We’re fresh off Labor Day Weekend and the US Open isn’t the only news making waves. This week, we’re serving up some game-changing digital marketing updates: X’s new keyword analytics tool is here to track conversation trends on-platform in real time, and Instagram is testing a new vertical grid display. Meanwhile, Brazil has banned X.
Ready to ace your digital marketing game? Let’s jump in! ????
Social Media and Advertising
- What's happening: X has introduced a new update to its analytics features, which enables Verified Organizations to natively track keyword and topic trends on the platform in real-time. The tool provides deep insights into conversation volume and velocity, aiming to help the organizations paying for their premium platform understand market trends and public opinion more effectively.?
- Why it matters: These keyword and conversation volume insights have previously only been available through third-party tools like Talkwalker, Sprout Social, Hootsuite and others. With this addition to X’s analytics stack, the benefits of X’s hefty $10K per year subscription to Verified Organizations are more clear. It will be important for companies leveraging X as a key marketing channel to assess their access to Verified Organizations and third-party tool stack subscriptions to determine where their dollars are best spent.??
- What's happening: Instagram is testing a new vertical grid display for user profiles, moving away from the traditional square thumbnails to longer, rectangular images. The change is designed to better accommodate the vertical format of most current photos and videos – especially Reels.
- Why it matters: With this move, Instagram is signaling a continued push to prioritize vertical video content on the platform. The update could significantly impact how companies and brands (and their creative teams!) curate their profiles and present their content. Marketers will want to consider infusing more vertical video into Instagram content to avoid falling behind the curve.?
- What's happening: X has been banned in Brazil after refusing to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling to remove accounts accused of spreading false information and hate speech. The ban includes removing the app from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and fines for users attempting to access X via VPN. The platform has since shut down its Brazilian office and evacuated employees due to threats of arrest for non-compliance.?
- Why it matters: The ban highlights the ongoing tension between social media platforms and government regulations, particularly around content moderation and free speech. For marketers operating and running advertising in Brazilian markets, companies relying on X will need to reallocate their dollars to alternative platforms. The absence of X could shift user engagement to other platforms, altering the digital advertising landscape at large in Brazil.
Blue Owl Capital activated
a brand awareness campaign this week at the US Open, sponsoring “game-changing players” challenging the top seeds at the tournament.?
Citi’s Paralympic ad campaign challenged
perceptions by reframing the common question “what happened?” by focusing on the athletes’ achievements, rather than their disabilities.
Blackstone shared
a vertical video highlighting the experience of summer analysts across the firm.?
