TikTok‘s 500 million users aren’t there to fight about politics, troll their enemies, or shitpost for lolz. They’re mostly a community of inclusive, fun-loving content creators who support one another. You can thank the Chinese government’s commitment to exporting censorship for that. A recent report from The Guardian revealed that ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, had policies in place that outright censored or shadow-banned certain content in specific areas. In China, of course, any mentions of topics that are already banned on the internet such as Tienanmen Square and political criticism were censored. But in other countries, the…
I tried to get ‘red pilled’ by r/The_Donald and I didn’t even get a T-shirt. What I did get though, was a deep enough understanding of the bigots, racists, ableists, homophobes, and other ‘forgotten’ people huddling in this safe space to develop some empathy for them. I’ve come to care about the men – as far as I can tell, it’s just men – who make up the emotional support group that is r/The_Donald. The plight of the US president‘s most devoted followers is a sympathetic one (if you can academically ignore their hatred and bigotry) and, if I’m being…
Welcome to the Social Spotlight, where each week we’ll dive deep into what we love about a brand’s approach to a specific social campaign. From strategy through execution and results, we’ll examine what makes the best brands on social tick — and leave you with some key takeaways to consider for your own brand’s social strategy.
How do you make a living legend come to life for an audience too young to remember what made him legendary? If you’re Jordan Brand, you augment the present with one of the most extraordinary moments from the past. Meet A/R Jordan.
Overview
Michael Jordan is, to many, the greatest basketball player of all time. While he consistently excelled throughout his career, there are a few moments that catapulted him to mythical status. One of those is the 1988 NBA All-Star Dunk Contest, when Jordan executed one of the most mind-blowing moments in the history of the NBA: the famous free-throw line dunk.
Many athletes have an eponymous shoe, but it’s feats like that gravity-defying slam that ensure one’s shoe line becomes a world-beating brand. But even Air Jordans must work to stay relevant, especially when the new generation of sneaker heads has never even witnessed the brand’s namesake lace up to take the court.
Enter Snapchat and its universally accessible A/R technology, which turns any user’s phone into an augmented reality viewer. By creating “the world’s first social commerce experience in augmented reality”– a Snap lens that superimposed Jordan’s iconic dunk onto a geofenced “court” outside the Staples Center during the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend–new fans could experience the jaw-dropping awe of that moment for themselves. Oh, and also buy the brand new Air Jordan Tinker IIIs, which Virtual Mike just happened to be wearing in the A/R experience, straight from Snapchat through a partnership with Shopify.
Analysis
The A/R Jordan experience is widely considered the gold standard in social commerce. In addition to winning a slew of awards, including a Cannes Gold Lion, the program also incited a ton of social chatter and, oh yeah, sold a bunch of shoes.
Goals: Speaking of selling shoes…that wasn’t the goal, as much as the Shopify partnership may have indicated that sales were top of mind for the Jordan Brand team. Make no mistake: This was an awareness play, through and through. How do I know? Because Jordan Brand declined to release sales figures for the promotion, even though it said the shoes available through the A/R experience sold out in 23 minutes (23! conveniently coincidental). What matters here is the exposure of the Jordan Brand as modern, savvy and cool as all get out. Mission accomplished.
Offline connection: One of the most interesting touches was the e-comm partnership with Darkstore, a same-day fulfillment center network that delivered all the new Jordans ordered through Snapchat to their new owners within two hours. In an instant-gratification world, the brand story came to life in near-real time–I use the lens, I see the shoes, I buy the shoes, I’m wearing the shoes. All in less time than it takes to watch an NBA game.
Key channels: Obviously we need to talk about Snapchat, especially because it’s proven a difficult channel for brands to create standout campaigns that go beyond a sponsored lens or filter. A/R Jordan broke the mold by first considering how Snapchat’s unique user experience–making A/R approachable for anyone with a smartphone–could be applied to Jordan Brand’s unique problem of making its namesake superstar relevant for today’s shoe buyers. The results? Uses of the A/R Jordan lens 4x’ed the engagement of the next most successful brand lens in Snapchat’s history. The lesson? Don’t sleep on what makes each social channel a unique experience.
Takeaways
Not every brand can orchestrate a multi-platform coup like Jordan Brand did with A/R Jordan. But the key learnings are applicable to any brand: lean into your proprietary assets, put your audience’s experience first and take calculated risks. After all, they have the greatest potential payoff and they’re usually the most fun.
TL;DR:
Reinvent your brand experience for the world your audience inhabits. Thirty years ago, the world watched Michael Jordan redefine the slam dunk in one consistent way: TV. Today, audiences want to control their own experiences and A/R Jordan gave them the ability to live in a legendary moment in the exact way they wanted to.
Bring in the right partners. The buzz about A/R Jordan was generated by the holistic experience, and that required the right partnerships with the right companies. From Snapchat’s A/R capabilities to Shopify enabling purchase right from the app and Darkstore delivering on the instant-gratification demands of the audience, the experience was impeccable from start to finish because Jordan Brand didn’t try to reinvent anything–it simply leaned on those that already did it well.
You can teach new audiences old tricks. If you’re a legacy brand, you’ve got stories that could be reevaluated and repositioned for today’s consumer. It’s a hottrend for a reason.
Social media platforms off late have come under criticism for poisoning public discourse, even to the extent of getting labeled as “toxic swamps full of trolls, liars and bots.” But as Facebook and Twitter become a conduit for bad actors to manipulate news, set agendas, and propagate toxic viewpoints, they’ve moved far from being just a space to share “what’s on your mind.” Now, Finnish Public Broadcasting Company, Yle, aims to give users a taste of the information operations on social media, where likes and shares feed are weaponized to sow bias and distrust, intentional or otherwise. Called Troll Factory, the…
There’s countless research from academics trying to prove whether there are any clear neurological differences between cisgenders. And while some claim there are big distinctions , others argue, for example, that women tend to be more prosocial as a result of how their brains function. An article written by Julie Jargon, on September 24 for The Wall Street Journal highlighted how many parents of both boys and girls have seen obvious differences in the way their children interact with technology. Generally boys gravitate towards video games whereas, girls seem to spend more time endlessly scrolling through social media. In 2017,…
AWeber’s Smart Designer is a free, intelligent design assistant that lets you automatically create an amazing-looking, branded email template in seconds. That’s right: seconds!
In a snap, AWeber’s Smart Designer analyzes your website or social media account for logos, imagery, and colors, and then automatically builds a gallery of ready-to-use, custom email templates for your business.
If you’re an AWeber customer, Smart Designer will add your favorite template to your account. Not an AWeber customer? Create your template, and then sign up for a free trial with AWeber. We'll automatically add it to the template gallery inside your account so you can start using it.
AWeber’s Smart Designer is our latest powerfully-simple feature that makes it easier than ever to connect with your audience and drive success for your business.
With AWeber's Smart Designer, you can:
Drive more sales: Branded email templates stand out in the inbox, which means more subscribers will engage with your content and click-through to your landing page or site.
Get instant brand recognition: Achieve brand consistency across your marketing assets with free, auto-created custom email templates built exclusively for your business.
Save time and money: Spend less time designing emails or paying someone to do it for you. AWeber’s Smart Designer can do the design work in seconds, so you can get back to focusing on other important, revenue-generating aspects of your business.
Want more information on how branded emails can level up your marketing and accelerate the growth of your business?
Enter your URL or public social media account. Sit back, relax and let our intelligent design assistant do the work.
Smart Designer analyzes your website or account for logos, imagery, and colors.
Seconds later, check out your gallery of ready-to-use, branded email templates!
Save your favorite custom-built template to your AWeber account. (Not an AWeber customer? Create your template! Then select the option to start your free trial. You'll be able to add and send your customized template from your new account.)
In fact, other small business owners and entrepreneurs are already taking advantage of the tool. Here are some of their reactions when viewing their unique templates generated by AWeber’s Smart Designer for the first time.
“AWeber Smart Designer not only provides me value upfront, it is setting me up for success before I even start with AWeber. I’ve worked on various email platforms, and I’ve never seen anything like this.” - Amanda Gobatto, Digital Girl Consulting
“Thank you! This looks amazing…” - Heather Hargrove, By Grove
Social media, a tool created to guard freedom of speech and democracy, has increasingly been used in more sinister ways. From its role in amplifying political disinformation in elections, to inciting online violence, and lowering the levels of trust in media — Facebook isn’t just a space to share “what’s on your mind,” and you’d be naive to believe so. A study by the Oxford Internet Institute, as first reported by The New York Times, found that since 2017, organized social media manipulation has more than doubled with at least 70 countries known to be using online propaganda to manipulate mass…
A team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara and Intel took thousands of conversations from the scummiest communities on Reddit and Gab and used them to develop and train AI to combat hate speech. Finally, r/The_Donald and other online cesspools are doing something useful. The system was developed after the researchers created a novel dataset featuring thousands of conversations specially curated to ensure they’d be chock full of hate speech. While numerous studies have approached the hate speech problem on both Twitter and Facebook, Reddit and Gab are understudied and have fewer available, quality datasets. According to the team’s research…
Just nine months after introducing Stories in Facebook Groups, the social media giant is killing off the feature on September 26, at 9AM Pacific Time. The development was first reported by Matt Navara on Friday, which has since been confirmed by Facebook. The feature — called group stories and available since December last year — allowed a group’s administrators and members to post ephmeral photos and videos that vanish within 24 hours. “We’re sunsetting group stories because we want to make sure that features in groups enable people to connect in fun and useful ways, and we’re always looking at ways…
Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. Earlier this week, Facebook released a new update for its Creator Studio, allowing businesses on the platform to schedule Instagram posts and IGTV videos up to at least six months in advance. This update isn’t completely new as companies have been able to schedule posts through third-party services for a while. But the problem with using third-party tools, including HootSuit and Sprout Social, is the annoying limitations like being unable to add multiple images…
Welcome to the Social Spotlight, where each week we’ll dive deep into what we love about a brand’s approach to a specific social campaign. From strategy through execution and results, we’ll examine what makes the best brands on social tick — and leave you with some key takeaways to consider for your own brand’s social strategy.
One of the first things I learned about getting–and keeping–an audience’s attention is that you have to give them something they can’t get anywhere else. And if you’re Netflix, well–you’ve got a lot to offer.
Overview
Netflix has gotten a lot right in its 22 years in ebusiness, from knowing when to go all-in on a digital platform, to building the gold standard of recommendation algorithms. Not to mention scores of hit original series and a brand name drop inone of the more ubiquitous memesof the 2010s.
And the same savvy that’s served Netflix well on the product side extends to marketing, especially social. There the brand has leaned hard into a “fan’s fan” persona by hiring movie and TV buffs to man its accounts and eschewing a multi-layered content approval process in favor ofwell-documented social guidelinesthat apply to the company as a whole. The resulting brand voice is approachable, clever without trying and authentic to the reason Netflix is beloved in the first place: people love to talk about what they’re watching.
But perhaps the biggest coup of all for Netflix on social is the ability to capitalize on the brand’s unique value propositions. You can’t getStranger Thingsanywhere other than Netflix’s service, and you definitely can’t getStranger Thingsbehind-the-scenes contentanywhere other than Netflix’s social handles.
Analysis
Netflix drive alotof social conversation–to the tune of 1.7 million brand mentions and 30 million engagements in the first two weeks of September alone, according to Sprout’s Listening data. Let’s take a look at what all of that volume is designed to do for the brand, both online and offline:
Goals:Similar tolast week’s Spotlight brand, Marshalls, Netflix’s strategy seems to focus on the key objectives ofbrand loyaltyandawareness, with brand loyalty doing the heavy lifting to drive awareness. Because they’re so epically good at leaning into their unique value prop – namely, awesome content you can’t get anywhere else – loyalty is built into their social approach. If you loveRiverdale, you want to go beyond the content in the show itself–to BTS peeks, star profiles, fan predictions–and following Netflix on social is the easiest way to do it.But driving awareness of its offerings is not far behind as a goal, and Netflix is at the enviable stage in its development where its product is part of the fabric of our social culture. Take, for instance, turning fan favorite moments from its original content into shareable gifs to arm followers with the perfect, oh-so-relevant social sentiment for any situation.
Offline connection:Most B2C brands face the challenge of bringing a physical product to life in the digital and social space. Netflix, on the other hand, has wisely gone all-in to extend its online product to the IRL experiences of its audience in order to keep the brand top of mind. One great example is bringing to reality a key element of itsBlack Mirrorseries: thecultural kryptonite “people rating” app RateMefrom the show’s third season. But lest the brand leave your physical body craving more Netflix, it’s also gone so far as to produceaccelerometer-powered socksthat will pause your binge session if you fall asleep, so you don’t miss a single minute ofMindhunter.
Key channels:Netflix’s channel strategy has evolved in the past few years, as the popularity of its service has made it the leader in content streaming. Instagram in particular has emerged as a key channel for “extra” content – behind-the scenes peeks, selfies from stars and a look at what life on set is like. The brand is also highly active on Twitter, where it takes advantage of being able to listen in on what its fans are talking to and create reasons for Netflix to join the conversation (You’s awkward silences, anyone?). But my favorite move in Netflix’s considerable repertoire is not being afraid to segment its audience by interest across multiple social profiles and personas. The relatively recent launches of dedicated Twitter handles forStrong Black Lead(African-American pop culture),Netflix is a Joke(comedy) andNetflix Family(G-rated fun) have broadened the idea of Netflix’s “brand voice” and created a more inclusive, authentic and relevant social experience for its diverse fan base. There are even Netflix-moderated Facebook groups that bring super fans of specific shows together todebate plot twists and share theories.
Hot take:One thing I’d love for Netflix to consider more thoughtfully is hashtags usage on Twitter and Instagram. Netflix shares a TON of content of varying purposes, and hashtags would serve as a way-finding device for followers to find the information, entertainment or content they’re looking for from Netflix.
Takeaways
No hyperbole here, Netflix is simply killing it. From an authentic and diverse brand voice to leaning hard on unique, ownable value props in social, Netflix is making the most of their position as a content leader and extending the pleasure their product provides to the social experience for their fans.
TL;DR:
I said it last week and I’ll say it again: Find something that is specific and unique about your brand, product or service experience and lean into it. YOU own your products or services, YOU own your brand assets and voice, YOU own your customer experience. It’s the ultimate competitive advantage it will immediately elevate your social strategy.
Real authenticity in brand voice requires bravery, which includes knowing when you don’t have the depth of knowledge, interest or resourcesto keep up with your fans–and being willing to turn the keys to your social voice over to someone who does.
Take your relationship with data to the next level. Social is the Rosetta Stone for unlocking your audience’s true needs and desires, and you can answer those desires on a personal level if you’relistening and paying attention to your customer data.
If your Instagram feed is anything like mine, your feed and Explore page are probably littered with weight loss meal supplements, timelapses of injected lip filler, and skinny-tea promoted by a Kardashian — because obviously, that’s all we want to see when browsing Instagram. But jokes aside, the pressure to be “perfect” is putting immense pressure on young women more than ever. In an effort to combat toxic beauty standards promoted online, Instagram announced it will tighten its policy on posts related to weight loss products and cosmetic surgery by hiding related posts from users known to be aged under 18. The…
How often do you think about death? For many, the answer is a terrifying “almost always.” But, at some point or another, we’re all confronted with our own mortality. A certain bit of soul-searching over the finality of our demise is considered healthy. Some even revel in the macabre or take comfort in it. Unfortunately, there’s no correct amount of contemplation a person should give to the concept of dying. Some people live the majority of their lives without a care in the world while others suffer from crippling thanatophobia (death anxiety). By and large, however, people seem far more…
Do you own or work for an agency that wants to deliver exceptional value to your clients? Do you also want to accelerate the growth of your own business?
Then you should partner with AWeber. We’ve been an innovative market leader helping more than 1,000,000 small businesses for more than 20 years.
With AWeber, you can quickly provide new service offerings that generate billable hours for your agency. You get access to powerful, easy-to-use features so you can craft a compelling email marketing program that attracts new clients, retains customers for longer, and generates additional revenue streams.
Here are some of ways agencies find success with AWeber:
Easily onboard and manage clients: AWeber’s Team Hub management feature allows you to create separate accounts for every client. Assign them customized roles and permissions, and conveniently manage them all from a single login.
Execute unique campaigns for every client: Quickly build and send stunningly-beautiful emails with our easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. Or you can code and design from scratch. There’s a solution for everyone inside AWeber.
Fast-track conversions: Get results — fast. Target specific segments of your clients’ audiences based on their interests and traits, as well as the actions they take inside emails or on your clients’ websites.
Quickly optimize results: Our A/B testing tools are some of the most robust in the industry. From messaging to visuals to subject lines to CTAs, you can test almost anything. You’ll learn what’s working and what’s not, so you can iterate and optimize quickly for each of your clients.
Increase revenue per client: Effectively show the ROI on your email services and prove your agency’s value with our reporting tools. You can track performance of your clients’ campaigns and see how they’re impacting sales. Then, add offerings and services for new clients brought on at bigger retainers.
Receive monthly bonuses: For every client you bring on board, you’ll get a monthly bonus from AWeber. Just how much? Earn a 30% recurring referral payment for each account!
Connect to your other business systems: AWeber’s email API allows you to connect our platform to your other systems by using 300+ integrations or our open API.
AWeber is committed to making your agency as successful as possible. We support you day and night with our 24/7 award-winning customer support, and help you manage your clients at scale.
Want to learn more about generating new revenue with our market-leading, powerfully-simple email marketing tools? You can request a demo to speak with one of our team members when it best fits your schedule. You can also sign up for a live webinar on October 1 to hear more about how to quickly launch an email marketing program that drives new revenue for your agency.
US Rep. Devin Nunes can’t seem to catch a break. First, despite his memo blaming Obama and the FBI for all the evils in the world, his fellow former members of the Trump transition team keep getting indicted for being bad at crime. And now he can’t figure out which one of his cows is helping his mom make fun of him on Twitter. Nunes, the Salacious B. Crumb to Donald Trump’s Jabba the Hutt, filed a lawsuit against two parody accounts on Twitter earlier this year. According to a report from The Fresno Bee, Nunes argues that “activists conspired…
Welcome to the Social Spotlight, where each week we’ll dive deep into what we love about a brand’s approach to a specific social campaign. From strategy through execution and results, we’ll examine what makes the best brands on social tick — and leave you with some key takeaways to consider for your own brand’s social strategy.
It could easily be argued that e-commerce has taken a lot of the fun out of shopping. Don’t get me wrong–I love being able to order exactly what I need and have it show up on my doorstep the next day. But sometimes I miss the thrill of, as my mom would call it, “poking around” and finding something truly awesome. In this week’s Social Spotlight, we’ll take a look at how discount retailer Marshalls is reviving that feeling for the social era and turning a potential brand negative into a powerful brand asset.
Overview
One of the bargains shoppers make with a retailer like Marshalls is that in exchange for lower prices on brand-name goods, there are no guarantees that a given store will carry exactly what you’re looking for. While this could be maddening in the age of on-demand everything, Marshalls has turned its stores’ quirky, unpredictable stock into a treasure hunting adventure via a social campaign called #MarshallsSurprise.
The premise is pretty simple: Through their own social channels (primarily Instagram and Pinterest), Marshalls encourages shoppers to share pics of their best “finds” — from absurdly great deals on brand name clothing to the rug that really pulls the room together — using the hashtag #MarshallsSurprise. They’ve tapped some lifestyle influencers to join the campaign, extending the reach and reminding consumers that anyone can find a great surprise at Marshalls.
Analysis
As of this writing, #MarshallsSurprise had more than 24K mentions on Instagram and over 130K engagements on those corresponding posts. From new bedding and home decor to pumpkin spice pajamas, shoppers have been eager to share their weirdest and most wonderful discoveries. And according to Sprout’s Listening data, 93% of social conversation around #MarshallsSurprise has been positive. Let’s take a look at how they did it.
Goals: When I look at these metrics, two probable main goals for the #MarshallsSurprise campaign stand out to me–brand loyaltyandawareness–and they’re intrinsically linked in that the success of one begets success for the other. By giving its current customers and loyalists a platform for showing off theirbest finds on social, Marshalls is also introducing all the new potential customers among those loyalists’ followings to the thrill of the hunt.
Offline connection: This one is easy. You can’t find a #MarshallsSurprise unless you visit a Marshalls store and hunt one down for yourself. It’s a simple, smart and effective way to connect your brand’s IRL customer experienceto one of the most motivating aspects of social: the ability to boast a little.
Key channels: While there is some #MarshallsSurprise activity on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it’s mostly limited to Marshalls’ own handles and a smattering of influencers they’ve engaged with to post sponsored content. The brand is doing a particularly nice job of recapping its own favorite finds on those channels, but the real, customer-driven action is on the visually driven channels: Instagram and Pinterest. Most user posts align with the audience behaviors on each, with Instagram trending towards clothing and decor finds and Pinterest centered firmly on furniture and design. I actually think Marshalls should take note of this natural audience behavior and better define the roles for its own handles on Instagram and Pinterest by product category.
Takeaways
Whenever you can harness existing audience behavior to generate brand awareness andbring people into your brick and mortar locations, you’re beyond winning. Marshalls is killing it on two fronts when it comes to understanding what their consumers are already doing and asking them to keep doing it – they’re celebrating the excitement of the hunt for great deals and then encouraging people to brag about their “finds” on social. By turning the potential pitfall of unpredictable stock into an irresistible quest, Marshalls is rooting its brand in something memorable, ownable and affirming for the consumer.
TL;DR:
Find something that is specific and unique about your brand, product or service experience and lean into it. Don’t be afraid to think about how to turn a potential brand negative into a brand asset.
Do the work to understand your audience and how theyalready behave– both in terms of your brand and on social. It’s a lot easier to convince people to participate in your campaign if it feels like only a slight adjustment to something they’re already comfortable with.
Consider how you might meet multiple goals with one campaign by defining a role for your brand and a role for your audience.
The internet may be vulnerable to state intervention, but demonstrators in Hong Kong have found a way around it to stay connected to each other. As pro-democracy rallies rage in the territory, protestors are increasingly giving up on SMS, emails and China’s social media Swiss army knife WeChat in favor of peer-to-peer mesh networking apps like Bridgefy and FireChat. With the government keeping a close eye on social networks — homegrown and elsewhere — in an attempt to stifle dissent, these off-the-grid messaging apps have proven to be a blessing in disguise. According to Forbes, downloads of Bridgefy has skyrocketed by 4,000 percent…
