Be a Trendsetter (What, Like It’s Hard?)Facebook introduced a new way for you to stay on top of trends (and don’t worry, it doesn’t involve learning the latest TikTok dance).
Meet Inspiration Hub (the newest insights features being tested by FB). The new center for social data will include trending hashtags and content within your area of interest. You can also filter these insights by region, page category, time frame, and more (hooray, for analytics!).
Diving deeper: Tapping into trends across the platform will positively affect who interacts with your content and expand your overall reach. These insights will also allow you to detect smaller-scale trends, like caption length or video versus image posts. And don’t be afraid to spread the content inspo — the Inspiration Hub could make a great resource for brainstorming trends that can be leveraged beyond Facebook.
We don’t know about you, but we’re ready for all of the analytics magic that Inspiration Hub has to offer.
TL;DR: Facebook is testing its Inspiration Hub, an analytics center that tracks trending content within your page’s area of interest. Marketers can look forward to using these insights to create new content and measure engagement on FB and beyond.
Lush Is on Its Soap BoxNo more bath bomb demos on Instagram — Lush has quit social media. Almost.
The handmade cosmetics company announced its social media diet a few weeks ago, ceasing all posting to its Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok accounts. And although Lush is still active on platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, its marketing strategy is steering toward more connection-based and traditional content (including an investment in its print magazine, Lush Times). For most consumer-facing brands, a move like this could be a blow to sales and customer engagement. Lush is not most brands.
As a global, high revenue-generating company, its marketers have resources to think outside the box of social media strategy. Instead of focusing its marketing efforts on paid content for social media, Lush relies on its brand channels, partnerships, and public relations. Since social platforms did not have a space in Lush’s marketing strategy, the company could smoothly exit from the social media platforms it deems damaging. By leveraging its direct marketing channels, Lush is creating a more personal and human connection with its audience, controlling the brand narrative and separating it from potentially-damaging IG or FB content. Some might call it a break from reality — but we think Lush might have snapped back into it.
TL;DR: Lush has deactivated most of its social media accounts to avoid platforms it deems damaging, utilizing its direct marketing channels instead to foster a deeper relationship with its customers.
What Lit Us Up
Spotify Wrapped: Roll the CreditsIt’s that time of year again, when Instagram becomes an avalanche of music-themed IG stories (a music and social media lover’s wonderland). The culprit? Spotify Wrapped. The streaming platform’s personalized year-in-review gives users the chance to learn about their listening habits compared to the rest of Spotify world. (You good, Olivia Rodrigo’s top 1% of listeners?)
While the insights are engaging and fun, Spotify’s true brilliance lies in its strategy and shareability. Each listener’s data is packaged in pretty colors, accompanied by their favorite songs, and precisely sized to easily share all over social media. Since Spotify, like any other app, tracks its user behavior, the year-in-review is an easy way to optimize collected data. Though the platform creates the content, it is shared organically by millions of music lovers. The result is a boost in app downloads (a 21% increase last December) and conversations across social media (not to mention free advertising and a breakthrough in user-generated content).
To keep it fresh, Spotify adds updates each year. This year’s upgrade included the “2021: The Movie'' experience, selecting relevant songs for your year’s opening scene, epic climax, and grand finale. On the whole, Spotify’s social wizardry struck a chord with its users yet again, delivering a perfectly packaged, data-driven piece of content just waiting to be shared.
We’ll leave you with our attempt at a B2B marketer’s life soundtrack:
Drafting the Pitch: She Works Hard For The Money by Donna Summer
Technical Difficulties via Zoom: Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai
Closing the Deal: Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
TL;DR: Last week, the Spotify Wrapped campaign for 2021 launched. The key to its unparalleled success? Strategy and shareability.
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