Social Media Marketing

Facebook updates you can’t miss!

Social Media Marketing

Facebook is getting rid of some location-tracking features due to ‘low usage’

Facebook will stop collecting data associated with these features on May 31st.

Facebook is discontinuing several services associated with tracking your real-time location, including Nearby Friends, weather alerts, location history, and background location this decision was made due to “low usage,” as spotted by 9to5Mac. In a notification sent to people who’ve used the feature in the past, Facebook says it will stop collecting data associated with these features on May 31st and will wipe any stored data on August 1st.

You can update your current Location History and Background Location settings in the Facebook App until May 31, 2022. After this date, the settings will be disabled. Facebook whoever said it will “continue collecting location information for other experiences” to serve up relevant ads and location check-ins in line with its data policy.

Instagram post-pinning feature in testing

You know how Twitter and Facebook Groups allow you to pin posts you want users to see at the top of your feed?

A similar feature is currently being tested on Instagram. Users with access to the feature will be able to pin posts to the top of their profile, making their favorite or most popular posts immediately visible to new followers.

Here is how to do it: Users who have this feature can access it by clicking on the three dots at the top right of a post and selecting the Pin to your profile option.

Wondering how brands and creators can take advantage of this feature? Here are a few ideas:

  • Keep new product announcements at the top of the feed
  • Make sure high-engagement opportunities (like contests) are immediately visible to users who view your profile
  • Highlight user-generated content (UGC) that drives significant results
  • Share top-performing content to engage new followers as soon as they visit your profile

Instagram Reel length now 90 seconds

Since the introduction of Reels in 2020, Instagram Reels have boomed in popularity and become an incredibly valuable tool for brands. Hootsuite’s experiment showed that using Reels can increase an account’s overall engagement and follower count. 

The max Reel length has increased from 60 seconds to 90 seconds long.

Reels are the fastest-growing content feature on both Facebook and Instagram, this isn’t a huge surprise. Still, it will be interesting to see whether creators take advantage of the longer video time option. Many Reels don’t use the full 60 seconds as it is, knowing that sometimes shorter, more engaging videos may have higher video completion rates.

The longer time frames will likely be valuable for creators and businesses who share tutorial-style content, especially if they need that extra time to be thorough.

Chronological feed is back on Instagram

Hey,  did you know that the chronological view feature has returned to Instagram, but not for everyone, only those who want it. The chronological feed view shows you content from accounts you follow in chronological order. It doesn’t use the platform’s overarching algorithm that takes your preferences and behaviors into account when arranging content on feeds.

If you select “Favorites,” you’ll see content from users that you consider to be your favorites. You can find these by visiting the home page in the app and tapping on the Instagram icon in the top left. The main feed, however, will use the same basic algorithm that prioritizes what you have engaged with in the past. There are no controls yet for Stories.

4 Key Digital Trends To Observe

Email Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing

Are you ready to catch up?

There is a massive shift, thanks to the pandemic. Boomers who went from only using Facebook to keeping up with friends and family to becoming influencers. Boomers now join their children in the latest TikTok challenge. Some interesting times we are living in.

During the Pandemic social media was one of the easiest ways to get in touch with loved ones. Since then, Social Media adoption rates have exponentially increased. Social media influencers use the platforms as the go to place for information, how to videos, news updates and as a business tool.

The pandemic has proven how important the internet is in our daily lives. From delivering connection, information and enabling people to shift their lives online for survival. The shift allowed greater access to resources, for example, groceries delivered to their doorstep, support programs and delivering medicine to the doorstep.

The following trends emerged from the rapid and essential growth of the digital world.

1. Privacy over everything

2. SEO becoming automated

3. Signal vs Noise

4. Content skills or subject matter expertise

Privacy over Everything

Users want to know exactly who can access their data and how they use it.

Google has taken a stance on data collection and made it impossible for their user’s data to be accessed without their permission. Advertisers and marketers had to adapt quickly and shift fast to be able to reach potential customers online. This leaves space for opportunity. It is time to reimagine how we do marketing to attract potential customers.

Facebook AKA Meta has given even more power to their audience base. Starting 11 April users will be able to select more topics they don’t want to see ads for. This role will be accessible on both Facebook and Instagram. Advertising experiences will be more personalized and enable people to discover products and services from small businesses that may not have the ability to market to them. In addition, the advertising experience will be more matched to the evolving expectations of how ads reach the intended audience on the Meta platform portfolio. Read more

SEO becoming automated

Search Engine Optimization has been a vital part of every good digital marketing strategy for years. Now that everyone is doing it the question of automating the process takes center stage. Cutting time on optimization of the website using software is the conversation in the SEO space. 

This is the first step into creating exceptional user experiences on and offline and how the two interact with one another. In the future time will be spent more on user experiences that enable your target audience to interact and engage with your brand online. Therefore, diverse high impact, relevant and intentional content will be the key commodity to be able to stand out in the noise. Spending hours on hand researching keywords and building links will become outdated like the keypad on your iPhone or Samsung device. Read more on Automating SEO

Signal Vs Noise

In 2022, organizations put even more importance on creating digital content and content-driven experiences.  More content does not always mean more value.

Creating a content marketing strategy feels like shouting into a hurricane these days. We can look to artificial intelligence to ease the challenge of content production and distribution. It may even intrude into the content creation stage. Imagine a day when AI can produce an article like this one – and tens of thousands of alternative versions designed to increase its performance across diverse audiences at different times. But all this content is both signal and noise. My noise drowns out someone else’s signal, and your signal quiets someone else’s noise.

Read more on how to create more ‘conscious’ content experiences.

Content skills or subject matter expertise

Like it or not, influencers have become synonymous with the world of digital marketing. Whether they are advertising a company’s offerings or collaborating with a brand on a new product range, they are here to stay. What is the best course of action to take? Teach or find content creators? Teach content creators to become subject matter experts and technical knowledge, or find creators with the subject expertise and technical knowledge? Teach content skills around a subject matter or find skilled creators? As much as influencers are a good investment in reaching new audiences and gathering data. Are we ready for the content challenge imposed by their content creation skill and our brand voice and visual representation?

Read more here

Catch up is on. We need to start creating campaigns that include experiences that your customers can engage in and share their thoughts with brand. Encouraging the clients to post videos of their purchase or even write and share a product review.  The digital world is constantly evolving at a ferocious rate and so are its users. It’s not about catching up anymore. The question that lingers in the hallways of digital marketing is: Are we able to keep up with technology, the demand from consumers and the evolving marketing industry?

Successful brands need to keep an eye on the latest trends and keep up with the emerging challenges posed by this environment and its consumers. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to be innovative in your campaigns. Those who dare, win.

Five Ways to Make Social Media Work For Your Business!

Social Media Marketing

Think about the last time you decided to buy something. Chances are you either heard about the it on social media or looked up reviews online just before your purchase. Beyond being a way for people to stay in touch with friends and family, learn about current events or find entertainment, social media has also weaved its way into the shopping experience. I have seen it evolve from a “nice to have” to an integral part of a business’s strategic marketing plan.

Yes Social Media does have its pros and cons and can be intimidating with new platforms around each corner and constantly shifting algorithms rewriting the rules of the game.

Here are five things that might differentiate your brand from others on social media:

  • Create more video content.
  • Do not ignore the social commerce.
  • Always make sure to experiment and test.
  • Influencer partnerships are the way to go.
  • Build a community.

Fact: In 2019, Facebook IQ released data showed that 87% of survey respondents took action, such as making a purchase or following a brand, after seeing product information on social media.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/04/08/five-ways-to-make-social-media-work-for-your-business/?sh=6d98b5fc4a7b

Grow & Engage a Digital Audience

Social Media Marketing

Why Growing a Digital Community is Important in 2022

The O&L Digital team attended the monthly V5Africa webinar with the prime focus on this month’s webinar being ‘How to Grow and Engage a Digital Audience’. This webinar was hosted by the founder of Treeshake, David Duarte.

Dave took attendees on a journey of digital advocacy, online engagement strategy, community growth, movement marketing and conversational momentum.   

The biggest takeaway was that as much as marketers want to reach as many people as possible, they at the same time need define who that audience exactly is.

Missed out? Don’t worry, we have you covered! Watch a recording of the webinar now below and increase your digital skill arsenal.

Click Here to watch Episode 8: Grow & Engage a Digital Audience Dave Duarte

Instagram Shopping

Ecommerce, Social Media Marketing

Prepare for social commerce on Instagram.

Learn how to create and prepare a Instagram Shop for Instagram Live

Create and prepare your Instagram shop for the Winter season to reach more customers and promote greater product discovery. 

Businesses now have a new tool to help strengthen connections with customers and boost sales during the discovery phase, thanks to Instagram. In addition to tagging products in Feed, Stories, Reels, comments, and Instagram Video, U.S. businesses with checkout on Instagram can use live broadcasts to sell. With live shopping, you can sell products straight from the app, communicate with viewers in real time, and save recordings so buyers can continue buying featured products after the live broadcast.

Click the Here to learn more.

The 2022 Tik Tok Playbook

Social Media Marketing

Background: 

Initially the thinking was that this is a platform, a space for teens as a means to procrastinate but with the pandemic it has evolved into everyone’s favourite app to create, watch and participate in mostly meaningless entertainment. In a Namibian context, in 2020 “Tik Tok” was the 7th and 8th most searched term on Namibia YouTube. Even though the age demographics for the platform have expanded, it is still the best place to build a relationship with GenZ audiences. 

What you need to know: 

1st and foremost you need to acknowledgement that the platform is very different from other social networking apps with their algorithm being the most notable differential. Algorithm is a set of instructions or rules that create the recipe for how the technology works.

The algorithm in this case is geared towards serving content to the user based on defined indicators of interest, the goal is always to keep you on the platform, so relevancy of content is paramount. Where your Zuckerberg apps focused on serving you friends content, on Tik Tok its all geared towards interests and your user profile, content discovery is the fuel.

Let’s highlight the indicators of interest.

o   Video engagement, how much engagement the video has already accumulated or is likely to accumulate based on the time it has been live.

o   Content relevancy, does the subject matter of the content form part of the users interests.

o   Language and geography, does the content piece share location and language with the user, this is where the algorithm is geared to serve localized content.

o   Audio and duets, trending sounds and songs are more likely to be served to a broader audience.

o   Hashtags and keywords, in order to categorise the content the algorithm picks up on the hashtags used and keywords within the caption to ensure content relevancy.

o   User engagement, completed views, watch time and previous engagement on similar content will determine whether a content piece is high interest enough to serve to the user.  

So how do we win?

o   Niche targeting, find your audience and niche it up. Find the audience(s) where the most value and relevancy lies with, create content around those themes and interests that your brand can leverage off. This in turn will establish that in that specific interest, your brand is an aficionado, aiding in content discoverability and awareness.

o   Follow accounts that are influential to those Niche audiences for inspiration and trendspotting, with all interests there are already known thought leaders. Follow them! Learn from them! And spot trends in their content that you can borrow/stitch/duet so that you can get a foothold in that niche.

o   Use influencers of the niche audiences, you’ve seen the power that these influential accounts have with audiences that your are aiming to target. Now collaborate with them to demonstrate to your shared audiences that you are part of the community and are brave enough to show appreciation for your followers and advocates. It also doesn’t need to always be the 1m follower accounts, aim to collab with rising stars and aim to have more authentic partnerships.

o   Do challenges and host contests, remember we’re building cultural relevance here with this audience. Part of the journey to establish that relevance is to engage this audience or community by setting them a challenge that relates to both their interests and your brand. Incentives are nice but not always a must, sometimes just acknowledging your community goes a long way.

o   Use sounds, remember that not only has the app changed how we consume visual entertainment, but it has also had profound cultural impacts on music. Artists and musicians have in parallel adapted to these changes, using the app and platform to gain traction on a song with nothing more than a hook or snippet, use this as an opportunity to plug into the trend and deliver meaningful entertaining content using the trending sounds. Tapping into the trending songs bodes well for discoverability and relevance.

o   Experiment with features and content, don’t be scared to play around with the visual effects and emerging features. Create Tik Tok content for Tik Tok!

o   Leverage all 3 content types, trending, long form and short 15second snips. Consistency is key and with that comes regular content. In order to not make your account stale or boring utilise all 3 content types, trending content is aimed at being part of the conversation and becoming discoverable through viral videos, longer videos up to 3 minutes are utilised to better tell your brand story and short videos with sharp hooks to quickly deliver on the fly content.

o   Use voice overs and solid captions to make your content accessible to all! For brands who don’t have a person or persona tied to their account, voiceover features add a voice to the video and it doesn’t need to be yours. In a desktop experiment we ran we found that the AI voice on platform gained more views than our original recorded audio for the same video.

Ads:

Sadly, advertising on the platform is not available to us yet, but here’s a quick breakdown of some ad types we can look forward to.

  • In feed ads, these are the ads that run within a user feed with are served natively.
  • Video ads, similar to in feed ads are capped at 60seconds and run on both the Tik Tok feed as well as their expanded network of apps.
  • Spark ads are similar to other social network ad types as they allow the promotion of organic content, running through the Tik Tok feed.

Case Studies:

Gymshark is one of the brands that owns the space by publishing impossible feats and fitness memes, not scared to make fun of themselves and the fitness community. Their account may not always place the brand or products at the center of the content but they maintain relevance and awareness by understanding what entertains their followers.

Another brand that benefits off Tik Tok content is Amazon, making bank off trending videos such as “Things TikTok Made Me Buy” and “Things You Didn’t Know You Needed Off Of Amazon”.

Our favourite case study comes from Little Moons , even though the brand has been around since 2010, the product really gained cultural relevance through it’s Tik Tok presence. The brand taps into trending sounds and challenges like this one, making the product the hero, simple yet effective. The ASMR nature of their content also capitalizes on the virality of the content type through cutting, crushing or smashing these little ice cream balls. Spending a few minutes scrolling through their videos will surely make you want to try some, with sales at Tesco going up by 700%!

An independent communications expert, analyzed the top 100 videos in 2019 on the platform and discovered that 80% of top videos were 20 seconds or less. Moreover, most viral recipes are five ingredients or less.

Recipe videos that work on the platform are “simple and visual,” 

Nutter Butter has 315,000 followers and 1.6 million likes on the platform, outpacing its communities on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. From a cookie-led “house tour” of a grocery store to a continued feud between the peanut butter snack and its mortal enemy jelly, Nutter Butter embraces iPhone-filmed videos and quirky content.

Most importantly, keep it casual fun and entertaining, the value of the platform lies in entertainment. The evergreen nature of the platform content means that a video with very little views on one day can gain mass virality overnight. Given how much TikTok encourages creativity, it’s up to the brands to be creative themselves and give consumers a good reason to engage with them. 

HAVE FUN!

Remote working has seen a rise in a new breed of freelancing professional: The digital nomad.

Social Media Marketing

What is a digital Nomad?

A freelance digital professional who works remotely, basically anywhere. They work on various projects for different clients from anywhere in the world, your desk can be where you want to be.

Digital Nomad Advantages

Freedom is, of course, the biggest advantage to being a digital nomad. You have the autonomy to choose your location, your work hours, your vacation hours, and much more.

Less stress & better quality of life is also a possibility. That’s not to say that a digital nomad life is a vacation, but the little things that caused daily stressors will disappear. Rush-hour commutes, work meetings, and lack of free time can put a lot of pressure on us.

Some more amazing bonuses to being your own boss include:

  • better work environment
  • oversee your work life balance
  • dressing for comfort
  • more time for creativity
  • traveling the world and exploring
  • increased motivation
  • self-development
  • organizational skills

Digital Nomad Disadvantages

No job or lifestyle is perfect. Every good has its bad and digital nomad life is no exception here.

First of all, being a digital nomad is hard work. There’s no one to guide the way and help you along. You need to figure out paperwork, visas, health insurance, new languages, and international business on your own.

Another possible disadvantage is motivation and discipline. To be your own boss or run your own business, you need an enormous amount of self-discipline and self-mountain. People who prefer to be told what to do and when to do it may run into trouble here.

The most important factor that will dictate your commutes as a digital nomad is WIFI. Frustration of a weak WIFI connection would be a regular occurrence in a digital nomads life. Managing connectivity and workload is a skill a digital nomad need to master in order to be successful.

Some other downsides to the digital nomad life include:

  • homesickness
  • missing out on big family events
  • no income guarantee
  • language problems
  • feelings of isolation
  • finance management
  • internet connection

Before setting out into the world and starting the nomad life, you need to figure out what kind of person you are. If you love challenges, independence, travel and are highly self-motivated, this might be the perfect opportunity for you.

Case study: COVID-19 impact on Digital Nomad, US study

COVID-19 also impacted the demographic mix of digital nomads. The share of Baby Boomers fell from 27 percent of digital nomads in 2019 to just 17 percent in 2020, and Gen X’s share fell from 25 percent to 22 percent. This was likely due to older workers being more concerned about COVID-19 and their greater risk of serious illness, making them temporarily less interested in a nomadic lifestyle and more comfortable staying at home. The younger generations, Gen Z and Millennials, increased their share from 48 percent to 62 percent. In addition to being less cautious than older workers, Gen Z and Millennials generally have more location flexibility due to their life stage. Although digital nomads have gotten younger overall, older age groups continue to be well represented, with 28 percent aged 45 or older and 8 percent aged 65 and older.

Digital nomads work in a wide variety of fields, including information technology (12 percent), education and training (11 percent), consulting, coaching, and research (11 percent), sales, marketing, and PR (9 percent), and creative services (8 percent) with other fields represented relatively equally. The unifying theme of these professions is that they can be performed remotely using digital tools and the Internet. From a gender standpoint, more men pursue digital nomadism than women, with a 59 to 41 percent split, consistent with 2019 results. The racial make-up of digital nomads mirrors the US population, which is 70 percent white, 14 percent African American, 7 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian, and 2 percent from another background. This is statistically consistent year-over-year.

More: https://s29814.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MBO-Partners-Digital-Nomad-Report-2020.pdf

It’s Christmas Season!

Social Media Marketing

The Christmas advertising season is upon us, but you’re not alone in thinking it feels earlier than usual.

In the face of global supply chain problems coupled with fuel and driver shortages, some retailers are opting to drop their festive marketing earlier than they might have done in the past.

Disneyland Paris was quick off the mark in getting the holiday emotions flowing with a sneak peek of its Christmas ad being teased on Twitter last week. The video shows a family surrounding a Christmas tree exchanging gifts when someone is presented with a very memorable present – tickets to the famous Disney park.