At [B]RIGHT, we illuminate data-informed digital solutions to help your brand succeed in an increasingly complex marketing landscape. Which means we help brands grow based on data, research, and a hefty dose of proven processes, tactics, and channel-specific strategies.
We take the guesswork out of your marketing strategy.
The Stories You Have to Read:
Ability to measure and optimize media spend towards ROI is becoming a necessity for budgets of all sizes, as advertising competition increases and barriers to entry vanish.
Nielsen is projecting increased advertising competition by businesses of all sizes as the nation is easing out of the pandemic. Brands in all sectors and sizes reported low confidence in their current abilities to measure ROI with their current marketing technology. The ability to optimize for ROI may be the only way to stretch limited advertising budgets that are in play for so many businesses. Even small and midsize companies are showing an interest in investing in marketing technology, 22% more than large companies with marketing budgets of $10M or more.
The ability to measure ROI of your advertising efforts is paramount to the success of brand growth. As competition in advertising increases, the costs are likely to increase as well, stretching budgets even thinner. Brands of all sizes have access to a plethora of tools that can help in measuring attribution, but it does help to understand the intricacies of every platform and prioritize the right channels, audiences, and messaging from the get-go to ensure budgets are utilized at their maximum. Brands that start with defining clear and attainable (and balanced) KPIs and metrics that ladder up are the ones that we’re seeing be most efficient and effective.
Pinterest is hosting a virtual creators event May 24 through 26 to test out its new livestreaming capabilities. Pinterest has not commented on how it intends to use the livestreaming feature following the event, but it is easy to speculate that they may be trying to gain a piece of the creative economy and creator market share, but that is not confirmed. The livestreaming tool is said to allow up to three guests to host the stream and an unlimited number of viewers, and there will be options for product shopping and chat functionalities. The streaming option in the app does not yet have the monetization features that might attract content creators to the platform.
This added livestreaming feature could be a natural fit for color-trended, inspirational, or future trend-driven brands. Historically, Pinterest has been a platform for seeking inspiration and planning out future projects, setting goals, and curating the user’s personal vision, but it has been lacking in interactive features. Livestreaming on the platform could be a welcome addition and a great opportunity for the right brand.
PWAs (progressive web apps) are the new alternative to native apps, which can perform almost all the functions of a native app without permanent installation or the need to download the app from the app store. The most significant benefits of the new PWA format are in its reliability, ease of access, smaller file sizes, budget-friendliness, and potential to increase leads and revenue thanks to higher-performing web experiences. PWAs are dynamic in their design, being compatible with both mobile and desktop devices regardless of screen size, and they function without internet connectivity.Optimizing your online brand for mobile experiences is a no-brainer. By decreasing the potential for functional and technical inefficiencies, you’ll provide a better user experience and more favorable perception of your brand, which could in turn positively affect the bottom line.
TikTok has launched a campaign to promote media literacy, aptly called #FactCheckYourFeed. The campaign features content collaborations from popular creators on the platform and is aimed at educating users on the importance of critical thinking, news literacy, building informed arguments, and recognizing fake news.
It is refreshing to see a media platform that has immense reach with younger users taking the initiative to educate its user base. It is early in the campaign, but we hope it is well received and remains a continual effort by TikTok and its creators. In the changing landscape of marketing, we anticipate this will be a step in the right direction toward decreasing the amount of misinformation seen online
Misinformation can take many different forms and can happen unintentionally. Brands must make sure their own content strategies are above reproach and are using vetted sources.
The world’s largest platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies is under investigation by the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service. Binance was founded in China, was reported to have moved operations in 2017 to an office in Singapore, and is now incorporated in the British-controlled territory of the Cayman Islands—a location sometimes used by businesses that are trying to avoid paying taxes. The DOJ and IRS are specifically investigating the ways crypto may be used for money laundering among other illicit activities. This is a developing story. More to come.
TikTok, Twitter, and now Facebook are taking steps to reduce misinformation on their platforms. Similar to how Twitter added warnings prior to sharing unopened links last June, Facebook will now be adding a new alert prompt encouraging users to open and read an article before sharing from their profile. It is in an attempt to promote informed sharing of the news and limiting ill-informed amplification. Facebook also has warnings for articles that are more than 90 days old to limit confusion and misdirected discussions around outdated content.
Content saturation is enough of a problem for most brands and their customers. Misinformation, although primarily thought of as just (fake) news-related, is not always the right depiction. Most misinformation is spread through shareable memes. Therefore, brands must make sure that if, and when, they use memes or otherwise trending content as part of their own content strategies, that they have vetted the sources.
Content about topics relevant to your industry or services is a great way to engage users and build trust in the expertise of your brand. The next step is to determine how to get the content to the right prospects on their preferred platform.LinkedIn makes this easy with various targeting attributes, such as company, work experience, location, industry, and many more (although not as many as Facebook touts), in addition to varying ad objectives for the different stages in the sales funnel. LinkedIn recommends building audience targeting sizes that are in the 60k to 400k range for top performance.
TikTok is testing in-app sales in Europe, a precursor to a larger global e-commerce service launch that only intensifies its competition with Facebook. The trial prototypes are only visible to select participants in the UK and a formal global unveiling date is not known yet.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok (or Douyin, as it is known in China), is aiming to take advantage of its broad global fan base as it marries the e-commerce offering with its social platform. Most of the large social media platforms are trying to grab their share of the projected $5 trillion online retail segment, and TikTok, although a late entrant to the industry, is looking to catch up if not take a majority share with young consumers.
TikTok e-commerce can be a welcome channel for some brands and potentially not a great fit for others. The platform as it stands today is a great resource for reaching young consumers in their teens and twenties. From our point of view, the platform may be suitable for light-hearted brands with fun or trending products, whereas sophisticated, affinity, or luxe brands may be sorely out of place (we’re making a sweeping generalization based on the channel demographic makeup). Of course, the app is still in its infancy and as refinements are unveiled in the coming years, our position may change.
Thanks for reading our [B]RIGHT take on this month's marketing and tech-related news. We found these articles insightful and helpful in navigating the changing marketing landscape and hope they are of value to you too.
Until next time.
Seth Slone | Digital PM
Data Hacks at Facebook and LinkedIn, Demo of Social Media Users and Adoption in the United States, Supreme Court Sides with Google in API Copyright Battle with Oracle, Facebook Introduces Dynamic Ads for Streaming, Innovid Wants to Bring More Interactive Ads to CTV, and Instagram Brings Ads to Reels.
Read More
Biden Admin Appoints New Anti-Trust Czar, Consumer Habit Changes, Pandemic Edition, Jack Dorsey Sells First Tweet on Twitter as NFT for $2.9 MM, and WFH and Work Relationships
Read More
iOS 14’s Impact on Marketing, Microsoft Saves Democracy, and We Demo Social Media’s Newest Darling App: Clubhouse.
Read More