INFLUENCER MARKETING
Instagram wants to help businesses connect with influencers better
We said this last week: If you want to keep people on your platform, make it easier for them to make money on it.
Instagram just rolled out a few updates to that’ll help businesses and influencers do just that:
– Businesses will get special treatment in influencers’ DMs: Instagram is adding a dedicated “partnership messages” folder within influencers’ DMs.
Popular influencers who are swamped by fans and “partnership messages” by businesses will get priority placement and skip the “requests” section. That way, businesses and influencers will be able to find each other easier.
– Additional ad boost options: If something works, give it more reach. Businesses can now create Reels Ads for branded content Reels they created with influencers.
Influencers will also be able to create branded content ads from any of their tagged feeds, stories, and Reels featuring your company.
– Shops for influencers who do affiliate marketing: Instagram will conduct a small test with a few US affiliates, allowing them to showcase their shop on their Instagram profile and earn affiliate revenue through Instagram’s native affiliate program.
Availability: Partnership DMs and affiliate shops will be available to select businesses at first. The additional ad boost options should become available globally in the coming months.
BUSINESS
Apple’s App Store = no fees. Google’s Play Store = fewer fees
Apple has announced that developers will be able to contact customers about alternative payment methods. It seems Apple wasn’t happy about this (we all know how Apple loves to make a big deal about things they’re proud of), so they stated it in a rather subtle manner:
Deleted from 3.1.3. “Developers cannot use information obtained within the app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than in-app purchase.”
Google has also announced that in-app fees will be reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent beginning January 1, 2022.
Unlike Apple, Google sucked it up proudly, with a bold “decreasing service fees on subscriptions to 15%” sub-headline on their official announcement.
Why Apple and Google are doing this: Lawsuits. Governments around the world have filed antitrust lawsuits against both companies. As a result, Apple and Google conceded (finally!) and reduced their fees.
What this means for you: If your business runs on thin margins (like in e-commerce) and developing a mobile app wasn’t on your radar due to these fees, now might be a good time to reconsider.
And if you have a Google mobile app with in-app subscriptions, give yourself a raise next month.
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- Easy to use: Moosend’s drag & drop editor is a breeze to use. This means you can create campaigns in minutes.
- A support team that always gives fast and effective solutions.
- Advanced personalization features, like sending emails based on the weather of the recipient.
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ADVERTISING
8 types of Google Ads extensions to save budget
Google Ads Extensions are an easy way to lower your CPC.
It’s a domino effect: With extensions, you can display more information in your ads. That takes up more real estate on the SERPs, which in turn increases your click-through rate.
Higher CTR = a higher Quality Score = lower CPC.
If you run Google Ads, but you’re missing out on this feature, Iskra Emitmova listed 8 types of Google Ads extensions you can use:
- Call extensions: This extension can be useful if your goal is to get prospects on the phone. It will show your company’s number and a CTA to call you immediately from the ad.
- Sitelink extensions: These add links from useful pages on your site to your ad. Use pages that can benefit your customers by giving them details about pricing/shipping, informational articles, specific services, and so on.
- Snippet extensions: These appear right below the ad text and give additional information about the ad. Use this space to add information about the product or to address objections.
- Call out extensions: These display instant benefits of your business, like “50% Discount,” “24/7,” and “Free shipping.” This can be useful to showcase what makes you different from other businesses.
- Price extensions: Quite straightforward. These extensions mark the price of your offer. If you use them, be sure that your prices are competitive.
- Location extensions: Mostly useful for brick and mortar businesses as they show the address of the company. This extension requires you to be listed in “Google My Business.”
- Promotion extension: Use these to grab attention by showing the current deals you’re offering.
- App extensions: The name says it all. These are designed for app advertisers and they let you create an additional CTA at the bottom of the ad to increase the downloads.
Choose the extension that fits your business and offer, and use it to bump your CTR.
SPONSORED BY ORIBI
The magic solution for creating better Facebook audiences at scale
It’s really called Magic Audiences and it’s a must for Facebook advertisers, especially after iOS14 got rid of so much data.
Magic Audiences by Oribi lets you track every action a user takes on your website. Pass the data to Facebook. And create Lookalike and Custom Audiences with excellent precision.
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THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
What’s the deal with Hemingway?
(We hope you read that in Jerry Seinfeld’s voice.)
Marketers and Hemingway have a love affair and it’s wild and passionate and might make you wonder what’s really so good about Hemingway in the first place.
The easy answer is this: Hemingway is a famous writer. Name-dropping famous people can give your content traction. So, name-dropping Hemingway when talking about writing is usually the reason you’ll see people writing about Hemingway.
But the guy was a great writer and often dished out solid advice. Most of the great learnings from Hemingway can be distilled like this:
- First drafts should be bad. Hemingway himself said that the “first draft of anything is shit,” and he’s right. Almost every other good writer agrees with this. First drafts are for getting ideas down, not crafting a brilliant piece.
- Stop using so many adverbs. There have been studies on adverbs in popular books. Hemingway uses the fewest. He’s also the most famous of them all… Coincidence?
- Use smaller words and shorter sentences. The key is to usually use smaller words and shorter sentences. Then, when you do write something long, flowing, and beautiful, it’ll actually feel that way.
If you want more Hemingway, go read A Moveable Feast. It’s a great book.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
EMAIL: Forget spam and promotions tabs, hit that inbox! Get a 15 to 40% better open rate for your email campaigns, newsletter, and more? This tool will help you perfect your deliverability and skyrocket email revenue. Try it for free.*
GOOGLE: Looks like Google messed up big time. Here’s an overview of the company’s antitrust court order, which details unfair ad practices.
PINTEREST: If you’re an affiliate marketer, you’ll love this: Pinterest will now natively support Amazon’s Associate’s Program.
TWITTER: When they’re like “whoa,” ask them to subscribe. Twitter allows you to embed a “subscribe” button to your Revue newsletter in any tweet. This is ideal if you’re creating a Twitter thread and want to include a CTA at the end.
REDDIT: What’s trending on Reddit? Here’s a direct answer straight from the horse’s mouth.
SNAPCHAT: We have good and bad news for Snapchat. The good news: They’re growing. The bad news: They’re not growing as fast as expected.
INSTAGRAM: That’s a cool jacket. Could you find me one like it, please? Instagram is testing a “search for similar products” feature.
APPLE: If you’re into events, here’s a promising acquisition channel you’ve probably never considered: Apple’s App Store.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
Two sisters we are, one is dark and one is fair. In twin towers dwelling we’re quite the pair. One from land and one from sea. Tell us truly, who are we?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Take a break and shut up
We’ve all been there: You’re in the middle of a meeting, and there’s that one person who can’t figure out how to turn off their microphone. Worse, they’re being annoying just for the sake of it.
If you’re on Google Meet, you usually have two options: a) muting them temporarily, or b) kicking them out (although the latter won’t make you more popular in the office).
Google Meet has now added a third, more convenient, option to help you tell people to “shut up” without saying a word: audio and video locks.
Essentially, if a participant is disrupting your meeting, you’ll be able to turn off (i.e. lock) their audio and/or video and prevent them from turning them back on until you “unlock” them. Think of it like a permanent mute.
According to Google, the purpose of this feature is to “address disruptive participants”. Now, if Google could just make this for real-life…then we would really have something.