The Friday Five: Amazon utilising AI advertising, TikTok offers dangerous advice, and the power of leaving a negative review

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of your favourite Linkedin newsletter- The Friday Five.?

Join us on the weekly round-up of all the most important marketing, tech, and social media updates that we think you can’t start the weekend without!

This week, find out why TikTok is being used as a platform for giving free but poor financial advice- potentially dangerous for many.

After, we take a look at how Elon Musk is rebranding X to gain a more trustworthy status for news with the aim of improving his personal brand.

Also, If you want to know more about how Amazon is utilising AI to target ads more effectively then stay for the read!

Let's start, shall we?

1. Tiktok- a platform for dangerous financial advice

A new study has raised concern over the influence of TikTok content, with misinformation and harmful financial advice uploaded onto the platform by unaccredited content creators, and being viewed by millions of people daily.

Almond Financial, the pension advice organisation that published this analysis, discovered that 90% of 150 TikTok posts offering this type of advice and guidance, are ‘misleading’ and potentially ‘damaging’.

This encouraging environment is often not adopted when it comes to getting the viewer to carry out their own research before making large financial decisions.

With the Advertising Standards Authority and Financial Conduct Authority still cracking down on on-screen warnings and proper ad labelling, Almond Financial hopes this raises awareness to un-suspecting viewers who are exposed to this type of content, urging people to be more aware of the reliability of content they are consuming online.

Read here for more on this story.

2.?The rebranding of X to a ‘trustworthy’ news source

Over 60% of ‘X’ users state that they use the app as a source for finding the latest news, which is understandable as it’s categorised under ‘news’ on the app store- right?

Since Elon Musk took over ownership of Twitter, changing the name to X marks the beginning of a bigger plan of rebranding the social media platform.?

With such a large trusting audience to begin with, there are concerns over Musk’s intentions with X, as he often criticises mainstream media labelling it biased and untrue, especially stories focusing on himself or his brand.?

X currently has a user-ran fact-checking service on the app called ‘Community Notes’, which lets people decide what is true and what is not.?

However, this is largely viewed as being an inadequate solution, due to certain topics which are never going to be agreed on, in the case of politics for example.

Alongside X, the research from the US Pew Research Centre has discovered other trusted news sources including influencers and celebrities (68%), friends and family (48%), and even people they don't know personally (84%).

Read more on how this could affect the upcoming US and UK elections in 2024.

3. The UK is the second largest global exporter of advertising- closing the gap on the US

Analysis by Credos for the UK Advertising Exports Group (UKAEG) saw that in 2023, UK exports of advertising, market research, and polling services reached an all-time high, up 15% from 2022.?

Reaching ï¿¡18 billion, the UK is quickly closing the gap with the US, with it being reduced from ï¿¡3.7bn to ï¿¡2.3bn in one year. Numbers also revealed that the UK exports more advertising than it does telecommunications, architectural, legal, accounting, and engineering.?

This only further strengthens the evidence that the UK could overtake the US and soon be in the top spot for ad exports.

At present the US remains the largest market for the UK advertising services, with Europe also totalling 63% (ï¿¡11.4bn) of UK exports. The UK's creativity, talent, and reputation, alongside the ability to successfully work with timezone differences, are some of the top reasons for trust in the US and Asia.?

Advertising Association CEO Stephen Woodford expressed he is looking forward to working with the “next UK government, to support a second decade of higher growth”

Globally, the advertising industry does not seem to be slowing down, with revenue predicted to hit $1 trillion in 2025.

To find out more read here.

4. Amazon announces use of AI tool as a new ad-targeting solution

Amazon took the large turnout at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, to announce its new ad-targeting solution.?

Ad-Relevance, which was also announced via a blog post, is a third-party, free, AI-powered technology, available across all Amazon advertising platforms.?

The AI-processed data of live browsing and streaming quickly identifies consumers and what stage of a buying journey they are on.

The Ad Relevance launch was backed with strong evidence of a decrease in cost per click of 8.8%, lowering CPM, and extended “addressability” on 65% of impressions -all while keeping to the same budget.

Amazon is currently winning the race of tech giants aiming to decrease the use of cookies, with Google announcing a pushback to 2025 for its alternative- Privacy Sandbox.?

This marks a significant shift in the development of the tech company, which will affect the user experience of Amazon customers across all the available devices.

Head to Marketing Dive to find out more.

5. Brits don’t shy away from leaving a negative review?

A survey from a small credit card company, Capital on Tap, has revealed the impact that customer experience and reviews (both positive and negative) can have on other shoppers and potential customers.

The main reason 72% of Brits said that they would leave a negative review, is in a situation where a product or service was of poor quality.?

Interestingly this did not alter whether the business was national or small and local.?

A larger proportion of people (84%) would leave a positive review if the business provided good value for money.

COO of Capital on Tap, Alex Miles, also added that ‘11% of people say they wouldn’t buy a product or use a service if it has an online review below five stars’.

This information will hopefully shed light for business owners on the importance of asking for positive reviews and rectifying negative reviews.?

Read here to see how a negative review can be turned into an opportunity.

As always, it's been a pleasure to take you through this week's ‘need-to-know’ marketing updates.?

Be sure to tune in to next week's Friday Five, where we will be back with the latest of all things marketing and digital.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!