Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It is Tuesday, August 13th.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Today, with elections looming, are brands right to be worried about the secret political

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_01]: leanings of their paid influencers?

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Also, TikTok is literally giving products away, Metta plays a confusing reverse Uno card,

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and Instagram copies a Snapchat feature.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I know, who'd have guessed, right?

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Tod Maffin, that's ahead today in digital marketing.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Brands love social media influencers.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Until they start talking politics.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And with an American election looming in a few months, keeping ads and politics separate

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_01]: is becoming more complicated.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_01]: To help brands navigate this, some marketing firms have developed tools that grade influencers

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: on their brand safety.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Captivate, for instance, uses AI to analyze mentions of influencers in the media and

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: assigns them a letter grade.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: An A means the influencer is considered brand safe, while a C signals caution.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: This grade reflects the likelihood of discussing sensitive topics like elections or social

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01]: issues.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Another firm, Viral Nation, offers a tool that creates risk profiles for influencers

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: by analyzing years and years of their previous posts and videos.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It can even detect subtle signs of political content, like protest signs in the background

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: of a video.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: These tools are in demand as brands fear the backlash from a politically charged post.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: The New York Times published a piece on this yesterday and quoted an Edelman executive

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: saying what we all know, brands don't like surprises, like discovering an influencer's

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: controversial past after hiring them.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: As the economy is expected to nearly double by 2027, brands are increasingly cautious,

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: using tools like these to ensure they avoid any unwanted political associations.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Marketers do have good reason to be cautious about who they use for their influencer

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01]: marketing program.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: A new meta-analysis of 39 studies has found that social media influencers can be

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: as effective as celebrities in promoting brands, but their influence varies, sometimes

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_01]: wildly, based on follower count and perceived credibility.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: The studies involved nearly 14,000 influencers in total and the meta-analysis found that

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: influencers are generally more persuasive than brand-only ads and can match celebrity

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: endorsers in impact.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But there are differences.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The review found, quote, higher follower count is likely associated with influencer

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_01]: cultural capital and perceived expertise, whereas small-scale influencers are thought

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: to be more accessible and authentic, unquote.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And when it comes to credibility, influencers are seen as more trustworthy than celebrities.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: These findings highlight a sweet spot for influencer marketing, where influencers with

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: sizeable but not too large followings can offer brands the best of both worlds, extensive

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: reach and high credibility.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_01]: For marketers, this means focusing on influencers who haven't yet lost their authentic appeal

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: because of commercial interests.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: The study is called Do Influencers Influence?

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: A Meta-Analysis Comparison of Celebrities and Social Media Influencers' Effects.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It was published yesterday in the Society and Social Media Journal.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We have a link to the full study in today's email newsletter, which you can

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: to todayindigital.com slash newsletter.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: TikTok has partnered with Amazon to let users make purchases directly within the

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: TikTok app.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: To use the feature, TikTok users must link their Amazon account to their TikTok profile.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: They only have to do this once.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Once those accounts are linked, users will see real-time Amazon pricing, prime

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_01]: eligibility and delivery estimates within TikTok videos.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_01]: This is similar to partnerships that Amazon has established with Meta and Snapchat.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: But the real question is whether users will feel this is too much connection.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Quoting social media today,

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: While social commerce is still growing at a rate of around 18% per year in

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Western markets, it still lags behind in-person commerce.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: TikTok is now offering some US users extremely steep discounts on goods as a

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_01]: reward for inviting their friends to join the app.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Some discounts are nearly 100% off, with products like digital cameras and

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_01]: hairstyling tools marked down to just a penny plus shipping.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: This builds on referral schemes that TikTok has been running in other

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: countries, offering users coupons and cash rewards for inviting friends.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: This US effort follows a setback in Europe where TikTok withdrew rewards from its

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: TikTok Lite app after regulators raised concerns.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Scrutiny from European regulators, citing the recently enacted Digital Services Act,

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: quickly derailed TikTok's reward-focused expansion in the EU.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: The rewards effort is apparently an attempt to reinvigorate TikTok's user

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: growth, which slowed sharply from its pandemic peak according to estimates from

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: This promotion runs until September 27th.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Meta will soon let people who manage their brand's presence switch between

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01]: multiple profiles easier.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Many marketers, especially those who work in agencies, use multiple profile

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: accounts to administer their various pages and ads.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: But Meta itself has never really been consistent about this.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Years ago they were banning so-called gray accounts that existed

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_01]: only to manage content.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Then they encouraged users to create multiple sub-profiles to express themselves.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: This new system will let you save up to 10 profiles at a time and switch

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: between them to access the business profiles and assets that they're

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: connected to.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: This means that you won't have to log out and back in each time you

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: want to switch to another profile.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Quoting social media today, quote,

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01]: To be clear, there is a difference between pages and profiles in this

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: context.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_01]: You've always been able to add multiple business pages under a single

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: business portfolio and business suite, but this relates to adding other

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: profiles that you may have or have access to and which then have their own

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: access privileges for other pages.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So, for example, if you help run several Facebook and Instagram pages

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: under alternative user profiles, you'll now be able to add them so you can

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: manage certain businesses attached to one profile, then a whole other set

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: that may be attached to another, unquote.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, the fact that Meta felt the need to add this suggests that there

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: are a lot of people managing several profiles in the app, which would also

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_01]: point to a lot of people having multiple profiles, which could be inflating

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Meta's user numbers.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so excited about how my business is growing, but along with it, my daily

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: life has gotten crazy, like managing my employees and taking sales calls all

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: while driving my kids to school, soccer practice and trying to keep my head

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: on straight.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want the growth to stop and I know we need to create a better

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: online presence to do that, but we haven't written a blog, posted on social

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: media or touched our website in months.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even sure I know how to move forward, so I just haven't.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But then I found The Breezy Company, a monthly marketing service

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: subscription that provides experienced and consistent teams with your most

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: demanding marketing tasks through an efficient and streamlined process.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: It's so simple.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I just chose the plan I needed.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: They matched me with one of their amazing Breezy team members.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They onboarded me and my company was off to the marketing races.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I finally feel confident that I have a team who has my businesses back and is

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: working to promote what we do, drive leads to our pipeline and make our

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: brand look amazing.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Now back to work.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The Breezy Company, scalable marketing teams.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Snapchat has updated its ads manager to try to simplify the campaign

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: creation process.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_01]: It's reduced the number of available campaign objectives from 11 to just

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: five by merging similar options.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Now that list is awareness and engagement, traffic, leads, app promotion

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and sales.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Snapchat has been working to improve its ad offerings, especially for small

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and medium sized businesses.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: In its Q1 2024 performance update, the company reported an 85% year over

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: year increase in SMB advertisers, attributing this growth to its

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_01]: simplified ad creation process.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: The new ad objectives will be rolled out to all advertisers over the

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_01]: next few months.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Existing campaigns using the old objectives will continue to operate as

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: normal until the new elements are phased in, at which point they will

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: automatically switch to the new objectives.

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Instagram is testing a new feature that closely resembles Snapchat's

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: in-app map, letting users post text and video updates to a map based on

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_01]: their location.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: This map is then shared with friends whose updates can appear alongside

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: each other.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It's currently available as a small test in just a few markets.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: It is opt-in and includes some controls over location sharing.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Users have to pick a specific list of people who can see their location,

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_01]: like close friends or only followers they follow back.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01]: A spokesperson did not answer questions if map sharing would be

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_01]: extended to public viewing or how long those posts would stay up.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't the first map Instagrams had.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Back in 2012, it had a private photo mapping feature that displayed

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: all of a user's images on a map, but it was shut down four years later,

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: the company said, due to low usage.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: If widely released, this map's feature would join a large list of

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Meta's habit of copying ideas from competitors, such as stories

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_01]: from Snapchat, reels from TikTok and threads from Twitter.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: We have about 9,000 daily listeners and readers now, and our ad rates

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: do not reflect this.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Some of our ad slots are just 10 bucks.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01]: They are going up in the fall though, and a little bit significantly as well.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: So now is your chance.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01]: If you are trying to reach marketing decision makers, this is your time

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_01]: to consider an ad on this podcast or our email newsletter.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, some of those slots are just $10.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: This will end soon though.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Tap the link at the top of the show notes or go to todayindigital.com

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: slash ads.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, that's it for today.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Todd Maffin.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: See you tomorrow.