Social Media Trends Report

Q2 2020
 About the Report
The Q2 2020 Social Media Trends Report reveals the current state of social “Q2 was a dynamic quarter from a marketing perspective. We saw paid advertising
media marketing trends based on analysis of Socialbakers data. The study bounce back and CPC increase as business started to return to normal across most
reveals where things stand in the middle of a tumultuous year that has regions and industries. However, after largely increasing throughout the quarter, we did
affected nearly every industry worldwide to one degree or another.

see a dip in ad spend in early June, most notably in the US, which corresponds to
#BlackoutTuesday. However, we saw ad spend returning to normal almost immediately as
In paid advertising, there was an increase in ad spend and CPC in many brands have no real alternative to Facebook to reach and engage with users at such
regions and industries worldwide. However, after largely increasing scale.There was another dip in ad spend at the end of June, which was likely related to
throughout the quarter, ad spend declined at the end of June, which was an ad boycott that could also affect figures in Q3 2020.

possibly related to an ad boycott that could also affect figures in Q3 2020.

Another trend we saw Q2 was the surge in video usage on Twitter and Facebook Live.
On the organic marketing side, video usage surged on Twitter and Video is a great way to drive organic engagement and we saw usage increase by 85%
Facebook Live usage increased by 85% as marketers attempted to adapt as marketers attempted to reach audiences who were largely stuck at home. Because of
their strategies amid remote work for users who were largely stuck at home. its consistently high engagement levels, we predict that many brands will continue to
And since Facebook Live has consistently had high engagement, it’s likely leverage Facebook Live and live video overall going into Q3 and Q4.

that many brands will maintain their increased usage of live video.

The message is clear: brands that aren’t investing in live video are leaving engagement
Additionally, Socialbakers’ data delves into the return to normal levels of on the table.”

interaction on Facebook, user habits in regards to time spent online as well

as which industries were promoting podcasts. All of that plus the latest #Ad Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers
usage data from influencer marketing can be found in this report.

Trends Report | Q2 2020 1

 Table of Contents
Advertising 3-11
Performance of Post Types
18

Ad Spend by Regions
4
Video Usage Across Platforms
19
Ad Spend by Industry
5
Proportion of Video on Instagram and Facebook
20

CPC by Region Evolution

6
Proportion of Live Video
21

Instagram and Facebook Ad Spend

7
Brands Talking About Podcasts
22

CPC and CTR Evolution

8
Podcasts Topics by Industry
23

Relative Spend and CTR by Platform

9
Organic Takeaways
24

CPC and CPM by Ad Placement

10
Influencers 25-30

Paid Takeaways
11
Influencer Marketing and #Ad Usage
26

Organic Engagement 12-24

Top Influencers Mentioning Brands
27

Number of Followers, Posts, and Interactions

13
Brands Mentioned by Most Influencers
28

Fans Online Behavior

14
Effective Influencer Campaigns
29

Distribution of Interactions by Industry

15
Influencer Takeaways
30

Evolution of Interactions
16
Methodology and Glossary 32-36
Distribution of Post Types
17

Trends Report | Q2 2020 2

Advertising

Trends Report | Q2 2020 3

 Advertising

Spend Rises
Ad Spend by Region

Before Ad Boycott
2 000
Median Weekly Ad Value

Worldwide ad spend increased by 26.2% in Q2 compared to where it was 1 500

Ad Spend (in USD)

at the end of Q1, when budgets were still very much impacted by the
coronavirus pandemic.

1 000

Every industry analyzed by Socialbakers showed a similar rise over the

last three months. However, the increase was even greater in mid-June 500

before dropping off again at the end of the month.

0
That decline was seen most significantly in Northern America, where Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
spend increased by 91.7% from the end of Q1 to mid-June and then
decreased by 31.6% in the final two weeks of Q2.

East Asia Northern America Southeast Asia Southern Europe

That decline was likely related to #BlackoutTuesday and the Facebook ad South America Western Europe Central America Worldwide
boycott organized by civil rights and activist groups. The boycott was
expected to last at least through July, so spend likely will continue to
decline early in Q3.

Chart Time Range: September 02, 2019 – July 05, 2020; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 4
 Advertising

Ad Spend by Industry
Median Weekly Ad Value
Accommodation Ad Spend
Increases 150%
2 000

1 500
Ad Spend (in USD)

Similar to the ad spend across regions, there was a notable increase and
1 000 return to normal ad spend in most industries before a small decline at the
end of Q2 2020.

500
For example, even factoring in the end-of-quarter decline, the spend in
Accommodation increased by 151.3% and Ecommerce increased by
0 76.3% compared to the end of Q1 2020.

Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
Overall, all industries increased by an average of 27.1%, showing a strong
Accommodation Alcohol Auto Beauty Ecommerce return after the impacts of the coronavirus.

Finance FMCG Food All Industries

Chart Time Range: September 02, 2019 – April 26, 2020; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 5
 Advertising

Cost per Click by Region

Global CPC
Median Weekly Ad Value

Increases 55%
0.8

0.6

Cost per Click (in USD)

The worldwide cost per click increased by 55.3% in Q2 2020 ($0.118 vs.
$0.076), reaching its highest point in early March before the pandemic
really showed its effects.

0.4

The most dramatic increase was in Southern Europe, which increased by 0.2
94.2% during Q2, and in Northern America the CPC increased by 31.1%.

On the other hand, the CPC in East Asia started to bounce back earlier 0
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul

than most regions, and as a result costs there actually decreased slightly 2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020

in Q2 compared to Q1 ($0.148 vs. $0.158). Overall, regional CPC returned

close to its pre-pandemic levels.
East Asia Northern America Southeast Asia Southern Europe

South America Western Europe Central America Worldwide

Chart Time Range: September 02, 2019 – July 05, 2020; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 6
 Advertising

Spend by Placement: Feed Instagram vs. Facebook

(% of Total Ad Acccount Spend)

Ad Spend Decreases

70%

on Main Feeds
60%

50%
Spend (% of Total)

In Q2 2020, ad spend for Facebook News Feed decreased by 2.6% while

40%
the spend on Instagram Feed decreased by 4.2%.

30%

Since January 2019, Facebook News Feed declined from a high of 64.1%

20%
of total spend to 57.7% in June 2020.

10%

Meanwhile, in that same time frame Instagram Feed fluctuated between a

0%
high of 21.4% (July 2019) and a low of 18.8% (May 2020).

Jan
Mar
May
Jul
Sep
Nov
Jan
Mar
May
Jun

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020

Facebook Instagram

Chart Time Range: January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 8,029 Facebook Advertising Accounts; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 7
 Advertising

Cost per Click on Facebook and Instagram

Brands

Cost per Click

Cost per Click (in USD)

0.18
0.15

Increases 42.7% 0.12

0.09
0.06
0.03
0.00
The cost per click for all brand ad accounts decreased throughout the May
 Jul Sep
 Nov
 Jan
 Mar May Jul

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2019 2020 2020

pandemic and hit a low of $0.075 in April. However, by the end of Q2 2020 it
Cost per Click
increased by 42.7% to $0.107, according to Socialbakers data.

Click-Through Rate on Facebook and Instagram

While the increase shows a bounce back as most countries moved past the
Brands
initial impact of COVID-19, the CPC was still 23.6% lower than it had been

Click-Through Rate (in %)

1.20
at the end of Q2 2019 ($0.107 vs. $0.140).

1.00
0.80
Meanwhile, the click-through rate for all brand ad accounts increased and 0.60
then decreased during Q2 2020. In June it was 1.003%, which was 2.3% 0.40

lower than it had been at the same time last year.

0.20
0.00
May
 Jul Sep
 Nov
 Jan
 Mar May Jul

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2019 2020 2020

Click-Through Rate

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Brands Ad Accounts Benchmark; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 8
 Advertising

Ad Spend by Platform Position

Top 5 by Relative Spend

70
Relative Spend (in %)

60
50
40 Highest Converting Ad
Placement Types
30
20
10
0
Feed Feed
Stories
 Video Feeds
Instream Video

Facebook Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook

Relative Spend According to Socialbakers data, Facebook News Feed received 59.7% of

the relative ad spend in Q2 2020. The next two channels were Instagram

Click-Through Rate by Platform Position

Feed and Instagram Stories, which combined to receive 27.8% of spend.

Top 5 by Relative Spend

Click-Through Rate (in %)

2.00 Of the top five placements according to relative ad spend, Facebook News

Feed had the highest click-through rate at 1.85%. Facebook Video Feeds
1.50
and Instream Video were at 0.79% and 0.56%, respectively, while
1.00
Instagram Feed (0.33%) and Instagram Stories (0.23%) were lower.

0.50

0.00
Feed Feed
Stories
 Video Feeds
Instream Video

Facebook Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook

C lick-Through Rate

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: All Ad Accounts Benchmark; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 9
 Advertising

Cost per Click by Platform Position

Top 5 Placement Positions by Relative Spend

Facebook News Feed

Cost per Click (in USD)

0.6

Costs Decrease by 35%

0.4

0.2

0.0
Analyzing the top 5 placements by relative ad spend in Q2 2019 vs. Q2 Feed Feed
Stories
 Video Feeds
Instream Video

Facebook Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook

2020, Facebook News Feed decreased by 34.6% in CPC ($0.104 vs.
Q2 2019 Q2 2020
$0.068) and 40.6% in CPM ($1.822 vs. $1.082).

Cost per Mille by Platform Position

Similarly, Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories decreased by about 37%

Top 5 Placement Positions by Relative Spend

in CPC and 28% in CPM. The only placement to increase at all was
2.00

Cost per Mille (in USD)

Facebook Instream Video, which increased by 21.4% in CPC ($0.295 vs.
$0.243) and 18.9% in CPM ($1.624 vs. $1.366).
1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
Feed Feed
Stories
 Video Feeds
Instream Video

Facebook Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook

Q2 2019 Q2 2020

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Brands Ad Accounts Benchmark; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 10
Advertising

Paid Takeaways
While the full effects of the Facebook ad boycott won’t be seen until Q3, Q2 2020
showed a strong return toward pre-pandemic budgets in most regions and industries
worldwide.

For example, cost per click in Southern Europe increased by 94%, while industries like
Accommodation and Ecommerce put a lot more spend behind their messages as they
looked to recoup losses suffered during March and April.

While costs climbed back up, they were still affordable compared to the same time last
year, so marketers looking to bounce back from a difficult period have good
opportunities to do so.

Trends Report | Q2 2020 11

Organic Engagement

Trends Report | Q2 2020 12

 Organic Engagement

Organic Followers, Posts, Interactions

Top 50 Brands

Instagram Audience Size Total Audience Total Posts Total Interactions

31% Larger Than

Facebook

In Q2 2020, the total audience size of the 50 biggest brand profiles was
31.2% bigger on Instagram than Facebook. That’s a major change from Q2
2019, when Facebook’s audience size was still slightly larger, but it was only
a small increase compared to Q1 2020.

Engagement remained significantly stronger on Instagram, which had 18.7x

more interactions than Facebook, while 70.7% of all brand posts were on
Facebook.

Q2 2019 Q2 2020

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 50 Biggest Facebook & Instagram Brands Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 13
 Organic Engagement

Facebook Fans’ Time Spent

% of Page Fans Online Online Largely Returns to

European Brands Pages on Facebook

60%
Normal

50%
Average % of Page Fans

As communities around the world came out of quarantine, the time they
40%

spent online largely returned to pre-pandemic levels.

30%

Looking at fans of Facebook Brand pages in Europe, the amount of time

20% spent on Facebook decreased throughout Q2 2020 and the figures in June

ended up being about the same as they had been in January.

10%

One exception is that the percentage of people online late at night,

0%

specifically 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., was lower than ever. For example, the amount
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

of fans online at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays was 31.1% lower than its peak in

January February March April May June March and 28.1% lower than it had been in January.

Chart Time Range: January 1, 2020 – June 28, 2020; Sample: 6,688 European Facebook Pages of Brands; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 14
 Organic Engagement

Distribution of Interactions Ecommerce 16.8%

Across Industries
Retail
Services
13.3%
9.0%
FMCG Food 7.1%
Electronics 6.8%
Looking at worldwide brand profiles, Ecommerce received the highest Fashion 6.4%
percentage of interactions on Facebook and the second highest number of Finance 5.8%
Auto 5.0%
interactions on Instagram, behind only Fashion. The top 3 positions
Others 29.9%
remained unchanged from Q1 2020, but on Instagram, Ecommerce’s
interactions increased by 10.6% and grew by more than 23% over the last
two quarters.

Fashion 24.2%
Ecommerce 19.9%
Overall, the Fashion industry was less prevalent during Q2 2020. Fashion Beauty 11.5%
decreased by 21% on Facebook and decreased by 6.6% on Instagram. That Auto 10.3%
could have been due to the worldwide pandemic, during which there wasn’t Retail 9.0%
as much interest in that type of content.
Electronics 5.1%
Sporting Goods 4.0%
Services 3.6%
Others 12.3%

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Facebook Brands Pages & Instagram Brand Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 15
 Organic Engagement

Evolution of Interactions Instagram Interactions

100% Near Their Peak
Relative Post Interactions (max 100)

80%
The relative post interactions for the 50 biggest Instagram brand pages
60% increased in Q2 2020 and nearly reached their peak at the end of June.
Over the last 15 months, Instagram interactions remained relatively steady,
40% rarely going below 80% of their max.

20% On Facebook, the relative post interactions decreased significantly during

Q2 2020, going from 100% in March down to 50.8% before increasing
0% again at the end of the quarter. However, the decrease was mostly a return
May
Jul
Sep
Nov
Jan
Mar
May
Jul
to the normal level after an abnormal spike in mid-March.

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020

Instagram Facebook

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 50 Biggest Facebook & Instagram Brands Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 16
 Organic Engagement

Distribution of Post Types

on Facebook and Instagram Video 17.5%

Status 3.1%
Live Video 1.0%
Link 9.4%
Looking at worldwide brand profiles, images made up about 69% of all
Image 69.0%
content on both platforms.

On Facebook, video was the second most common post type (17.5%),
followed by links and status updates. Facebook Live videos, which actually
garner the highest number of organic post interactions (see next slide),
were used 1% of the time, which was an 85.2% increase compared to Q1
2020.

Video 15.5%
In general, video grew on both platforms, but the bigger growth was seen on Carousel 15.9%
Image 68.6%
Facebook. In addition to the increase in Live, regular video posts increased
by 10.8%.

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 162,308 Facebook Brands Pages & 67,945 Instagram Brands Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 17
 Organic Engagement

Facebook Organic Interactions by Post Type

Live
Video Live Video Delivers Most
Link
Interactions on Facebook
Image

Status
In Q2 2020, Facebook Live was by far the most engaging format on the
Video
platform with 28 median post interactions, according to Socialbakers data.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Images (18) and regular video (17) had the next highest amount of
Median Post Interactions interactions on Facebook.

On Instagram, carousel was the most engaging format with 150.5 median
Instagram Organic Interactions by Post Type

post interactions. Carousel posts, which can contain both images and
videos, have consistently outperformed image and video and this was the
Carousel highest engagement it achieved over the last 15 months.

Image Almost all of the post types increased organic interactions compared to Q1
2020. The only decline was for Facebook Live, which decreased from

Video 31 to 28.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Median Post Interactions

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 144,805 Facebook Brands Pages & 59,389 Instagram Brands Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 18
 Organic Engagement

Twitter Has Highest

Percentage of Video Video Usage Across Platforms

Average Monthly Values

25
Taking a closer look at video content on social media platforms, Twitter
contained the highest percentage of video compared to Facebook and

Share of Video Posts (in %)

20
Instagram.

15
In fact, over the last three quarters more than 20% of tweets from brand
pages with more than 1,000 followers contained video, and that figure 10
moved as high as 27.3% in June 2020.

5
Video content increased on all three platforms in March 2020, when the
pandemic really started to have a global impact. In April, video reach its 0
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun

peak on Facebook (15.8%) and Instagram (14.2%) before decreasing at the 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
end of the quarter.

Facebook Instagram Twitter

Chart Time Range: October 1, 2019 – June 25, 2020; Sample: Brand pages with more than 1000 followers/fans on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 19
 Organic Engagement

Proportion of Video Posts to Total Content on Facebook

Average Monthly Values

Video Grows on Facebook

Share of Video Posts (in %)

17.5%

and Instagram
15.0%
12.5%
10.0%
7.5%
5.0%
2.5%
0 The percentage of videos on both Facebook and Instagram increased in
January February March April May June
Q2 2020 compared to Q2 2019.

2019 2020
On Instagram, video content accounted for 17.1% of all posts in Q2 2020,
an increase of 16.3% compared to Q2 2019. On Facebook there was a
Proportion of Video Posts to Total Content on Instagram
higher overall percentage of video content in Q2 2020 (18%), but a smaller
Average Monthly Values increase as that was 5.3% higher than the same time period last year.

Share of Video Posts (in %)

17.5%
15.0% In addition to showing growth compared to the previous year, video also
12.5%
10.0%
grew on both platforms compared to Q1 2020.
7.5%
5.0%
2.5%
0
January February March April May June

2019 2020

Chart Time Range: January 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 2,931,780 Facebook Posts from 17,335 FB brand profiles & 3,259,957 Instagram Posts from 17,572 IG brand profiles; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 20
 Organic Engagement

Facebook Live Usage

Proportion of Live Video Posts to Total Content on Facebook
Average Monthly Values

Increases 27%
1.00%

Share of Live Video Posts (in %)

0.80%
Facebook Live usage started to increase during the pandemic, and overall
in Q2 2020 it made up 0.99% of all posts from Facebook brand profiles.

0.60%

That was an increase of 26.9% compared to Q2 2019, and over the last 0.40%
four months it increased by 126%.

0.20%
There was a similar, but smaller, increase at the same time last year so
not all of it was related to the pandemic. But as brands adapted, Facebook 0%
January February March April May June
Live was an easy way to communicate directly with their audience, and
many will continue to utilize this strategy going forward.

2019 2020

Chart Time Range: January 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: 2,931,780 Facebook Posts from 17,335 FB brand profiles; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 21
 Organic Engagement

Brands on Facebook Talking About Podcasts

Total Posts and Total Unique Brands by Month Brands Boost Podcasts
7 000
6 000
During Pandemic
5 000
Total

4 000
3 000
2 000 The total number of brands, and brand posts, mentioning podcasts
1 000 reached a peak in April 2020, according to Socialbakers data.

0
Jun
Aug
Oct
Dec
Feb
Apr
May

2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020

On Instagram, the number of brands that mentioned podcasts doubled
Brands Brands Posts
during the year, going from a low of 510 in June 2019 to a high of 1,087 in
April 2020. Relatedly, posts about podcasts from those brands also
Brands on Instagram Talking About Podcasts doubled (955 vs. 2,095).

Total Posts and Total Unique Brands by Month

On Facebook, the increase was similar but not quite as dramatic. In April
2 500
2020, 2,832 brands posted 6,189 times about podcasts, compared to
2 000
1,512 brands making 3,193 posts in June 2019.

1 500
Total

1 000
However, the number of posts and the total brands both decreased slightly
500
in May 2020. It makes sense that during the pandemic, more brands sent
0
Jun
Aug
Oct
Dec
Feb
Apr
May
out more content that could be recorded remotely and easily consumed at
2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020
home. How many will continue that strategy going forward?

Brands Brands Posts

Chart Time Range: June 2019 – May 2020; Sample: 10,612 Brands on Facebook & 4,093 Brands on Instagram that have at least once talked about podcasts; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 22
 Organic Engagement

Brands on Facebook Talking About Podcasts

Distribution of Activity by Industries

Brands Mentioning Podcasts

Podcasts a Common Topic 40%

30%

in Services Industry 20%

10%

0%
The industry that spent the most time mentioning podcasts over the last Services Finance Ecommerce Software Retail Electronics Fashion Industrial Sport. Beauty Others
Goods
year on both Instagram and Facebook was Services, which includes
% of Brand Profiles % of Brand Posts
Housing, Mail & Shipping, Transportation, Wellness, Agencies, and others
like lawyers and hairdressers.

Brands on Instagram Talking About Podcasts

Distribution of Activity by Industries

According to Socialbakers data that analyzed brands that mentioned

Brands Mentioning Podcasts

40%
podcasts at least once, Services was the leader in both percentage of
brand posts and percentage of brands mentioning podcasts, as nearly 40% 30%

of posts from that group were about podcasts.

20%

10%
The next most common industry that discussed podcasts on Instagram was
0%
Ecommerce, while on Facebook it was Finance. In both industries, about Services Ecommerce Fashion Finance Retail Software Electronics Beauty Sport. Home&Liv. Others
Goods
9% of brand profiles mentioned podcasts, and of those about 15% of their
posts mentioned podcasts.


% of Brand Profiles % of Brand Posts

Chart Time Range: June 2019 – May 2020; Sample: 4,093 Brands on Instagram & 10,612 Brands on Facebook that have at least once talked about podcasts; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 23
Organic Engagement

Organic Takeaways
Multimedia was on the rise in Q2 2020 as Socialbakers data showed increased activity
around podcasts, videos, and especially Facebook Live videos, which increased by
126% from March through June.

There have always been very positive engagement numbers with Facebook Live, and
the pandemic brought that option more to the forefront. However, there’s still a lot of
room to grow as it only accounted for 1% of posts from Facebook brand profiles.

Instagram also saw a lot of increased activity, as the platform nearly reached its
relative post interactions peak at the end of the quarter. Add that to the increased
audience size and total interactions on Instagram for the top 50 biggest brands, and
things continue to look positive for the platform going forward.

Trends Report | Q2 2020 24

Influencer Marketing

Trends Report | Q2 2020 25

 Influencer Marketing

Influencer #Ad Usage

Decreases 11% #Ad Usage by Influencers

20 000

In Q2 2020, the number of influencers who used #Ad in their posts

decreased by 11.4% compared to Q2 2019.

15 000

Total Influencers
While there were small fluctuations month-to-month, in June 2020 there
10 000
were 10,171 influencers partnered with brands who used #Ad. That was the
lowest single-month total since August 2019.

5 000

The Socialbakers data factors in regional and other sponsored hashtags,

including #sp, #paid, and #promo, as well as #ad usage. 0
May
 Jul Sep
 Nov
 Jan
 Mar May
2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2019 2020

Influencers

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2019 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Instagram profiles associated with Brands Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 26
 Influencer Marketing

Influencers With

the Highest

Effectiveness Scores

In Q2 2020, the top influencers mentioning brands on Instagram were sissy

sheridan , BLM, rach ️, and Benedetta Gargari.

The Socialbakers influencer score measures their effectiveness based on

their interactions per 1,000 followers, the number of followers, and their
posting activity.

Check any influencer’s score

using the Socialbakers AI platform

GET STARTED

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Instagram profiles associated with Brands Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 27
 Influencer Marketing

Brands Mentioned by the

Most Influencers
In Q2 2020, iDeal Of Sweden was the top brand Instagram
profile in the world associated with influencers. The online
retailer was mentioned by 1,426 influencers – nearly 3x as many
as the next closest brand – and received 2,087 total mentions.

Walmart was in second place with 760 mentions from 524

influencers, and other profiles with successful influencer
partnerships included fashion brand NA-KD.com, Netflix US,
Quest Nutrition, and Ultra Beauty.

Find influencers for your industry in seconds

with the Socialbakers platform

GET STARTED

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Instagram profiles associated with Brands Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 28
 Influencer Marketing

Effective Influencer
Campaigns
The Instagram brand profile worldwide that had the best
influencer marketing efficiency in Q2 2020 was Granero
Transportes, which had a cooperation efficiency of 249,922.33x
and only 2.50% of the overall posts featured by influencers.
Other profiles that did well in this area include partypoker,
Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., and Garnier India.

Cooperation Efficiency is the ratio of average interactions on

an influencer’s post mentioning the brand compared to a post
published by the brand itself.

Find influencers for your industry in seconds

with the Socialbakers platform

GET STARTED

Chart Time Range: April 01, 2020 – June 30, 2020; Sample: Instagram profiles associated with Brands Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Trends Report | Q2 2020 29
Influencer Marketing

Influencer Takeaways
As further detailed in Socialbakers’ recent State of Influencer Marketing Report, the
pandemic appeared to have a large impact on brands willingness to use influencer
marketing partnerships at this time.

That certainly wasn’t true for all brands, as iDeal Of Sweden worked with even more
influencers in Q2 2020. But overall, brands either slowed down with influencers or
turned their attentions to smaller influencers who were capable of driving campaigns
with their loyal base of followers.

To get a full grasp on the current state of influencer marketing

download Socialbakers’ report.

Trends Report | Q2 2020 30

Socialbakers is the trusted social media management partner to thousands of
enterprise brands and SMBs. Leveraging the largest social media dataset in the
industry,

Socialbakers’ unified marketing platform helps brands large and small ensure their
investment in social media is delivering measurable business outcomes. With over
2,500 clients across 100 countries, Socialbakers is the leading social media
management platform.

Socialbakers has been a Facebook Marketing Partner since 2011, a Pinterest

Marketing Partner since 2017, and a LinkedIn Marketing Partner since 2017.
Socialbakers was named in the 2018 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private
companies in Europe.

www.socialbakers.com

Trends Report | Q4 2019 49

Methodology and Glossary

Methodology

and Glossary Additional thresholds are applied for specific data sets:

Total interactions distribution at a minimum of 300

The Socialbakers quarterly trends report reflects the state of the

Internal Ads-Benchmarks at a minimum of 200 active
Socialbakers database during the quarter analyzed in the report
benchmarks for a region or industry

(or if an extended period is used - the state during that period).

The data is collected only once for the defined period.

#AD hashtags at a minimum of 10 #AD hashtags per month in

the influencer section

The minimum threshold for the report to be generated is 50

Profiles on Instagram and 50 Pages on Facebook for any given
category.

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Methodology and Glossary

Reactions:
Social media landscape

The sum of Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sorry and Anger reactions on posts Audience size:

published by a Page on Facebook.

Sum of all Followers (or Fans) of the profiles in the sample

Interactions:
Activity volume:

Interactions on Facebook are calculated as a sum of all Reactions, Sum of all posts published in given time period (stories are not

Comments
included)

and Shares on posts published by a Page. Interactions on Instagram are

calculated as a sum of Likes and Comments on posts published by a Profile.

User engagement:

Sum of all interactions on posts published in a given time period.

Median interactions in time:

The bubble sizes are calculated for each metric separately in order to
Median value for profiles (pages) in the sample. The value is the
compare each pair of metrics between platforms

sum of Interactions gathered on posts published in a given month.

ADS

Relative median interactions in time:

Organic means not promoted (not paid to be shown in the feed). We use
Same as Median Interactions in time, but the values are the ratios of the Socialbakers' internal algorithm that detects with almost 100% accuracy
maximum value in the given time period (separately for each platform).

whether a post has been promoted or not.

Median weekly value:

Cost per Click (CPC) or Impressions by Device Platform:

Calculated as median weekly ad account spend. Per each account we look at Median of given metric for all available Ad Accounts. As an Ad Account

weekly spend value and from all of these ad accounts in one category we can be used on Facebook, Instagram in Messenger or Audience Network,
calculate median value. data is for all platforms together.

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Methodology and Glossary

Cost per Click (CPC) and Cost per mille (CPM) by Platform Position:
influencers

Median for all available Ad accounts. Platform positions are different for Influencer:

Facebook and Instagram. The chart shows only the top 5 positions by Instagram business profile of a person followed by more than 1000 profiles.

relative spend (see below).

Evolution of #AD Usage:

Relative Spend by Platform Position:

The total number of distinct Influencers who have posted #AD (or available
Identifies on which positions the highest budget was allocated. The data is local equivalent) aggregated by month. To be included, the post must contain
normalized (%) and shows the average distribution of an account's spend.

both the #AD hashtag and a mention of a profile from the given region and
category.

Click-Through Rate (CTR) by Platform Position:

CTR median values of the top 5 positions by relative spend. CPC, CPM and Influencer's score:

Spend metrics are in USD.

The score represents influencer's relative performance in key metrics: the

sum of interactions, Interactions per 1000 followers, number of followers and

Post grade:
their posting activity.

Post grade is a metric provided exclusively by Socialbakers for performance

prediction and uses an A+ to D grading system to show how each post is Top Influencers Mentioning {category} Profiles:

predicted to perform based on the previous 72 hours organic performance. Ranking of influencers who mentioned at least one profile from a given
category and region in the given time range. Influencers are not filtered by
country and therefore may occur in multiple rankings.

Trends Report | Q2 2020 34

Methodology and Glossary

Influencer Marketing Efficiency:

% Paid Media: percentage of all posts on promoted posts

Is the ratio of Interactions acquired on influencer's (e.g. Hermione Granger)

post mentioning the profile (e.g. Hogwarts Express) compared to Activity:

post published by the Hogwarts Express itself.

Average posts published by a profile on the platform in a given time period.

The higher the score is, the more efficient the cooperation. To be included in Community Size:

the ranking, the influencers posts must include both #AD (or local equivalent) Average Fans/Followers/Subscribers count on the platform

and a profile mention (@Hogwarts_Express) to be displayed in the report

(transportation brands in the UK).

Interactions:

Average Interactions per page received on posts published in the given

APPENDIX
time period

% Comments: the percentage of total interactions on comments

#AD Usage:

% Reactions: the percentage of total interactions on reactions

The total number of influencers who used #AD (or available local equivalent)
in Instagram posts Extended glossary available on Socialbakers website


% Shares: the percentage of total interactions on shares

Reach (Total):

% Live Video: the percentage of all posts on live video posts

The number of people who had any content from your Page or about your
Page enter their screen. This includes posts, check-ins, ads, social
% Other Than Like: shows the percentage of reactions excluding like
information from people who interact with your Page and more. (Unique
reactions (love, haha, wow, sorry, anger)
Users)

Trends Report | Q2 2020 35

Methodology and Glossary

Paid Reach:
Southern Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
The number of people who had any content from your Page or about your Gibraltar, Greece, Vatican City State, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro,
Page enter their screen through paid distribution such as an ad. (Unique Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain

Users)

South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,

Organic Reach:
Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname,
The number of people who had any content from your Page or about your Uruguay, Venezuela

Page enter their screen through unpaid distribution. This includes posts,
stories, check-ins, social information from people who interact with your Page East Asia: China, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Macao,
and more. (Unique Users)

Mongolia, Taiwan

Ad Benchmarks Regions
Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor, Vietnam
Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Switzerland

Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama

Northern America: Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, Saint Pierre and

Miquelon, United States

Trends Report | Q2 2020 36

Methodology and Glossary

Have a question regarding any

of the data in the report?

Contact us at ask@socialbakers.com

socialbakers.com

Trends Report | Q4 2019 54