After Facebook’s recent scandal with leaked user information and the US Election fiasco, the social media giants have decided to become more transparent with their platform. In early April, Facebook announced they were making ads transparent and marking political ads as special cases.
This has been a long time coming, given the chatter on Russian meddling since the US Elections fiasco ended 2 years ago.
How does this affect your business?
Ad transparency means anyone and everyone can now view all the ads you are running. This includes your target audience and unfortunately, your competition. The good news is that they can only see the content and the type of ad but nothing on the data and statistics that come with it.
So what should you do?
1) Brand It or Lose It
It is simple. Your ads are now on a public exhibition – no hiding. With this, your competitors can copy your ads… but they certainly can’t copy your branding. If they do, it’s at their jeopardy. Here’s what we think – no sweat! Every business has their own unique brand story that cannot be copied or counteracted. If you tie in your branding with your ads strongly, your competitors would not be able to do anything even if they see your ads.
Basically, be yourself. By having a strong brand identity, anyone should be able to identify your brand based on one look. Audiences would be able to tell when your ads are being copied by your competition and the consequences would be on them to bare. You will always have the benefit of being the original. Alternatively, you can also consult professionals to show you.
2) Look ‘Em (Your Competition) In The Eye
With access to your competitors’ ads, it would be foolish to ignore them. The creative industries have always relied on one another for inspiration, and ad transparency should not be made an exception. Draw inspiration from their ads, learn from them and react to them. (Inspiration and reaction, not plagiarism)
As you look at their ads, you can leverage on them to create reactive ads or build on them. Of course, put your own brand into it (see point 1) and add your own personal touch. However, be wary of local advertising laws and try to avoid mentioning brand names. You don’t want to get into lawsuits and fall out of competition altogether. Nah-uh.
3) Who Run The World? Data!
Many factors can be attributed to a successful ad – content is just one of them. Your competitors may be able to see your ads, but they don’t have access to your data and with data, you can perform magic.
By monitoring your ads and adjusting them according to the data, you can improve your ad and be one step ahead of your competition. They can only continue to stare and observe, while frantically trying to imitate you.
If you want to stay ahead of the social media scene for all your marketing efforts, you can consult professionals who can help you navigate the dynamic digital marketing environment here.
Table of Contents
1) Brand It or Lose It
2) Look ‘Em (Your Competition) In The Eye
3) Who Run The World? Data!
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When we talk about talking selfies and stories on our socials, which side are you on? Instagram, Facebook or… Snapchat? When Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat recently, they were rejected despite a whopping bid of $3 billion. In response, Facebook leveraged on their acquisition of Instagram to compete against Snapchat, by launching Instagram stories or what’s widely known at Instastories.
Talk about life’s regrets.
With the purchase, Instagram’s platform soared in terms of the number of users and ads, while Snapchat struggled to keep up. Facebook also launched Facebook Stories to add options for the avid social media users. From there, Snapchat started to look more and more like an Instagram copy instead of the other way around, as they struggled to innovate to pull ahead of its ‘successor’.
Until now.
Snapchat recently launched a gaming platform, similar to WeChat, in an attempt to improve user engagement and move ahead of their rival. They released a series of Snapchat filter games and Augmented Reality (AR) games that users can play on the platform.
Most notably, the AR Tennis game against Serena Williams is a clear sign that Snapchat’s advanced AR technology is going to become their selling point.
Y’all seeing this? Get your chance to battle @serenawilliams – you wont win 😂 but try your best and share your high score. pic.twitter.com/sXuxtImgJI
— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) July 2, 2018
Credit: Alexis Ohanian Sr.
Snapchat games provide an additional tool for businesses to adapt. (YAY!) That is always welcomed for creative people (*wink wink*) to adapt for marketing.
Does Snapchat still matter?
Well, it really depends.
Snapchat numbers have risen steadily over the past year, with more and more youths adopting the platform. We’ve to admit, they’ve got really nice filters. Heh. This means any strategy or business targeting youths have to take Snapchat into serious consideration.
Incorporating gaming has given other platforms (aka Facebook) a boost before and it should do the same for Snapchat.
What can businesses do with this information?
Consider playing around with Snapchat’s functions and ads viewing if you are unfamiliar with the platform. Businesses can also start looking into adapting filters and AR games to help their own cause.
Do keep the demographics of Snapchat in mind while developing and utilising them and tie in to your branding. It will be a waste of marketing dollars otherwise.
If you want to utilise them, and you are having trouble with incorporating into your brand, consult an agency to help you.
It’s always nice to see your digital marketing efforts get viral on social media and reach a wide audience in a very short period of time. However, chasing viral marketing may lead to your downfall in this digital age.
Virality is often dictated by the STEPPS factor – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. Due to the widespread content, the things that trend these days can range from heartfelt stories to a simple photo of an egg.
Yes, a stock image of an egg went viral on Instagram and beat Kylie Jenner’s record for the number of likes. If this piece of news does not dissuade you from pursuing virality mindlessly, here are 3 more reasons to do so: