The Bulletin August 2021

This month we sink our teeth into a lot more data to show what people prefer when it comes to consuming their content. We learn that digital ads don’t just encourage short term sales, but they can actually build brands and continue their impact long after the campaign has finished. We also learn that people generally prefer marketing that’s inclusive, encourages diversity and is generally simple. At the end of this month we also wave goodbye to the Instagram Swipe Up link to pave the way for a link sticker for a much more tailored user experience. Let’s go.

Great news! Did you know that digital ads don’t just encourage short-term sales, but they also help massively with brand retention? Even after a digital campaign ends, the research has found that exposure and retention lasts for a while, which is great news as it shows that the time and effort that goes into digital campaigns can be seen for a long time after the ads come down. Here are the stats:

We’ve written a few times about the Australia Influencer Code Of Conduct, including its inception last year, but it seems this month there have been a few updates. They’ve added that all engagements with influencers need to be clearly stated, such as paid, gifting and affiliate links, as many brands are getting caught by AANA (Australian Association of National Advertisers) for not clearly indicating sponsorship. These have included big brands such as Magnum Icecream, Runway the Label and Tom Ford. There’s also now a guide to gifting to help brands navigate this grey area within the realm of working with influencers.

NMP Digital have released a report into how important inclusive marketing is and how being inclusive can easily add value to your brand. They reported that a massive 62% of people look favourably on brands that do promote inclusivity and that people will actively search to engage with inclusive brands whilst they shun those who stick with the old status quo and don’t necessarily promote equality in their advertising. It’s something that we should be doing anyway, but it’s interesting to see the data back up the trends.

We’ve written before about how video consistently outperforms all other ways to share content (there’s a reason TikTok is so popular) but it seems this sentiment shows no sign of slowing down. Watching video content accounts for half of all time spent on Facebook and Instagram, with being a Reels a key driver for this growth. Even if Reels is technically a copy of TikTok in many ways,  it’s still a powerful tool for Instagram engagement, with the algorithms favouring those who post video content.

You might assume that it’s all about the bells and whistles when it comes to content, but more research has shown that customers actually crave simpler experiences with less choice. It’s key that brands shouldn’t overwhelm people with options because people are already mentally drained so they will learn towards the easiest option automatically. Simple.

Goodbye Swipe Up on Instagram! Instagram have announced that the Swipe Up to access links on stories is going to be replaced by a link sticker from August 30th. This change is designed to streamline the story creation experience and offer more creative control as users can format the look of stickers which they’ve never managed to do with Swipe Up. All users who could previously access swipe up will be able to access the new link sticker and we’re wondering if it could be a step towards users with less than 10,000 followers to being able to put links in stories. Watch this space.