US presidential candidates relying on micro-influencers, Instagram trying to save IGTV, How to get your content on the Explore page… here is what happened last week
Micro-influencers used in the upcoming US presidential election
It all started in 2018 during the midterms elections. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided to pay influencers in order to spread political messages. For instance, last week, the travel blogger Alycia Chrosniak received a notification on her phone inviting her for 150$ to make content about why she is supporting Michael Bloomberg.
And in 2020, political action committee NextGen American has hired hundreds of micro-influencers to reach younger population. It now seems that political parties have understood the power of micro-influencers.
Although the U.S. Federal Election Commission’s rules do not clearly address social media and influencer marketing, Gil Eyal, who runs influencer platform HYPR, advises politicians to prefer unpaid deals rather than paid ones in order to avoid legal risks.
Instagram starts to allow creators to monetize their IGTV videos
Instagram’s IGTV hasn’t been as successful as they would have want to (see our previous article
https://blog.snikpic.io/igtv-for-influencers/).
Historically not remunerated by Instagram, selected bloggers will now be able to monetize their content on the platform.
Here is how Instagram plans on doing it:
- First, IGTV starts funding some IGTV video series posted by media stars and celebrities.
- Also, IGTV is working on the possibility of having 6 seconds and 15 seconds commercials that would be placed either at the beginning or in the the middle of the videos.
- Last, IGTV is talking with videos producers to have shows in IGTV, such as “A Year of Firsts” created by ATTN in partnership with Michelle Obama.
Even if Instagram refused to give a timeline for this new functionality, some say you can already expect it from March, according to magazine Ad Age.
FTC cracks down on influencer marketing posts
In the US, the FTC (“Federal Trade Commission”) voted to approve financial penalties on undisclosed influencer marketing posts on social media.
The main goal here is to allow followers to be aware whether the post is sponsored or not and thus having an idea of the transparency and objectivity behind it.
The main target is Instagram’s branded content ads which include a “Sponsored partnership with …” functionalities. Some enquires also concern YouTube and TikTok.
Although the non-binding Endorsement Guide already forces creators to stipulate when there is a paid partnership, FTC’s Commissioner Rohit Chopra wants to consider making those rules official by formal rules liable by civil penalties. Yet, Chopra suggests that the FTC focuses on the platforms and advertisers instead of small influencers who may not always be aware of the law.
Read more : https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/12/ftc-influencer-marketing-law/
5 advices to help you having your business on Instagram’s explore page
US journal Steamford Advocate published 5 advice to help you having you brand on Instagram’s explore page.
Bottom line: it all comes down to understand and engage with your audience, and try videos.
- Know your audience : Actually, the explore page is based on users’ preferences. Therefore, you must be aware of who your audience really is. Create you ideal customer persona and then create your Instagram content upon it. For tips on how to create your user persona, refer to our previous blog post:
https://blog.snikpic.io/what-to-do-before-starting-an-influencer-marketing-campaign/ . - Get interaction from your audience : The more interaction is generated by your publications, the higher chance to get featured on the explore page. There are numerous ways to engage your audience such as for instance : the use of calls-to-action (“double tap on the photo”, “comment with an emoji”), asking questions on your caption, encouraging your followers to tag some friends, etc.
- Use hashtags and location tags : Hashtag is a wonderful way to get discovered by your ideal customers. In addition to hashtag related to your content, you should use popular ones to increase your chance to get visibility. And adding location allows you to be discovered in a specific area.
- Mention and tag other brands : Although it may seem awkward, tagging other brands tells the algorithm that you have relationships. This somehow increases your chance to end on the explore page.
- Use video or add motion to still images : Movements are more eye-catching for users. Not only through videos, motion can be added through GIFs, animations, boomerangs, etc.
Top 10 marketing podcasts of 2020
Podcasts are getting more and more popular. Nowadays, they are not only used for entertainment but also for professional development.
Traackr published this week a list of the best 2020 marketing podcasts in their opinion:
- Inbound Success Podcast : Interviews conducted with successful inbound marketers. A lot of areas of inbound marketing are concerned, and the discussions include new ideas, specific details and actions (40 min).
- Digital Marketing Podcast : Different topics about branding, content, SEO, influencer marketing, social media and more discussed by the CEO of Target Internet and a marketing specialist and trainer (30 min).
- The Story Behind the Brand : This podcast doesn’t directly concerns marketing, but tells the stories of the most beloved brands (30 min).
- Building a StoryBrand with Donald Miller : This podcast is given by Donald Miller, the founder of StoryBrand, a company that teaches businesses on how to communicate and create a story around their brand (40 min).
- Design Better Podcast : Each episode is focused on a precise topic such as collaboration, human-centered design, designing at scale, etc featuring leading design experts (40 min).
- Seeking Wisdom : Although there no new episode, it is still interesting to discover Wisdom’s episodes about sales, marketing, growth and product (15 – 40 min).
- Marketing Swipe File : In this podcast you can hear interesting talks with top-tier CMOs such as Leela Srinivasan (CMO of SurveyMonkey, Elle Woulfe (VP of Marketing at Path Factory), etc. (10 – 50 min).
Here are three other podcasts that you may be interested to discover:
- Content Lab
- The Animalz Content Marketing Podcast
- Marketing School
Read more : https://www.traackr.com/blog/top-10-marketing-podcasts-of-2020
