SOCIAL MEDIA
And the most downloaded iOS app of 2021 is…
Apple today released its list of the most downloaded free and paid apps in the US for 2021.
Who got the top spot?
TikTok. TikTok was the most downloaded free app on the app store, followed by YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.
Supported by third-party ranking data: TikTok has been the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store for months now, according to third-party app analytics firms like SensorTower. And they ain’t stopping anytime soon. According to AppAnnie, another app analytics company, TikTok will reach 1.5 billion active users in 2022. That’s more than the current population of China (1.4 billion).
How this affects you: Marketers go where people are paying attention. At this rate, TikTok can become the second or first most popular social network in the world in 2022. So you’d better get ready. And as the saying goes, “the best preparation for tomorrow is doing something today.”
ADVERTISING
Here are the most popular emojis of 2021
Emojis make our ads pop.
The Unicode Consortium has just released a list of the most frequently used emojis of 2021. Let’s take a closer look:
The top ten emojis all had to do with expressing emotions: smiling, smiling (a lot), crying, showing love, and so on. You know, things we (like to) do every day.
The Unicode Consortium has also classified emojis into categories and identified the top emojis in each. Here are some emojis that you’ve probably seen and are top in their category:
- 🚀 Rocket Ship. A symbol of progress being made.
- 💪 Flexed Biceps. Indicates strength, success, overcoming a struggle.
- 💐 Bouquet. Symbolizing occasions like celebrations, congratulations and so on.
- 🦋 Butterfly. Representing change, beauty, nature and transformation.
- And our favorite: 🤸, or a person doing a cartwheel. This is the most popular emoji that suggests happiness and joy.
Put this knowledge to use: People tend to respond better to familiar things. You can use the most popular (and relevant) emojis for your niche to spice up your social media posts and make those ads pop!
SPONSORED BY DIVVY
Cashflow management problems? Check out Divvy.
Getting money for free is a claim almost impossible to believe.
But Divvy gets close to that…
If you buy any kind of advertising, Divvy is the perfect solution to help you better manage your budget, never go overboard… and most importantly, squeeze more juice out of your dollars.
How?
- With Divvy, you get a 2.25% cashback on your advertising spend.*
- A 1.75% cash back on every other spend your business does.*
- With credit lines from $5k to $15M, you’ve got flexibility for when you want to press on the gas pedal and scale your campaigns the hardcore way
- Set a dedicated spend limit per platform so you never go out of budget.
- A real-time dashboard that tracks every dollar entering and exiting your business. So you have a clear picture of your financial state at every moment.
Long story short, Divvy helps you spend less time worrying about your financial health… and more time optimizing your campaigns, and growing your business.
Solve your cashflow management with Divvy.
*Terms and Conditions apply; see offer page for more details. Foreign transactions and late fees may apply. Card issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC.
E-COMMERCE
How to make your offer way more attractive without changing anything about it
If you’ve been in the e-commerce game for a while, you might be aware of the popular free+shipping offer used by many dropshippers back in 2015.
It was a new angle at the time, and it converted like a charm. Plus, many brands still use it.
Giving away the target product for free can be a winning offer, and Thomas McKinlay brought up an alternative way to do it in this Ariyh issue.
Essentially, it goes like this:
Create a bundle where the target product comes as a gift.
For instance, if your audience is looking for a fitness tracker, the offer will be:
Get a fitness tracker for free (value $29), when you buy a weighing scale (value $29).
If you’re offering bundles like “buy x and get y for free,” giving the target product for free is better than the other way around.
Why?
- The free angle is “evergreen.” Everybody wants free stuff, and if it’s what we are looking for, it’s still better.
- Customers don’t expect to find the product they want for free, hence, when they do they feel lucky.
Here are a few studies that Thomas McKinlay included:
- A souvenir store next to a Chinese university sold 78% more “university notebook [target product] + knit cap for ¥12” bundles when the notebook was framed as a free gift.
- People rated a promotion 19.6% more attractive when the main product (either a flash drive or headphones) was framed as a free gift.
Some tips to keep in mind to implement this offer:
- Play around with the bundles until you find the combination that converts more.
- Include messaging that makes the user feel lucky they found your offer.
- If it seems too obvious to the customer why you’re offering the product for free, the effect may weaken.
SPONSORED BY UTOPIA
Profitable strategies to help you earn your first dollar online or 10x your profits
This is for you, The e-com brand owner, freelancer, or agency owner.
Get immediate access to winning marketing strategies & courses to help you make money online without the guesswork. Over 33 courses and 4,000 strategies.
Just have a look at what people are saying about Utopia and what they’ve achieved since joining.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Making a great order tracking page
If you are anything like us, you check this page at least twice before your order arrives.
And you might have not given it a second thought every single time.
We want to tell you that those frequent visits to the order tracking page are opportunities to increase your sales. It was PEEL who opened our eyes, in the deep dive we did on their store.
Their order tracking things does a few things:
- It shows when your order should arrive (duh).
- It asks for a rating or review.
- It shows you accessories and related products you can buy.
You can see a screenshot of it here.
This opened up our minds to other possibilities for the tracking page.
- Ask for a newsletter (or SMS) opt-in.
- Provide a discount code for a future purchase.
- Share blog posts.
- Ask to share their affiliate link with friends.
So many possibilities on a page most shoppers visit frequently!
If you like what you read, feel free to check us out on Twitter.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
BUSINESS: Another day, another major company changing its name. This time, Square changed its name to (drumroll) Block.
GOOGLE: You can no longer use W9 forms to verify your identity as an advertiser, according to Google.
MICROSOFT: Mobile attribution; we won’t blame you if you get nostalgic thinking about how things were in 2020 versus now. Fortunately, there are some things you can do according to Microsoft, to maintain your ad performance as mobile attribution erodes.
FACEBOOK: Raise your hand if you asked this question at least once in 2021. “What’s the best time to post on social media?” With this feature, it appears that Facebook now wants to give you the answer directly.
SEO: Google update? What update? A recent Twitter poll found that half of SEOs haven’t noticed an obvious change on their websites following Google’s November 2021 update.
BRAIN TEASER
What time does a tennis player get up?
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.
Microsoft Edge is getting edgy
First they pushed a controversial buy-now-pay-later feature to Microsoft Edge. And now they’re (kind of) mocking Google.
Several people have noticed that when you are on Chrome’s download page, Edge displays a pop-up saying: Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft. Browse securely now.
Um…yeah…riiight.
Apparently, Microsoft Edge also displays other versions of the same message:
- That browser is so 2008! Do you know what’s new? Microsoft Edge.
- “I hate saving money,” said no one ever. Microsoft Edge is the best browser for online shopping.
Edgy.