Social Marketing

Lisa Buyer officially announces the launch of Female Disruptors, a news and education site featuring women and for women.

Influencer marketing stands at a crossroads. Influencer scandals, the introduction and growing acceptance of fakeness and overall low quality of influencers themselves have all contributed to a declining relevance among consumers. Despite the canary in the digital coal mine, brands continue to increase their influencer marketing budgets and employ more digital tools in an attempt to connect with consumers and drive engagement.

The IAB, the national trade association for the digital media and marketing industries, released “Disrupting Brand Preference,” a study that shows that disruptor brand shoppers comprise 48 percent of all U.S consumers. They are younger than incumbent brand-only shoppers, with 84 percent under 54 years old, and are likelier to have a household income of more than $75,000. In addition, direct-to-consumer (DTC) buyers use their favorite brands as vehicles for self-promotion, with twice as many compared to incumbent brand-only shoppers saying that they choose brands to express “who I am.”

Retailers’ digital ad spend parallels that of the overall US digital ad market this year, growing 19.1%, according to our latest forecast. For this industry, mobile and search advertising dominate ad spend allocation.

Lil Miquela posted her first Instagram post in 2016. Three years later and she has over 1.6 million followers. Not bad for someone who is not even real. Brands are increasingly using virtual influencers like Lil Miquela, but where does virtual brand ambassador cross over into brand deception?  by Nigel Hollis

In this conversation, we will explore how brands can play a role in addressing social justice issues in the Black American community by helping improve the lives of Black American consumers while driving brand engagement, loyalty, and sales.

At the end of 2017, Adobe published a report showing that almost two-thirds (62 percent) of marketers planned to take all their programmatic media buying in-house by 2022, with the remaining 38 percent planning to take some elements of programmatic under direct control in the same period. A 2018 ANA report showed a similar effect from in-housing. The ANA’s “The Continued Rise of the In-house Agency” report, which replicated and updated similar studies from 2013 and 2008, found that the number of advertisers with in-house agencies has grown substantially, standing today at 78 percent of brands, compared to 58 percent five years ago and just 42 percent a decade back. Sixty-five percent of advertisers said that the in-house agency workload had grown “substantially” in the past year.

Earlier this month, a widely publicized feud broke out between two well-known beauty influencers, Tati Westbrook and her protege James Charles. Bypassing the rather complex details, the debacle ensued after Charles posted an Instagram ad for SugarBearHair vitamins, a direct competitor of Westbrook’s Halo Beauty vitamins.

Marketers should use all the tools of social to connect with their audiences

Finding the right balance when serving personalized content to consumers can be tricky. But marketers that do this successfully understand that fostering better communication with their target audience is key.

In Vietnam, about half of adults say social media are at least somewhat important for keeping up with political news and other developments. Above, Vietnamese activist La Viet Dung has alleged Facebook may be helping to suppress online dissent.

The growing popularity of social media took an unusual turn and has become one of the most effective advertising platforms.

The Facebook Cambridge Analytica revelations changed the way people in the US think about online privacy. And it should come as no surprise that many have grown wary over the mishandling of personal information.

Brand safety remains a concern, and one wrong move by marketers can tarnish consumer sentiment. So what do the negative perceptions caused by consumers encountering offensive content mean for brands and the platforms that carry their advertising?

Fewer people in the US are accessing social networking sites via computers, with the majority of users now exclusively on mobile devices. We forecast that 51.7% of US social network users will be mobile-only in 2019.

Twitter is a modern public square where many voices discuss, debate and share their views. Media personalities, politicians and the public turn to social networks for real-time information and reactions to the day’s events. But compared with the U.S. public overall, which voices are represented on Twitter?

MGH, a full-service restaurant marketing agency, announced the results of a study that examined how influential a brand’s social media marketing can be when it comes to driving restaurant trial and customer loyalty.

When it comes to shopping, social media seems to have somewhat limited influence on parents’ purchasing behavior—but they’ll use it (and other online resources) for research.

A significant number of retailers in North America are now working with influencers as part of their marketing strategy. According to polling by Retail TouchPoints for referral marketing platform Extole, 31% of retailers said they have worked with brand advocates to become influencers, 30% used microinfluencers and 28% used paid celebrity influencers.

Facebook has been under fire from the mainstream media for about a year, but its brand-safety and privacy scandals haven’t deterred advertisers. In its recent Q4 earnings report, the social giant reported its North American average ad revenues per user (AARPU) were up nearly 30%, and more advertisers than ever are buying.