ICYMI: Unpacking Instagram’s Creator Marketing Strategy 👀
+ Dua Lipa dropped a new Stories music sticker!
This week is a PACKED with updates from all the major platforms so let’s get right into it.
⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY
Dua Lipa dropped a new Stories music sticker — this is your cue to pay attention to Instagram’s marketing strategy
Instagram changed Reels recommendation rankings to make it easier for smaller creators to break through
TikTok Carousels just got a big visibility boost with a new photo tab
A new licensing agreement means UMG tracks will soon be back on TikTok
LinkedIn launched Games this week — are you feeling it?
Your Summer 2024 plans brought to you by Skittles and Airbnb
Webinar: Taylor Lorenz + more pros share expert insights & tactics for influencer marketing success*
💻 ROADMAP
📲 Meta Updates
Instagram changed its Reels recommendation ranking engine to make it easier for smaller creators to break through. I sent out a bonus newsletter this week breaking it down: Audience size won’t determine success, it’s all about original content that resonates. And aggregators that rip off people’s content will be deprioritized.
Instagram partnered with Dua Lipa to debut a new sticker in Stories called: Add Yours Music, which turns your story into a music template so you can share your favorite songs from Instagram’s music library with friends and followers (and they can share theirs too). Scroll down for more on this update 🔽
As part of its new Stories sticker announcement, Instagram also released Reveal. It allows you to post a hidden story for your friends and followers to uncover. The only way for them to see the content is to send you a DM.
Instagram is reportedly testing a feature to allow going Live in Broadcast Channels with channel subscribers only.
📲 TikTok Updates
TikTok Carousels just got a big visibility boost. Earlier this week, I spotted a new navigation bar on TikTok that included an “Explore” tab. The Explore section is entirely made up of photo Carousels. Whether TikTok decides to keep photos in its app or use this opportunity build out the new TikTok Notes photo app, they’re clearly prioritizing more than just video.
TikTok signed a new licensing agreement with Univeral Music Group. UMG music on TikTok “should return within one to two weeks. Further, all videos that had previously been muted will be unmuted.”
TikTok is making music a priority. In the past month they’ve announced global ticketing partnerships with AXS and CTS EVENTIM. The deals allow fans to discover and buy concert tickets through the app or directly from the artist’s post.
📲 LinkedIn Updates
LinedIn launched Games this week, starting with 3 thinking-oriented games: Pinpoint, Crossclimb and Queens. Users will be able to play once a day, see which connections have played and rank themselves on a leaderboard.
If, like me, you’re scratching your head about this one, LinkedIn addressed that: “Every year, we study the world's best workplaces. Turns out, one of the best ways to deepen and reignite relationships at work is simply by having fun together… Games forge relationships, and relationships are at the heart of everything we do.”
📲 YouTube Updates
YouTube is testing a new Smart TV experience that shows ads when you pause playback, aka “pause ads” or “pause screen ads.” It’s a new surface to get in front of consumers — like finding a new way to cram more cheese into a stuffed-crust pizza — with other streaming platforms such as Hulu, Max, and Peacock doing the same.
It’s worth keeping this on your radar, even if you don’t do paid social. Much like creators, organic social teams often produce the culturally relevant, entertaining content viewers actually want to watch — versus the ads people typically try to avoid. Anyone producing CTV or pause ads should consider bringing in the organic social team for input.
📲 Snapchat Updates
Snapchat announced several updates, including the power to edit DMs for up to 5 minutes after sending them; emoji reactions in DMs; the ability to ask My AI for a reminder in DMs or conversations with one other friend; and map reactions to encourage connection: “Send a wave as you pass each other … or a heart when you see a friend has arrived safely at their destination.”
📲 Pinterest Updates
As part of their Q1 reporting, Pinterest announced that Gen Z is now their largest, fastest-growing, and most engaged demo ever.
Pinterest says its AI-powered collage feature is seeing three times the engagement of its traditional Pins.
📲 Twitter Updates
Twitter shared a preview of its new menu that requires users tap on a button to expand options such as like, repost, bookmark, etc. Given people’s diminished attention spans, taking away the ease of tapping like or retweet seems counterintuitive and likely to lower engagement rates. Stay tuned.
🔨 DIGITAL EVENT
Under the Brand-fluence: Expert Insights & Tactics for Influencer Marketing Success
Influencers hold more power than we even realize.
While only 16% of consumers say influencer marketing is the #1 factor in their purchasing decision, nearly half (49%) make at least one monthly purchase as a result of influencer content.
Let experts like Taylor Lorenz, Tech Journalist at the Washington Post; Santina Rizzi, viral TikTok Creator and Social Media Manager; and many more get you up to speed on the current state of influencer marketing. Discover what’s on their radar and learn how you can implement strategies in your field, today.
🗓️ Date & Time: Tuesday, May 21 at 10 a.m. CT (8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET)
*sponsored
🎤 INSTAGRAM’S NEW MUSIC FEATURE
What Happened: Instagram partnered with Dua Lipa to launch a new sticker in Stories today called: Add Yours Music.
The sticker turns your Story into a music template so people can share their favorite songs from Instagram’s music library with friends and followers (and they can share theirs too).
Tied to the drop of Dua’s new album, Radical Optimism, she’s set to kick off the Add Your Music trend on her IG story on Friday, asking fans to collaborate and share their favorite songs from her new album (with the chance for their Stories to get reposted on Dua's story).
(Btw, Dua Lipa’s having a moment. Beyond her Instagram collab and new album dropping, she has a spot as SNL’s host and music guest May 4, is releasing the Camden docuseries she produced on Disney+ and was just named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine.)
Here’s why it’s important: The Instagram x Dua Lipa partnership and new Add Your Music sticker are cool. But this is also your cue to pay attention to how Instagram is handling its own product marketing these days.
Instagram isn’t using artists to amplify its campaigns. The artists’ posts are THE official announcement. These days, Meta’s new features get rolled out by showing, rather than telling. And it’s artists who are doing the product demos.
Note, Instagram wouldn’t comment specifically on its marketing strategy but a spokesperson said: “We’ve always been inspired by the power of fandom on Instagram, and we’re focused on exploring new, creative ways to foster more connection between fans and artists.”
For Background: In the past six months, we’ve seen Instagram launch “Frames,” a new Story sticker, with the help of K-Pop band LE SSERAFIM at Coachella. Rather than incorporating the girls into an announcement, Instagram relied on the band’s own posts to promote the Polaroid-style feature.
“A question for my fellow digital marketers,” asked marketer Mo Brady after seeing the news. “Why aren’t we leveraging influencers to make major announcements?”
Billie Eilish went viral in April for adding 110M fans to her Close Friends list on Instagram to announce her upcoming album. It’s a tactic that’s been used before to help Instagram promote its own product.
Lil Yachty added his 11.3M followers to his Close Friends list in November. The stunt was actually part of a Meta campaign to promote the Close Friends for Reels and Close Friends for Feed features to his followers. To this day, most people don’t realize the Close Friends honor was part of a marketing campaign.
“We know our target doesn't like ads. So, we didn't make any. And they loved it,” was how Instagram’s Brand Marketing Lead Arinze Emeagwali and Wieden + Kennedy Creative Director John “JP” Petty described the collaboration when speaking at Social Media Week.
Consider: Is there value to your brand in partnering with an influencer and allowing them to announce a new product launch, service or software update? It’s passing the mic to a trusted voice your audience wants to hear from — possibly even more than they want to hear from you.
Note: On Monday, I’ll send out a special Part Two for paid subscribers looking at how artists have also been strategic about leveraging their fandoms on Instagram. And, of course, the lessons brands can learn from this.
🥰 WE LOVE TO SEE IT
After Taylor Swift showed off her pickleball fit in the BTS video for the release of The Tortured Poets Department, shopper searches for pickleball on creator commerce app LTK skyrocketed 335%.
That’s fascinating on its own merit but the story gets better. The designer of the Popflex skirt is creator Cassie Ho (Blogilates) who has struggled with copycat designs being sold on Shein. It’s a full circle journey for Ho who is arguably more successful as an entrepreneur than she was as an OG fitness influencer.
🧮 DATA POINT
Gen Z are the biggest users of search engines: More than 83% of global internet users in this cohort have used a search engine in the past month, which is higher than the figure for any other age group... And what’s more, the biggest users of TikTok – younger women – are actually the most prolific users of search engines.
-According to a Digital 2024 April Global Statshot Report from We Are Social and Meltwater, which debunks the myth that TikTok or Instagram have replaced Google as Gen Z’s primary search engine.
👀 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
TikTok seems to be dodging App Store commissions — despite Apple booting Fortnite from the App Store for similar behavior -The Verge
Why your TikTok app will probably be taken away — four possible scenarios -Intelligencer
The EU to probe Meta over handling of Russian disinformation -Reuters
Big oops. Instagram says a glitch temporarily erased millions of followers from accounts -SocialMediaToday
Media dollars are moving from TV and traditional entertainment over to YouTube -Reed Duchscher
Twitch is officially rolling out its new TikTok-like discovery feed to all users this week -Tech Crunch
Roblox announced immersive video ads would now be available to all advertisers -Roblox
The Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts in 2024 — which includes the Art of Sway x ICYMI collab!! -Loomly
A new Skittles sweepstakes gives fans a chance to win a rent-free year in this sweet NYC candy pad -Skittles
Airbnb’s Icons experiences let you stay in iconic locations, like the floating house from “Up” -Airbnb
💨 BEFORE YOU GO
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