The Bulletin October 2022

As we head into holiday season studies suggest that Australians might spend less this year, but Meta releases new tools to help businesses make the most of ads, and new data may help with influencer campaigns. Plus we take a deep dive into design with more news on Figma and an exploration of Gifs. Let’s go!

Instagram has now expanded access to a new option which enables some creators to add multiple links to their IG bio. This feature has been in testing for a while, as a means to help expand users’ business-building potential in the app. It’s not clear, at this stage, how many links users will officially be able to add, but it looks like the feature will make third-party tools like Linktree obsolete. In the past Instagram has relied on and even suggested users adopt extra tools like Linktree, but with everything in-app, IG could be a more valuable asset to businesses, providing more ways to drive traffic from your IG presence.

Based on a nationally representative sample of 1080 panel members, Pureprofile’s 2022 Christmas Report features insights spanning a four-year period from 2019 to 2022, highlighting changes in behaviour. This year’s report suggests that cost of living hikes will see Australians buying fewer gifts this Christmas as families work within narrower budgets when compared to previous years. In good news, Australians are regaining their pre-pandemic festive spirit, with 57% feeling emotionally positive about the season; a slow catch-up to 65% from 2019. However, spending habits are yet to catch up with pre-COVID levels with many Australians reporting that they are unable to spend lavishly on gifts. Three in five mention they will spend less on gifts this year compared to the previous year. Though the average Christmas budget only sits $5 less than the previous year, at $425 for gifts. And though Australians may spend cautiously, they will still spend on the people closest to them: kids, siblings, family.

According to Meta’s Performance 5 data, making these five changes to your ad campaigns can help increase ad performance, lower cost per action and connect your ads with people most likely to buy. The initial suggestion is to connect your conversions data to power ad performance with Meta’s Conversions API and see -13% cost per action, however most of these tips would be beneficial even if not using them through Meta. Other suggestions include: Consolidating your ad sets and campaigns for improved efficiency and performance (+41% conversions). Use broad targeting to reach more people who are likely to become customers (-12% cost per action). Drive conversions with mobile-friendly video ads (-12% cost per action). And test your ads to confidently choose winning strategies (-30% cost per result). Implementing these actions will help bolster your ad practice.

A higher follower count for influencers implies broader reach but also means a weaker relationship and lower likelihood of engagement, according to a study at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. The study is based on analysis of  802 Instagram marketing campaigns featuring more than 1,700 influencers.

Researchers say influencers’ follower count is key when advertisers devise influencer marketing campaigns. However, whether to go for an extremely popular influencer or a less popular one, depends on the brand. On one hand, advertisers want to leverage an influencer’s reach, but on the other hand, users on social networks often seek interactive relationships where they feel connected, which happens less when influencers have more followers.

The study has a few suggestions to combat this. Influencers with large followings should be empowered to create original content in their own style, rather than regurgitating the brand’s official content. Well-known, mainstream brands should contract with less popular influencers with neither too few nor too many followers. And influencers with large followings might consider expanding their partnerships with lesser-known brands to enjoy mutual benefits.

Ahead of the holiday season Meta is rolling out several new types of ads to engage more online shoppers and win advertisers’ digital marketing budgets away from competitors.

These new ad formats open up inventory on nearly every page of Instagram and Facebook apps, a move that could theoretically make it easier for advertisers to handle Apple’s anti-tracking changes that have hampered Facebook and Instagram ads’ performance. 

The new formats are broken down into a couple categories including in-profile ads on Instagram where users will be served content-specific ads as they scroll through a creator’s profile feed, however creators will not initially be able to control which advertisers are featured on their profiles.

Ads will also now be included on the Instagram Explore page, or “Discover page”. Also on Instagram, after a user engages with an ad by clicking through the link or making a purchase, they will be served a carousel of related ads for brands and products that are similar. This is aimed at capturing people who are supposedly in the “shopping mindset.” Post-loop ads in Facebook Reels mean that once a user finishes viewing a Reel the first time through, rather than replaying, a four-second-long ad will play instead. Read about the other new ad formats below.

The announcement of Adobe’s acquisition of web design platform Figma made waves among the design community earlier this year, with many concerned at how the platform might be transformed. Now the team at Creative Bloq have some early answers. Figma Founder Dylan Field announced that the first tangible change to Figma will be the much-requested addition of Adobe Fonts, surely in a move to placate designers. 

Field also described how joining forces with Adobe will help the platform “build way more, faster.” Adobe’s expertise in areas like vector and video will help add more functionality to the web-based browser. Adobe’s CPO Scott Belsky added that while both brands are committed to making digital product design accessible to everyone, Figma will “retain autonomy”, though concerns about pricing were not yet addressed.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a Gif is worth 10 thousand. Seldom other forms of content can communicate ultra-specific emotional nuances while referencing pop-culture and showing your personality, all in a few seconds. The invention of the Gif transformed creative practices overnight, and gave birth to a whole new medium of expression. It was only around 2003-2004 that the patent expired on Gifs and everyday people were able to make and use Gifs, without fear of being sued, making them a mainstream form of media expression. And even with the development of the internet, media and design practices, the gif has not died but remains a fun and relevant way to engage your audience. This month the team at It’s Nice That dissects the history of the gif, speaking to experts and artists about its continued evolution, and its future. They maintain that if the history of the Gif is anything to go by, the future of the format is exciting and full of untapped creative potential.