurilla, Global Director of Commerce and Voice. Laura Flores, Chile, presents five ways analytics and CRO can help brands today. Erika Vonderwall, London, shares five ways using influencers and video brands can help brands now. Jack Cantwell, Client Director iProspect Singapore, shares five consideration for CRM in light of COVID-19. Anna Calciolari, Global Head of Products and Partnerships, shares five ways marketing automation can help brands in these challenging times. 0
1 mins read
How to Gain Visibility Across Voice and Conversational Search
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The Voice revolution is here and is drastically changing how consumers are searching for information and interacting with brands. Virtual assistants have reached a 20% adoption rate in Canada and 88% of English and French speaking Canadians are reported to use voice at least once a week. As a result, Voice Search is gaining considerable momentum and is anticipated to cause a lasting change in consumer behaviour. My opinion? I think we’ll witness the most significant shift in consumer behaviour since mobile adoption. Looking at the evolution of Fortune 500 companies between 2000 and 2018, 52% of these companies missed the shift from desktop to mobile and never recovered from this technology change. Repeating the same mistake with Mobile and Voice would present significant consequences for brands. Don’t panic. There are different ways for brands to win with Voice and Conversational Assistants. In this two-part blog series, we’ll provide tactical recommendations on how to get your brand started on the right foot. In part one, we’ll explore the top 6 lowest hanging fruit to make your website content Voice Search ready. Hey, Google! - Let’s get started No. 1: Optimize for Position 0, AKA: the Featured Snippet Position 0 is the information search engines show at the very top of the search engine result pages (SERPs). SERP features are enhanced to draw user attention on the results page with a visually appealing, information-rich search results experience. This includes featured snippets, local pack, recipes, reviews, featured videos, video carousel, etc. When the Conversational Assistant is asked a question, the device returns a unique response. This makes winning position 0 or the featured snippet for informational queries one of the biggest challenges with Voice Search. To increase chances of winning position 0, it is key to have content properly marked up and surfaced. To achieve this, structured data can be used for web pages, blog posts, news articles, events, how-to’s, job postings, local businesses, organizations, persons, products, recipes, and videos. This will help your content be considered for position 0 or for the People Also Ask (PPA) section. There are various ways of annotating your content with structured data including Microdata, Microformats, RFDa, Schema.org, Open Graph, and JSON-LD. However, Google recommends using JSON-LD for structured data whenever possible. No.2: Optimize Content for Long-Tail Queries and Questions Unlike typed searches, most voice searches are performed in the form of a question, using human language. Do you have enough educational and informational content? Can you repurpose existing content pieces? To optimize for long-tail queries, it is key that you examine your existing content to identify the pieces that present the most relevant and valuable information. Focus should be placed on long-tail keywords and conversational language. Once you have selected high potential content pieces, we recommend the following: Create a short answer for all questions. The sentence should include 25 to 30 words. Beyond word count, it is important to be mindful of the syllable count since it will affect the time duration of the speech. Enrich your content and explore topics more in depth by integrating questions (what, where, who, when, why, how) in the title and heading of your pages. This way, users landing on your website will not only find a concise answer to their question, but also additional relevant information around that topic. No.3: Optimize for Local Search According to a Bright Local study, 58% of users perform a voice search to obtain information on businesses close to home. Therefore, local business listings play a critical role in allowing users to find your business when using a voice device. Make sure your business name, address and phone number are consistent across all online platforms, directories and locations. Consider submitting the website to directories such as Google My Business, Bing Places, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Yahoo Local, Manta, ShowMeLocal, Hotfrog, Better Business Bureau and FourSquare. No. 4: Optimize the Website Structure for a Seamless Mobile Experience More often than not, Voice Search happens on mobile. Solving for Voice starts with ensuring your website and content is working properly on mobile devices. Make sure the website structure is optimized for a seamless mobile experience. Improve page speed. The page load time is the time it takes to fully display the content. In addition to being an important ranking signal, a fast page load time offers a great experience for users. Faster pages rank and convert better. Additionally, search engines have limited resources to crawl the internet, therefore a faster page load speed means an increase in the number of pages crawled. Having more pages indexed means more ranking opportunities. Consider the user experience on small screens by minimizing content, simplifying navigation, restricting user inputs, and ensuring continuity and consistency. No.5: Identify Search Intent with Data Gathering Understand how spoken commands and searches will differ from typed commands, for example: words to use, two-way interaction between a consumer and the device. The first step is to determine the intent behind voice searches. What questions are being asked? What keywords do we need? Instead of relying on assumptions, we recommend using keyword tools to generate a list of questions about your industry and business. The more comprehensive the better. Perform a keyword research You can use tools such as Answer the Public, Ahrefs, Text Optimizer and SEMrush Keyword Magic. As each user is unique, there are multiple ways to say the same thing. Identify and regroup different ways to formulate questions by expressing the same idea with alternate words. You will need to cluster questions based on the theme, persona, search intent, and/or stage of the customer journey to which they refer. No.6: Adopt the FAQ Page Format Usually websites only have one FAQ page. This makes it difficult for search engines to assess the topic or keyword the page should primarily rank for. Creating topical resource pages will allow questions and answers to be hosted in a relevant fashion. A quick win is to have a dedicated page for each FAQ, with an optimized title, description, and h1. -- In part two of this blog series, we’ll go a step further and uncover the strategy to build a voice-based application that allows businesses to take advantage of the field of possibility the Voice Search revolution has to offer. 0
6 mins read
