Instagram Shopping

Written by: Hannah Stedman

The popular photo-sharing app is making a transition into a shopping and video platform. Instagram’s recent updates have introduced more shopping specific features that let users buy directly from the app from corporations and small businesses. 

With the introduction of Instagram shops, there is now a designated section that users can visit to buy products. Instagram allows the user to save their card information and shipping address, so shopping can be done in as few as two clicks. Products can be tagged in posts so users can see them  on their home feed. When users select the product, Instagram directs them  to shopping pages where they can buy the product with just a couple of clicks. 

Many small businesses are taking advantage of Instagram live to do product demonstrations and give a more in depth look at the quality and specific features of the product. Some businesses have also utilized their stories and highlight reels to show their products for sale and let users purchase off of these features. One example is how users can purchase products off of Instagram stories. Users  comment  on the story of a specific  item they  want with their information, and the seller then can put aside the item to ship after the user pays for it.

These changes to Instagram’s platform have led to a significant increase in spending. Instagram’s business account says 50% of people that they've surveyed have gone to a website to buy the product or service that they saw on Instagram stories and 58% of people have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing them in stories. As more businesses utilize stories, the more easily accessible the products will become and the more users will be accustomed to purchasing items off of the platform. 

Users are drifting away from Instagram as a social media platform and are openly embracing it as another form of shopping. It’s getting harder to tell the difference between a normal picture post with a product tag and a sponsored post, and one day there may not be a difference between them at all.

These types of features are what separates Instagram from other social media platforms like TikTok or Twitter. Instagram has been easily able to adapt to the new trends and they listen to what the consumers want. It has evolved so much since its start in 2010, and it will continue to evolve to stay relevant for years to come.

Addressing Social Justice in Advertising

Written by: Sydney Villanueva

2020 has been a year of awareness for social injustice — there has been significant growth and understanding that there needs to be change in America. Companies have a major influence over consumers through the way they advertise products or services, and to a certain extent, they have an ethical responsibility to make a statement and attempt to make a difference in their communities. Advertising isn’t always necessarily about the number of people a campaign will reach or how many impressions it will get — sometimes it’s about making a difference and being involved in the community. 

The Black Lives Matter movement was first founded in 2013 by three African-American women. Since then, there has been a large following behind the movement, but it has significantly grown in 2020. After the wrongful deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many more earlier this year, the movement grew to be possibly bigger and larger than any other movement in the United States so far, according to The New York Times. 

A number of companies have come out with exceptional advertisements in relation to the BLM movement — here are a few of my favorites that were released this year: 

Doritos

Doritos launched an ad campaign called, #AmplifyBlackVoices. They sponsored and gave their outdoor advertising, billboards and murals across the country to Black artists in the push to illustrate and elevate Black voices in the fight against racial injustice. Doritos has sponsored artists in large cities across the country — Minneapolis, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City, just to name a few. They have contributed $1 million so far in support of Black artists and to the Black Lives Matter movement. The best thing about this ad campaign is the way that they involved the Black community in a unique way. 

Twitter

Twitter took tweets that were tweeted by Black individuals on the subject of the BLM movement and made them into outdoor billboards in big cities all over America. This ad campaign was so simple for Twitter to do, but it was also so powerful and well done.  

Nike

Nike came out with an ad on Youtube called, “For once, Don’t Do It.” They used their infamous motto, “Just Do It,” to counter the social injustices happening in America. This one minute video circulated social media and has a total of around 1 million views.

The BLM movement influenced advertising in a number of ways. Ads and ad campaigns are now made to highlight social justice movements in unique yet simple ways that are meaningful to minority communities, and companies are continuing to donate millions of dollars in an effort to fight racial and social injustice in America. There is still so much that needs to be done, but this is a start. I believe there will be a significant change in the advertising industry moving forward, including more diversity and inclusivity of races, ethnicities, genders, and more.

Small Business TikTok Marketing

Written by: Allie Jones

Within the past year, the social media app, TikTok, has taken the world by storm. It has quickly climbed the App Store charts and even passed Instagram to claim the title of the second most popular social media app last month. It is safe to say that despite recent complications with the Trump administration, TikTok isn’t going anywhere. 

As a result, small and large businesses alike have started utilizing the platform to advertise and advance their products. So, what does it look like to market a product on TikTok? 

Connecting With the Audience

When you see small businesses advertise on TikTok, they always try to make a personal connection with the viewer. Especially with new small businesses, establishing these personal connections is essential to building a loyal consumer base. Using this app allows the customer to virtually inspect the product themselves on a deeper level than a five-star rating system could ever provide, which is especially important to the generation that puts a lot of value in good reviews.

Taking Advantage of the Algorithm

Once a company has created a video that connects with the viewer, they can move on to the final and arguably most vital aspect of TikTok success — the algorithm. What makes TikTok so addicting is that the more you use the app, the better the videos relate to your taste. When an avid TikTok user looks into someone else's account, it is not very likely that they will see the same videos on both feeds; one person’s feed may be more fashion focused, while the others’ feed is mainly sports highlights. So, for a business owner to reach their niche audience, they have to have an understanding of how the algorithm cultivates a “for you page.” By learning to take advantage of the algorithm, businesses can best reach their target audience, and hopefully sell more of their product.

Influencer Marketing

Another advantage of advertising on TikTok is the power of influencers. Many famous TikTok-ers have millions of followers and massive influence over their fan-base. By incorporating these social media stars into an advertising campaign, more people within the Gen-Z target market will be likely to see a business’s product or service, and will also be more likely to purchase.

With the threat of TikTok disappearing from the United States eliminated, now is the optimal time for small businesses to continue to lean into TikTok marketing. TikTok sparked a marketing module that values creative and engaging content over monetary input. By taking advantage of this platform, any small business can make it if they put in the work and create a fun dance or two. 

Micro-Influencers Are Taking Over the Ad Industry

Written by: Maggie Dye

Being an influencer can be quite the sweet life — photoshoots, free products, getting paid to simply be on Instagram? Yes please, sign me up! It is such an appealing lifestyle to millennials and gen-z that more and more are turning to influencing as a career.

While larger influencers including pop stars, critically-acclaimed actresses, and supermodels fresh off the runways of Paris are usually the ones who succeed in attaining this influencer lifestyle, smaller influencers are on the rise. Brands are increasingly seeing the benefits of working with micro-influencers, making your dream career of being paid to vlog your vacation more of a reality.

You may be wondering, what exactly is a “micro-influencer?" This term is used to describe social media users between 1,000 and 10,000 followers that are paid by brands to promote their products. Businesses are starting to look to these small internet-gurus rather than the traditional stars with over a million followers for several reasons:

Higher Engagement

Brands are beginning to realize that the higher the number of followers an influencer has, the lower the engagement rate. It feels much easier to ask a question or leave a comment on someone’s page that seems similar to you (but with better VSCO presets, of course) rather than a celebrity with god-like status, like Rihanna or Selena Gomez. A smaller audience means these influencers can have a more personal, genuine interaction with their followers. In fact, influencers with only 1,000 followers generated an 85% higher engagement rate than accounts with 100,000 followers. The sweet spot in follower counts seems to be in the 1,000 to 100,000 follower range, making micro-influencers marketing gold.

Tighter Target Audience

Many brands prefer working with micro-influencers because they're more targeted to their followers and audience. These mini-celebrities have followers that are actually interested in the product or service that these companies are selling. Larger influencers have massive followings of people from all walks of life, which makes the chances of their audience being relevant to a business’ product pretty slim. Micro-influencers also have a good knowledge of who makes up their audience, creating a more authentic, less commercial experience for their followers.

Fostering Better Relationships

Today, many consumers trust recommendations from friends over advertising. Micro-influencers come across as actual people giving truthful reviews on products they love and use, not just companies that will position their product however they need to in order to turn a profit. Even larger influencers and celebrities don’t count as a peer-recommendation anymore due to big-time sponsorships and commercials. Working with smaller influencers is the best way for businesses to foster trusting, natural relationships with their target audience.

Affordability

Celebrities and big-time influencers can cost you hundreds of thousands for a single post or endorsement. This strategy is not always ideal for smaller brands, which is why micro-influencers, a much more affordable option, are on the rise. Depending on the number of followers and engagement they receive per post, these influencers typically cost around $1,000 per post for those with 100,000 followers.  With this rate, companies have much more wiggle room in their advertising budget, allowing them to invest in other media channels and reach more potential customers.

Micro-influencers are a great idea for small to medium sized businesses looking for a way to reach their niche audience. By saving costs and directing their advertisements towards a tighter target market, this new marketing strategy may just be the new industry go-to. So, if you’re willing to up your Instagram game a little more, the glamorous life of an influencer may just be within your reach. 

TikTok: How Long Will It Blow up the Internet?

Written by: Natalie Hutcherson

TikTok is recorded as the fastest growing social media app on the market. The app has been around for awhile, but it recently became more popular in 2018 when viral successes from other (now defunct) video platforms Vine and Musical.ly shut down in recent years. Now teenagers everywhere are entertaining themselves and each other by creating their own video content in the hopes of catching the wave of social media fame. By exploring just how TikTok came about, perhaps we can understand how it captures the attention of teens across America and how long it will last. 

Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok is a social network where users create and upload a variety of video-based content. Videos range from comedy to lip syncing, to viral challenges, some of which emerged specifically from famous TikTok users.

Before TikTok,  the trending video app was Vine. Then, there were born Vine Stars. These Vine stars made their money and fame through comedic videos and later social media partnership.s When Vine died in 2016, these stars turned to Musical.ly to continue their fame and social media careers. TikTok was also launched in 2016 under the Chinese name Douyin.  As the app spread beyond China, Douyin’s name changed to TikTok. ByteDance continued to purchase Musical.ly, gaining another popular video app. Eventually, TikTok began to steal the show, and ByteDance got rid of Musical.ly. This is when TikTok began to blow up the Internet. 

Loren Gray was one of the first people to become famous through her use of TikTok. She currently has 39.4 million followers on the app. The story of Loren Gray repeated itself as more TikTok videos gained popularity. As regular users like Loren gain viewers on TikTok, their followers begin to overflow to their other social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, etc.). The more content they create, the more their fan base grows and becomes invested in their social media content and personal lives.

Typically, influencers make their salary from paid partnerships and personal branding/advertising. These methods are most common via Instagram, but TikTok has advertising purposes as well. Often, if a famous user makes a TikTok video to a song no one has heard, this song will be used for more and more TikToks, ultimately boosting the song’s and artist’s fame. If a famous user wears certain clothing or does their makeup a certain way, followers may message them via another app  to find out how they can also use the same products as the TikTok star.

Aside from advertising and fame, TikTok has started multiple trends and viral challenges. TikTok videos formed new dance moves, including the dance to “Get the Gat,” that the LSU football team posted from the White House after winning the NCAA College Football Championships this year. Even fashion trends have not been able to avoid the TikTok influence. When the song “Old Town Road '' was popularly used to make TikToks, not only did the song gain fame, but its lyrics about cowboy hats and Wranglers seemed to influence men and women’s fashion back to their country roots. Multiple viral challenges have emerged, sending users into a frenzy to create their own original TikToks. To name a few: 

• the Haribo Challenge - arranging hundreds of gummy bears as a crowd while Adele’s “Someone Like You” is blared in the background; 

• Fake Travel Challenge - using everyday objects and pictures to mimic travel pictures in a comedic way; 

• Raindrop Challenge - adding visual effects that mimic pouring rain and stopping the rain in sync with musical beats.

TikTok influences many current trends, and continues to create rising social media stars. The app continues to gain momentum and popularity as a form of social media. However, just as Musical.ly and Vine are a thing of the past, TikTok could only be a rung on the ladder to the next best social media craze.

SOURCES:

https://www.hercampus.com/culture/popular-tiktok-trends-college

https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-app-online-website-video-sharing-2019-7#but-as-tiktok-started-to-gain-traction-globally-another-short-video-app-was-already-buzzing-in-the-united-states-musically-its-focus-was-15-second-lip-syncing-music-videos-10

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us

Vlogging Has Changed The Advertising Market

Written by: Kennedy Harrison

Over the course of about 100 years, people have watched the advertising sphere shift from medium to medium. First, it began with pamphlets and flyers, then to newspapers and radio. Towards the end of the first half of the 20th century, advertising was being prepped for a digital and technological format.

Advertising began to shift from the senses of touch and smell to sight and sound. The rise of radio and television opened an entirely new way to sell a brand or product.

Today, we see much more than just radio and television. One of the most popular forms of advertising is through social media. We are walking advertisements. We see someone famous wearing some pants, we want those pants. We see our favorite TV star quoting a passage from a book, we order the book on Amazon. In almost seconds, a brand can reach us directly, without having to spend billions on a billboard. Not only do they reach us faster, but it feels personal.

One of the most interesting forms of advertising I’ve experienced lately is vlogging. Much like normal blogging, vlogging is just as it sounds, video blogging. If you search YouTube and type in “blogger” or “vlogger,” thousands of videos appear: ranging from couples going on lavish vacations to famous mom bloggers giving diaper tips. Although this may sound as if every vlogger is unique and has entirely different motives for their own vlog, you begin to see a similar thread throughout them all. These vloggers are constantly advertising.

Whether in the end, the beginning, or threaded throughout, these vloggers shamelessly “plug” their sponsors effortlessly, as if it’s a natural part of their everyday experience. As a viewer who regularly watches YouTubers, I will admit that I rarely skip through these sponsored 30-second sections of my favorite vloggers. In fact, there have been several times when a vlogger has introduced me to a brand I have never heard before. And, almost every single vlogger does it and here’s why: this is how they make money. As I began researching how much these sponsorships pay famous YouTubers like Sarah Baska and Cody Ko, I was shocked by the results. Some of these better brands are paying $10,000 for every 100,000 views. So, for more famous YouTube sensations like Jess & Gabriel, they make near $100,000 for every video they post.

This change in advertising has shifted how advertisers approach how much they spend on billboards, magazine spreads, and Instagram ads. Sure, they can pay $1,000,000 for commercial spots on popular daytime television, but modern-day advertisers have begun to shift their focus towards this fascinating new medium called Vloggers.  

SOURCES:

https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/social-media-advertising/#what-are-the-benefits-of-advertising-on-social-media-channels

https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtubers-make/

https://millennialmoney.com/how-much-do-youtubers-make/

Author: Kennedy Harrison

The World Famous Egg Cracks

Written By: Eighmy Dobbins

Eugene the Egg, or better known as, “@world_record_egg” on Instagram, has become much more than the most liked picture in the world. The Egg has been in the spotlight since it was originally posted on January 4th, racking up 52.5 million likes and counting. The previous world record holder was Kylie Jenner, pictured with her baby Stormi, which received almost 19 million likes. The creator of Eugene the Egg is Chris Godfrey, an advertising creative from London. Godfrey said he chose the stock image egg because it was a universal symbol for people of all ages and backgrounds.

On January 18th, the Egg was posted again. This time, with a tiny crack shown. Later that week, multiple pictures were posted with the cracks getting larger. On February 1st, Eugene was posted with football laces and announced to his 10 million followers that the meaning of his cracks would be revealed on Hulu, following the Super Bowl. Fans speculated in the comments, claiming the Egg was going to pop out Kylie Jenner’s next baby or Tom Brady. Others immediately thought that Eugene was receiving his own documentary on Hulu. But no one predicted a mental health PSA. A one minute video premiered on Hulu Sunday night with Eugene claiming he has started to crack under the pressure of social media, and urged people to talk to someone if they are feeling the same. A link to talkingegg.info was posted below the video, which directs people to mental health foundations in their area.

The video blew up, and people loved seeing the account creator use his large platform to advocate for something much bigger than we expected. Godfrey claims Eugene’s rise to fame was all luck, saying, “mental health is the first of several causes that the Egg will come to stand for.” I am really excited to see what's next for Eugene because his platform could be an effective way to campaign for causes that are prevalent in our society. What makes it even better is that all of this is coming from a universally loved source: a golden-brown egg. Eugene had a fast rise to fame, which usually means he will be old news sooner than we think. But campaigns like this one may be enough to continue his stardom longer.

Eugene has been around for a month now, and so far he has broken a world record, been the center focus of many ads, and been on the digital cover of Paper magazine’s “Break the Internet” annual issue. The world-famous Egg also has a merchandise shop, where you can get hats, shirts, and hoodies to show your support for his message and be apart of the so-called, #EggGang.

Photo credit: Instagram/World_Record_Egg

References:

Bromwich, Jonah and Maheshwari, Sapna. (2019,  Feb 3) “Meet the creator of the Egg that broke Instagram.

He works in advertising.” from New York Times.

Hampton, Rachel. (2019, Feb 5) “The Instagram Egg, once a beacon of random viral whimsey, was designed

by advertisers.” from Slate.  

Tobin, Ben. (2019, Feb 4) “World Record Egg: From a challenge to social media to a mental health campaign”

from USA Today.

By: Eighmy Dobbins

How Posts Go Viral

We all remember the 2007 YouTube sensation of Charlie’s poor baby brother crying after getting his finger bitten. Since then, it seems the Internet has only gotten more infatuated with babies, puppies, ice buckets and crazy 13 year-olds on Dr. Phil.

Wouldn’t it be nice if virality could be as simple as A + B = YouTube fame? Unfortunately, a secret formula doesn’t exist to help your content go viral. The rule of thumb for viral viewership used to be that a post would be considered viral once it received over 5 million views within a 5 to 7 day span. Now, the number of views a video gets no longer constitutes virality. There are, however, a few commonalities between viral videos. Keep reading to check them out and decide for yourself what videos you’ve seen fit into each category.

1. Emotional Tug

Content has to connect. If the audience doesn’t emotionally identify with what they are watching, the post isn’t going anywhere. Posts must elicit some sort of emotional reaction from the viewer. In general, people like to share things that make them feel good. A heartwarming video that moves you to tears or makes you roll on the floor with uncontrollable laughter is much more likely to be shared by viewers. Furthermore, if a video containing certain political beliefs or social issues you identify with crosses your path, you are more inclined to share it because it reaffirms your beliefs and lets others know them too.

2. Buzz, Buzz and More Buzz

Virality goes beyond viewership. A post may be getting shared, but is it the talk of the town? The notion of buzzworthy content is evident on social media through the use of hashtags. Does it become a trending topic on Twitter? Are a bunch of your friends commenting about it on Facebook? The engagement that a video gets on the web goes beyond the screen and continues through word-of-mouth. If you’re obsessed with a video or article, you’re definitely going to want to talk to friends about it, which only increases its virality in the real world.

3. The Test of Time

Although content rarely lasts a lifetime, longevity is still a significant element of virality. Videos come and go, but every so often one seems to “stick.” Even after the video itself becomes outdated, you’re still left hoping your eyebrows are “on fleek” and you can still “cash me ousside.” While the videos themselves may not be around in five years, or even five months, their phrases become ingrained in the minds of society and continue to flow from our screens to our mouths for years to come.

How bou dat?