Unilever takes a stand against influencers buying followers Unilever is cracking down on influencer fraud by calling out people who buy ‘bots’ and fake followers. Their CMO has stated that they will stop working with influencers who buy followers, as they feel that it constitutes a ‘dark’ side of marketing practices and misleads the consumer. Yay to corporate transparency!
‘Gram cracks Bill Instagram has revealed that they now have over one billion monthly users. With the rise of Instagram Stories taking over a large percentage of Snapchat’s audience and an estimated 70% increase in year-on-year U.S. ad revenue in 2018, it would seem that Instagram is set to show us all who’s boss.
IGTV has launched –and it’s hot hot hot IGTV launched last week, in a move that could have YouTube quaking in their boots. The IGTV App is available globally on iOS and Android as well as in the Instagram app through a TV-shaped button above Stories. It will provide a space for “watching long-form videos from your favourite creators,” according to CEO Kevin Systrom. ‘The Wire’ it may not be, but I bet Gen-Zers are going to be talking about this with gusto.
You can’t view with us! Instagram tests ‘Friends List Stickers’ feature Want to make viewing your Instagram Stories an extra-exclusive experience? Computer science student Jane Manchun Wong has spotted a sticker that allows you to customise audiences per story. The feature is currently in testing but looks likely to be rolled out to all users soon. So fetch!
Facebook opens Watch feature door to creators In a move that will grant them more access to revenue opportunities, Facebook’s video hub, Watch, will now be open to creators and publishers. Previously only featuring original content and programming, content will now be able to be uploaded from Pages. Some users have voiced concerns that original content will get ‘lost’ amongst the non-episodic videos, but, along with the recent launch of IGTV, it seems that Facebook is determined to corner the online video market.
New gameshow feature to come to Facebook Brand new game and poll features are coming to Facebook video content, in another shot at rival YouTube. As well as a ‘gameplay’ tool that will enable the creation of live games with prizes in Live video content, there will also be a ‘Brands Collab Manager’ feature, allowing creators and brands to partner up with content. The ‘gamification’ of the platform’s video content, as well as the potential to bring in more of the influencer market, looks to make it more dynamic and appealing to the younger audiences that have rapidly been ditching Facebook in favour of YouTube over the last few years.
There’s a new in-crowd on Facebook – paid ‘subscription Groups’ Facebook is testing a feature to let Group admins charge between $4.99 and $29.99 per month for users to access exclusive content. Facebook Groups product manager Alex Deveat claims that admins will be able to produce higher-quality content if there are funds coming out of the activity. Whilst the feature is currently being tested with a selection of home-organisation, parenting, and cooking groups, the main aim of the test is to find out what members would find valuable from such a service. We predict a wave of enthusiasm from the mummy-blogger contingent of Facebook.
Good things come in threes… from Facebook Facebook has announced three updates that they claim help users to better “create and save memories.” Rolling out first in India and then to the rest of the world, users will be able to save photos and videos directly into their Facebook accounts’ cloud when using Facebook’s camera, share voice messages with friends, and archive your friends’ stories. Suck it, “storage almost full” message.
Brace yourselves, Messenger Ads are coming In an update that has left some feeling, shall we say, somewhat displeased, Facebook is going to be bringing auto-play ads to your Messenger inbox. While the company’s business chief has assured people that the platform “will be rolling out video ads gradually and thoughtfully,” and that “top priority for us is user experience,” we can’t help but wonder how much users will ‘enjoy the experience’ of having ads forced upon their inboxes.
Snapchat is bringing out a docu-series The battle for the monopoly on video content continues, with Snapchat announcing that it will be launching a series of non-scripted episodes on the platform. The content will feature social media personalities, with the first series set to follow the lives of a real-life vlogger couple living in Laguna Beach. Here’s hoping for some Lauren Conrad/Stephen Colletti-style drama.
Give a clap for the updates on the app to the new Snap Map Snapchat is making it even easier for us to know everything about the whereabouts of our social media friends by adding weather effects to the Snap Map feature. It will now highlight the weather in specific areas as well as add culturally-relevant animations such as holiday-themed effects. The update may seem puny in comparison to the big guns being rolled out by Facebook and Instagram at the moment, but perhaps the platform’s young demographic will enjoy the playfulness of the feature.
YouTube is getting audiences hyped with new ‘Premieres’
YouTube has launched a feature called Premieres that allows creators, for the first time ever, to build anticipation for their upcoming, pre-recorded videos within the platform. Creators will be able send eager fans to a dedicated landing page that will let them know a new video is imminent. Before this, creators would often use Instagram or Twitter to tease content. Here they can also use countdowns and a SuperChat feature, where they can chat with their audiences and answer questions. Premieres will also allow creators to insert pre-recorded video into live streams, which means they can chat along simultaneously with fans while a video plays.
YouTube’s new Creative Suite wants to help marketers make better ads With over 1.9 billion logged monthly users and an engagement rate of 60%, it’s no wonder that the creative community wants to take advantage of YouTube’s audience. In response to these requests, the platform has unveiled Creative Suite, which will focus on delivering insights to brands as well as storytelling tools. The tools allow brands to edit and make improvements to campaigns before launching them officially, which will help them maximise the effectiveness of the campaign. With brands such as Kellogg’s and 20th Century Fox already using the Suite, something tells us it’s going to catch on.
Audi’s ‘Think Faster’ campaign suggests Reddit’s redesign has put platform in pole position ‘The heart of social’ platform Reddit has redesigned its website and new native video player, and if Audi’s metrics are anything to go by, the updates have significantly increased user engagement. Audi’s ‘Think Faster’ episodes have seen up to six-times more engagement on the new design, and with the purpose of the campaign being to drive consideration rather than sales, according to Audi’s director of brand marketing, Ken Bracht, it seems that Reddit may be the one you want in the driver’s seat.
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