The Challenge of Brand Alignment with Social Issues
Increasingly, brands with high public visibility must articulate their positions on issues the public cares about while avoiding the appearance of exploiting public sentiment for purposes of self-promotion. And whether or not a formal statement makes sense on every issue, companies should be prepared for the day when a consumer comes to them to ask a question or offer feedback about a brand’s actions or values, perhaps in the form of a social post that is there for all to see.
Smaller Brands Are Struggling with Social Commerce. Here’s Why
Social commerce is expected to grow 3x as fast as traditional e-commerce, according to a report by Accenture, to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025, but that doesn’t mean savvy marketers from smaller brands can’t find their own points of entry. By thinking outside the box and looking beyond Instagram and TikTok for attention, some midsize brands are finding opportunities to shine.
Converting Scrollers into Shoppers: Why Social Commerce is Key for Holiday Retail Success
The use of social commerce is gaining momentum, and it presents a huge opportunity for retailers to establish meaningful connections with consumers. In fact, 93% of executives are already moving their e-commerce strategies to social media, and 79% expect to use social media to sell products and services over the next three years, according to data from the Harris Poll and Sprout Social.
5 Gen Z and Millennial Social Shopping Trends for the Holidays
Marketers gearing up for the holiday shopping season will no doubt be looking to court Gen Z and millennials, and much of that courting will take place on social apps. To instruct brands on where and how to speak to their fellow kids, here are five Gen Z and millennial preferences captured by a survey of more than 500 consumers by StitcherAds.
Google Local Search Trends III: Socialization
In this third of four installments in my series on recent and ongoing trends in local search, I want to focus on signs that Google’s local platform — comprising Google My Business, Google Maps, and the local component of Google Search — has become, under our noses, a massive social network. Google has achieved this status not through traditional methods of connecting users to each other, but by allowing and encouraging users to share their experiences, questions, and opinions about local businesses in a variety of forms and at a massive scale.
How Not to Grow Your Brand’s Social Following
While establishing your brand across multiple social media platforms is an investment, in both time and resources, it’s typically at a lower cost than almost all other marketing tactics. The key to success, of course, is to use it correctly. Social media cannot and should not be an afterthought: To realize the full value of this game-changing tool, companies should make it a priority—and stay active.
Retailers Use AI to Mine Social Data for Back-to-School Trends
Students across the country are returning to the classroom this month — some for the first time in more than a year. While early indications show strong late-summer back-to-school sales, retailers aren’t leaving anything up to chance. Widespread confusion around health policies, safety protocols, and required supplies that can vary by school are leading retailers to rely on social media and artificial intelligence to collect information on emerging themes and trends.
Yubo’s Commerce-Focused Strategy Could Be the Future of Social Media
With 45 million users worldwide, Yubo is not the largest live streaming app on the market. It’s also not the newest. But the company’s founders still think they’ve got an edge in an otherwise crowded space, thanks to a unique business model that replaces in-app advertising with social commerce.
The State of Social Media & Reputation Management
The Covid-19 pandemic challenged companies to manage their reputations across many channels at a time when customers felt unsafe going to stores. In addition, brand safety, walled gardens, and unexpected changes from Big Tech continued to complicate social strategy and reputation management. Speakers: Sarah Cucchiara (BrandMuscle). Mike Blumenthal (NearMedia). Donny Dye (Tiger Pistol).Moderator: Joe Zappa (Street […]
Social Media Isn’t Just an Ad Channel
With third-party data sources such as the cookie under threat, Apple downgrading the mobile identifier for advertisers, and data collection in general growing tougher, businesses increasingly need to find reliable, consensual data wherever they can get it. Social media is one of the solutions to that problem.
Why Your Business Should Start Incorporating Social Proof
When it comes to marketing your business, social proofing is one of the most critical and yet overlooked strategies in the book. Consumers seeing what others buy influences them to make similar buying decisions. As an example, when your website has reviews or testimonials from well-known figures in the same industry, that’s social proof in action because the reviews will compel many visitors to buy from you.
In this article, we’ll dive more deeply into what social proofing is, how to incorporate it into your business, and some of the pitfalls of social proofing that you would be wise to avoid.
The World Outside is Frightful—Drive Holiday Sales with Social Media Instead
The challenges of driving holiday sales in 2020 do not signify the end of retail, as many sensationalized headlines would have you believe. This e-commerce-focused season is, however, a siren call to local retailers who have yet to take social media marketing seriously.
In the absence of typical frantic holiday shopping foot traffic, social media is a necessary part of holiday marking to effectively reach consumers who opt to stay inside.
Social Media is Not Enough: 3 Reasons Why Websites are a Must for Businesses
During the Covid era, the value of a website has increased exponentially. According to a recent survey, 82% of US small business owners find their website to be an essential part of their businesses’ success, and 54% reported a boost in website traffic since the beginning of quarantines.
Whether you’re a small business owner or someone with an idea, developing a website as your home base is beneficial to growing your customer base and online brand. Here’s why.
How to Turbocharge Social and Email via Cross Promotion
At a time when marketers have limited resources to create new content, social posts and user-generated content can be a welcome addition to email marketing campaigns and newsletters. Email and social media can also be used to cross-promote, creating two sticky channels that drive home important messages. What’s more, while everyone is at home and online more than usual, marketers can get creative with new forms of social engagement over email, too.
TV Advertising Versus Social and Search
TV ads are delivered to consumers in a clutter-free environment, where the consumer is usually in a “leaned back,” focused state of being. TV ads are often delivered via 60″+ TV screens with full surround-sound audio, creating an immersive “sight, sound, motion” impact like no other medium. Of course TV drives better recall! And if TV ads drive better recall, basic logic would conclude that TV ads also drive better consumer response.