Tweet Like a ProLooks like @jack finally showed up to the 8 a.m. meeting. Twitter is joining the crew of biz-casual social media platforms by launching new Professional Profiles. The feature will allow businesses, non-profits, publishers, and creators to display brand information (like address and contact info) directly on their profiles. Twitter is testing it with a small collection of businesses and will slowly release the feature to more over the next few months.
By using Professional Profiles, brands’ audiences can experience a more streamlined process to access business information. The feature will provide more clarity for consumers to recognize your page as a legitimate one, and even help potential new customers discover you by location. Depending on how Twitter expands the feature, it could expand opportunities for brands to conduct eCommerce and product launches or showcase image galleries and product displays all from their Twitter profiles.
The direction of Professional Profiles is unclear, whether Twitter intends to use it for eCommerce expansion or if it’s a ploy to reduce brands’ organic reach and increase ad investments (we hope not). Hey @jack, if you make it to next month’s meeting, can you let us know?
TL;DR: Twitter is rolling out a Professional Profiles feature for businesses to display contact and address information directly on their pages. Your Target, Your ChoiceSometimes, there’s nothing better than a loosely targeted ad … Ya know, those slightly relevant video ads that appear on your screen during the hours-long video rabbit hole you found yourself in? Well, Facebook’s expanding its ad product capabilities with new in-stream (a.k.a ads seen while scrolling through FB’s video feed) targeting categories so advertisers can choose between general video categories like “Animals & Pets” or “Fitness & Workouts” or get more granular with sub-categories (i.e. Fitness Tips) within the broader topics.
In typical copycat … err, similar ... fashion to YouTube’s “Affinity Audiences” feature, Facebook looks to give advertisers more choice over where their ads appear in order to maximize overall engagement rate and consumer response. This is good news for brands who are worried about reaching a totally unengaged audience or have brand safety concerns. And this is especially good news for marketers concerned about the impact of the notorious iOS 14.5 update from the big Apple. Targeting via content topic takes the uber-personal out of the equation — which Apple is doing — and instead, replaces the reliance on third-party cookies with an audience’s general interests and content consumption. Sure, it’s not as personal … but let’s be real: Consumers get wigged out by ads from a brand they’ve visited one time in the past year.
TL;DR: Facebook’s testing expanded targeting capabilities for it’s in-stream video ad product allowing marketers to place ads within certain topics and categories, like “Animals & Pets” or “Fitness & Workouts.” Don't Hit PauseWhen you think of traditional social media platforms, Spotify probably doesn’t first come to mind. But as audio continues to make a greater impact in the social space, the lines between streaming and social are increasingly blurred — especially after a few recent announcements from Spotify.
The streaming platform is now expanding its integration with Facebook to allow users to listen to full-length songs and podcasts directly from the FB app. Not only does this streamline the user experience between social and audio, but it makes it even easier to share what you’re listening to — making digital streaming inherently more of a social experience.
As live chat rooms have taken the social media world by storm, brands have been trying to find their pace in this new medium. And it can be tricky, as anything can happen in real time. But innovations like this partnership between Spotify and Facebook mean brands have increased opportunities to connect pre-recorded podcasts with the live world of social media — and we’re excited to click Play.
TL;DR: Spotify and Facebook’s recently increased partnership further blurs lines between social media and streaming audio. What Lit Us UpThe Times, They Are ConfusingFiguring out how to both live and work at home? Confusing. Deducing how to socialize again in real life? Confusing. A plant-based burger that tastes exactly like its meaty counterpart? Yes, actually slightly confusing. Burger King understands that the world is a bit bewildering at the moment and leans into the feeling with its latest Impossible Whopper campaign.
It originally kicked off back in March using audio only with different radio and streaming spots, while the video version dropped this week. What starts off sounding like an eerie PSA eventually reveals itself to be a 90-second ad for the fast-food chain’s new plant patty. Using COVID as a marketing theme can be risky, but BK’s perfectly deadpan delivery coupled with the acknowledgement of the absurdness of it all make it work.
Radio marketing is not something that often catches people’s eyes (or should we say, ears). But this one did because for most of us, it wasn’t even obvious that it *was* an ad. The humorous PSA-style kept us guessing until the very end. Not every marketing initiative translates to both audio and video, but this one does because the voice-over works on its own and when it’s layered over flummoxed-looking folks. Audio-focused content has been in the news quite a bit and this Burger King campaign is a great example of how brands can take advantage of it while concurrently marketing in more traditional ways. Order up!
TL;DR: Burger King’s latest campaign shows how audio marketing is (well) done. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)
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