Social media platforms change constantly: competing, evolving, innovating and, sometimes, falling from grace. These changes often have a direct impact on marketing. How? Let’s sort it all out in our daily social-media round-up.
Antonio Lucio’s Bid To Restore Trust In Facebook
According to AdAge, Facebook’s new CMO Antonio Lucio put the finishing touches on his first campaign with the company. The campaign is aiming to reduce hate and toxicity around the brand and rebuild positivity and trust.
Why it matters: Antonio Lucio’s appointment last September was a huge deal amongst the marketing community. Now, we’ll see the fruits of his labor with his bid to rebuild trust for the Facebook brand.
The details: The campaign, called “More Together” revolves around Facebook Groups, the purpose of which is to unite like-minded people based on their interests and passions. On Friday, the campaign rolled out with TV commercials, online videos
Facebook’s CMO, Antonio Lucio said, “People are a bit tired of the fast-paced, loud, hyper-polarized environment in which we’re living around the world,” Lucio says, speaking just days in advance of the purge. “They want to find
“What you’re going to see from us from now on is much more of a regular beat on all the progress that we are making,” Lucio
YouTube Confirms Free, Ad-Supported Originals
In his interview for Adweek, preceding YouTube’s annual Brandcast event, the company’s chief business officer Robert Kyncl confirmed that all original YouTube programming is shifting to a free, ad-supported format.
Why it matters: By breaking the paywall, YouTube gives advertisers more opportunities to work with Hollywood talent and YouTube content creators.
The details: “The trend you see in the market today is every media company racing to put up a paywall and put much of the content behind it, which means with every year, there will be less and less opportunity to put advertising next to
Tinder Debuts “Festival Mode”
On Thursday, Tinder announced the launch of its new “Festival Mode,” similar to “Spring Break Mode” released in February. The feature aims to help connect badge-holders at festivals.
Why it matters: Tinder often sees an explosion of engagement on the platform during festival weekends. In 2018, for example, “Tinder app registrations during Hangout Fest increased up to 30x and app activity increased up to 300x at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Value.”
The details: The feature is available for use as of today, feature at some of the largest music festivals, including Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas, Governors Ball, Parklife, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Lovebox, Faster Horses, HARD Summer and EDC Orlando, as well as AEG’s festivals in the US and UK, including Hangout Fest, All Points East, Firefly and British Summer Time.
In the new mode, users can add a badge to their profile to highlight their planned destination, approximately three weeks before each festival. From there, they have the ability to match and connect with the users planning to attend the same music festival.
Maureen Ford, president national and festival sales at Live Nation said in a press release, “In an increasingly digitized world, people around the globe are flocking to Live Nation concerts and festivals in droves to experience connection where the emotional intensity is unmatched and the moments are unforgettable. Music has a long history of bringing people together, and our partnership with Tinder allows us to bridge the digital and physical worlds to facilitate more meaningful connections between fans in real life.”
Twitter’s Marketing Events Calendar
Twitter published its monthly event calendar, highlighting all the major events relevant to marketers this month.
Why it matters: This is just Twitter helping out with some dates for marketers to keep an eye on.
The details:The dates to remember in May are:
In the U.S.
- Star Wars Day May–4th
- Kentucky Derby May–4th
- Cinco De Mayo May–5th
- MET Gala May–6th
- Mother’s Day–May 12th
- Memorial Day–May 27th
In Europe:
- Eurovision Song Contest–May 14-18th
- Cannes Film Festival–May 14-25th
- FA Cup Final–May 18th
- The EU elections–May 23-26th
- MCM Comic Con–May 24-26th
In Middle East:
- Saudi Professional League Final–May 2nd
- Ramadan–May 5th – June 4th.
Influencer Marketing Is Rapidly Growing
A report released by the social media marketing platform, Socialbakers, focused on major influencer marketing trends for Q1 2019 and revealed that the industry is
Why it matters: Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Socialbakers CEO said in a press release, “Consumers are increasingly seeking out reviews and trusted voices when making purchasing decisions. This has created a huge opportunity for influencers and brands to team up to create authentic connections with audiences. Our findings indicate that brands that collaborate with authentic and relevant influencers increase their results from their social media campaigns.”
The details: In particular, in 2018 the use of #ad on Instagram by influencers was up 133 percent and in terms of all Instagram posts, the use of #ad was up 120 percent.
Other highlights include:
- Influencer-sponsored posts on Instagram increased by 150 percent
- From Q1 2018 to Q1 2019, the use of Stories saw
21 percent increase - Micro-influencers run the show, accounting for over 80 percent of influencers in Asia, Europe and Latin America, and over 75 percent in North America
Social Media Influencers Boost In-Store Sales
According to a report from Forbes and Influential, paid media posts from carefully curated influencers on Instagram also prove to boost sales at physical stores.
Why it matters: Despite the obvious effect on ecommerce, influencers and can also help get people out of their homes and into stores.
The details: The campaign ran from August through October in 2018 in Boston, Louisville, Ky. and Grand Rapids, Mich. It resulted in a 1.8 percent increase in physical stores sales in the test cities, compared to the three control markets (Augusta, Ga., Seattle, Wash. and Columbus, Ohio).
Per Influential CEO, Ryan Detert, the campaign had 22.9 million impressions; incremental sales were more than $1.2 million, and return on advertising spend (or ROAS) for the campaign was $6.11, or six times higher than the 0.92 average for all IRI social media food campaigns.
TikTok Enters The Sports Arena
Front Office Sports reported on Wednesday that major professional leagues and teams worldwide are employing TikTok in their social media marketing strategy.
Why it matters: “We saw the power and creativity, and also that it’s something new,” Felix Loesner, head of social media at FC Bayern Munich, told Front Office Sports. “It’s something like the old Vine where you can have creative storytelling for a special young audience. This makes the app so interesting for us.”
The details: Per Front Office Sports, the NBA, NHL
There are two main reasons why the sports giants are turning to TikTok: the age and the gender of the platform audience. In March 2018, almost 40 percent of TikTok users were under the age of 20, with an additional 26 percent between 20 and 29 years old.
WhatsApp Business Is In Focus
Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced at the annual F8 Conference that WhatsApp will be upgraded with a new “Product Catalogs” feature and payment service.
Why it matters: These changes represent a way for WhatsApp to grow out of its current advertising model and possibly become an ecommerce platform.
The details: “WhatsApp Business is also a big focus. Within a year millions of small businesses around the world are using this to communicate privately with their customers. And now we’re launching a new feature for this, Product Catalogs. So you’re gonna be able to easily see what is available from a business. And now this is going to be especially important for all of the small businesses out there that don’t have a web presence and that are increasingly using private social platforms as their main way of interacting with their customers,” Zuckerberg said.
Instagram To Test A New Feature In Canada
Another big announcement by Mark Zuckerberg at the F8 Conference concerned testing a new Instagram feature that’ll hide likes from the public.
Why it matters: The social media platform says it wants followers to focus on what people share rather than how popular the content is.
The details: The users will still see how many likes their own posts receive, but will not be able to “count likes” on other people’s posts.
Instagram will test a new feature in Canada as soon as this week. But it is yet unclear whether it plans to expand the test.
Instagram’s New ‘Donation Stickers,’ ‘Camera And Create Mode’ And ‘Shopping From Creators’ Tools
On Tuesday, Instagram shared a blog post, announcing the release of the new features that will help the users to better connect with their friends, family and popular creators.
Why it matters: Cause- and consumer-oriented, these features promise to generate a lot of engagement on the platform, by offering more valuable experiences to the users and advertising opportunities for brands.
The details: The new features include, Stories donation sticker, New Camera and Create Mode and Shopping from Creators.
Shopping from Creators takes Instagram shopping to the next level and offers shopping directly from the creators’ accounts. Instagram users will be able to shop from the Instagram accounts that belong to creators like Kim Kardashian West, Camila Coelho, as well as publishers like Hypebeast and GQ. These influencers and more will be testing the product in the coming weeks.
Susan Plagemann, chief business officer, the culture division at Condé Nast, told
Note: Creators will not receive commissions, based on clicks or sales.
Twitter Announces Partnerships With ESPN, Univision
On Monday at NewFronts, Twitter announced new collaborations across sports, news, gaming
Why it matters: Another step forward for Twitter in offering “premium” programming options for advertisers and audiences.
The details: The new video programming includes partnerships with Univision, NFL, The Players’ Tribune, MLS, ESPN, Bleacher Report, Blizzard Entertainment, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNET, Time, Live Nation and Viacom.
Twitter’s global VP head of content partnerships, Kay Madati, said in a press release, “When you collaborate with the top publishers in the world, you can develop incredibly innovative ways to elevate premium content and bring new dimensions to the conversations that are already happening on Twitter. Together with our partners, we developed this new slate of programming specifically for our audiences, and designed the content to fuel even more robust conversation on Twitter.”
YouTube Will Livestream 13 MLB Games
Variety reported this week that YouTube landed a deal with Major League Baseball and will live-stream 13 games during the 2019 season globally.
Why it matters: Sports leagues and social platforms seem to have revolving relationships, this time around it’s YouTube and MLB.
The details: The games will be produced exclusively for the YouTube platform by MLB Network, available on YouTube in the U.S., Canada
Diageo Is Testing The Waters On YouTube
According to The Drum, a British alcoholic beverages company, Diageo, is considering its return to YouTube, but only if the platform “passes” a series of brand safety tests.
Why it matters: Brand safety is a shared concern among all marketers. Diageo’s potential return to the platform shows how valuable they find YouTube’s audiences—and perhaps that the social platform has made strides in brand safety?
The details: The company is currently running a series of “scaled trials” in the US, India and some countries in Europe. Per Isabel Massey, Diageo’s global digital director, the tests have been going well so far, but the company will continue to closely monitor them to be 100% sure.
GVMA Releases New Metrics For Social Video
In January, Tubular announced the Global Video Measurement Alliance (GVMA), which aims to create industry standards for social video metrics. Now, the GVMA is adding members Viacom, Ellen Digital Network, VICE, BuzzFeed and Group Nine Media. The alliance also released the first standard metrics.
Why it matters: Creating industry standards can help the industry at large step away from vanity metrics and also help avoid ad fraud. Adding reputable members is another great step forward for the alliance.
The details: The two metrics announced were “de-duplicated unique viewers” and “minutes watched.” The company said in a press release that, “when applied alongside social video metrics of views, comments, shares and followers, these traditional metrics will finally provide the full global picture of what the world is watching and how they engage with content.”
Rob Gabel, co-founder
Snapchat Is Launching ‘Snap Select’
Snapchat is releasing a new feature, called “Snap Select,” which will simplify the process of buying video ads within Snapchat’s “Discover” section.
Why it matters: The new feature will make life easier for advertisers by offering something similar to YouTube’s ad-buying option, which allows them to conveniently purchase non-skippable ads.
The details: The buyers will be able to purchase ads around Snapchat’s “Discover” section, which includes original shows, as well as shows from select publishers, like ESPN and NBC. The pricing will be fixed and the ads will be human-curated, which reduces the risk of brand-safety issues for the publishers.
Q1 Report From Kenshoo
This week, Kenshoo released a report for Q1 focusing on search, social and e-commerce advertising metrics.
Why it matters: The report provides insights into social media performance and trends.
The details: Here are some important take aways:
- Social advertising spending was up 27 percent year-over-year in Q1 2019, versus Q1 2018
- Impressions were up 20 percent YoY
- Instagram saw a 44 percent increase in spending year-over-year
- Pinterest’s spent almost doubled (up 107 percent YoY); with clicks up 100 percent YoY and impressions up 81 percent YoY
Editor’s Note: Our weekly social media news post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, April 19. Have a news tip? We’re looking for changes to and news surrounding social media platforms as they relate to marketing. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.
