TIKTOK
TikTok is on fire
While many social apps start strong and burn out (ahem, looking at you, Clubhouse), TikTok has proven that it’s here to stay.
And recently, we’ve noticed some interesting TikTok growth trends. Let’s take a look:
- With over 49 million installs in April, TikTok is the most downloaded non-gaming app in the world for the second month in a row.
- With the addition of a “Login with TikTok” option yesterday, the company is also pursuing growth through integration with other apps. This has worked very well for Facebook.
- TikTok recently became the second most popular social network of choice for influencer marketing, according to a Linqia survey conducted at the end of April.
The Crew’s take: Instagram maintains its lead in terms of downloads and influencers. But TikTok’s gunning for that top spot and, as long as they keep doing things as well as they are now, the future is bright.
E-COMMERCE
Etsy is (still) a major e-commerce marketplace
Think twice if you’re into e-commerce and not using Etsy.
The company has just published its Q1 statement. Here are some key stats about their marketplace that will keep you on your toes:
- 4.7M active sellers, a 67% percent increase over last year.
- 90.6 million active buyers, an 89.9% increase year over year.
- Gross merchandise sales have increased 144.4% year on year to 2.9 billion.
- Marketplace revenue (listings, fees, and more) were $413 million, a 165.3 percent increase over the previous year.
The Crew’s take: Etsy is still a rapidly growing, active e-commerce marketplace worth considering as a marketing channel.
SPONSORED BY MAXIMUS
Maximus Agency Services open for new advertisers
Native advertising can seem a lot like Mount Everest: huge scale potential that’s, well… complicated to reach.
Let Maximus scale your Everest!
Whether you manage your own campaigns or outsource them to an agency, it’s normal for offer owners to seek a competitive advantage for native advertising.
But if you’re not achieving your CPA goal or struggling to scale across multiple native platforms, the problem might not be your offers.
It might be your strategy, from creatives to, and most importantly, technology. If you’re relying on slow network dashboards and delayed reporting, you’re starting at a disadvantage. Fortunately, Maximus Agency Services is now open to new advertisers.
The Maximus team dominates the native ad landscape by leveraging:
- Maximus’ proprietary software with real-time data reporting and sophisticated optimization features to successfully scale across every major native platform.
- Access to premium inventory on each native network.
- Dedicated, in-house creative and design team at your fingertips.
- Expert marketing plans tailored for each offer.
- Veteran team of expert media buyers and over 20 years of experience to deliver successful campaigns to clients.
They’ve put in the work to figure out native ads so you don’t have to. Now, with agency services, they are offering you all of that experience and more.
Want to succeed at native without even trying?
MARKETING
10 rules to make your website more accessible
Have you ever considered the accessibility of your website?
15% to 20% of the population of the United States have difficulties reading.
That’s a lot of people. But accessibility doesn’t get as much attention as it probably should. Here’s a list of 10 rules, shared by Victor, to make your website more accessible.
1) The site should be accessible via keyboard, without using a mouse. This is easy to test – just try to navigate through your website without using your mouse.
2) Images should have proper alt text so that screen readers can understand the message conveyed by the image.
3) Use unique, specific hyperlinked text. An example will display the idea better:
CLICK HERE to send us a message → To send us a message, USE THE FEEDBACK FORM
4) Make sure your text has enough contrast. Keep your font size big enough to read, and use a background color that’s readable. This is helpful for everyone, not just people with difficulties reading. If you’re interested in text contrast, this website gives a thorough explanation.
5) Use headers for structuring your content:
- Use <h1> for the primary title of the page.
- Use headings to indicate and organize your content structure.
- Do not skip heading levels, so don’t go from <h1> to <h3>.
6) Use labels in your form inputs instead of placeholders. Placeholders are hard to read, and they disappear when users start typing. Don’t use them.
7) Avoid absolute units for text size, such as specifying text size using pixels. Use relative sizes, because they enable you to scale depending on other content and screen size.
8) Only use tables for tabular data.
9) Use ARIA attributes when necessary. These are a set of elements to add to your HTML code to make your website more accessible.
10) Be aware of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These are accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
TWITTER: Tip Jar has arrived! You can now add a tip feature to your account, which lets users hand over their cold, hard cash for your witty insights on the platform. Although the feature apparently has some privacy issues.
FACEBOOK: Here’s a good summary of Facebook vs. Signal drama. It all started with this blog post, and it’s become a fiery – and interesting – exchange since then.
LINKEDIN: The professional network shared an interesting targeting stat in a blog post: “The most successful LinkedIn campaigns have an audience range of between 60k-400k.”
ADVERTISING: Everyone loves to hate on ads. This guy provides a different perspective.
AFFILIATE MARKETING: CPA networks are alive and doing great. Perform[cb] is getting acquired by Beringer Capital.
TWITTER: Accidental memes are a thing of the past. Twitter (finally) stops cropping photos automatically, and the internet is rejoicing.
CONTENT MARKETING: Substack is moving from a newsletter to a publication platform, allowing you to group multiple newsletters into a single publication.
BRAIN TEASER
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
A clinic is giving away free beer to anyone who gets vaccinated
If you enjoy beer and want to get a COVID-19 vaccine, next week could be your perfect shot.
A vaccine clinic in Wisconsin has teamed up with a few local breweries to provide free beer to anyone who receives a Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
People won’t get the beer right away after getting the shot, though. Instead, they’ll receive a coupon they can use in June to “to assure full immunity prior to going to an indoor setting”, according to the thoughtful organizers.
And after you grab your beer, go get a free donut at Krispy Kreme – one of multiple companies that’s offered some incentive for getting a vaccine.
Health and pleasure, all-in-one.