Category

Social Media

Nov 08
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Instagram Rolls Out New In-App Post Scheduling Tools

By Paid Media, Social Media, Uncategorized No Comments

Instagram is rolling out its new in-app post scheduling tools to all professional accounts in the app. The new option enables brands to schedule photos, carousels and Reels directly in the app, as much as seventy-five days in advance.

Here is how you can schedule Reels:

  • In the creation flow, tap ‘Advanced Settings’ before sharing the post
  • Tap ‘Schedule this post’
  • Select the time and date you want it to go live
  • Tap ‘Schedule’ in the post composer

Functionally, this doesn’t add anything new as users have been able to schedule posts via Creator Studio since 2020. 

But it could make it easier to manage your content on the go, and with the ability to schedule Reels so far in advance, this feature could help you maximize your content performance.

Instagram says that the option is rolling out from today, so if you don’t have it yet, you will shortly.

As usual, if you have any questions on how to get the most out of Instagram or any other media platform, please contact us today. We are here to help.

Nov 01
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Expected Changes to Twitter and What It Means For Your Brand

By Paid Media, Social Media No Comments

Since his acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk has plans to restore the social media platform to its former glory when it was once the go-to for breaking news and compelling conversation.

Twitter has become synonymous with troll and bots in recent years. It seems the answer to that for Musk is to re-vamp the platform into a subscription model. His stated goal is to generate 50% of Twitter’s revenue intake from subscribers, reducing the app’s reliance on ads.

Paid Subscriptions and Verifications

To this end, Musk is reportedly considering:

At this stage, it’s hard to know when or if these will be tested or rolled out. But, we will monitor these changes for you.

If Twitter can deliver authentic and compelling content through these verified subscription packages, it would allow brands to once again leverage Twitter for thought leadership. The challenge will be convincing users to pay to keep using the app and whether or not that blue checkmark of certification will be sufficient enough to compel users to pay for it.

Staff Reductions

The Washington Post has reported that Musk will cull at least 25% of Twitter’s current roles.

Musk has already cut several senior execs, and he’s reportedly analyzing Twitter’s sales, product, engineering and legal departments,.

The Possible Return of Vine

There are hints that Elon is considering bringing Vine back from the dead, in order to directly compete with TikTok. While Vine fans are elated, we aren’t convinced a re-released Vine would go the distance beyond initial launch hype. Nonetheless, we will continue to monitor all the changes happening at Twitter and will help ensure you know how best to leverage this and all other media platforms.

If you need assistance with your paid media or social media strategy, please contact us. We are here to help.

Oct 25
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Pinterest Launches New Tools to Help Advertisers Discover Emerging Trends & Measure Success

By Paid Media, Social Media No Comments

Because people on Pinterest seek inspiration with purchase intent, the platform can be a very successful way for brands to drive conversions. With this in mind, Pinterest has launched the Pinterest Trends tool, which helps advertisers gain deeper insights into user behaviors to inform campaign planning through creative and targeting. Additionally, Pinterest’s new API for Conversions is now globally available, providing advertisers a complete view of campaign performance to measure users’ behavior on their site. The Pinterest API will also integrate conversions features globally in the coming weeks with commerce partner Shopify and tag management partner Google Tag Manager.

This can show you the trends with your engaged users/followers in 90 days, trends by demographics (Age, topic, time and place) as well as seasonal trends that should help with the coming holiday season, making the platform more appealing to advertisers seeking an informed audience strategy/creative.

Integration of trends helps make media buying more robust on Pinterest with deeper level insights on trends by region, demo, account etc. It’s similar to a Google Trends tool, but within the Pinterest interface.

Using the Pinterest Trends tool can help advertisers win Q4 holiday season and beyond with industry first features including:

  • Trends your audience loves – this widget on the homepage of Pinterest Trends allows advertisers to see what is trending with their engaged users and followers in the last 90 days. 
  • Trends by demographics – the only tool that helps advertisers filter by age, topic, time and place
  • Seasonal trends – new trend types such as Seasonal trends help advertisers better align content and marketing calendars to when Pinners are most engaged with different topics

To date, hundreds of advertisers across the world have partnered with Pinterest to implement the API for Conversions in order to observe its impact on advertiser performance and reliability. According to the platform, the early results from those findings showed that the API for Conversions is not just the future of conversion measurement, but also acts as a current driver of performance for Pinterest advertisers. Pinterest reports that advertisers who adopted the API for Conversions have seen.

  • 14% Cost per action (CPA) improvements on average for oCPM campaigns when using both Conversion API and Tags, compared to using Tags only
  • 36% average increase in attributed conversion volume when using both Conversion API and Tags, compared to using Tags only

While the API for Conversions’ most frequent use case is lower funnel actions, such as checkouts, many advertisers have found additional insight in also using the solution for full funnel actions: add to cart and page visits.

If you are considering Pinterest in your media mix and need help ensuring you use this new tool to measure success/check trends effectively, please contact us. We’re here to help.

Oct 19
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YouTube Launches New Ad Features for CTV and Audio

By Paid Media, Social Media No Comments

YouTube announced three new ad options as part of its Advertising Week New York showcase, including ‘Moment Blast’, which enables advertisers to highlight their offers to Connected TV viewers, and new audio ad options to reach viewers listening to YouTube content.

Here is how YouTube explained Moment Blast:

“Moment Blast is designed for brands looking to raise awareness during key moments – like major sporting events, movie releases or product launches. Moment Blast gives advertisers prime positioning on YouTube Select content on connected TVs (CTV) and other devices, plus a Branded Title Card and optional Masthead placement.”

YouTube Select is a showcase of select video content from across YouTube that enables advertisers to reach specific audiences, based on various interests and categories.

With Moment Blast, brands can better amplify their messaging through these channels, which could help to maximize their reach.

YouTube is also expanding its audio ads, including podcast targeting, enabling advertisers to reach engaged audiences in the app. YouTube first launched its audio-only ads back in 2020, as part of its broader push to maximize YouTube Music, and has been expanding its audio offerings ever since. Now that podcasts have become a preferred platform for Millennials and GenZers, with podcasts are being steadily integrated into the platform.

YouTube podcasts

YouTube’s also expanding its product feed options to Discovery ads, providing another way to promote products direct in the app.

YouTube Product Feed

Product feeds, like the example above, allows users to add a listing of products to ads, enabling viewers to easily make a purchase, which could also drive more direct response from your campaigns. As YouTube explains:

“Soon, product feeds will also include local offers, allowing brands to show real-time availability for products in their Google Merchant Center so people can find the most convenient place to buy.”

YouTube is also looking to expand more product display capacity to Shorts:

“Creators will also be able to transform their content into virtual storefronts; this quarter, more creators will have the ability to tag products in their videos and Shorts.”

Shorts has become a much bigger focus as social media platforms continue to compete with TikTok. YouTube is exploring more ways to better facilitate monetization opportunities for Shorts creators, while also enabling brands to tap into this rising element.

If you need assistance leveraging YouTube or any media platform for your brand, please contact us today. We’re here to help.

Oct 18
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TikTok Adds Photo Mode for Still Images and Longer Video Captions For Increased Discovery

By Content Marketing, Social Media No Comments

In an unusual turn of events, TikTok has borrowed from Instagram by adding a new ‘Photo Mode’ for still images in the app. The new feature allows users to post carousels of still images that can be scrolled.

TikTok Photo Mode

TikTok explains the new feature:

“Photo Mode allows you to share carousel posts of still images that automatically display one after another. You can add music to soundtrack the images, which viewers can swipe through at their own pace.”

We expect the addition of carousels will spark new trends, like before and after shots of DYI projects, makeovers, lawn and garden improvements, and other views into progressive change will provide another way for brands to reach an audience.

TikTok’s also added some new editing tools to make it easier to refine content before posting and launched longer captions, allowing creators to utilize up to 2,200 characters with each clip.

TikTok editing tools update

This represents a significant increase from the 300 characters previously allowed for video descriptions. This is no surprise given TikTok’s increasing role as a discovery platform.

In fact, Google itself recently noted that almost 40% of young people now use TikTok and Instagram for search, instead of the search engine. Allowing for longer descriptions will help users grow their reach and their “search engine” value within the app via more keywords.

If you need assistance leveraging TikTok or any social media platform, please contact us today. Our award-winning social media team is here to help.

Oct 03
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Expanding Your Attribution Window Can Lead To Higher Conversion Rates in Social

By Social Media No Comments

As talk continues about a potential recession ahead, it is imperative for advertisers discover the most efficient channels where people are buying. In the context of paid social, studies show that people who take longer to convert also spend more money, so including them in your measurement means getting more value out of every dollar you spend. 

For Pinterest ads in particular, advertisers large or small on Pinterest are much more likely to receive conversions when they extend their attribution window from 1/1/1 (1/1/1, or 1 day click, 1 days to engage, 1 days to view) to 7/7/7 (7/7/7, or 7 day click, 7 days to engage, 7 days to view). 

Studies have shown when people have more time, they buy more.

In times like these, marketers tend to rush to that last-click, bottom-of-the-funnel ROAS quick fix. But, that can be a mistake. You’ll get more value out of every dollar you spend if you account for the converters who take longer spend more money.  

Due to the possibility of an upcoming recession, consumer confidence is dropping rapidly.

Marketers must find ways to combat this slowing demand by discovering most efficient channels where people are still spending. Extending your attribution window to account for people who take longer to convert means squeezing more out of every dollar you spend. 

When you widen your attribution window, you will maximize ROAS for your media. Roughly 75% of conversions that occur after one week should not be missed. At the very least, examine the 7/7/7 if you are at 1/1/1. You’ll find the sweet spot when your 2022 and 2023 campaigns have a greater overall ROAS and you’re accounting for the big spenders who buy more. 

If you’d like help with your paid media strategy, please contact us today. We’re here to help.

Sep 27
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How to Maximize Your Content Reach on Facebook

By Social Media No Comments

Although Facebook continues to lose new users to platforms like TikTok, the social networking site does still boast an active user base. With roughly 2.93 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2022, Facebook is the most used online social network worldwide.

Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 2nd quarter 2022 (in millions)

With this in mind, Meta published a new overview showing how marketers can maximize their reach on Facebook, and grow their fan base via News Feed distribution.

Facebook’s News Feed algorithm historically relied on these key elements when deciding who sees what content:

  • What content has been posted? What posts are available from friends, other creators and Pages that we can show?
  • Who might like this content? We consider a multitude of signals such as who posted the content, when it was posted, what was the topic and past user behavior, among others.
  • How likely are people to engage with the post? We try to predict how likely a given person is to engage with your post and find it meaningful. We make a variety of these predictions for each piece of content.
  • How interested will the audience be in this post? Based on all of the data we have gathered on the post, which pieces of content should get priority?

When considering Facebook engagement in 2022 specifically, Meta says that it now views Facebook engagement in two ways:

  • Connected Distribution – Your posts are seen by those who follow you on Facebook. This is your core audience on the platform.
  • Unconnected Distribution – Your posts are seen by those who don’t follow you, but may be interested in your content. This type of distribution can come through other users sharing and re-sharing your posts or from our recommendations in our “Suggested for You” sections.

Both of these types of engagement have existed in Facebook for years, but the latter element is getting more specific focus, as Meta looks to pump more AI-fueled content recommendations into your feed. In fact, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg flagged the company’s plan to double the amount of AI-recommended content in user feeds by the end of the year.

As per Zuckerberg:

“Right now, about 15% of content in a person’s Facebook feed and a little more than that of their Instagram feed is recommended by our AI from people, groups, or accounts that you don’t follow. We expect these numbers to more than double by the end of next year.”

In other words, ‘Unconnected Distribution’ is set to become a much bigger factor in determining your Facebook post reach – which means marketers need to consider how Unconnected Distribution works in the broader process.

Meta provided some guidance on how to maximize Unconnected Distribution

Facebook 'Unconnected Reach'

How each of these elements factors into Facebook’s ‘Unconnected Distribution’ algorithms is not yet clear, but this does indicate that Facebook will promote as much original content as it can, while optimizing for engagement remains a key consideration.

If you need assistance leveraging Facebook or any other digital platform, please contact us today.

You can read Meta’s full overview for creator distribution here.

Sep 21
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YouTube Launches New Monetization Program for Shorts Creators

By Social Media No Comments

YouTube announced it will provide more direct monetization options for Shorts creators, which could make YouTube the platform of choice for more creative talent. This move is one of the latest attempts from YouTube to compete with TikTok, which continues to dominate the social media landscape.

As explained by YouTube:

“Starting in early 2023, Shorts-focused creators can apply to the YouTube Partner Program by meeting a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90 days. These new partners will enjoy all the benefits our program offers, including the various ways to make money like ads on long-form and Fan Funding.”

Monetizing short-form video is hard, because you can’t add pre- and mid-roll ads into clips into clips that are only 30 seconds long. This wouldn’t matter, except for the fact that short-form clips are the current trend in the space, thanks to TikTok. As a result, YouTube is promoting a new process for Shorts with the aim of providing an equitable revenue share.

“In Shorts, ads run between videos in the Shorts Feed. So, every month, revenue from these ads will be added together and used to reward Shorts creators and help cover costs of music licensing. From the overall amount allocated to creators, they will keep 45% of the revenue, distributed based on their share of total Shorts views. The revenue share remains the same, no matter if they use music or not.”

This means the monetization is a combined pool of revenue that will be split based on video view counts. The 45% revenue split is also different to the usual YPP rev share, which allocates 55% of overall ad revenue to creators.

YouTube’s VP of Creator Products Amjad Hanif explains why the revenue split is different for shorts:

“Most folks who are in short-form today are earning through a fixed fund, and a fixed fund doesn’t commit a specific percentage to the creator. In fact, it’s up to the platform to determine each and every month how they’re going to divide that up […] In short-form, we’re gonna’ share with all creators who are part of the feed. As a part of that, that means spreading it out across all the creators, whether it was right before the ad, or three videos away from the ad. Shorts is also an area where we’re investing a lot of product and engineering time into things like creation tools, as well as trust and safety. And so, part of that rev share is being aware of the investment we need to make.”

Due to the added costs of video creation – music licensing in particular, YouTube’s taking a bigger cut, even as more advertisers look to tap into Shorts, which are now being viewed by 75% of YouTube’s active user base.

As YouTube puts more emphasis on short-form content, advertisers will pay attention. If you need assistance leveraging YouTube or any other social media or paid media platform, please contact us today. We are here to help.

Sep 06
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Reels Generate The Most Reach on Instagram

By Social Media No Comments

Video remains a focus for Instagram and videos in the Reels format drive the most engagement across the platform.

In fact, the HypeAuditor team analyzed 77.6 million Instagram posts throughout July 2022 to measure the engagement trends, based on format. They found that:

  • The most commonly posted type of content on Instagram remains image posts, at 42% of all posts. Carousels came in second, at 26%
  • But look at that ‘Estimated Reach’ bar – Reels, despite being the third most popular post option, are seeing the most reach on the platform, by a notable margin. HypeAuditor measured relative Reach by analyzing the number of people who saw each post, based on public data
  • Reels are also generating a lot more Likes, though image posts still generate more comments, at least based on this sample set

The data consistently shows that Reels are the best current option for maximizing reach and engagement. Despite this, most users are not posting Reels as yet. This could present significant opportunity to get more attention for your Reels content in short-form clips.

Here are a few statistics on Instagram Reels from Meta:

  • The Instagram Reels feature generates 67% more engagement than standard Instagram videos. 
  • 70% of marketers surveyed said they plan to boost their video content on Instagram.
  • Brands receive more engagement on Instagram Reels than on TikTok by 387,000 more likes.
  • 9 out of every 10 Instagram users watch videos each week.
  • Instagram Reels video provides 8% more real estate than TikTok does.

Here are a few expert tips to supercharge your Instagram Reels:

  1. Use a call to action asking viewers to DM you using a keyword.
  2. Ask viewers to mention you in their Instagram Story.
  3. Be sure to use the proper 9:1 dimensions and vertical format.
  4. Unless you really have to, never delete your Instagram Reels.
  5. Run a Giveaway or Contest with Instagram Reels.

If you need assistance leveraging Reels in your social media strategy, please contact us today. We are happy to help.

Aug 29
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Pinterest Continued to Lose Users in Q2, Despite Ramping Up eCommerce Features

By Paid Media, Social Media No Comments

According to Pinterest, there are now 433 million monthly active users on Pinterest worldwide, down 5% from last year.

It is predicted that Pinterest will slowly shed users over the next five years.

Here’s a brief look at the numbers:

  • Pinterest anticipates third-quarter revenues to increase by “mid-single digits” versus last year, falling very short of analysts’ expectations of 12.7% growth.
  • Pinterest’s revenues rose 9% year-over-year (YoY), its slowest growth in two years, due to softening advertising demand from CPG companies, big-box retailers, and mid-market advertisers.
  • Average revenue per user (ARPU) grew 20% in the US & Canada, going from $4.87 to $5.82. Global ARPU jumped 17% overall.
  • CFO Todd Morgenfeld said on the company’s earnings call that shopping revenues are growing twice as fast as overall revenues.

An Increased Investment in Social Commerce

Due to this decrease, Pinterest’s new CEO Bill Ready is hoping social commerce will return the platform to future growth.

However, Pinterest will have to compete with the more prominent social commerce platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. If Pinterest can grow its user base and lean into personalization and social commerce, it could potentially outshine the competition since the platform is great at monetizing its current and loyal audiences.

Younger Audiences Aren’t Interested in Pinterest

Although they are making a push towards social commerce and personalization, Pinterest still struggles to reach teen users, which proves to be a blocker for many brands. This could further limit Pinterest’s ability to attract retailer and advertiser spends. Pinterest has loyal consumers; however, it lacks the attraction of new users.

The Platform Still Plays A Role In The Customer Journey

Pinterest has the unique position of being social media, search, and commerce. Since the platform is a tool for inspiration and product discovery, it’s important for brands to capitalize on the consumer shopping journey, which gives it a more valuable insight for consumer purchase intent, making it more attractive to retailers.

With Pinterest’s personalized shopping experience, it is important to cater ads and lean into personalization to ensure the user’s experience is relevant, and that you speak to the user journey with sequential messaging.

If you need assistance leveraging Pinterest or any other media platform for the upcoming holiday season, contact us today; our experts are here to help.