YOUTUBE
YouTube wants its users to binge-watch short videos
YouTube has a problem: As of July 2021, Americans spend more time scrolling through TikTok than watching YouTube videos.
If you can’t beat them…: In an effort to get its users to spend more time on the app, YouTube has expanded a global test that will turn the app more into…TikTok.
How it’ll work: After watching a Shorts video on YouTube, if you close and reopen the YouTube app, instead of being taken to the homepage, you’ll be taken to a short-form, TikTok-like feed.
The hope is that you’ll get into a never-ending binge-watching wormhole (like with TikTok).
What this means for you as a marketer: If you want to increase your organic reach on YouTube, making YouTube Shorts might be a good place to start.
Google owns YouTube, and Google has incredible AI algorithms that match users’ interests to relevant video content. As a result of this update, people will binge watch more YouTube Shorts videos. Which means more organic reach for you.
E-COMMERCE
It’s not just about makeup: Snapchat will let users virtually wear t-shirts and hoodies
Augmented reality is evolving. Fast.
Snapchat has just announced that as part of its new integration with ComplexCon, Snap users will be able to virtually try on branded hoodies and t-shirts.
How the augmented reality “try-on” works:
- First, you select the t-shirt or hoodie you want to try.
- After that, you position your smartphone camera so that it can capture your upper body (similar to how you would position yourself in a mirror).
- And presto! Snapchat will show you how that hoodie looks on you (here’s an example video).
Far from perfect, but evolving: Back in March, Snap acquired a digital sizing company called FitAnalytics. The purpose of the acquisition was to enhance Snapchat’s artificial reality product matches and measurements.
Though there is still a long way to go, things are evolving at a frighteningly fast pace.
For now, these Snap features are only available to large brands, but we expect them to be more widely available next year. If you work in the fashion industry, virtual fitting rooms could be the next big thing in 2022.
SPONSORED BY MOOSEND
Power up your e-commerce business without breaking the bank
Did you know that promoting your business through email marketing is one of the best tactics out there? And with the right tool, you can turn your e-commerce email campaigns into a powerful weapon to turn your audience into loyal supporters of your online business!
Moosend’s e-commerce-oriented email platform is perfect for the job! Start creating converting emails from scratch with the drag-n-drop email builder, or pick and customize one of the available templates.
Use the advanced segmentation and personalization features to send the right message to the right person, minimizing low engagement and conversions.
Of course, Moosend also comes with detailed reports to help you track your campaigns! Leverage the power of data to see how your promotional campaigns perform. If something is off, use the A/B Testing features to optimize your e-commerce email campaigns on the spot.
When it comes to pricing, Moosend is 30% cheaper than Mailchimp, offering you all the functionality and tools you need to make your e-commerce business thrive. And if you have less than 1,000 subscribers, you can use all Moosend features for free – no CC required.
Start sending e-commerce emails that sell without breaking the bank.
LEAD GENERATION
4 strategies to qualify your leads and save time and money on cheap conversions
Quality beats quantity, right?
Especially if you do lead generation. It’s better to have a few hot leads likely to convert than wasting ad spend on users who aren’t going to buy anything.
If you agree, you will dig these four strategies shared by Joe Martinez from Wordstream to qualify your leads and make sure you attract the right kind of people in your funnel.
1) Use specific copy: Use certain wording in your ads to avoid unqualified leads clicking on your ads.
For instance, if your avatar is a small business owner, call them out in the copy. If you only target companies with more than 50 employees, add it to the copy.
Moreover, making the copy more specific to a group of people makes it even more persuasive for them.
2) Be clear about the price: This works more if you sell a SaaS and you generate leads with a free trial. In this case, you can use Google Ads Price Extension to show the price, so they know upfront if they can afford your product.
In any other case, you can communicate the status that your product provides to scare away freebie seekers or people who can’t afford your goods.
And last, but not least, adjust your copy and visuals to the type of customer you’re looking for. Cheap creatives will attract cheap leads.
3) Optimize lead forms for quality rather than volume: You can set up this kind of optimization both with Google Ads lead form extensions and in Facebook Lead Ads.
You will get fewer leads, but with higher intent.
4) Ask more questions: The type of questions you will ask depend on your product and avatar.
But the principle is easy – the more questions a user is willing to answer to get what you’re offering, the higher their intent.
SPONSORED BY ORIBI
This will accurately track your visitors, then automatically suggest ROI-boosting actions
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With one script, Oribi tracks 100% of your website events and interactions. And it tells you the optimization opportunities of your whole marketing stack, with automatically-created reports. No data to analyze. Just actions to take.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Don’t forget about dark mode
… or “don’t forget about the other mode that you don’t use”.
Because it seems there’s approximately a 50/50 split between dark and light modes.
When we asked our readers what they use, it came out 50/50.
When googling on the topic we even found results that say dark mode is dominant.
This means that if you want your content, your ads, your design to fit well for everyone, they have to be designed carefully.
Gmail (and many inboxes), Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit and many others have both these modes available in one way or another.
The main thing to keep in mind: Test your materials for both modes, make sure they look “native” in both. Don’t turn your email into one big white background picture to avoid dark mode (or the other way around).
Building for both dark and light mode is the new “build with mobile in mind”.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
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GOOGLE: One day, machines will write content as good as humans. And Google won’t mind this.
CLUBHOUSE: Recording. Clubhouse rolls out a feature that allows creators to record and later replay an audio room.
ANALYTICS: What’s different in Google Analytics 4 vs. the previous version? This post provides a good overview.
ADVERTISING: Everything is becoming an ad network. Here’s a list of some major platforms that have recently launched ad networks.
SEO: Pipes vs. dashes. Who wins in the SERPs?
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
I am a word of six.
My first three letters refer to an automobile.
My last three letters refer to a household animal.
My first four letters is a fish.
My whole body is found in your room.
What am I?
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.
Gratitude robots
Imagine you work for a big corporation. You do a great job and consistently exceed everyone’s expectations. At the end of the year, the CEO sends you a “thank you” note.
“Wow”, you think, “I must have done a great job for the CEO to recognize my efforts and write me a handwritten note”.
The only problem: The CEO didn’t write the note. A gratitude robot did.
Handwrytten is a business located in Phoenix, Arizona. The company has 130 robots, and all they do is pick up the pen and write thank-you notes.
A booming business: According to David Wachs, the company’s CEO, Handwrytten robots wrote more than 400,000 pieces for clients last month.
Most of those pieces are notes to clients, but Wachs has noticed an increase in employers sending thank you notes to their employees.
One nutraceutical company, for example, assembled gift boxes for employees and had robots write 500 notes to include inside. “Each note was signed by the CEO and thanking them for their hard work and for sticking with the company during the pandemic,” Wachs said.
For some, this might seem fake. For others, it’s the thought that counts. Which side do you support?