The Weekly Marketing Roundup: Week of 02/07/19

Thank you for tuning into this week’s digital marketing roundup. Here we talk about the latest news, challenges, and opportunities affecting the digital marketing landscape today, curated by Sydney Digital Marketing. Join the conversation in the comments below.

4 Important Changes to Facebook & Instagram in 2019 Not To Miss

This year at the F8 Facebook developers conference Mark Zuckerberg and his team announced the latest changes to their products, and gave us a glimpse at what the future holds for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

One messenger to rule them all

It's been hinted at for a while but at this year's F8 conference we learnt more about the plans to integrate Facebook Messenger, Instagram's messaging service and WhatsApp.

This is great news for businesses of any size who want to communicate directly with their customers. As more users than ever are reaching out to brands through messenger services. Facebook acknowledged this in their press release. 

Facebook gets a facelift

Facebook have also announced a fresh new look for their site. Promising a "simpler, faster, more immersive" design.

This is part of a drive to have more meaningful content on the site. Facebook has been under fire for the amount of 'Fake news' and articles that are not relevant being regularly shown.

This is why they have decided to prioritise groups. Focusing on building communities that will engage more users and generate content that people can relate too.

No More “Likes”?

Instagram has long been worried about how it makes its users feel. The Head of Instagram - Adam Mosseri - said at F8 they were focused on creating a “less pressurised environment where people feel comfortable expressing themselves.”

They found the “like” feature can create anxiety in the users, as their posts are judged and ranked against their peers. Instagram are already running a beta test of this in Canada, with the amount of likes being visible only to the poster.

This will change how influencers and businesses work together. No longer will people have the bragging rights of how many likes they get, visible for all to see. Perhaps the herd mentality, of liking an already popular post, will also change.

Checkout while you check out

Instagram has introduced an in app checkout. This means that users will be able to buy the items they see on posts, directly in the app, payment details and all.

This is a huge move for the platform that is already considered the birthplace of new consumer trends. Mintel reports that 64% of these users say that social media influences what clothes they will buy.

Social Media Marketing Inspiration: Brands to Watch on LinkedIn

There are a select few marketers and brands who have really mastered their LinkedIn strategy, and looking at how these brands approach content on the professional social network may inspire some upgrades to your own LinkedIn strategy.

Strategy One: Video for LinkedIn

Neil Patel's page on LinkedIn feels not only innovative for incorporating video content, but more importantly, the content itself is engaging. Check out this branded ad for his South by Southwest speaking engagement, for example - the CTA in particular feels subtle enough to work here. 

Strategy Two: Employee Profiles

Lemonade, a homeowners and renters insurance company, uses this aspect of LinkedIn to their marketing advantage on the platform. This post about one of their managers seems like a helpful example. 

Strategy Three: Making a Big Company Feel Personalised

Amazon's LinkedIn posts combine a lot of the same innovations we saw from the previous companies on this list. 

For incomprehensibly massive companies like Amazon, getting to know some employees through these spotlight posts on LinkedIn offers a similar authenticity to that which Instagram influencers provide smaller brands.

Strategy Four: Engaging with the Algorithm

As a company which focuses primarily on engagement generation, it makes sense that Marketo's LinkedIn posts are particularly engaging.

Here are a few of those interesting (and very clickable) links and stats that Robin mentioned - note that they not only apply to the marketers in Marketo's target audience, but they also centre around professional development. 

With LinkedIn currently seeing record levels of engagement, and now catering to more than 630 million members, it's worth considering how you can use the platform, and tap into those emerging conversations.

Facebook Adds 'Top Fans' Targeting Option for Organic Page Posts

Facebook is rolling out a new option which enables Pages to publish updates targeted to their top Page fans specifically.

The option enables Pages to create posts exclusively for Top Fans, in order to 'thank them or share exclusive content'.

Top Fans targeting could give you another way to facilitate more community engagement, and foster stronger connection. By working to reach your most passionate advocates, you could help to keep them more active on your Page, and expand your reach through increased activity and interaction.

Facebook Outlines its Plan for a Board Which Will Oversee Content Decisions

With Facebook increasingly coming under fire over its content decisions and enforcements - and with the company also seeking to distance itself from editorial rulings - back in January, The Social Network outlined its plans for a new, independent content review board.

Independence

Facebook says that organisations have repeatedly stated the need for a group that operates independent of Facebook itself, and is not influenced by Facebook management, governments or third parties. "The board will need a strong foundation for its decision-making, a set of higher-order principles - informed by free expression and international human rights law...”

Selection

Facebook says that another key point is exactly how the board will select and hear cases, and subsequently deliberate on outcomes. Facebook says that, in making its decisions, "the board may need to consult experts with specific cultural knowledge, technical expertise and an understanding of content moderation".

Diversity 

Lastly, Facebook says that the new board needs to be "as diverse as the many people on Facebook and Instagram". "These members should be experts who come from different backgrounds, different disciplines, and different viewpoints, but who can all represent the interests of a global community".

8 Tips on How to Create Effective Instagram Stories and Stories Ads

At Facebook's F8 2019 conference back in May, the company reported that there are now more than a billion people using Stories every day across its family of apps - Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status. 

According to Facebook, 1 in 2 people surveyed say they have visited a website, and 31% have gone to a store to buy a product/service as a result of seeing it first in Stories.

So, if you’re looking to add Stories to your social media marketing approach, here are the top tips to follow.

1. Polish Your Creative Elements

Just because Stories generally have an "in-the-moment", DIY-feel, that doesn't necessarily mean that your brand Stories should follow suit. In fact, keeping in mind that 56% of a brand’s sales lift can be attributed to the quality of the creative, the higher the quality of the execution, the better.

2. Go Fast

Stories are raising the bar in terms of immersion and interactivity. And for brands, one of the keys to meeting users’ expectations is speed.

Offering quick, dynamic content is one of the most effective ways to sustain viewers’ attention. A nice example of a “fast” Story is this campaign from Levi’s: 

3. Break Down Your Narrative Arc

Another good practice to keep users interested is to split your Stories into a sequence of smaller, contrasting scenes, rather than presenting them with one continuous shot.

4. Think Vertical First

Did you know that 82.5% of visitors to video-centric web sites hold their smartphone in portrait orientation? In other words, mobile-first now means vertical first too.

5. Keep Stickers to a Minimum

This may sound counter-intuitive, but stickers - and particularly the abuse of stickers - can actually hurt your Stories engagement.

Instead of filling up the screen with extras, it’s smarter to only use contextual stickers, which enhance the experience of the user.

6. Open and Close With Your Brand

In order to help users identify from whom your Story is coming from and fix their attention to your brand, you want to integrate brand elements in the first and last few seconds of your message.

7. Call To Action

CTA is the name of the game - with 60% of businesses on Instagram Stories using an interactive element every month, you don’t want to hold back when it comes to encouraging users to take the action you expect from them.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s marketing roundup for Marketers and Business Owners alike. Make sure to follow our company channel for more updates every Friday Lunchtime (AEST).