In our latest weekly round-up of digital marketing news, we have another huge milestone reached for TikTok, expanded ad testing for Facebook Live, more fonts coming to Instagram Stories, a new feature on Reddit, and more.
Let’s take a Pit Stop and get into it…
Another milestone for TikTok
The global social media sensation, TikTok has now reached another huge milestone, amassing over 2 billion downloads, just five months after reaching 1.5 billion! With lockdown restrictions in place around the globe and many of us looking for entertainment this comes as no surprise really. As we mentioned in our top 10 automotive marketing trends article at the start of the year, if your target audience includes Gen Z, then using TikTok is an absolute must.
Donation stickers launched on TikTok
TikTok has now launched a new interactive feature, Donation Stickers. They’re aimed at making it easier for content creators and their audience to donate to chosen charities amid the pandemic. There are 9 charitable partners currently, including CDC Foundation and No Kid Hungry. Up until May 27th, the company will also match any donations raised through the stickers with the hashtag #doubleyourimpact automatically being added to these posts.
Facebook expands ad testing on Live
Facebook is now expanding its testing of in-stream Facebook Live ads to further help evaluate their effectiveness. The testing of the format is going to be extended to more areas that include “pre-vetted entertainment, news, and sports partners”. As live content can be unpredictable, Facebook will ensure peace of mind for advertisers by providing the option to exclude ads from showing in Live content.
Microsoft Advertising cookie experiments
Cookie-based experiments are now available on Microsoft Advertising. On the “create an experiment” page within the platform, the new cookie-based option has been added as an alternative split option to search-based. They will ensure that your audience is only shown ads from your original or experiment campaign, facilitating more accurate ad creative testing.
Instagram rolling out new Stories font options
Definitely long overdue, new fonts are finally coming to Instagram Stories with new background effects to give your text more impact. Instagram made the announcement on Twitter and they’re currently testing it with a small percentage of users.
‘DM Me’ sticker being tested by Instagram
According to reverse engineering expert Jane Wong, Instagram is testing a “DM Me” sticker for Stories. The sticker would allow users to click on it and send a direct message. This could be great for business profiles if it’s made available for them, allowing for a call to action to find out more or get in touch. Stay tuned as there’s no announcement yet on this from Instagram.
Reddit launches “Start Chatting” option
Since the pandemic hit, many apps have seen surges in user activity, and Reddit is no stranger to that, with chat, in particular, proving extremely popular among Redditors. Amid this, the app has now launched a “Start Chatting” option. The option is available in subreddits and enables users to start enclosed group discussions with up to five other members from that community.
Here’s the official word from Reddit: “This past month, as people around the world have been at home under various shelter-in-place restrictions, redditors have been using chat at phenomenal new levels. Whether it’s about topics related to COVID-19, local news, or just their favorite games and hobbies, people all around the world are looking for others to talk to. Since Reddit is in a unique position to help in this situation, we’ve created a new tool that makes it easier to find other people who want to talk about the same things you do.”
That’s it for this week’s Marketing Pit Stop. Another fairly busy week with some interesting announcements and potential future updates in the works. Subscribe and follow us on Social Media to stay tuned, stay on-trend, and most importantly, stay ahead of your competition.