May 2023 Influencer Marketing Roundup
May was another busy month in the world of influencer marketing and social media. Let's take a look at the top stories, brand influencer activations, and research from the month.
Top News and Stories
TLDR: Meta’s AI Sandbox helps advertisers create alternative copies for different audience groups, background generation through text prompts, and image cropping for Facebook or Instagram ads. The company said that these features are available to select advertisers at the moment and it will expand access to more advertisers in July.
TLDR: Now when you see a Reel, you can tap the three-dot menu at the bottom of the video player and select either “Show More” or “Show Less.” Facebook will temporarily increase or decrease its ranking score accordingly. Facebook is also introducing new labels on the Reels video player to explain why you’re seeing a certain reel. For instance, Facebook will now tell you that it’s showing a certain Reel because a friend of yours liked it.
TLDR: Two months after announcing that it was beginning to test ads in search results, Instagram announced that it now allows for ads in search results via the Instagram Marketing API. These ads will show up in the feed that people can scroll through when they tap into a post from search results.
TLDR: Meta is adding Instagram Stories posting into its Instagram Graph API, which means third-party posting tools like Hootsuite will soon be able to facilitate and schedule Stories posting.
TLDR: Now, you can quickly drop an animation in a post or Reels comment section instead of feeling compelled to write something. The perfect solution for the image minded who hate writing.
TLDR: Using promotional ads, consumers on Facebook can click through an ad to claim an offer, which will be automatically applied at the time of purchase. If a purchase isn’t made, they will receive a reminder notification prior to the deal ending.
TLDR: Instagram is now prompting some Shop managers to ‘Add user-generated content’ to their product listings to further encourage potential purchasers. When you tap through on the prompt, Instagram’s system will then highlight Instagram posts that your business has been tagged in, which you can then associate with your product listings.
TLDR: Creators are making UGC ads for brands as part of TikTok's "Creative Challenge" beta, with some creators reporting making up to $34,000 a month by producing UGC for brands like Uber, Eats, Zynga, Alibaba and TikTok. Creators can allegedly participate in up to 30 UGC ads a week, and payment is based on the ad spend for up to six months.
TLDR: According to the Montana bill, platforms that offer the app on their marketplaces (Google Play Store and App Store) will be subjected to fines up to $10,000 a day for violations. The lawsuits are already starting objecting the bills legality, from TikTok and from creators.
TLDR: The chatbot is currently being tested in the Philippines, and unlike ChatGPT which is positioned as an all-purpose chatbot, Tako is more like a navigation assistant with a focus on encouraging users to watch more videos.???
TLDR: TikTok is partnering with big-name publishers (NBCU, Condé Nast, DotDash Meredith, BuzzFeed and others) to allow marketers to position their brand ads directly after their content. This creates a sort of brand-safe space, as brands are guaranteed their ads will run immediately after what TikTok refers to as “suitable TikToks” from premium publishers. TikTok will split revenues 50/50 with the publishers, at least initially.?
TLDR: The $6 million fund will offer payments to creators based on users’ engagement with their effects. For every effect that’s used in 500,000 unique videos within 90 days of being published, a creator will collect $700 USD. For every 100,000 videos published thereafter within the same 90 days, creators will collect an additional $140.?
TLDR: The program gives creators whose songs are included in brands videos a cut of the revenue that TikTok accumulates from the content. Brands benefit too as they have been hungry to have trending songs included as part of the commercial library.
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TLDR: Twitter will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis, which means people who would not sign up for a monthly subscription can pay a higher per article price. Every past experiment has found that this ends up leading to a net loss for publishers versus the subscription system, so the odds are not in Twitter’s favor.?
TLDR: RealPeople puts a spotlight on the world’s most interesting people. The feed includes updates from athletes, artists, activists and other notable users. It will be available first only in the UK, but is a needed boost of energy for an app that has lost a lot of steam in the last year.
TLDR: Collab Studio connects brands with Snap’s top influencers, also known as Snap Stars. The service is currently available only in the US, but Snapchat plans to connect brand partners with creators in other markets soon.
TLDR: The new short-form video and photo feed allows consumers to explore products and ideas and shop from content created by influencers, brands and other customers. Creators enrolled in the Amazon Influencer Program can post content to Inspire. When customers shop from a creator’s content, the creator is eligible for commission.?
TLDR: YouTube will introduce 30-second unskippable ads on connected TVs, which will replace the two 15-second consecutive ads that run today when advertisers target top videos through the YouTube Select program, which is landing more than 70% of impressions on TV screens. A welcomed feature for advertisers, a dreaded feature for consumers.
Brand Influencer Campaign Highlights:
Industry Reports & Data Worth Reading:
TLDR: Time spent watching YouTube on TVs now exceeds any other individual network or streaming service, with nearly half (45%) of all YouTube viewership taking place on TVs, up from below 30% in 2020.
TLDR: Consumers spend 3+ hours on social media every day. Facebook users primarily keep up with loved ones and share media on their feeds, YouTube users seek out entertainment, education, and inspirational content, Instagrammers share their pictures and video while keeping up with friends, family, and celebrities, TikTok users watch a mix of entertaining, educational, and inspirational content, Twitter users keep up with news, and LinkedIn users learn new things.
TLDR: Sprout Social has published its annual listing of the best times to post to each of the major social media apps, based on analysis of engagement trends among Sprout’s 34k+ users over the past year, with TikTok data being included for the first time.
TLDR: The number of videos created on TikTok per week that have drawn more than 10 million views has been declining, signaling that there are fewer videos made by smaller creators going viral on the app. The number of TikTokers who have amassed more than 1 million followers has been dropping since usage ballooned during the pandemic.