Guides the Way!They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, and Instagram is dishing out some serious compliments with its expansion of Guides — a long-form content feature inspired by Pinterest. Guides first launched in May for select health and wellness accounts and may soon become the all-inclusive destination for content creators.
Guides lets creators post microblog-style content. The new functionality features a montage of images and videos, as well as extra commentary with tips, advice, and recommendations. Conveniently, it’s all housed on users’ profiles.
Insta-Guides could be the “Yelp!” of the social age for influencers or a one-stop-shop for brands’ repurposed content. With Guides, brands will have the chance to curate how-tos, build visual product guides, and produce tutorials full of tips ‘n tricks. And the best part? It’s accessible from your brand’s page. This feature may be in beta testing, but it’s never too early to start thinking about how your brand will Guide your followers.
TL;DR: IG tests an expanded Guide feature for creators to host blog-style recommendations for products, places, etc.
#Meme-Worthy?With the right audience, (almost) anything is possible. Take memes: The high rates of engagement paired with the unique ability to be replicated and applied to various situations make meme marketing worthy of exploring. Plus, their explosion on social media makes their relevance hard to ignore.
Few brands handle this unique language as well as @SlimJim (hello, 1.1m followers) and @BudLight (they’re hiring a Chief Meme Officer, seriously). This level of commitment requires a hyper-attuned social listening ear and a rapid-fire creative engine.
The good news is, memes aren’t exclusive to the B2C market. Any forward-looking brand can take part in this marketing strategy. But before you enter the Haute market for quality memes, spend time social listening to find out what memes your target audience engages with and how your brand’s persona can fit into the picture. Memes are often more niche than not, so home in on your audience with relevant jokes and pick up engagement and brand awareness on the way. As they say, if the meme-shoe fits ...
TL;DR: Memes aren’t B2C-exclusive. If you’re interested in exploring meme-marketing, try social listening and picture how your brand’s persona can fit into the mix.
License to ImageFinding the perfect image for a blog or social post is hard enough without having to worry about accidentally committing copyright infringement. Luckily Google’s here to help marketers find the perfect image, legally. The search engine is adding new “Licensable” labels to its search results to help people find visuals they can legally re-use — with permission.
Google now displays a badge over specific images that, when clicked, gives details about where you can purchase or license the image. The new process provides more clarity around what you need to do to use pictures on websites and social media, with more straightforward guidance on licensing and attribution requirements.
Copyright is dicey territory, and while some brands may rely on stock photo services, those can be expensive. Now marketers who don’t have access to photo subscriptions won’t need a degree in intellectual property law when they want to insert a cute dog pic into their latest newsletter.
TL;DR: Google’s new “Licensable” image labels will help marketers find the perfect (copyright infringement-free) image.
What Lit Us Up
Rock the (Up)VoteReddit’s always been a bit of a dark horse in social media — an anomaly. The massive platform of interest-based community forums hasn't forayed into brand marketing like the other social giants (until now). On National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, Sept. 1, Reddit launched its first campaign, featuring digital and out-of-home ads, encouraging its users to vote in the upcoming election.
165 millionThe estimated number of votes on Reddit daily.
Dubbed “Up the Vote,” the campaign compares the number of votes on popular Reddit posts to the results of recent U.S. elections. It combines the often absurd tone of Reddit with the gravity of voting — resulting in funny, relatable, and (most importantly) actionable ads. And to round out the campaign in true Reddit fashion, the platform will host a series of AMAs (or “ask me anythings”) with experts on voting rights and education.
By bringing together the light and the heavy and combining quirky ads with AMAs (a practice native to the platform), Reddit has stayed true to itself while connecting with a national conversation. It’s proof that brands that typically rely on word-of-mouth can also market with a purpose without diminishing their identities.
TL;DR: Reddit’s first brand marketing campaign combines goofy internet culture with serious election encouragement, displaying the platform in a new light.
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