Jessica Liu

On the outside: Social media’s total global advertising spend is expected to balloon to $110 billion by 2022 (with Facebook taking 75% of the global spend market). Social networks are happy. Investors see dollar signs. Marketers feel justified in their spending. On the inside: Social media’s underbelly conveys a picture of turmoil. Consumers can’t quit […]

For years, I’ve maintained that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Inc., has had his eye on a singular goal: becoming the global version of China’s WeChat. WeChat is China’s most popular messaging app, with 1 billion monthly users. China’s population is 1.4 billion people, which means approximately two in three Chinese are on WeChat. But WeChat […]

Ad Revenue “It’s every bit as certain as death and taxes.” (Meet Joe Black, 1998) . . . And I’d add “holiday advertising.” Q4 2018 proved yet again that advertisers ramp up their media budgets in Q4 to get consumers to buy those holiday gifts. Facebook, Inc. (inclusive of its family of products: Facebook.com, Instagram, […]

You’re hearing with increasing frequency that social listening platforms (SLPs) are incorporating artificial intelligence and that AI may eventually unburden humans from heavy social data management and analysis. The reality: This is exaggerated. You still need a hefty amount of human involvement to set the rules, train the data, and maintain the platform. In researching […]

“I get knocked down, but I get up again.” — Chumbawamba   Halfway through the 20-year-long age of the customer, empowered consumers are more informed about their purchases, demand data privacy, and dictate the experiences that they want. Brands have been beaten down with every misstep, many of which snowballed into broad PR crises: United Airlines, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, […]

This blog post is part of Forrester’s Holiday 2018 retail series. Despite news of brands such as Nike, Adidas, Allbirds, and SeatGeek successfully selling on social networks, social media is still not a place that consumers buy products and services. Our Forrester Social Technographics® data uncovers that consumers use social media least in the buy stage of […]

Brandwatch and Crimson Hexagon, two social listening platforms, announced their merger today. The company will maintain the Brandwatch name with Brandwatch Founder and CEO Giles Palmer at the helm. At Forrester, we’ve been pushing for the next evolution in the social listening space. Our recent evaluation, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Listening Platforms, Q3 2018,” found […]

Once upon a time, most brands relied on six-week-plus cycles of feedback through consumer surveys and expensive focus groups to listen to their consumers. Today, social listening platforms have become a staple in most brands’ marketing tech stacks because of their ability to give brands near real-time feedback and insight into conversations about their brands, […]

What you’ll hear from the press this week: Facebook missed its earnings for the first time since 2015. But in our world, 43% YOY increase in revenue and 11% YOY increase in DAUs and MAUs is still a solid performance. Facebook continues to diversify by augmenting its core Facebook social network with ancillary products (Instagram, […]

Fifty-three percent of business and technology decision makers and influencers tell us they want to better leverage social listening technologies to understand customer requirements and achieve their firm’s goal of addressing rising customer expectations.* This shouldn’t come as a surprise; social listening platforms (SLPs) offer a unique window into customers’ lives, opinions, and preferences. SLPs are heavy hitters in the martech stack and are […]

Fifty-three percent of business and technology decision makers and influencers tell us they want to better leverage social listening technologies to understand customer requirements and achieve their firm’s goal of addressing rising customer expectations.* This shouldn’t come as a surprise; social listening platforms (SLPs) offer a unique window into customers’ lives, opinions, and preferences. SLPs are heavy hitters in the martech stack and are […]

Marketing has come a long way, but it is not yet customer-obsessed. To address this gap, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Forrester’s new marketing innovation playbook. It’s time for companies to undergo a marketing makeover. This playbook guides brands through assessing four pillars: mindset, talent, process, and insights. “Marketing innovation” and “process,” you ask? […]

Marketing has come a long way, but it is not yet customer-obsessed. To address this gap, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Forrester’s new marketing innovation playbook. It’s time for companies to undergo a marketing makeover. This playbook guides brands through assessing four pillars: mindset, talent, process, and insights. “Marketing innovation” and “process,” you ask? […]

Shame on Facebook. The Cambridge Analytica scandal has exposed the social network’s egregious misstep. Here at Forrester, we are furiously fielding inquiries about what this failure to protect user data means. Most questions are immediate and tactical in nature. These questions are certainly pressing so let’s address them. But then let’s discuss the bigger questions that […]

Snapchat recently launched a product redesign to the dismay of power users and relief of Snapchat newbs. Its original ephemeral messaging and scavenger hunt of a UX appealed to an exploratory young audience. The app’s overhaul is a classic case of a company losing sight of what’s most important: the core customer. Snapchat has prioritized […]

January 1 is upon us which means new year resolutions, fresh plans, and endless possibilities. One area marketers should focus on in 2018: social intelligence. Why? Social data can influence the entire enterprise and put humanity back in customer data crunching – but only if combined with other data sources like CRM, customer service, market […]

Brands are taking the plunge and livestreaming everything from events (Macy’s and their Thanksgiving Day parade) to product demos (Birchbox) to promotional offers (Lowe’s Black Friday deals) to education (T. Rowe Price retirement planning advice). But how should brands tackle social livestreaming? It’s not as simple as grabbing an iPhone and hitting “Live” on that […]

Much ink has been spilled over United Airlines' latest public incident and social media's role in rapidly spreading video of a passenger being dragged off an airplane. Today's consumers are more polarized than ever and increasingly expressing their opinions and showing their own values in the way they spend their money. Brands worry about making […]

Last April, we blogged about Twitter’s marquee agreement with the National Football League (NFL). The industry was abuzz: The two joining forces meant a marrying of live programming with social commentary. In its inaugural season, Twitter-NFL’s powerful partnership presented an enticing live streaming package for marketers because: Marketers view social media as an attractive marketing […]