This Week’s Trends in Social Media & Digital Marketing
+Study: User-Generated Content’s Influence on Purchase Decisions Grows
“About 90% of 1,000 shoppers recently surveyed say user-generated content (UGC) on the Internet influences their decisions to make a purchase, far more than are influenced by other forms of marketing, according to “Hearing the Voice of the Consumer: UGC and the Commerce Experience,” a survey commissioned by TurnTo Networks, a provider of content.
By contrast, 87% of those surveyed said they were influenced by search engines, which 79% reported that promotional e-mails drove them toward purchases. About 73% said UGC increases their purchasing confidence and 61% claimed such content encourages them to engage with brands.
Shoppers also stated they were willing to pay more and wait longer — 81% of those surveyed in on both questions — for products paired with UGC. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers (63 %) believe UGC creates a more authentic shopping experience.” — Via RetailDive
+Youtube’s Newest Experimental App Launched Last week on iOS
“YouTube’s experimental app Uptime, which lets you watch videos with friends while reacting and commenting, has now opened up to all users. The app was first launched in March of this year, from Google’s internal incubator, Area 120, as a means of testing a more interactive and social way to watch YouTube.” — via TechCrunch
+Best Practices for Vertical Video
“1. Be Platform-Specific
2. Avoid Repurposing 4:3 Creative
3. Keep content to 10 seconds or less
4. Keep your content fresh
5. Use influencers.” — Via MobileMarketer.com
+YouTube cues up in-app messaging, sharing
“YouTube, Google’s video-hosting service with 1.5 billion users a month, announced last week new features for its mobile and desktop platforms at the eighth annual VidCon conference in California, according to VentureBeat. The two new mobile capabilities include a feature that automatically reformats videos to fit a mobile screen, regardless of whether it was originally shot vertically or horizontally.
CEO Susan Wojcicki introduced a virtual reality (VR) format that lets users film a 180-degree view directly in front of the camera instead of a 360-degree landscape. The VR 180 feature lets YouTube creators make immersive videos on a smaller budget. YouTube is teaming up with electronics companies including Lenovo, LG and Yi to build new VR 180 cameras priced at $200.
YouTube will soon begin rolling out messaging and sharing features in its mobile app, as well as letting content creators with at least 100 subscribers broadcast live streams.” — Via MobileMarketer.com
+Retailers Must Do Their Homework to Capture the Attention of Mobile-First Gen-Z Consumers
“Generation Z’s $44 billion in annual spending power represents a giant target to retail and brand marketers, but they must realize that these consumers also are driven by different motivating factors than previous generations, a MediaPost commentary suggested.
“While previous generations were driven by finding the best deal and the most appealing in-store experience, the shopping experience of a Gen Z member can be boiled down to a few clicks on a mobile device,” the commentary stated.
This means that retailers and brands need to start adapting their product and marketing messages to be viewed and consumed “in short bursts of attention” that have defined the formats used by social media platforms like Twitter and Snapchat.” — Via RetailDive
+Amazon Patent Aims to Block In-Store Mobile Searches of Competitor Products with New Patent
“Amazon was granted a U.S. patent late last month for an application described as “Physical Store Online Shopping Control,” which would allow the emerging brick-and-mortar retailer to block customer searches of competitors’ products while using Amazon’s in-store Wi-Fi, Squawker first reported.
The patent lists several actions that could occur when a customer uses Amazon’s in-store Wi-Fi to conduct a search of a competitor’s products and prices via smartphone, including the possibility that “access to competitor information may be blocked,“ “The consumer device may be redirected to other content,“ and the search could trigger an in-store Amazon sales associate to be directed to help the customer.
The patent also suggests the control mechanism might not be deployed in every instance of an in-store search, but could be used depending on the value of the specific customer to Amazon, as well as other variables.” — Via RetailDive
+Prepping for the Digital Age? There’s a CDO For That
“Almost 20% of the world’s top 2,500 companies by revenue have appointed a chief digital officer (CDO), according to the results of a new study from Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting business. That’s more than three times the number of companies that reported hiring a CDO in last year’s report. In fact, of those companies, 60% of CDOs were hired within the last two years.
Technology-oriented leaders now make up 41% of the C-suite, which is 8% higher than those for marketing and sales, according to the study.
Financial services and consumer-focused companies have the highest ratio of digital leaders. Specifically, insurance companies have 35% digital leaders, and both banking and consumer products companies have 27%, according to the study.” — Via CIO Age
+JCrew Launches their Summer “Style Hacks” Video: Travel Edition
+CNBC International Turns Up their Social Video Strategy, with a “Youtube First” Mentality.
“CNBC International is making YouTube a big part of its video focus this year, shifting away from one-minute reactive news videos on Facebook.
In the next few months, CNBC International will launch up to five video series. The videos — lasting between three and six minutes — will also run on Facebook and CNBC International’s site but were made with YouTube in mind. It aims to publish one video a day, increasing over time.
This move comes as CNBC International is trying to broaden its digital video coverage beyond markets and finance content. One of the series, “Office Envy,” will feature tours of interesting places to work, led by employees from the featured companies. Another will look at the pros and cons of major financial decisions, like buying a mortgage.
CNBC has already been doing more long-form, evergreen content. In January, it started producing “CNBC Explains” videos on Facebook and YouTube. These videos take on geopolitical and economic topics like blockchain or the dark web. They’re getting a 70 percent completion rate on YouTube, and CNBC International’s YouTube subscribers have increased by 60 percent since the explainer videos launched, according to the company. CNBC International currently has about 21,000 YouTube subscribers. In May, it had 707,000 views on YouTube, according to Tubular Labs.” — Via Digiday
+Periscope Creates New Revenue-Sharing Program for Live-Streamers
“Periscope, the live-streaming application run by Twitter, added a feature on Wednesday that lets viewers show appreciation for their favorite personalities on the platform and gives publishers another way to make money, according to a blog post by the company. Periscope’s Super Hearts is the platform’s first paid virtual gift product, which creates a sales-sharing program for U.S.-based live streamers.
Since the platform launched, Periscope has let viewers click on a heart icon to express that they like a broadcast. Viewers can now purchase Super Hearts that include animations and even the gifter’s account image to show their support on a new level. A leader board tracks the Super Hearts contributors during a broadcast, urging them to give more money to earn a higher ranking.
Periscope now sells three kinds of Super Hearts to users who buy the app-specific currency. They start at 33 coins each — 1,050 coins cost $0.99 — with rebates for users who buy bigger coin packages. Google and Apple get a cut of the sales, while Twitter collects 70% of the remaining revenue, leaving 30% for the live-streamers, according to Variety. Content creators who don’t want to earn Super Hearts can block the feature from their broadcasts.” — Via Mobile Marketer
+The Buckle is the Latest Retail Company to Be Targeted by a POS Malware Attack
“Apparel retailer The Buckle is the latest retailer to have been victimized by a months-long malware attack on its point-of-sale systems, allowing some customer credit card data to be accessed without authorization, the company admitted in a press release Friday.
The attack was first reported by KrebsonSecurity, which was tipped off by its sources in the financial sector, but Buckle confirmed that it had been hit by malware in an attack lasting from Oct. 2, 2016 until April 14, 2017. The retailer said it “quickly removed” the malicious code, and that based on an investigation, it appears “no social security numbers, e-mail addresses or physical addresses were obtained by those criminally responsible. There is also no evidence that the buckle.com website or buckle.com guests were impacted.”
All Buckle store have EMV chip-based payment terminal, meaning the ability of criminals to reproduce counterfeit cards is limited, though the retailer said it believes cardholder names, card numbers and expiration dates may have been compromised.” — Via RetailDive
