This week in social media news, Facebook releases a report on COVID’s impact on small businesses and acquires GIPHY as part of Instagram, eMarketer predicts Instagram and Snapchat will outperform Facebook in terms of engagement growth and TikTok will present at the IAB NewFronts for the first time.
Facebook Report Details COVID’s Impact On Small Businesses
In collaboration with Small Business Roundtable, Facebook released the first report of an ongoing series called “The State of Small Business Report,” which is based on a survey of 86,000 owners, managers and workers in US companies with fewer than 500 employees. The findings reveal that nearly a third of small businesses have shut down.
Why it matters: The report paints a dismal picture of the current scale of the crisis, which is particularly affecting female owners, who Facebook says lead the majority of these small businesses. 160 million businesses use Facebook’s apps every month.
The details: The series, which Facebook says were planned before the pandemic struck, suggests that the smallest businesses have been hit the hardest; more than half of those businesses run by the self-employed or for personal income are no longer operating.
The two primary concerns of small business owners are cash flow and lack of demand. Supply challenges are also a concern; 40 percent of owner-managers reported facing supply challenges, including 67 percent of small businesses, 65 percent of personal businesses and 50 percent of hotels, cafes and restaurants.
Just 45 percent of owners and managers of closed business said they’d rehire the same workers when their businesses reopened and 19 percent said they were keeping their workers and still paying part of their wages.
Facebook says that despite these challenges, 57 percent of small business owners and managers are optimistic about their future as 51 percent have increased online interactions with their clients and 36 percent report that they’re now conducting all of their sales online.
Fifty-nine percent of female-led businesses said at least half of their sales are digital compared to 54 percent of male-led businesses.
Facebook Acquires GIPHY For $400 Million
GIPHY is joining the Facebook company as part of the Instagram team following a deal reported to be worth nearly $400 million.
Why it matters: Facebook reports that 50 percent of GIPHY’s traffic comes from Facebook apps, half of that from Instagram alone.
The details: For Instagram and Facebook story users, the acquisition means an expanded pool of GIFs to choose from. In addition, people will still be able to upload GIFs to GIPHY and developers and API partners will have the same access to GIPHY’s APIs.
Instagram, Snapchat Will See Higher Growth Than Facebook This Year
Instagram and Snapchat will outpace Facebook in engagement growth in 2020, according to a forecast from eMarketer shared with Mobile Marketer.
Why it matters: eMarketer predicts that US adult users of social media will spend an average of one hour and 22 minutes a day on the apps this year, seven minutes more than they did in 2019. As the pandemic continues affecting marketing budgets, knowing where customers are right now is crucial to pivoting.
The details: Instagram will grow the fastest with a nearly 14 percent surge from 2019 to an average of 30 minutes a day; this is significantly higher than eMarketer’s November estimate, which predicted Instagram’s 2020 usage would grow by 24 seconds a day.
Snapchat will see a 12 percent increase to an average of 29.5 minutes a day—a dramatic lift compared to eMarketer’s previous forecast of a gain of 30 seconds a day.
Facebook will see a 4.3 percent increase to about 34 minutes daily.
TikTok Will Pitch At IAB NewFronts For The First Time
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will live-stream its yearly NewFronts this year, where, for the first time, TikTok will present.
Why it matters: TikTok’s appearance follows its recent milestone of 2 billion downloads.
The details: The NewFronts will be streamed between June 22-26, with programming set to cover streaming video, lifestyle, news, audio, eSports and gaming. TikTok will present on June 25, the same day Xandr, TiVo, Samsung Ads and YouTube are scheduled to appear.