Mums are taking over TikTok, YouTube’s hiding dislike counts, (while Instagram might be bringing their like counts back), plus there’s a new iOS 14.5 update.
Yep, April has been jammed packed with exciting social media updates and juicy marketing news! But never fear, The Vamp Debrief is here to bring you up to speed with the latest and greatest stories you need to know.
iOS 14.5 is here
The much-anticipated iOS 14.5 update has a new privacy feature that will impact the way some digital marketers will run their campaigns. So what’s REALLY going to change? Find out here.
Oh, and of course there’s new emojis. Look out for updated gender options, skin tones, two new heart options (on fire and mending) plus a COVID style syringe.
TikTok most downloaded
TikTok remained the most downloaded app in Q1 2021, holding its growth momentum over the past two years. That’s according to the latest download stats from App Annie.
Download stats are not indicative of usage though. Facebook continues to see the most daily usage among US users, according to the latest findings from Pew Research.
Micro most popular
Brands are running more influencer campaigns and planning to increase budgets, according to new data from Linqia. 59% of marketers ran 1-5 campaigns in 2020 and almost 20% of marketers ran 6-10 campaigns, an increase from 15% in 2019.
90% of marketers selected that they wanted to work with micro-influencers, up from 80% in 2020. Meanwhile, the percentage that wanted to work with celebrities fell from 22% to 14%.
Ads hit IG Reels
Facebook is testing ads in Reels in Australia, as well as India, Brazil, and Germany.
The ads will be mobile-first and full-screen, similar to ads in Stories, and will appear between individual Reels.
Similar to Reels, ads can be up to 30 seconds and people can comment, like, view, save, share and skip Reels ads.
TikTok editing tool for brands…
TikTok has launched a new video editor tool, designed to help marketers create more effective, native-looking TikTok video clips for their channels.
TikTok said it’s an “online smart editor that gives advertisers access to a suite of TikTok-style editing features…. You can easily add custom subtitles, crop assets, and cut scenes exactly how you want in moments.”
…And new visual effects tool
TikTok has added a range of new visual effects, triggered by sound. The first new addition is ‘Music Visualizer’, which provides an animated background that responds to music beats.
“The new effects are powered by real-time and interactive music processing technologies,” said TikTok. See our Social Media Assistant taking it for a test drive here.
Sustainable brands
86% of customers now expect businesses to play their part in solving big challenges, like climate change or social justice. That’s according to a new report from Wunderman Thompson.
According to WGSN, brands “finally understood the assignment” this Earth Day and moved past tokenistic “Shop 20% off our eco-edit!” campaigns. Check out their top picks here.
Pinterest calls for kindness
Pinterest has announced its first-ever Creator Fund, which will allocate money to support creators on the platform. The $500k funding program will help creators from underrepresented communities.
In addition to this, Pinterest has launched a new ‘Creator Code‘ – an agreement among creators to uphold certain standards and a commitment to making inclusive and inspiring content.
Nerf’s CTO TikTok stunt
Last month, Nerf started looking for a “trend-obsessed and highly creative Nerf fan” to serve a three-month stint as its Chief TikTok Officer.
University student Sophie Jamison, (A.K.A. @Nerfers101) beat out over 1,000 applicants for the position. The #NerfApplication hashtag was viewed approximately 84 million times and the @nerf TikTok account grew from 22,000 to 100,000+ over the campaign.
Budgeting for more content
Advertisers are increasing spend on branded content and influencer marketing post-COVID.
In the second half of 2020, 32% increased spending on branded content and 25% spent more on influencers.
Marketers are now putting 20% of their digital budgets into these practices, which is more than they put into any other digital channel.
Moms of TikTok
TikTok is highlighting the wide range of age groups on the app. “It used to be a challenge getting everyone to sit still for a photo; now we see perfectly choreographed dance routines from the whole family, including grandma.”
They released data on popular hashtags that indicate wider use (including #family, #parenting and #momsofTikTok) and what they post about (including home appliances and snacks!)
YouTube hides dislikes
YouTube is experimenting with hiding dislikes to protect creators’ well-being. Stats will still be visible in YouTube Studio, not not to the public.
Creators rely on likes and dislikes as a form of feedback to guide their creative output, but the feature is easily abused by “dislike mobs”.
Meanwhile, Instagram is testing out an option that lets users choose whether they display like counts – or not – within the app.
The colour of 2023
Trend forecasters WGSN are calling it early. They’ve teamed up with Coloro to announce Digital Lavender as the colour of 2023.
“Recuperative rituals will become a top priority for consumers who want to protect and improve their mental health, and Digital Lavender will connect to this focus on wellbeing, offering a sense of stability and balance.”
Aussie’s IG wanderlust
Three of the top 10 most-tagged and talked about brands on Instagram in Q1 2021 include ‘sydney’, ‘visitnsw’ and ‘tasmania’ official accounts.
Between January and March alone, there have been 329 Instagram posts that tagged @sydney generating an estimated reach of 4M people, 437 tagged posts of @visitnsw reaching 3.6M people and 181 of @tasmania reaching 3.3M people.
FMCG recovery
Ad spending associated with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) is expected to surge this year. It’ll be a remarkable turnaround for a sector that was hit harder than most in 2020.
According to the latest market report from Zenith, a sharp bounce-back will recover much of this lost ground. Digital commands a dominant 46.1% slice of the FMCG ad market.
New DM abuse filter
Instagram is introducing a new tool which, when turned on, will automatically filter DM requests containing offensive words, phrases and emojis, so you never have to see them.
They say this is tool focuses on DM requests because this is where people usually receive abusive messages – unlike your regular DM inbox, where you receive messages from friends.
Clubhouse clones pt. 453
This month Facebook launched a beta test of ‘Hotline‘, a web-based app that incorporates the engagement features of Clubhouse with more visual and text tools.
Meanwhile, Reddit is reportedly ‘quietly’ testing its own take on audio social, with audio rooms within subreddits. As reported by Mashable.
Lockdown trends
We all know our lives changed during the pandemic. But who can actually remember what was trending on this date a year ago?
Google has created a calendar showcasing the hobby that saw the greatest growth in search queries, compared to one year prior, for each day of the pandemic’s first year.
