Welcome to #SubjectToChange, our weekly newsletter. We stay up-to-date on all the social media and influencer marketing news worth knowing, so you don’t have to. Come for the knowledge, stay for the IRL know-how and occasional GoT references. Here’s an example of what to expect.
What to know this week:
Influence, Amped
Yesterday, Facebook casually launched a new tool to amplify influencer posts directly from the News Feed. Following the April 2017 update requiring Influencers to tag brands in sponsored content (Instagram followed suit in June), you can now amplify content your brands are tagged in, and authorize which creators are allowed to do so.
What it means, IRL: Look for #sponsored and #ad influencer content to be throttled over time as Facebook continues to introduce new ways to monetize its network and Instagram. But this isn’t a bad thing – pairing Influencer content, as well as positive news coverage, with Facebook’s audience targeting capabilities may be a new holy grail of marketing, increasing efficiencies in your paid media dollars, improved measurement, and better ROI.
Make it Work: A/B test the performance of amplified influencer content vs. content published on influencer-owned and brand-owned Pages (Facebook doesn’t make ‘casual’ moves & most likely has already done robust testing around this). Then think bigger – Facebook is leveraging influencer content and consumer social capital into every touchpoint of its own experience (see updates below) – and it’s working. Brands should follow suit and consider how they too can be integrating the many different benefits of influence into their own CX touchpoints.
Not Unrelated
It’s a video insights remix. ICYMI – FB also made a major update around video re-share metrics. Brands that syndicate influencer-generated video on their own feeds will no longer have access to retention graphs, average watch time, and detailed breakdowns of views – only creators receive those digits, with additional insights on which Pages are re-sharing.
With creators back in video control, you’ll need to work together for added visibility into key metrics, and then you should start adding it into your Influencer agreements & contracts like yesterday.
The New Night’s Watch
For this and all the nights to come – FB also introduced Watch, a new video platform for its own original programming. If Netflix, Insta Stories and Twitter had a TV feed baby – this would be it. Think personalized recommendations, suggestions based on your friends’ Watchlists, and real time reactions while you watch (a la Facebook Live).
FB already has consumers’ share of attention by the hours – and nearly a decade’s history of algorithm-approved content preferences. While it’s helpful to not have a watchlist of 95% mediocrity, this opens up massive revenue opportunities for brands to participate as major co-creators in a fusion of user-generated, scripted, and live programming.
Start now, before the only “in” is through ‘ad breaks’: Use Watch to develop new storylines with influencers, and vet concepts with real-time feedback (think pilot season, all season). Once you have a hit, engage influencers’ fans and brand advocates to amplify to the masses.
Why Your Insta Looks So Extra
Instagram hit 15M business profiles, growth led largely by its SMB focus. The democratization of Insta for business has heralded many a digital indie brand (aka: v-comm brand, digitally native vertical brand or DNVBs, for short) – who are crushing it.
Brands with the budget and strategy have the advantage of both taking over share of feed with authentic influencer-generated content, and repurposing high-performers in paid posts. Your media team will thank you for it.
For Your Product Launch Pinsta
Pinterest moved its ‘Search and Lens’ feature to the home feed, closing the gap between offline inspiration and online demand. As it turns out, monthly visual searches have increased upwards of 60% and the images that greet your consumers as a result need to be at least – if not more inspiring than what they saw IRL.
Added benefit to creating or re-purposing influencer content on Pinterest – its impact is 1,690x longer than the average Instagram post.
ICYMI
Before you can forget Despascito – YouTube creates a whole new way to share videos
When HR asks you about ‘employee advocacy’ – LinkedIn adds ‘Multiple Photos’ to posts
2018 Trends Report – what happens when influencer marketing meets customer experience design?
