The Friday Five: Brands and Influencers Closer than Ever, Netflix to Host Ads, and Buy Now Pay Later Firms Get an FCA Warning

Welcome, everyone, to today's Friday Five, in a week where Google has rolled out its 'Helpful Content Update' to help promote high-quality, helpful content, we've been busy finding five other important digital marketing stories that we think you should know about. And guess what? We found them!

Before we get going we just wanted to let you know that Embryo, as a result of exponential growth, is looking to add a Paid Social Manager to their paid social team! If you have two years of experience creating amazing B2B and B2C social media campaigns then we want to hear from you.

You can apply for the role here!

Also, we have some fantastic news to share - we've been nominated for three Prolific North Marketing Awards! We've been nominated for Best Midsize Agency, Best Professional & Financial Services Campaign, and our very own Hannah Matthewman has been nominated for Marketer of the year - congratulations to the teams and individuals involved in these campaigns, this nomination is richly deserved!

Recruitment and award nominations out the way, let's get stuck into five of the most interesting stories from the last week!

1. 'The Future’s Bright' Three Out of Five Young People Considering a Career in the Marketing Industry

From pay and career progression to creativity and the ability to learn transferable skills, the majority of young people are deciding that marketing may very well be the career for them because of these reasons, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The CIM surveyed 500 16 to 21-year-olds and found that around a third of them saw marketing as a more financially secure job than other career choices.

Maggie Jones, CIM's director of qualifications and partnerships, had this to say: "These young people have had a really hard time. Everything they’ve worked towards suddenly got moved around and it was very unsettling for them."

While all sounding rosy for the industry, the report also surveyed over 500 parents who were less enthusiastic about their children's desire to get into the marketing sector. A third simply didn't want their child working in marketing, a quarter thought marketing had a reputation for being stressful and a fifth thought the industry caused poor mental health.

It's clear that the marketing industry has a bright future with respect to new talent flooding the market. However, the survey also highlights the responsibility the sector has to change its perception among some, parents especially, as being a place that has poor work-life balance and causes mental health problems.

Marketing Week goes into more detail here.

2. Brands Are All in on Influencers to Create That Customer Relationship

Like them for their authenticity and honesty or loathe them for their lack of authenticity and honesty, it's impossible to ignore influencers and their impact on the marketing mix.

And, a new report has gone a long way to embedding this feeling as fact. The report by impact.com, titled 'Aligning Marketers and Influencers: Shifting Perspectives on Influencer Marketing Across the Funnel', found that 75% of marketers leverage influencers for brand awareness and 73% use them for brand engagement.

impact.com CEO David A. Yovanno said that "consumers have become distrustful of and annoyed with traditional marketing and advertising channels... This has created a shift in the brand-influencer power dynamic – for many brands, building partnerships with influencers is now a critical way to reach their target audience."

Influencers, to brands, feel like the silver bullet that allows them to side-step the corporate image and create meaningful, revenue-driving relationships with their customers through the conduit of influencers who have thousands of loyal followers.

This is born out in the report which finds 85% of influencers, and 67% of marketers, ranked trust as the most significant strength of influencer marketing. A final key takeaway is to do with the rise of the micro-influencer. While macro-influencers are great at getting a message out to millions, those smaller influencers are far more effective at getting the engagement that brands crave. This is mainly due to the deeper, closer bond that is created between influencers with *just* tens of thousands of followers when compared to those with millions.

Read more about the report on Marketing Tech News.

3. Netflix And... Adverts? Streaming Service Confirmed That Adverts Will Be Shown on the Platform

From endless scrolling to find something to watch (before rewatching The Office for the millionth time) to shows about kids finding demons from hell (seriously, where is the Government in all that!) Netflix is known for a lot.

What it hasn't been known for, and why it is so popular, is its lack of adverts. Just log on and enjoy endless hours of entertainment without it being interrupted by adverts for dog food, toothpaste, or insurance.

That, though, looks set to change, for those that fancy saving a few quid. Ted Sarandos one of Netflix's CEO confirmed that the platform would be introducing an 'ad-tier' that would be cheaper but include ads.

“We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads” said Sarandos at an event this week.

Traditionally, Netflix has always prided itself on leaving marketing out of its platform but it appears that money, and a dwindling user base, talk.

Check out the clip in which Sarandos confirms the introduction of ads, here.

4. LinkedIn Link Stickers Give New Dimension to Images

LinkedIn's current level of engagement is off the charts and is the envy of other social media platforms. And, it appears that they're not resting on their laurels.

Arriving soon, LinkedIn has announced you'll be able to add 'stickers' to pictures which feature clickable links to external sites (Granted, those on the LinkedIn Creator programme have had this feature for a few weeks now but it's yet to be rolled out to the masses)!

Gone are the days of deciding whether to add a link in the main post or the comments - simply pop a sticker in your image! While these stickers aren't the sleekest-looking objects, they're perfect for driving external clicks.

#TeamEmbryo were first made aware of this new feature by LinkedIn maestro Lea ?? Turner and her post, users can expect to enjoy this feature very soon!

Learn more in Social Media Today's article.

5. Shot across the BNPL Bow by the FCA in Latest Warning about Influencer Ads

Seemingly out of nowhere, in the last two years, the buy now pay later (BNPL) industry has gone from non-existent to being worth over a billion pounds. They've achieved this, in some way, by leveraging the influence that influencers have over their thousands of followers.

Now though, this popular alternative to paying for things up front has been warned by the Financial Conduct Authority and has been told to expect action if they fail to stop producing ads that fail to accurately detail the risks of BNPL, the main one being the increase in debt people can endure if they fail to pay on time.

Sheldon Mills, the executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA said that “firms need to ensure consumers, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances, are equipped with the right information at the right time, so they can make effective, timely and properly informed decisions.”

This latest warning is yet further growing pains for this new industry that, on its face, offers a handy service that allows people to spread the costs but is packed with risks that, according to the FCA, BNPL companies aren't accurately getting across to consumers.

That's a wrap! Another Friday Five all done, enjoy your bank holiday and we'll see you next Friday!