We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #275

Mashup
nick.cavanagh

Facebook Improves Pages
The money-making machine that is Facebook is at it again, but this time it’s helping you, marketers. The platform has announced an upgrade to allow the 45 million companies – from global brands to local businesses – with Pages to improve their virtual storefront on the platform. The new tabbed mobile layout allows companies to list their services, as well as letting users “Shop” using Facebook’s Shopify-powered Buy Button without even having to leave the platform. It’s another sensible move by Facebook to provide direct value to brands of any size on the platform.

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Instagram Boosts Ad Offering
It’s been a busy week for Instagram; it’s now time to show Facebook that it was worth every penny. Instagram ads are now available for all brands, in 30 more countries, hitting the feeds of all 300 million Instagram users and incorporating longer 30 second video ad formats. But wait, there’s more! The platform has also introduced ‘Marquee’, which allows advertisers to up their real-time Instagram offering by ‘owning a moment’ – good news for those launching products or involved in live events.

Brands Beware: ‘Zombie Fans’ are Quietly Lurking
The apocalypse is here… ‘Zombie Fans’ are out to get you. If you’re not sure what “Zombie fans” are, it’s the name given to fake followers lurking around on Chinese social media platforms, and is proving an issue for marketers trying to reach genuine audiences. As We Are Social’s Shanghai managing director, Pete Lin, told Ad Age, brands with little experience in China should be cautious, especially when agencies promise remarkable results at low prices:

The only purpose of using fake WeChat fans is for unscrupulous agencies to dupe their clients, as in, ‘the campaign is working, look at all these fans you got’.

Tut tut.

Ambitious Millennials use Tinder for Business Networking Dates
Millenials are now swiping right for their next entrepreneurial pursuit. Tinder has teamed up with Forbes to create a ‘speed networking’ app — connecting an affluent community who have already ‘made it’. It’s currently limited to Forbes’ 30 under 30 community, but I expect my invite is in the post.

Jim Beam Targets Millennials Through Snapchat
Some alcohol brands might consider Snapchat a risky place to play, but not Jim Beam. To ensure its ads are only shown to those old enough to purchase a ‘bevvy’, they’re served based on a user’s birthday, which is required to create an account. Later this month, the ads will be visible in both Oktoberfest and Mid-Autumn Festival Live Stories as well as a week-long series that explores Hawaii. Jim Beam intends to broadcast the ads to a wide group of interests, achieving the biggest reach among legal drinkers. But remember guys – no screenshots.

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Brands and their Critics Slated for 9/11 Tweets
Many would say that a tragedy is not a suitable tweeting opportunity. Some might argue it’s a mark of respect. But true to form, on the anniversary of 9/11 this year, brands started tweeting using the #NeverForget hashtag. And, predictably, critics waded in to tell them just how inappropriate it all was. But as this article from Adweek points out, there may now be even more (arguably opportunistic) tweets criticising the brands, than brand tweets themselves. Confused? I don’t blame you. Here’s a compilation of both so you can see for yourself.