SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook and Instagram are stealing from TikTok again
Or maybe we’re just getting déjà vu…
Meta just announced a new type of home feed for Facebook and Instagram that prioritizes personal post recommendations from users you don’t necessarily follow.
Wait, that looks familiar: The new main feed will display posts in popular Reels and Stories format, algorithmically suggested based on user behavior and posts they previously engaged with.
Also, Instagram will automatically turn all videos shorter than 15 minutes into Reels while expanding Reels Remix, which is their version of TikTok duets.
So long, friends: Oh, and by the way, your friends’ posts are shifting to a separate feed in Facebook’s new “Feeds” tab.
While you can customize the tab to your liking, the platform’s main feed will be… TikToky.
Why we care: TikTok has seen unprecedented growth, influencers earn more on the popular platform than on Facebook and Instagram… and Meta is adapting accordingly.
And as Facebook transforms from a social platform to an entertainment platform, new opportunities rise for marketers.
For example, your content may have a better chance of going viral or starting a trend, even if you don’t have many followers.
Want to do well during the holidays? Then you may want to upgrade
Yes, happy holidays to you, too, Google.
The search giant claims that upgrading your Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max ahead of the holidays can significantly improve your ads performance.
Yes, campaigns update automatically in two months… But switching now means you’ll be in time for the big season.
And you’ll get to combine all of Google’s inventory and formats with your creative assets across all its channels, including all YouTube Ads formats.
… and there’s a new feature in Business Profile: Automated messaging for frequently asked questions.
Now you can suggest questions and provide automatic answers when users start online chats with your business on Google Search and Maps.
That could certainly help streamline customer service without overextending resources.
Why we care: Believe it or not, many shoppers start holiday shopping and preparations sometime in July.
So if you advertise on Google, upgrading to Performance Max and making use of the platform’s best features should set you up for holiday success.
Speaking of setting you up for success…
SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO
Announcing: Stacked Marketer Pro
One year ago, we launched Insights by Stacked Marketer, a paid membership that gives you access to rich marketing insights, research, and growth strategies used by other brands.
Now we’re renaming it to Stacked Marketer Pro.
Why? Readers have told us repeatedly that they didn’t know Insights is part of Stacked Marketer.
We think Stacked Marketer Pro makes the connection more obvious.
Why “Pro”? Because it gives you access to deep content that helps marketers become effective and profitable professionals.
It’s like our daily newsletter, only 10X.
What’s inside? You get a fresh Pro Report every month. Plus 18 you can access right now:
- TikTok for Marketers: Countless case studies—creatives included—of ways businesses are leveraging the app to literally 10X their revenue.
- Landing Page Copywriting: We analyzed 3000+ landing pages and dissected a few hundred to find the copy and design elements of high-converting pages.
- A newsletter masterclass by Morning Brew: … from their early beginnings to becoming a $20M media empire with 3M subscribers.
- We bought the products of successful brands like Goli, LadyBoss, Athletic Greens, Pete & Pedro, and others, then broke down their marketing funnels. From product pages to post-purchase email flows… from Instagram Ads to order bumps and upsell funnels… and more.
- It’s almost impossible not to find at least one insight that will increase your bottom line.
… and you can experience it for just $7: That’s right… You can try Stacked Marketer Pro now for just $7 and see if it’s something you’ll benefit from.
MARKETING
How to pitch your brand to podcasts
If there’s one effective way to grow your brand without spending cash… It’s appearing on podcasts.
The benefits are huge:
- Building awareness for both your personal brand and your business.
- Networking with other hosts and guests from your industry.
- Getting free backlinks to your website and boosting domain authority.
- Providing expertise while warming the audience to your product or service.
- Getting tons of content to share on your own platforms.
Casey Hill’s insightful LinkedIn post offers a few ways to pitch podcast hosts on… well, having you on.
So let’s get pitching…
Niche down. Pick your podcasts carefully. Getting a spot in any old podcast may rack up your appearances but won’t help you reach your ideal customer profile.
For example: If you’re an e-commerce marketing agency that partners with Shopify brands, look for podcasts that fit that category.
Use podcast databases. This is where you find contacts. Some tools offer extensive libraries, including the host info you need for sending your pitch.
And some include filters that help you quickly find podcasts that fit your niche.
Don’t outsource, if possible. Instead of hiring a freelancer who’s not as familiar with the industry, write your own intro message and make it as personal as you can.
It feels more natural to have a brand founder or ads expert reaching out for a feature than a random person from your marketing team.
Suggest topics. An underrated part of pitching is actually recommending a potential topic to the host.
If you can spice up your cold intro with talking points, you can build intrigue and make hosts more likely to say yes.
Actually listen to podcasts. You’d be amazed how many people blindly pitch a podcast without having listened to a single episode.
Immerse yourself in podcasts and learn about the hosts, the concepts, and the guests. You’ll learn something new and gather material that makes your cold intro more authentic and compelling.
Ready for that mic check? Whip out those spreadsheets and start pitching those podcast appearances. Good luck!
SPONSORED BY THE DAILY UPSIDE
Like Stacked Marketer, but for business
Let’s face it, traditional business news is painfully dry (you know the usual culprits), littered with jargon, and unapproachable.
That did not sit well with The Daily Upside, though.
Written by a former investment banker, The Daily Upside, covers the most important business stories in a fun, engaging, insightful style… without the clickbait and sensationalism.
Level up your business IQ with The Daily Upside – it’s free to subscribe.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
How to come up with viral tweet ideas in less than 5 minutes
There’s no secret formula to writing a viral tweet, no matter what niche you’re tweeting in.
But there are ways you can make going viral a lot easier, like this method we’ve seen work well for founders and marketers:
Step One: Make a list of popular accounts in your niche. This shouldn’t take long.
Step Two: Use Twitter’s search function to find those people’s most popular tweets of all time.
For example, “from:stackedmarketer min_faves:10” would show you all of Stacked Marketer’s tweets with more than 10 likes.
Adjust this number based on how popular the account is to filter through their most popular tweets.
Yep… you’re looking at the most viral tweets in your niche. Keep an eye out for two things:
- Tweet formats that work well. Write these down as frameworks for yourself.
- Topics you have opinions on. Viral topics are good ones for you to comment on. Figure out how you can write your own opinions based on some of the popular tweets in your niche.
The more you do this, the better you’ll train your brain to identify great tweets—and the better your chances of going viral will be.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
GROWTH MARKETING: “… like I have a team of researchers giving me great insights that I could never get by myself.” That’s just one example of how members feel about Stacked Marketer Pro. Want to level up with insights backed by over 3000 hours of research? Join Stacked Marketer Pro.*
LINKEDIN: Getting down to business. LinkedIn is launching Business Manager to house all ad accounts and pages, and give team members easy access to the dashboard. The feature is still in beta, but it sounds useful.
ADVERTISING: Uh oh. There’s a new bill being advanced in the US that, if passed, would make it illegal to track user activity for ad purposes. Maybe it’s time to consider contextual advertising… You know, the kind we do in this newsletter.
SEO: During this month’s SEO Office Hours, Google busted a few myths and gave us some insightful technical tips. This recap summarizes the key takeaways.
PAYMENTS: They call it “friendly fraud,” but…. According to Visa, 75% of chargeback requests are actually false claims from shoppers with legitimate purchases. Visa is vowing to start fighting it in 2023.
ADVERTISING: DALL-E is expanding. The artificial intelligence (AI) art generating sensation plans to invite another million people to its beta release. That could be good news for marketers who need to generate ad creative in a pinch…
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Well this is awkward…
Guess what happens when you throw a party for introverted dogs at a dog park?
Nothing, apparently.
Turns out introverted dogs don’t enjoy networking anymore than humans do.
… Because this well-intentioned meet-up for introverted dogs didn’t go the way their owners planned.
Wonder how long it took those poor doggos to recover afterwards…