You’ve seen the click-bait headlines in your news feeds and on the fashion magazine covers in line at the grocery. “3 fashion trends to keep you hot hot hot this summer”, “Shop the Kendall Jenner Look”, “3 jean cuts you’ll see in Fall 2015.” While staying on trend in the fashion world is oh so important, it’s cyclical in nature, and you always know what’s coming next. Unlike fashion, digital marketing (my other passion) is the polar opposite. You never know where the digital landscape is headed, but it’s a roller coaster ride I’d hop on any day. After tuning out for just a week, there’s a chance you’ll miss Twitter’s next big advertising announcement and suddenly, you’re light years behind.
Summer may have your business cycle moving at a snail’s pace, but America’s biggest digital platforms are moving full-speed ahead. So, take this time to catch up with the latest trends in the digital world, and make sure your brand’s digital marketing strategy is well thought out before a big announcement, product launch or for our B2C folks, before we ramp into the holiday season (yes, I just mentioned the holidays in July).
Here are the latest updates you really won’t want to miss, and exactly what they mean for your business moving forward.
Periscope/Meerkat: Let me introduce you to the new darlings of digital media. These shiny new on-the-go live video streaming apps have all the media gurus buzzing. Not only are they causing a revolution in user-generated content, but they’re also changing news coverage as we know it. While the apps looks drastically different at first glance, both allow anyone with a smart phone and the Internet to broadcast live video to the entire world.
What does this mean for your business?
Brands can now directly connect with their audiences in the most personal, community-oriented way possible. Q and A sessions, live support and live demos are all now made easy with these platforms. Audiences are allowed to comment on the streams in real time, allowing for a two-way conversation and customer engagement that all brands strive for.
Pinterest’s ‘Buy It’ Button and Promoted Pins: Earlier this summer, the long awaited ‘Buy It’ button launched on the visual discovery platform. This featured has us particularly amped for our B2C clients, who now have the capability to sell their products from within the app. Products available for purchase will have a blue “buy it” button next to the red “pin it” button. Purchasers will have the choice to pay using Apple Pay or a credit card.
Now positioned to become an online mall, Pinterest has also been beta testing the Promoted Pins feature for months. The platform has been taking its time perfecting this feature, striving to make its ad experience different from others. Pinterest’s CEO recently commented on the slow development - “A lot of ads really suck. They’re really ugly. They detract from the experience. You want Promoted Pins to feel like the ideas you want to make your own.”
What does this mean for your business?
The platform is already driving brand awareness, exposure and referral traffic. Now it has the capability to convert consumers seamlessly through the app. Cart abandonment will be no longer, which will likely lead to a direct increase in sales. With the promoted pins, advertisers can spend their dollars on the platform where it’s easiest to convert.
Twitter’s Audience Insights: Twitter just got even creepier with its new advertising analytics tools. By uploading your company’s email list or Twitter list, the tool can provide in-depth insights into your tailor made audience. The Comparative Insights tool in the update allows you to compare your reached and engaged audience, to see what type of audience is paired best with a certain type of advertisement. The final addition to the update is Personas, which allows you to easily target certain groups. While the feature is not live yet, we predict groups like “engineers,” “physicians” or “business decision makers” will be among them, making this a great tool for B2B digital advertisers.
What does this mean for your business?
Targeting your audiences in a more informed and strategic way is an obvious benefit of Twitter Insights. The Comparative Insights tool promises to be especially helpful for companies who run several campaigns. With a greater number of campaigns, brands will have more comparative data and a better understanding of what their audience is responding positively to.
Facebook changes its CPC game: In early July, Facebook decided to be the first social media platform to redefine the definition of cost-per-clicks (CPCs). Typically, platforms defined a clickable action to be likes, comments shares, and links to external sites. Now, Facebook has separated external links from the pack and decided to measure it through a separate optimization goal.
What does this mean for your business?
The way Facebook decides to monetize this model is yet to be determined. They may decide to make CPC for external links more, since it’s sending you away from the platform, or perhaps they will charge less for in-site actions. TechCrunch recently said it straight up - “Facebook is built to be a mousetrap for your time. Now it’s set up to be able to charge advertisers more to let you escape.”
Need to know more about how your company is affected by these changes? Our agency is filled with marketing gurus and social media mavens who always stay on top of the digital marketing trends. Tweet us a question @alloy_crew. We would love to chat!