DIGITAL MEDIA DIGEST: AUG ‘20
A monthly look at the world of digital from NORTH’s point of view
The Frictionless Experience
By Nicole Bell, Media Director
The word “Frictionless” is defined as, “achieved with or involving little difficulty; effortless.” In the advertising world, the “Frictionless Experience” is a buzzword and another way to talk about the marketing funnel or consumer journey.
The general concept of the marketing funnel the industry references today was developed in the late 1800s by Elias St. Elmo Lewis (for perspective, TV was invented in 1927). Lewis broke down the buying journey into distinct stages: awareness, interest, desire, and action. In the traditional model of the marketing funnel, consumers move through it in sequential order — starting with awareness and ending with action.
As the industry evolved over the last one hundred years, the funnel did too. Now we know that the journey can start with purchase, and take an infinite number of routes through the funnel to engage with a brand. The problem is that brands and agencies still classify creative and media concepts into each distinct stage, and assume a linear approach to the consumer journey.
We live in a non-linear, frictionless, and effortless world my friend, and consumers don’t know the difference between awareness and intent. They move fluidly and unintentionally from one medium to the next. This morning, Alexa told me the news, I checked my social media and weather on my phone, and at the same time I checked my email on my laptop and turned on the TV to play Hulu. In under fifteen minutes, I engaged with seven different media platforms and moved through them effortlessly. By the end of today, I will have engaged with a multitude of media touch points — giving brands hundreds of opportunities to be with me throughout the day. This is the new consumer journey, the Frictionless Experience.
With the traditional marketing funnel, Alexa, social media, and weather apps that are part of my morning would have been bucketed into the “awareness” stage and theoretically, an advertiser would have delivered the same message at all three touch points. It is crucial that brands and agencies take a new approach to creative and media concepts for the state of mind a consumer is in rather than what they are consuming. An Alexa news briefing and Instagram scroll don’t produce the same need-state, one is serious and intentional and the other is relaxed and carefree.
My advice: be effortless, and move with the consumer. Recognize the different need-states your consumer is in, and develop your strategy to mold to their experience.
Navigating Amazon Advertising Amidst Pandemic
By Izzy Kramer, Media Planner
Amazon has gone from an online shopping destination promising outrageously fast delivery to a lifeline for millions during the COVID-19 pandemic. While Amazon’s advertising marketplace was already becoming increasingly competitive, the influx in site traffic due to the pandemic has made it that much more saturated. For advertisers working with Amazon is it important to reevaluate strategies without starting from scratch.
- Consider Always On Campaigns: Giving campaigns enough time is key to perform. Four to six week campaigns are not a thing of the past and still can be highly effective, especially during peak seasons (holiday, end of summer/back to school). With that, brands who have the financial and creative resources available should consider investing in always on campaigns. Always on campaigns allow for an advertiser to have a consistent presence on Amazon and eliminates starting and stopping campaigns, which can be harmful to performance. Typically it takes two weeks for Amazon to be able to optimize toward consideration and purchase driving goals. In a four to six week campaign, that leaves only half or two-thirds of the campaign remaining. Always on campaigns also provide advertisers the opportunity to swap in seasonal creative to align with peak season strategies while not having to start a campaign from scratch.
- Include Broader In Market Target Segments: One of the major benefits of working with Amazon is their 1st party purchase data that makes reaching target audiences that much more accurate and effective. While it is important to continue to use data specific to a brand, product, and target audience, using Amazon’s broader in market target segments are incredibly useful to leverage the influx of site traffic. These segments should not be too far reaching and should remain within the same realm of a brand. This will allow brands to reach new audiences similar to their target audience.
- Continue to Keep an Eye on Competitors: As mentioned, the ecommerce landscape is that much more competitive because consumers don’t have much of an option. Brick and mortar businesses are either closed or have limited inventory (let alone the inherent risk of consumers leaving their homes in the first place.) This means brands need to be that much more aware of what their competitors are doing. As Andrea Hippeau of Lerer Hippeau puts it in this Digiday article “I don’t think consumers are really willing to go to five…sites to shop anymore, so you need to be aware of where consumers are buying your competitors and if that’s mainly on Amazon then that’s probably something you should to invest in from the very early stages.” If brands aren’t already employing competitor conquest targeting on their Amazon buys, it is a simple and easy strategy that will aid overall performance.
Instagram Introduces Reels and Suggested Posts
By Madelyn Engel, Performance Marketing Manager
Instagram has released two new features in a push to become THE platform for interests and entertainment: Reels and Suggested Posts.
In 2016, Instagram launched Stories following Snapchat’s model and quickly surpassed Snapchat in number of users. Now Instagram has added Reels in an attempt to absorb TikTok’s users. With TikTok’s future in the US uncertain, this could be a similar story. While TikTok has been growing rapidly and currently has between 80–100 million active U.S. users, this is less than Instagram (which boasts over a billion users worldwide, and 120 million U.S. users), Snapchat, and even Vine, which had double that in its peak.
While IGTV videos must be at least a minute long, Reels are short form videos with a maximum of 15 seconds. Users can add popular music, as well as an array of filters and effects. These videos can be shared with friends and followers and discovered while browsing the app. Similar to TikTok’s “For You Page,” Instagram has revamped its Explore page by adding a specific spot for Reels at the top of the page which users can vertically scroll through. However, if your account is private, Reels will only be posted to a person’s feed and stories.
Secondly, Instagram has rolled out Suggested Posts which appear after the “You’re All Caught Up” notification. These posts are from accounts that a user doesn’t follow but are related to content that a user follows, which gives users an option to keep scrolling. These posts are different than those that show up in Explore. While suggested posts are related to content a user already follows, Explore posts are adjacent content. Julian Gutman, head of product at Instagram Home, used space as an example explaining that “a suggested post might be a new space photo from someone he doesn’t follow, whereas his Explore page might contain posts related to physics more broadly.”
Many are criticizing the move, as it seems to contradict Instagram’s stance two years ago to align with Facebook’s “time well spent” initiative, which aimed to make users aware of how they were spending time in the app. When Instagram launched the end of feed notification, former CEO Kevin Synstrom, positioned it as a decision made with users’ mental health in mind. However, this new feature is designed to keep users scrolling and the new Reels and IGTV are designed to keep users in the platform instead of shifting to TikTok or YouTube.
Suggested Posts could be a significant update, as up until now the feed has been entirely determined by users’ preferences and the people they follow. This could be the beginning of the end of Instagram as users feel the platform is leaning too heavily on algorithms and branded content, which makes the platform feel less authentic. However, this update is balanced by the addition of Reels which will increase the amount of authentic, user generated content.
As Instagram has been moving more and more toward ecommerce, this could be a great place for users to browse and shop. The added recommendations could connect more users with brands, but the success of this will be determined by how aligned Instagram’s recommendations are with a user’s search history and interests. If users feel this content is highly personalized to them and their interests, then ads could do well here. While this placement will begin with organic content, Instagram anticipates serving ads in these expanded listings.
