In Other News: Super Follows Are Here, TikTok Runs the Numbers and YouTube Prepares for the Holidays

November 11, 2021 Freya Whiteside In other news, Social Media, TikTok, Twitter  

Welcome to this week’s edition of In Other News, where we give you all the latest info from the world of social! This week, we’re taking a look at Twitter’s latest update, what people really think of TikTok and how YouTube is getting ready for the winter shopping spree.

 

Twitter introduces Super Follows for all iOS Users

Twitter is full of distinct voices, and you can now get a little bit more of your favourite creators. After initially rolling out Super Follows in September in the US and Canada, the feature is now available globally for all iOS users. By giving a creator a Super Follow, users gain access to exclusive content through a subscription. It’s a new way to interact with Twitter creators, and provides revenue to creators who can’t stop tweeting. 

 

TikTok releases Nielsen authenticity study

What makes TikTok so special? According to TikTok, it’s authenticity and joy – and they’ve got the numbers to prove it. TikTok has worked with Nielsen to better understand people’s perceptions of content and brand authenticity on their platform, and it’s provided some valuable insights for advertisers. It found that:

  • Globally, an average of 68% of TikTok users find advertising content specifically to be unique or different from any competitive platform
  • Internationally (excluding US), an average of 60% of TikTok users say they follow brands on TikTok, and an average of 52% of TikTok users say they search for products or shop on the platform
  • TikTok is “trendsetting”: an average of 85% of TikTok users discover new content that they enjoy through the TikTok platform

If you’re looking to spread some joy or start something new, TikTok could be the perfect platform for a marketing campaign!

 

YouTube prepares for the holidays with shoppable livestreams 

Need some shopping inspiration this holiday season? YouTube’s got you covered. 

Starting on November 15th and running for a week, YouTube will be hosting a series of shoppable livestreams. These events will feature some of YouTube’s favourite creators and give viewers the chance to benefit from limited time offers, including earlier access to new products. The idea builds on how much viewers trust the recommendations of their favourite creators – and you could score a great deal, too.

 

 

Want to hear more about how your marketing could gear up for the busy Christmas season? Get in touch with me at [email protected] to chat about your digital content strategy.

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How To Create An Impactful Influencer Marketing Campaign

November 8, 2021 Shannon Collins Influencer Marketing, Social Media  

It’s no secret that it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a splash online. With the ever-changing trends and algorithms, even the best content can often fall flat. When it’s harder than ever to stand out on socials, how can you get your business in front of new eyes and potential customers? If your goal is increased brand awareness, online profile growth, and sales, then influencer marketing might be the answer. Although it may seem daunting, the reality is that a strategic influencer marketing campaign can generate incredible results for your brand. 

 

Recently at PFM, we completed an influencer marketing campaign for our client, PriceRunner. We collaborated with a host of Scottish influencers to create a campaign which demonstrated how easy and valuable price comparison really is. We challenged our influencers to create a moment with PriceRunner, showing that price comparison is not just about saving money, it’s about creating and enhancing life experiences. 

As well as some killer content, the #KitOut campaign generated: 

  • 21% increase in IG followers for @pricerunner_com
  • 52.9% increase in brand searches
  • 293k reel views
  • 68k average story reach per influencer

Sounds great, right? But where do you start? To make things a little easier, here are our top 3 tips for creating an impactful influencer marketing campaign. 

 

1. Be Picky 

Do your research and make sure you choose the right people to represent your brand. Followers are great, but engagement metrics are the real indicator of the quality of an influencer’s audience. You can find a host of free platforms and calculators online to help you evaluate these metrics. We love using Not Just Analytics and Social Blade.

As well as making sure they have great metrics, it’s also a good idea to have a look at some of their previous brand work. Is their content high quality and do they show lots of enthusiasm? How have their followers engaged with previous campaigns?

 

2. Have a Strong Concept 

When you find your people, make sure you give them an exciting concept to work with. Influencers are content creation experts and they know their audience better than anyone. They will be thrilled to receive a brief that allows them to get creative and put their own spin on the campaign. The best campaigns tell a story: try to think of a campaign that not only brings your products/service to life, but also speaks directly to the influencer’s audience.

 

3. Don’t Stop There

Now that you have all of this amazing content, it’s time to get the most out of it. The initial campaign is just the first step. Afterwards, it’s crucial to think of other ways that you can repurpose the influencer’s content to maximise your investment. You could reshare the content on your organic platforms, include it in upcoming paid ad campaigns and use it to create long-form blog content for your website – the potential reach and impact is huge! 

 

Need some expert help to make your next influencer campaign a success? Get in touch with me at [email protected], I would love to chat! 

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eCommerce and Social Media: A Look to the Future of Social Shopping

November 1, 2021 Marius Platt eCommerce, Insights, Paid Media, Small business, Social Media  

Hello everyone, my name is Marius and I’m the paid media manager here at Pilot Fish Media. Having worked on marketing campaigns around the world, I’ve found that my passion lies in eCommerce and driving sales through the use of paid ads. eCommerce brands and social media platforms are inherently intertwined. You’d be hard pushed to find any, new or old, who aren’t on social media in some capacity. I’m going to break down why this is the case, and why social media platforms are all moving towards an eCommerce approach.

 

What is an eCommerce brand?

An eCommerce brand is any company that is involved in the buying or selling of products, services, or experiences over the internet. Whenever individuals or companies are buying/selling products, services, or experiences online, they’re engaging in e-commerce. 

 

Why do eCommerce brands use social media?

Social media is an incredibly powerful marketing tool for eCommerce brands to utilise. It not only allows them to send direct traffic to their website, but it also gives them the opportunity to create and foster a community, which they can nurture in order to encourage returning custom. Whether it’s through paid social ads, organic content or influencer marketing, social media is the most important marketing tool currently available to drive sales online.

 

What is social shopping?

Social shopping or social eCommerce is when social media platforms and eCommerce platforms become one. Certain social media platforms have direct integrations with eCommerce sites such as Shopify, which allows a customer to buy products directly from their feed/shopping section. Essentially, social shopping enables social media users to shop for and purchase products on social media.

 

Which social media platforms currently have shopping tools?

Social Shopping is already a popular feature on a range of social platforms and is expected to grow rapidly. But why?

Simply put, it reduces the purchase journey for a customer to 2 steps. They engage with the product on your social media feed and then begin the checkout process. This is now possible on the below platforms who all currently use social shopping in some capacity:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Whatsapp
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • TikTok
  • WeChat

 

What does the future hold for social commerce?

Social commerce is the future and we expect it to be adopted by more platforms going forward. There will be a time in the not-so-distant future when customers in the UK can click on a product on Instagram and purchase directly within the platform. This feature currently only exists in the USA.

If you assume social media is where your target audience spends the majority of their time, then it only makes sense to sell products to them then and there. They’re already engaging actively with your brand, so there will be a sense of trust and you won’t have to move them off the platform onto a separate website. Furthermore, with all of the privacy changes (iOS14.5/death of the cookie) and the shift to ‘walled gardens’ it makes sense for platforms to keep users on the platform. They are unable to track them effectively when they leave and go to a website, and as such, if they keep users on the platform, they can collect first-party data and information.  With one of the main struggles for eCommerce brands being the streamlining of the shopping process, social media and eCommerce integration should help combat that.

China has been the country at the forefront of social commerce through WeChat. WeChat originated as a messaging app and has developed into a unique hybrid platform. Users can do everything from calling a client, or their family group chat, to paying for their taxi or weekly shop. In China where services like Facebook are banned, WeChat is the standard platform for all business and communication. When we look at how important WeChat is, it’s no surprise that such a high percentage of products purchased in China are sold through social media. In fact, in 2019, 11.6% of eCommerce sales came through social commerce.

While China is a very different market to the UK, we can clearly see some similar patterns. There’s a history of copying what works in China: FB Messenger and Whatsapp have already adopted plenty of the features as seen in the chart below on WeChat.

*

It’s clear to see then why the UK and other countries in the West would adopt social commerce going forward. It allows for a streamlined shopping experience, which is beneficial to both the customer and seller. In addition, social platforms keep users on their app and try to keep their attention there, which is every platform’s ultimate aim. They’re trading in attention. Customers will expect to be able to purchase your products on social media with a couple of clicks very soon. So get ahead of the curve and prepare your platforms for social commerce now!  

 

If you’re looking for help moving forward with social commerce, please get in touch with me at [email protected]!

 

Sources:

* https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/blog/social-commerce/#what-does-the-future-hold-for-social-commerce

 

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The Facebook Ad Funnel: What Is It and How to Make It Work for You

October 18, 2021 Paff Evara Facebook, Paid Media, Small business  

The Facebook Ads Funnel is one of the most powerful tools in helping you generate leads, sales, increase ROI and ultimately grow your business. We want to help you get the most out of the funnel by breaking down what it is and how you can make it work for your business. 

 

Are you ready to start advertising your business on social media? You’ve established your brand identity and your core offering, but now you’re ready to really drive up those conversions. Before you dive into the world of Facebook ads, it’s important to understand how the conversion funnel works and how you can use it to get your message in front of the right people to reach your goals. 

 

 

The Facebook ads funnel is split into three key stages in the buyer journey (Awareness, Consideration, Conversion) and is designed to pull qualified users down the funnel to convert. A conversion is when the recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action, which might look like purchasing a product, booking an appointment or filling out a contact form.  

 

Top of Funnel (TOF) – Awareness

At the top of the funnel is the awareness stage. This is where you target cold audiences, people who are not yet aware of your brand’s products or services, as your ideal customer persona. At this stage, your key focus is to introduce your brand and clearly communicate your brand purpose and offering. The ads you push at this stage should spark curiosity with potential prospects and educate them on your brand through an authoritative tone of voice. 

 

Middle of Funnel (MOF) – Consideration

Moving into the middle of the funnel, you are targeting a warm audience as prospects: people who are aware of your brand and have previously shown some interest but who haven’t taken it further. For example, these prospects may have visited your website previously, engaged with your social media channels or engaged with the ads you are pushing at TOF. 

 

At this stage, you want to push ads that communicate not only the key features of your offering, but also its benefits and how it can help users overcome their pain points. Here, you want to focus on clear and concise ad creative that communicates your core USPs in the first 3 seconds of a user seeing the ad. 

 

Bottom of Funnel (BOF) – Conversion

At the bottom of the funnel is the conversion stage, where your prospects are now a hot audience of users you are retargeting. These users have come close to converting but have pulled back to consider further (e.g., adding product(s) to cart but abandoning before completing their purchase). Therefore, at this stage you want to push strong ad creatives that answer the ‘Why us?’ question and work to push users over the conversion line. You might use techniques such as highlighting social proof, featuring customer testimonials or using an offer (e.g., 10% off code) here.

 

The successful implementation of the full funnel Facebook ads structure works to nurture users and pushes those qualified users down the funnel to convert. It’s important to remember that most users are not going to convert on your core offer at the first touchpoint (particularly with high value conversions) as it’s likely they won’t know or trust you yet. Therefore, users need to interact with your brand over multiple touch points before converting – as the Facebook ads funnel is set up to facilitate.  

 

To maximise the success of your new Facebook ads funnel, it’s important to implement an omnichannel marketing approach that uses various touch points including organic social media, paid social media, email marketing, SEO etc., ensuring an integrated and seamless experience for customers across each. At Pilot Fish Media, we can help you build a successful Facebook ads strategy as well as help you implement a full digital omnichannel marketing strategy to maximise its success.

 

Get in touch at [email protected] to find out about how our creative and strategy teams can help you reach your goals.

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