Influence, Augmented
With the holiday season just around the corner, Amazon is making it (even) easier for you to buy. Last week, the company launched AR View – an augmented reality feature that lets consumers visualize 3-D products in their homes before deciding to buy. Curious how that picture-perfect prime-eligible leather sectional will fit in your living room? Simply download the Amazon app, open up the AR camera, select the couch and position it however you want in your living room. Boom – it’s magic.
What it means, IRL: When we think AR, most of us think of Snapchat filters and, let’s face it, puppy ears can make anyone look cute. #GuiltyAsCharged However, social media apps aren’t the only brands implementing AR features. With leading companies like Apple coming out with AR-enabled iPhones and developing ARKit, it’s likely we’ll see an increasing number of brands jump on the AR bandwagon in 2018.
Make it work: Augmented reality is quite literally changing the game for influencer marketing. The ability digitize the world around us creates a whole new dimension for brands to create engaging experiences for consumers, wherever they may be. Brands should be working with influencers from a content creation standpoint to develop new touch points (i.e. interactive product reviews) to ensure influence is augmented along this new consumer journey.
Nm, u?
On Friday, Zuck & Co. granted more businesses access to their Sponsored Messaging feature. Now, an increasing number of brands can send relevant promotions directly to users with which they have already communicated with. Sponsored Messages will appear as a new Messages Objectives, further simplifying the ad creation process and creating a seamless experience for brands to re-engage with their audience through conversation. With 9 out of 10 consumers wanting to use messaging to communicate with brands, the opportunities for marketers to engage are endless.
Since people are already spending their time on social, messaging as a business objective is so in. Through the expansion of Sponsored Messages, more brands are able to provide consumers with real-time personalized communication. In doing so, brands should be using the new feat to spark a conversation with consumers, not just to elicit a social reaction. As such, brands should work with influencers to understand what type of content inspires conversation among their audiences on Facebook and Instagram. Then, brands should be leveraging their experience through live Q&A’s, vlogs, holiday gift guides, etc. Additionally, brands can use influencers in their messenger content strategy through partnering to create or co-create content to send to consumers (i.e. send a recipe and link to Instagram).
The Golden Rule
Besides just treating others the way you want to be treated, find the sweet spot between recency and frequency for advertising. As marketers, we’ve always known that recency, frequency, and reach are incredibly important and in today’s Digital Age, these same laws remain true. In a recent study looking at the correlation between YouTube ad recency and frequency to viewership with TV premiers, results indicated that those exposed to the ad on premier day had a 24% increase in viewership. Additionally, exposure to 5+ ads resulted in a 133% increase in viewership.
When working with influencers, this study and others like it illustrate that simple one-off influencer activities aren’t going to cut it. Influencer marketing should incorporate the known laws of frequency and reach (i.e. 5-7 as the golden frequency). Having influencers post 5-7 times for the same campaign might be best, or at least amplifying the posts with paid.
May We Have Your Attention Please
Insta Stories are comin’ in hot. The latest? A new presentation format so that Stories now appear mid-feed and at the top of the feed – aka more places to view stories. Since IG stories have grown to 250 million daily active users, it’s only right that Instagram gives them a second home. Sometimes timelines need speed bumps. Instagram Stories have been housing brands’ promotional content for quite some time now. Given a secondary dimension, it can open up more doors for creative flexibility.
Keeping It Real
Last week user-generated content made a splash overseas, this week it’s touching down in America. Hoping to drive sales and increase engagement, JC Penney revamped their advertising strategy and leaned heavily into UGC to create a more authentic experience for consumers. For the campaign, the brand encouraged consumers to participate in their ‘Holiday Challenge’ to find out how much can be saved by shopping at the brand’s stores and website. For the ads, the brand used real-life consumers (instead of actors) and consequently were able to allocate more of their holiday budget to paid media amplification.
ICYMI
Thirsty? – Unilever is buying Tazo Tea Brand from Starbucks
There’s an app for that – Shazam for fonts
Naughty or nice? – the Holi-Yay Trend Report
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