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• Influencer Marketing • Social Updates • Creator Culture • Industry Insights •
TAKUMI’s insights team is curating the most impactful industry news and weekly developments for brands, right here 👇.
Instagram to start testing NFTs with select creators this week | 9th May 2022
“Creators and people who are part of the test can now share NFTs that they’ve made or that they’ve bought. You can share these NFTs in your main Instagram Feed, Stories or in messages.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: Last week, Instagram announced that it would start testing NFTs with select US-based creators, giving them the tools to display NFT art that they've created or purchased within the main feed, on Stories, or through DMs 📲. Supported blockchains for sharing NFTs will include Ethereum and Polygon, and eventually Flow and Solana too. A hexagonal icon with a tick will indicate verified NFTs and be displayed when creators share their digital art, as well as tags for both the creator of the NFT and the owner- who will be able to connect their Rainbow, Trust Wallet, and MetaMask accounts to verify their ownership 🖼.
The motivation for exploring NFTs on Instagram is partly to better support creators and their ability to make money, as Instagram Head Adam Mosseri explained 💸. In time, Instagram may broaden its capabilities by facilitating NFT sales, to build on its monetisation opportunities and incentives for creators. More and more brands are tapping into the web3 space to create cultural moments with impact, offering consumers an innovative and exclusive brand experience. But too much exclusivity can be detrimental to growth, which is why Instagram's NFT test should help to make web3 technology more accessible and indicate to marketers where the opportunities lie 👀.
TikTok Pulse: bringing brands closer to community and entertainment | 4th May 2022
“Marketers today are looking for the opportunities to be on the pulse of relevant cultural moments. Our goal is to build creative tools for brands to be discovered and connect with the broader communities around them. TikTok Pulse places brands at the heart of TikTok communities and alongside the trending content that is driving conversation and action.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: TikTok recently announced a new advertising solution, TikTok Pulse, which will enable brands to place their ads amongst the top performing content on the app; the top 4% of all videos, to be exact 📈. To drive engagement with target markets, brands can choose from 12 'Pulse' categories to place their ads - everything from cooking and gaming, to fashion and beauty - ensuring that they are not only positioned next to the most culturally-relevant, verified content within those verticals, but also that their ads are seen by the most relevant communities. Access to new campaign measurement tools will also provide an extra layer of transparency and insight for brands leveraging TikTok Pulse.
Top performing content is prime real estate for ads, making the Pulse programme a hugely exciting opportunity. However, TikTok risks losing favour with the creators at the heart of it all if they fail to fairly reward them 💰. Fortunately, Pulse will serve a new advertising revenue share program for creators with at least 100k followers, which will help bring TikTok's monetisation opportunities more in line with YouTube's. The YouTube Partner Programme dominates the creator rewards space, having paid around $15billion of ad revenue share to creators throughout 2021; TikTok's Creator Fund, on the other hand, has been criticised for its ambiguity and the lack of reward ultimately paid out. The bottom line is that static funding models are much less sustainable and robust than the likes of YouTube's ad revenue sharing programme, and therefore provide less incentive for creators to remain engaged and active on one channel over another.
Only time will tell what impact the revenue shares programme will have, and it all depends on the success of TikTok Pulse for drawing advertisers in 💫.
WE’VE BEEN SHORTLISTED 🏆
We are so excited to say that our work alongside La Roche-Posay USA on the first ever ‘National Hyaluronic Acid Day’ campaign has been shortlisted at this year's Influencer Marketing Awards for BEST USE OF TIKTOK! 🚀
That’s not all… Our UK Head of Delivery Emily Martin has been shortlisted for a RISING STAR AWARD 🌟
Emily’s incredible contributions have seen her launch and manage over 65 campaigns, working with 1000+ influencers to drive over £1MILLION in revenue! 🤯
We may be biased, but we think that’s pretty darn impressive!
✨ If you agree, then please VOTE EMILY for this year’s Rising Star. ✨
👀 What’s BeReal?
TAKEAWAY 🔥: By now you may have heard of the social photo-sharing app that's got everyone talking: BeReal. While it's already been around for 2 years, it's gained serious traction over the last month or two, particularly among Gen Z. The app's description explains, 'everyday at a different time, everyone is notified simultaneously to capture and share a photo in 2 Minutes. A new and unique way to discover who your friends really are in their daily life.' 📸 Only after you've shared your own photos- the app simultaneously captures one on the front camera and one on the back - can you see what others have posted that day. It's been referred to as the anti-social media, anti-Instagram app, because of its goal to capture the reality of people's day-to-day lives with pure authenticity; no filters allowed, no likes, no followers, and there's no hiding if you've reshot your photo multiple times.
Push notifications alert you when to post- at a random time each day- and the two minute timer ensures spontaneity through panic-inducing urgency ⏰. While you are able to post late, this would go against the point of the app completely. Some have called it mundane and unengaging, but many have warmed to seeing and sharing their unfiltered reality which, of course, isn't always glossy and exciting every minute of every day; a stark contrast to how we present ourselves on Instagram 🎭.
While the hype for BeReal could be short-lived, its surge in users highlights a strong appetite for less polished, posed and aspirational content. We say it to brands constantly, but it really is true; authentic storytelling is the key to engaging consumers, and the popularity of apps like BeReal reminds us of that message.
Facebook Is Removing Support for Podcasts, Just 10 Months After Launching New Podcast Features | 2nd May 2022
“Meta promoted the option as a way to showcase your podcast content to its billions of users, and engage with fans in the app, helping to grow your community. But now, less than a year later, it’s pulling the plug entirely, leaving any creators who had been using these tools to build their audience out in the cold.”
TAKEAWAY 🔥: Less than a year since they launched, podcasts will soon cease to exist on Facebook. What's that? You didn't know that Facebook had a podcast integration? It commenced last June, along with a swathe of other audio-based features amidst Clubhouse's short-lived heyday 🎧. Facebook facilitated podcast discovery and in-stream playback, allowing users to tune into podcasts without leaving the app, before rolling out Soundbites, the option for creators to create and share audio snippets of podcasts to boost promotion and engage listeners. Both features will be gone next month, but Live Audio Rooms - Facebook's answer to Clubhouse- will stick around and be integrated into Facebook Live 🎥.
It's no secret that Meta has preoccupied itself with other things, prioritising video features and AI capabilities to name a few, but the removal of its podcast support is a stark reminder of its sporadic focus and trend-jumping tendencies; not to mention, the podcast market is already fairly crowded with big names like Spotify and Apple 🌍. Fortunately, the changes shouldn't be too disruptive for podcast creators given they likely wouldn't have relied too much on Facebook for growing their audiences.
Despite what the news suggests, the popularity of podcasts has skyrocketed in the last year, expanding the many opportunities for advertising and marketing. According to IAB and PwC, podcast ad spend in the US is expected to hit $2.13 billion in 2022, up 47%, and is estimated to increase more than 100% over the next 24 months to reach $4.2 billion in 2024 📈. It's also a relatively untapped outlet for influencer marketing, but one that has a tonne of potential for brands. Utilising influencer marketing through podcasts comes with the same benefits as any other creator-led medium; leveraging the authenticity, creativity and knowledge of content creators and their trusted, highly engaged audiences is the most effective way to reach target markets and connect with relevant communities 🙏.
Host-read podcast ads involve a host sharing information or opinions on a product with their listeners, giving them a natural, native ad experience with all the personality and nuance of any other creator-led ad. The potential impact is impressive, with a recent study finding that 'podcast listeners exposed to an ad are 74% more likely to visit a company or product's website and 65% more likely to purchase a product or service' (Ad Results Media and Edison Research).
We’ll be back soon with more insights and updates. Keep up to date in the meantime on our socials- LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter: @takumihq ✨
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