Photo credit: The delightful Arthur Mazi
Just 5 years ago, if your brand was running campaigns on Google and Facebook/Instagram it was likely you were reaching 95+% of your audience between both platforms.
However we now live in a world where Tiktok got more traffic than Google in 2021 and a society that no longer sees Facebook as cool or hip and instead is turning to a slew of other apps for their time and attention. The transition from legacy platforms is happening so fast that it can be hard to understand and plan around where time/attention is going so here’s where brands need to begin investing in order to make sure they are reaching their audience:
Tiktok
To outsiders it seems like a quirky app featuring dance moves and memes but to users of the platform its turned into so much more. There are now influencers giving advice on anything and everything and diverse video content creators making true works of art. Advertisers have been slow to get on the platform as they try to figure out a messaging and engagement strategy but those that have already invested in the platform are realizing returns. In fact in 2021, more people visited Tiktok than Google and the trend should only continue to play out for 2022.
Snapchat
Teens abandoned Facebook long ago and smart advertisers know that teens have significant sway in the marketplace whether it’s spending their own money or influencing the purchasing decisions of their parents. The platform has gone from disappearing messaging to a host of self created shows that drive engagement and reaction. Brands have been swarming to the platform with their own serial content to try and attract consumers early and develop lifetime brand loyalists. Like Tiktok, the brand has matured from a single use app to a full fledged content creation platform and advertisers need to pay attention to it.
If it’s on the internet, there’s likely an entire community talking about it on Reddit. If you rarely visit the site or just check the homepage, you’re missing out on a diverse community that is talking about your product right now. For instance search your brand or what your target market is looking for in a product or service and odds are you’ll come across hundreds of threads with people asking for recommendations for a product that does X to entire communities you never knew existed that serve as a forum for your brand. Finding the communities that matter and serving ads in those communities can drive incredible returns.
By now, most brands have a Pinterest page but many are missing out on Pinterest Ad platform and its powerful capabilities. The platform has always been a hub for product discovery and with detailed targeting options, it can be supercharged into an amplifier for brands and their products looking to get in front of the right people at the right moments. Pinterest knows they will be very high funnel consumers, which is why their ad platform comes with its own pixel to track performance and report on people who saw the product and later purchased through another channel.
NFTs
NFTs are so much more than pictures of cartoon apes. They represent the ability to personalize ownership and engagement with your brand which is why companies from ASICS to McDonald’s and the NBA are producing content to allow their raving fans to display their loyalty. If you have a product and you aren’t at the very least offering a NFT version of it, you should really look into investing in a deployment strategy. Finding your biggest fans, cultivating them and developing target audiences and lookalike campaigns from that data can give you a critical advantage when targeting on other platforms.