Discover the latest updates, platform developments, Beta placements, and changes in the sector, all in one place.

TikTok's New Guide Leverages Targeted Marketing  

TikTok's 'Back to School' campaign guide is designed to help marketers reach students and parents with seasonal promotions. The guide includes: key dates based off user activity, an overview of key product categories, specific user engagement within the app, and brand building/promotional strategies. 

 
Takeaway: 

Colleges can use the guide to plan their promotional activities, align their messaging with key dates, and create engaging content that resonates with the student demographic. Net Natives can help you tailor campaigns, optimize your outreach, and create compelling video content that aligns with TikTok’s best practices, ensuring maximum engagement and impact. Chat to an advisor today.

 2 July  2024

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Pinterest's New Sharing Feature 

Pinterest has introduced an enhanced board sharing feature that allows users to easily share their collections across other social apps. Users can choose a public board, select a display template, and share it as an animated Story with a "Curated on Pinterest" marker. This feature is aimed at engaging younger users, particularly Gen Z, who use Pinterest for self-expression and identity shaping. 

Takeaway: 

This feature allows colleges to provide a dynamic and immersive glimpse into the unique aspects of their institution, such as campus life, academic programs, student achievements and events, appealing particularly to Gen Z users who value personalization and aesthetic expression. This tool can help expand your reach and attract a broader audience, enhancing recruitment efforts.

2 July 2024

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Meta's AI Celebrities 

Last month Meta launched their new 'AI studio' feature allowing celebrities to create AI versions of themselves that can interact with fans through DM. According to Zuckerberg, the primary focus is to answer fact-based queries. Essentially, the bots will be able to provide generic answers to common questions, in the style of the creator. The new platform is not without criticism, with the lack of authenticity up for questioning.

 
Takeaway: 

Have you considered leveraging Meta's new 'AI Studio' feature to enhance your marketing strategy? This could include creating AI versions of prominent faculty members, notable alumni, or even college mascots, and using AI messaging to interact with prospective students in an engaging and personalized manner. 

2 July 2024

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Enhancing Engagement with Pinterest

Pinterest's new study highlights the importance of combining "passive" and "active" attention to enhance ad effectiveness. Pinterest's platform excels at driving passive attention due to user enjoyment and slower ad scrolling. Marketers are advised to place ads in relevant contexts and create emotionally engaging content to maximize attention and response.

Takeaway: 

Pinterest's study emphasizes combining active and passive attention strategies to enhance ad effectiveness and brand awareness. Chat to our strategists about how we can help your business leverage these features by creating contextually relevant and emotionally engaging ads tailored to Pinterest’s unique user behavior, maximizing both immediate engagement and long-term brand recall.

18 June 2024

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TikTok Rises as a Discovery Platform

Adobe’s survey aimed at understanding Tik Tok’s use as a discovery platform revealed that 64% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials found TikTok the most useful platform for search. Top searches include new recipes, new music and DIY tips. 

Takeaway: 

TikTok has become  more than just a platform for entertainment; it's now a significant platform for product discovery and trend exploration, making it crucial for marketing.  Your Natives strategiests can help your institution utlilize TikTok's discovery-focused capabilities to showcase products creatively, engage with trending content to enhance visibility, and adapt quickly to algorithm changes for optimal reach.

18 June 2024

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The Shifting Landscape of CTV

TV is transitioning entirely to streaming, a change driven by pandemic viewing habits and technological advancements. Europe is seeing traditional broadcasters embrace advertising, Japan's economic growth could boost CTV advertising, and India's increasing internet access is fueling a streaming surge. With global CTV ad revenue expected to reach $42.5 billion by 2028, understanding these regional dynamics is crucial for marketers to capitalize on the streaming revolution.

Takeaway: 

The shift to streaming TV and growing CTV ad revenue present significant marketing opportunities, and Net Natives are keen to help you capitalize on this trend by creating targeted, region-specific streaming campaigns to boost engagement and visibility.

18 June 2024

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Snapchat Grows Global Users

Snapchat has published its latest performance update, showing an increase of 10% in its global users, including +4% for Europe, and +19% for the rest of the world. As well as this, the onboarding of 1500 ‘snap stars’ in Q1 has seen engagement in the U.S rise by 55% year on year.

Takeaway:

Are you using Snapchat in your campaigns? And if not, have you discussed your options with you Net Natives team? It looks like this platform is going to continue growing.  

 4 June 2024

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Spotify's New Pixel Feature

The biggest update for Spotify this month is that it now has its own pixel. With the introduction of this, we can now analyse the actions that listeners took after hearing or seeing your ads. Currently, the Spotify Pixel is able to track visitors, leads and purchases.

Takeaway:

This could revolutionise the way you interact with Spotify and how you measure the return on your advertising investment. 

 4 June 2024

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Youtube's New Placement

YouTube's new “Select Shorts” option, enables brands to place their ads alongside top Shorts content in various categories. According to YouTube, Shorts are now viewed by 2 billion logged-in users every month, while Shorts viewership on TVs has also increased rapidly.

Takeaway: 

YouTube continues to be a prominant platform to gain organic as well as paid impressions. Make sure you leverage this as a key social media platform.

4 June 2024

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Lacking diversity in AI

Dove's latest OOH campaign ‘The Code’ challenges the bias in AI that tends to perpetuate stereotypical and narrow standards of beauty across the globe. As new research from Dove finds, one in three women and girls feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know AI-generated. 

Takeaway: 
With a predicted 90% of online content to be AI-generated by 2025, the campaign explores the potential for AI to foster greater diversity. Dove's campaign suggests that simply adding to AI-generated search terms can enhance inclusivity.

20 May 2024

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How Third-Party Cookies set the industry back

The demise of the cookie exposed its flaws, including misleading attribution, reliance on dubious data, and undermining of context. As we transition away from third-party cookies, considerations include embracing diverse data strategies like identity solutions and publisher first-party data segmentation. Collaboration with retailers, AI-powered targeting algorithms, and innovative technologies.

Takeaway: 
The end of third-party cookies signals a shift towards innovation and a more sustainable and effective advertising landscape, emphasizing quality, context, and consumer privacy. 

20 May 2024

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Boomers need to be protected from social media

In the digital age, scams are as old as the internet itself. A particular infamous scam text that circulated back in 2023, played on parents' emotions, urging them to send money to their children. A lot of 'boomers' fell for it, highlighting the vulnerability of older generations to online fraud. Contrary to stereotypes, Gen Z demonstrates a cautious approach to social media. They meticulously curate their online presence, wary of sharing too much personal information. 

Takeaway:
Ultimately, young or old, we’re all at risk when we go online. Plus, with the rise of AI, deepfakes and more, those risks are only set to grow in number and complexity.

20 May 2024

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