ICYMI: Paging Adam Mosseri for a Reels Update
Here's what happened on social media this week, July 1
This a recap of news and trends for and about creators — or anyone interested in social media and marketing. Thanks for reading!
💻 ROADMAP
📲 Here’s your weekly Reels Report — I don’t know what else to call Instagram’s relentless updates around a single feature:
Reels API: Instagram is expanding Reels API access, which means if you run a Business account (Creator accounts are not eligible) you’ll be able to use third-party scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to schedule Reels and moderate comments all from your desktop.
24/7 Reels Video: More and more people are reporting seeing all videos in Instagram show up as Reels. We knew this was coming — especially when Instagram retired IGTV video. Cue a folksy Adam Mosseri video coming to us from his wood-paneled den with rolled up sleeves in 3… 2… 1…
More Reels Tips: Meta put out a mini guide to help brands create engaging Reels which actually has some useful guidance for all (they are betting the farm with this so Reels has to work):
Nail the hook: Keep brand objectives in mind—if brand lift is your aim, highlight your brand in the first few seconds of your Reels. If the intent is conversions, showcase your product or service in action.
Get creative with transitions: We are all going to be SFX editing pros when this is done.
Match the rhythm: Sync your music to the visuals. This is the era of vibe marketing — “a concise assemblage of image, sound, and movement.”
Keep it on trend: Take part in cultural moments, trending topics and popular challenges that are relevant to your brand.
Explore collaborations: Good news for influencers, collaborations with you drive more engagement, authenticity and awareness!
Be authentic: Sorry but who are the marketers that hadn’t already gotten this bullet point?
👻 Introducing Snapchat+: Snap rolled out Snapchat+, a collection of features available in Snapchat for $3.99/month. Details on the “exclusive” and “experimental” features have been vague. But, according to TubeFilter, it’s not an ad-free app experience and the most talked-about perk has been the ability to designate a “#1 BFF.” So, like a souped-up MySpace… but you pay?
🧰 YouTube New Moderation Tools: Creators now have access to a new setting for comments in YouTube Studio. They'll be able to select an "increase strictness" option to cut down on spam and inappropriate comments. And as of July 29th, channels won't be able to hide their subscriber counts. This is to prevent impersonators leaving comments on other videos to bring people over to their fake page with hidden subscriber count.
👆🏻 CLICK THRU
💸 Will inflation and uncertainty affect brands’ influencer marketing spend?
Good news: Those creator headlines about canceled ad deals and delayed payments may not reflect the influencer marketing industry at large.
According to Insider Intelligence, a market research company: “We believe the power of creators is just as strong, if not stronger, today than it was during the pandemic, which helped drive significant gains in influencer marketing spending in the US last year, up 33.6% to $3.69 billion.”
There are a couple of issues at play here, including: the affordability of influencers versus other marketing channels when budgets are tight and the overwhelming amount of data pointing to the role influencers play in consumers' purchasing decisions.
» 78% of online adults said creators were influential to help them discover new brands!
However, Insider Intelligence points out some business categories such as cryptocurrencies and the automobile industry may take a hit as part of broader budget cuts.
💼 Why Are More Influencers Launching Their Own Brands?
“More influencers are waking up to the power of directly monetizing their audiences, using knowledge collected over the years to move up the value chain and launch their own ventures,” according to this Forbes piece. “By cutting out the middleman, influencers can make the most of their knowledge about their communities—their likes and dislikes—and the type of content and gentle promotion strategies that work the best”
I taught a UCLA Extension class called The Business of Being an Influencer where we looked at the similarities between entrepreneurs and influencers and there’s a lot of overlapping characteristics. That doesn’t mean all influencers are going to ditch sponsored content in favor of launching their own businesses. They need a high tolerance for risk, the right personal circumstances, and enough paying customers to make it a viable business. But the aptitude is there.
To quote American Influencer Council founder Qianna Smith Bruneteau, “Creators are American small business owners.”
▶️ MrBeast explains YouTube’s algorithm
This TechCrunch headline is a tad misleading in what the recap actually delivers. MrBeast was on stage at VidCon with YouTube’s Todd Beaupré and it’s the executive who’s mostly quoted explaining the algorithm. Maybe you had to be there? But there were a few good quotes from YouTube’s most successful creator:
“When I meet smaller creators, my advice is just to make 100 videos and improve one thing each video.”
“Short-form is here to stay and is only going to get bigger and bigger. If you’re not doing it now, you should be.”
Donaldson said that he pays most attention to the retention rate: it’s harder to get 70% retention on a 30 minute video than it is to get millions of views.
🗂 Influencers: Some Important FTC Information
A LinkedIn post outlining some proposed changes to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines on influencer marketing is freaking people out.
But in fact, most of the laws listed already exist. Such as: “If you are endorsing anything with a “material connection” - aka family members, business partners, friends’ products/services, you must disclose.” Yup, you even need to disclose the freebies.
One new law being considered that could have a sizable impact is: “Tagging a brand on social media content will be considered an endorsement.” That means influencers will need to use an #ad hashtag even when they’ve bought and paid for a product. It’s likely to cut down on unsponsored content about products or services that creators organically endorse — why promote a partnership that doesn’t actually exist?
But again, this is just in the contemplation phase so for now consider this TBD.
(A screenshot of me moderating a Social Media Club LA event about data and social ethics made Room Rater — this pleases my little wonk heart no end. This is the recognition I crave.)
📣 QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You're seeing companies like Meta [slow hiring] and rescind job offers but went all out in terms of the activations at VidCon. And you can see that their priority is acquiring creator talent, so, it was a little bit jarring to be there and see that but it was definitely a very buoyant mood.”
-The Information’s Kaya Yurieff on observations from her time at VidCon
🧮 DATA OF THE WEEK
Instagram and Facebook are consumers' favorite platforms for social commerce. YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest trailed behind, in that order.
-5 Key Takeaways From Traackr’s "Influencer Marketing Impact" report via Business Insider
📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…
Even Top Creators Find That Star Power Is Fleeting -The Hollywood Reporter
What Happens When a Brand’s TikTok Personality Leaves? -LinkinBio
Creative Agencies: Calling All TikTokers -MarketingBrew
Hashtag Pay Me, a calculator that helps influencers determine rates, rolls out -MarketingBrew
Creators are mitigating burnout with long-form YouTube videos -NBCNews
FCC commissioner calls on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores -CNN
Ryan Trahan’s 30-day journey to MrBeast got more than 190 million views and raised $1.38 million for charity -TubeFilter
How to Become a Full-time Content Creator -Later
Facebook Groups are being revamped to look like Discord — Here’s why it won’t work -Brendan Gahan
Start spreading the news: Emma Chamberlain’s New York travelogue brings her back to YouTube -TubeFilter
How YouTube’s brewing TikTok rivalry could impact mobile video strategies -MarketingDive
Thanks again for reading. Please share ICYMI if you like it and/or click the heart below to let me know ❤️