SNAP
Snapchat Ads could be your new acquisition channel
Hear that?
That’s the sound of advertisers snapping.
What’s going on: Snapchat’s Q1 financial report reveals that their daily active users increased to 332 million—an 18% year-over-year (YoY) increase.
They also grew YoY revenue by 38%, even though advertisers paused ads for a few weeks because of the war in Ukraine.
Not only that, Snapchat is beating Facebook and Twitter when it comes to growth.
Plug it in: Advertisers are getting a lot of revenue from Snapchat Ads, especially Dynamic Ads. And the platform’s user base continues to grow.
That’s good news for you if you’re looking for another acquisition channel to plug into your stack.
BUSINESS
This new EU law will limit your targeting options
Get ready to update those marketing personas…
What’s going on: The new Digital Markets Act will become law in 2024, and will limit a number of targeting criteria, including:
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Ethnicity
- Political affiliation
- Ads targeted to minors
The Act will also require platforms to be transparent about how they display content to users, and will force them to build alternatives to “systems based on profiling.”
In other words, chronological feeds will have to replace algorithms.
How will this impact you? It depends. If you’ve been running Facebook Ads, you know Meta banned similar targeting options last year, so it’s probably no biggie.
On the other hand, the return of chronological feeds could provide a huge boost to organic content.
Act accordingly: If you run ads or publish content in the EU, now’s a good time to develop and implement new strategies. Two years go by fast…
SPONSORED BY PLAYBOOK
You have an extra $1.3M towards your retirement. What do you do?
If you had that much extra cash in your bank account… imagine the possibilities.
It sounds like a dream scenario, but it’s not.
Let’s do some quick math:
Assuming you had $150K in annual expenses, an extra $1.3M would let you retire about 8.5 years sooner than you planned.
That would mean eight more years of:
- Traveling the world
- Quality time with those closest to you
- Mastering new hobbies
- Doing whatever makes your life meaningful
Why $1.3M?
Because Playbook users add an additional $1.3M to their future net worth on average when they subscribe.
And it only takes five minutes to get started.
“Show me how Playbook can grow my net worth.“
TIKTOK
5 things to know before you try TikTok Spark Ads
TikTok recently released Spark Ads, and they’re exactly the kind of ads that make users click.
Why? They leverage user generated content (UGC).
Spark Ads help brands amplify existing organic videos published by creators—and they tend to outperform traditional ads.
If you haven’t run Spark Ads yet and are interested in trying, Tara Johnson recommends you keep these 5 points in mind:
- Use royalty-free audio, or any audio you already own the rights to.
- Cover your bases before boosting a duet or stitched video. You need permission from both creators. Many duets feature a celebrity, which can make it difficult—or expensive—to get permission.
- Branded hashtags may cause copyright issues. If a creator adds copyright protected hashtags to their post, TikTok won’t run your Spark Ads campaign.
- Pay attention to the time frame. Usually creators authorize use of their post for a specific amount of time. If you need more time, request an authorization renewal.
- No threshold on followers. You can turn the post of any creator into a Spark Ad, regardless of their follower count.
TikTok Ads are a huge revenue opportunity for brands right now…
And if you want to get the most out of your ads and reduce trial and error, our TikTok Deep Dive shows you how to make this platform work for your business.
SPONSORED BY INSIGHTS
The best marketers learn from successful brands. Here’s how to level up in less time
You don’t uncover new marketing ideas, angles, or strategies by repeating the same methods day in, day out.
You do it by studying thriving brands and proven tactics.
If that sounds time consuming… It is. Which is why we do the research for you.
All you have to do is join Insights, and you’ll get access to Deep Dives into what’s working for brands like Athletic Greens, Pete & Pedro, and more.
“Show me new ideas and strategies.”
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
It’s perfectly OK to build a newsletter audience using paid ads
There are plenty of hot takes about how to build newsletters.
But there’s one idea in particular that we think is complete nonsense: “Your first newsletter subscribers need to be organic.”
It’s okay: You can dismiss this advice.
Here’s why: Organic, paid… It doesn’t matter how you get newsletter subscribers. Great newsletter audiences have been built from many sources.
For instance, we generated 3639 subscribers from TikTok Ads, at a very low CPA – €1.68. Would you guess that a marketing newsletter would work well on TikTok Ads?
The idea that organic subscribers are better than paid is a contrarian take that isn’t actually good advice.
And we don’t think you should feel discouraged by it if you encounter it online.
What really matters is that your subscribers care about your newsletter.
Are they opening it? Are they clicking on links? Do they share your newsletter with others?
So instead, focus on getting readers. It’s easy to get subscribers. It’s hard to get devoted readers.
Don’t worry about where your audience comes from. Focus on retaining the people who choose to subscribe.
Best of luck!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
SOCIAL MEDIA: It’s not about being famous… It’s about getting clients! This Amazon bestseller shows you the 7 steps to building a following of potential buyers and winning more clients. Crack the code for short-form content like TikTok, FB and IG Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more—and build a huge audience in less than 1 hour a week.*
E-COMMERCE: Now trending… Buy now, pay later (BNPL). According to this Experian survey, 18% have shopped with the BNPL option in the past 16 months, with 57% claiming it could replace their traditional payment method.
MICROSOFT: Microsoft Bing added new features to their Shopping section that will tell shoppers if a brand is eco-friendly or not. You can even check a brand’s overall ethicality rating.
ADVERTISING: Maybe the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) found your tax-related ads deceptive, but that doesn’t mean US judges will. That is, if we’re going by this recent TurboTax case.
E-COMMERCE: Shopping isn’t what it used to be in the UK. Online sales have been trending downward since their peak in February 2021. It might be too early to bite your nails, though… Sales are still 20.3% above pre-pandemic levels.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
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.
*drum roll* And the Fasties fast food winners are…
Did you know there’s an annual fast foods awards event?
Thrillist’s Fasties event is a fun romp through the best-of when it comes to fried foods—and other foods you probably didn’t know fall into the fast food category.
Here’s what we learned from the Fasties:
- There are more categories of fast food than you realized.
- Same goes for the number of fast food chains. Taco Bell alone has four competitors, including places we’ve never heard of. Like Del Taco.
Just so you know, reading about the Fasties contenders may leave you craving for tenders. Or burgers. Or tacos.
We thought it was fair to warn you, in case lunch isn’t for a few more hours.