MackCollier.com

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Twitter Communities is Here, Where Reddit Users Spend Their Time, NIL News

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you are ready for a productive week and getting ready for the Fall weather that is almost here! Here’s a few marketing and digital stories that grabbed my interest:

 

So I have to say, Twitter Communities is the first thing Twitter has done in years that actually has me excited. Twitter Communities will be rolled out on Wednesday. At first it looks like there will only be a handful of Communities based around really broad topics. I hope that with time they will let us drill down into some really niche topics.

What interests me about Twitter Communities is that only members of that community can Like and Reply to each other’s tweets. So there will be conversations happening behind a ‘wall’ that are only available to members of that community.

We’ll have to see how they implement Twitter Communities, but the idea itself has a lot of promise.

 

Tying into the previous story, Reddit is going to soon let advertisers buy placements within highly-trafficked comment sections, directly in the comments. I suspect that Twitter has something in mind along these lines with the coming launch of Twitter Communities. Also, I found it very interesting to note that Reddit says that its users spend almost half their time in the app, reading the comment threads. That’s the power of UGC.

 

NIL laws being passed across the country is one of the biggest marketing and branding stories of the year. So much is happening so quickly.  My friend Kristi Dosh has been all over NIL from the drop, and has created a very valuable hub on her site to collect all the latest news and information.

 

So that’s it for this week! Hope you have an amazing and productive day, see you here tomorrow!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Exclusive Content Deals for Twitter and Clubhouse, Top App Downloads in June

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I caught a bug last Thursday during a grocery shopping trip and have been dealing with a nasty head and chest cold ever since. Feeling a bit better today, at least good enough to get some blogging in! Here’s some marketing stories that caught my eye these last few days:

 

So big content deals for both Twitter and Clubhouse, that could speak to the desired branding for both sites. Back in May, I wrote about the exclusive content deal that Clubhouse struck with the NFL to cover the NFL Draft. It seems that deal may have been a one-off, as the NFL just signed a deal with Twitter to have the league host Spaces on Twitter throughout the season. Twitter already has content deals in place with the NFL so this move makes sense. It’s not all bad news for Clubhouse, who also just announced its own content deal with TED. In both cases, I think these deals make smart branding sense for both Twitter and Clubhouse.  The NFL is clearly a mainstream league and it’s the type of mainstream content you would expect to see on Twitter. Clubhouse, on the other hand, has always seemed to try to position itself as the platform where deeper conversations happen. And a content partnership with TED aligns perfectly with that branding. I think Clubhouse should continue to pursue this branding of it being the platform that attracts thought leaders and cultivates deeper and more meaningful conversations.

 

Tik-Tok continued to dominate the app download charts for June, nabbing the top spot for both the App Store, Google Play, and overall.  I was wondering about Facebook, though. The Social Network seems to always be near the top of the downloads lists, despite there being a new Delete Facebook campaign almost weekly. The cynic in me wonders if the number of FB downloads are somewhat inflated by people deleting Facebook, then later finding they can’t live without it and downloading it again?

 

We’ve talked before about how shifting consumer behavior over the last year would lead to a spike in eCommerce sales for brands. But as we see in this chart from eMarketer, Best Buy is the only US brand in the Top 15 that is forecast to have a decline in ecommerce sales in 2021. That’s pretty troubling, as many retailers are seeing a boom in online sales.

 

So that’s it for this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute! I’ll be back later this week with more posts, and hopefully with less head cold! Hope you all have a wonderful and productive week!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Stack Overflow’s Huge Pricetag, Shorts Expanding, Twitter Trying out Subscriptions

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you are ready for an amazing week! We have a pretty massive lead story so let’s jump right into this week’s Monday’s Marketing Minute:

 

This could end up  being the most significant acquisition in the tech space this year. Stack Overflow is a Q&A site that caters to programmers. It has developed a massive community over the years, and is known as the go-to site for any current or aspiring programmer to get answers to their technical questions. And it was just acquired for $1.8 BILLION.  That pricetag is massive, and it will hopefully start a trend of companies either acquiring or building their own community sites for users and customers. Yes, such sites are a long play, but once they get rolling, it’s such a competitive advantage.

 

YouTube’s wildly popular Shorts feature is expanding into more countries. Shorts, much like Reels from Instagram, are competitors to Tik-Tok, and both are gaining traction. We could see something similar play out in lesser form over the coming months as the popularity of social audio migrates from Clubhouse to other sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

Twitter is beginning to follow through on its strategy of offering subscription services for users.  The first is focused on weather. For $10 a month, you can get the following:

  • Ability to ask a team of meteorologists unlimited questions and they promise to answer
  • Members-only weekly newsletter
  • Early access to podcasts

Twitter also says they will hold Spaces during periods of potentially harmful weather. Honestly, I’m struggling to see how the $10 price tag is justified for this. For instance, I can get pretty much all this information for free from following James Spann on Twitter.  Maybe $5 a month would be more plausible, but if people start paying $10 a month for subscriptions, they are gonna expect an experience above and beyond what they can get on Twitter now, for free.

 

So that’s it for this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute! Hope you have an amazing day and week!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Clubhouse Signing Content Deals, Twitter’s Growth, Biz Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Happy Monday! Big content week ahead, new posts every day through Friday, hope you enjoy!  Here’s a few marketing and digital stories that caught my eye:

 

Clubhouse signed an exclusive deal with the NFL to provide content during last week’s NFL draft. I think this opens up some interesting possibilities, as we already have some ‘listen only’ rooms on Clubhouse where the host just plays music all day. What if Clubhouse partnered with Sirius to create a Clubhouse Channel that was just on the platform? We’ve been thinking about how another social platform might acquire Clubhouse, what if a different company that’s already creating audio content decided to acquire Clubhouse to supplement what it already offers?

 

Twitter showed modest user growth in Q1. As I’ve said for months, I want to see what the numbers are for Q2 for both Twitter and Facebook. I’m not expecting huge numbers. As most areas of the country are reopening, I think we will see a flood of people getting outside this Summer and into the Fall. Twitter and Facbook spiked while many of us were cooped up in or homes last year, but that won’t be the case in 2021. It will be interesting to see how willing we are to tweet on the go this year.

 

A majority of B2B brands and marketers now expect a return to pre-pandemic business levels by the end of the year. A wonderful sign that the nation is reopening and it’s great to see the optimism. A big component of this will be a return of live, in-person events. I’ll talk more about this on Friday.

 

That’s all for today, hope you have a great week and see you back here tomorrow for an important post!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Telegram Surging, LinkedIn Joins Social Audio Bandwagon, Micro Influencers Get Engagement

Happy Monday, y’all! I hope you had a glorious Easter weekend and are ready for a productive week.  Here’s some marketing and social stories that caught my eye:

 

The focus of this story is how Tik Tok continues to do well, but I think Telegram’s surge is more timely. Notice how high Telegram is on both the Downloads and Active Monthly Users lists. I mean, Telegram now has more Monthly Active Users than Twitter does. Which is ironic, since a decent amount of the new users going to Telegram are coming from Twitter. It’s also an interesting commentary on how social media is mirroring mainstream media when it comes to how people get their news and information. Up until the 1980s or so, most people got their news from the Big Three; NBC, ABC and CBS. Then cable television came along, with more shows and more options for news. And that trend has only intensified in the time since. I think we are seeing the same thing with social media. It used to be that most people when to Facebook and Twitter for breaking news. But since Facebook and Twitter have begun censoring accounts that share some information, people are following those banned users to other sites like Telegram. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Do I think Telegram will be here 5 years from now? I’d say probably not, but then again there’s no guarantee that Twitter and Facebook will be either.

 

From the ‘We all saw this coming” department, LinkedIn is planning to incorporate social audio functionality into its platform. I think this may work better for LinkedIn than other platforms, as LinkedIn’s users are more geared toward professionals, which in this case simply means they are more likely to come from a similar background with similar interests. Contrast that to Twitter and Facebook, which is sort of a catch-all for users. I think social audio rooms work better for more tightly defined topics that attracts perhaps fewer people, but people who are more invested in the topic being discussed.

 

Micro influencers or T-Shaped Inflencers drive more engagement. This works because one to one engagement doesn’t scale and neither does your attention. As a person’s following increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to engage with everyone in that group. Having said that, Twitch streamers seem to have cracked the code on how to drive engagement at scale.

 

So that’s all I have for this week! I hope you have a wonderful week, and please subscribe to my Backstage Pass newsletter if you haven’t yet, by clicking the image below.

PS: I have a massive post coming tomorrow. Check back here then!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Biz Accounts Are Coming to Twitter, US Retail Sales Grow, Google’s Easter Scavenger Hunt

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We are now dealing with Daylight Savings Time, which I hate.  We will have darkness at 9pm soon, then go back to darkness at 5pm in the Fall.  Ugh. Let’s get back to something more interesting, marketing and business news:

 

Twitter is working to finalize roll out of new profiles for businesses. Some of the features that these business profiles will have are still up in the air, and Twitter is working with users on feedback. We know that the new business profiles will be verified by default, will include a designation of the type of business it represents, and additional information on the business such as hours of operation, etc. Twitter hasn’t said when these new business profiles will start becoming available, but I would guess it would be sometime within then next 2-3 months.  This article from Social Media 2Day has a good rundown of what’s coming, and some of the possible features which are being discussed.

 

US retail sales are set to make a solid recovery in 2021 as we continue to work past covid. According to the National Retail Federation’s forecast, retail sales as a whole should be up around 7%. And online sales are set to surge around 20%. As I’ve been talking about for the last year, customer purchase patterns have been disrupted as a result of the lockdown, and most of us are looking for more online purchasing options. Take this into account when you are building your sales and product strategy for this year and beyond.

 

I am SUCH a sucker for scavenger hunts by companies. I think they can be SO much fun for customers if executed properly. Love this example of Cadbury letting people ‘hide’ virtual Easter eggs in Google Maps, then sending clues to others on where to locate the eggs. A great way for friends and families to continue the tradition of having an Easter egg hunt, even if its a virtual edition this year.

 

So that’s it for this week’s edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute. Now if you want more news, Friday’s edition of the Backstage Pass will have a special rundown of all the news happening in the growing creator economy. All the moves that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms are making to pay content creators, and why your business needs to be paying attention.

If you aren’t already subscribed to my Backstage Pass newsletter, click the image below and get in! Backstage Pass comes out every Friday, and each issue gives a massive, deep-dive into a different topic to help your business create amazing content, marketing and digital strategies. Last week’s issue on training your customers to be better salespeople was the biggest yet, topping 2,200 words.

Would love to see you join our community! Click this image to get started:

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Twitter Moves Into Ecommerce (Again), UGC Drives Sales, What We Will Pay For Digital Content

Happy Monday, y’all! We are already into the second week of March! Over the last week, we began to see several states announcing that they are partially or completely reopening from covid restrictions in the coming days or weeks. As we move into warmer weather and out of cold season, hopefully we are setting up for a much better Spring and Summer. We all certainly need it! Let’s jump into the news…

 

Twitter is making another run at incorporating shopping features into its platform. Twitter tried this a few years ago, I think in 2014, and it really didn’t go anywhere. I’m unsure this effort will be much different. The reality for Twitter is, after the last couple of years, many users don’t trust Twitter as much as they once did. Twitter is rolling out a lot of new initiatives aimed at increasing revenue from users, but if the users don’t trust Twitter enough to engage in the activities that are required for the site to generate revenue…well you see where this is headed. These moves seem like good ideas that arrived about 3-4 years too late.

 

Your happy customers are your best salespeople. A lot of companies aren’t willing or ready to accept that, but it’s completely correct. Who do you trust more; Your favorite brand, or your best friend?  If your best friend says to drive out a new product, will you listen? Well there ya go. I started noticing about 10 years ago some restaurants encouraging diners to take pictures of their meals and post to social media. Such a smart move, and the companies that accept and embrace their current customers’ ability to sell to new customers, are the ones that reap the rewards.

 

One of the hot topics in 2021 will be content creators monetizing their content. Substack has made waves by giving content creators a way to make money off their newsletters. Twitter recently purchased Revue to compete against Substack. eMarketer posted this chart from the What If Media Group that claims that the majority of US adults were willing to pay up to $10 a month for digital content. I would assume that amount would be more for an individual content creator that the adult is a fan of.

 

So that’s what caught my eye over the last week! Another post here tomorrow, and then on Thursday I will be sharing last week’s Backstage Pass newsletter issue with you to give you a taste of what you are missing if you aren’t a subscriber. Want to subscribe now? Click the image below:

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Twitter Making Moves, Clubhouse’s Privacy Concerns, CEOs Bullish on CX, Not on CMOs

Happy Monday, y’all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to have a spectacular week. Here’s some news items I spotted to quickly get you up to date on what you need to know in the world of digital and marketing!

 

So Twitter has announced that it is making several moves in an effort to boost revenue. These include letting users monetize their content via newsletters or ‘super follows’ (I saw someone tweet “I don’t know what a ‘Super Follow’ is, but I know I don’t like it’). Now, is this a glass half-empty or glass half-full scenario for Twitter? On the one hand, critics of Twitter have noted that the company has been slow to roll out new revenue streams, so these moves will meet those complaints head-on. On the other hand, Twitter’s recent moves to moderate and even censor content on the platform has led to users leaving the site, either by their own choice or by Twitter’s. Additionally, emerging sites like Clubhouse, Gab and Parler are pulling users away from Twitter. Twitter will likely feel a pinch from users spending less time on the site, and will need to make up for that in some form. These monetization moves can been seen as being proactive moves to increase growth, or as hedges against coming losses. I suspect we will have a much better idea of which it is when Twitter reports revenue for Q2 and Q3.

 

Clubhouse continues to be white-hot among digital early-adopters and would-be influencers. But we are starting to see some cracks in the armor. I’ve seen some complaints about room moderation and letting hateful speech be shared (I honestly haven’t experienced any issues in any rooms I have been in), and now there are complaint arising over privacy concerns. One of the disappointing aspects of Clubhouse rooms is that the conversations happening in the room aren’t recorded or available to the users. Or so we thought. It turns out that the conversations in every Clubhouse room ARE being recorded. They are recorded in real-time as they happen. If a complaint is made about the content of the room while the room is still open, then the audio will be saved and can be used in any later investigations. If no complaints are made while the room is open, then the recorded audio is deleted when the room is closed. This is why I always advise clients to take a wait and see approach with any new ‘hot’ social media platform. Clubhouse could easily be 10X bigger by the end of the year, and it could just as easily have folded by then. As I said in my Backtage Pass newsletter earlier this month, I think you should be aware of Clubhouse, play around with it and become familiar with it, but for most businesses it doesn’t make sense to jump on the platform with both feet. If your customers are already there, and you can use the tool to connect with them in a way that creates value for you both, fine. That’s standard for any emerging social media platform. Always be wary of the hype from early-adopters. And when it comes to privacy concerns over social sites and apps, just remember that if you aren’t paying for the product then YOU are the product.

 

Finally, I thought these findings from IBM were interesting. They found that for CEOs feel that improving CX (customer experience) and building better relationships with customers to be the top priorities over the next 2-3 years. What’s interesting is these same CEOs said that they didn’t feel that CMOs would play a vital role in reaching their goals for improving CX and customer relationships. Instead, they felt that CFOs and COOs would be the main positions driving these efforts. What I suspect this suggests, at least in part, is that many CEOs don’t feel that their CMOs have a solid grasp of the digital marketing tactics and strategies that will be necessary to deliver better digital experiences to customers in the coming years. Let’s remember that even most corporate early-adopters to using digital marketing to reach customers barely have 10 years of experience creating and implementing digital marketing strategies. Many have far less than that, and even in 2021, there are many top companies that are still hesitant to make digital marketing the priority in connecting with customers. This will continue to change, and obviously the shift to digital will be accelerated by moving both employees and customers to home due to covid restrictions.

 

 

So that’s it for this Monday’s Marketing Minute. If you haven’t already, please do click the image below and signup for my Backstage Pass Newsletter. It’s delivered every Friday morning, so it’s perfect to read and digest over the weekend, then begin to implement what you learn on the following Monday. I’m super pumped about this Friday’s issue, as I’m going to do a deep dive into how your company can develop a training system for your digital marketing team. I think it’s vital that all employers have a plan in place to constantly work with all employees to upgrade their skills. It leads to higher productivity, and less churn among workers. Plus, it makes for a happier workforce! So on Friday I’ll talk about how you can create a system to improve the skills of your employees AND I’ll include a special offer on how I can work with your team to create a skills improvement program for your company. But you have to be subscribed to the Backstage Pass Newsletter to get the information, and the offer.

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Is Social Audio the Future or Just a Fad?

Social audio is suddenly the hot topic when it comes to social media. I think it’s great, because for the first time in at least 5 years, it feels like there’s some new to talk about in social media!

Social audio itself isn’t that new. Gamers have been using group chat functionality in apps such as Discord and Line for a few years now. But the idea of loading an app and having an audio chat with others is gaining momentum due to the explosive growth of Clubhouse.

Clubhouse really came along at the right time. So much of business success is due to simply being in the right place at the right time, and Clubhouse has become the app that a quarantined populace didn’t realize it needed, till we got it. What Clubhouse does is let you join chat rooms, where people can actually talk to one another! You join the chat room, and you can HEAR people talking, one at a time (ideally). You can even talk yourself, or create your own room, public or private.

Clubhouse launched in April of 2020. I didn’t start hearing anyone in my network really talking about Clubhouse till around October or so, and by the end of January, it seemed like everyone was on the app.

Clubhouse’s growth is going to have a ripple effect throughout social media. First, it will pull people off other social media apps. I’m noticing a lot of people that are active on Clubhouse saying that they are spending less time as a result on Twitter. Now I do think Instagram is actually benefiting a bit from Clubhouse taking off. Clubhouse doesn’t have a native functionality that lets you send a private message to another user. You can create a private audio room to chat, but you can’t yet private message them. To get around this, Clubhouse users are adding their Instagram and Twitter accounts to their Clubhouse profiles, and encouraging people to DM them on Instagram or Twitter if they want to talk privately. I am seeing more people on Clubhouse pushing DMs via Instagram than Twitter.

Second, the rising popularity of Clubhouse is going to lead to another company potentially buying Clubhouse, or at least trying to create their own version, adding social audio functionality to an existing site. Facebook is reportedly already working on a Clubhouse clone.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not Clubhouse will last. I think what a lot of these pundits are missing is what Clubhouse will look like when everyone has access to it. Right now, the vast majority of Clubhouse’s members are early digital adopters, who have an iOS device. For those of you who are long-time social media users, do you remember what Twitter was like circa 2008 or 2009?  Then do you remember what happened a couple of years later when the media and celebrities all discovered Twitter and took over?  The experience on Twitter completely changed because the user base completely changed. The same thing will happen with Clubhouse. Maybe the change won’t be as drastic, but the experience we have on Clubhouse right now will NOT be the one we will always experience. For better or worse. We need to see what the environment on Clubhouse looks like after this growth spurt ends and when it gets rolled out to everyone to get a better sense of its long-term viability.

 

Now the obligatory ‘Should my business be on Clubhouse?’ portion of the post

This is one of the most common questions that all business owners or marketers want to know, if they should be on Clubhouse and will it help their business. I think the answer is ‘it depends’. First, you have to remember that Clubhouse is currently in a closed beta. That means the only way you can get on Clubhouse, is for a current user to send you an invite. Also, Clubhouse is currently only available if you have an iPhone or iPad. They are working on adding Android access, but that could be months away.

There’s a dirty little secret when it comes to social media hype: Pay more attention to what actual users of the social media platform say, and less to what marketers say. Marketers love to overhype any new social media site or app, and Clubhouse is no different. They go there, build a following, then proclaim it is the next big deal, so they look like a big deal for being a part of the next big deal. What’s different about Clubhouse is, a lot of users have been there for months, and some have already built massive followings.

So you’re seeing a lot of people with big followings on Twitter go to Clubhouse and host rooms with 30 people in them. While the guy that has 500 followers on Twitter has gone to Clubhouse and built a following of 100k, and they are hosting rooms with a thousand people. It’s actually one of the things I like about Clubhouse, that different voices and perspectives are being highlighted. You’re not just seeing the same guys with big Twitter or Facebook followings going to Clubhouse and getting the same traction. The influence on other platforms isn’t easily translating to Clubhouse, you have to work on it to build a following.

Having said all that, I do think there is an opportunity for certain business owners to make hay on Clubhouse. I’m seeing a lot of business coaches, PR agencies and a lot of influencers making moves on Clubhouse. On the other hand, if you are the CMO for a fast-moving consumer goods company, I don’t think you have a lot of opportunities to sell directly on Clubhouse. I think the way to approach Clubhouse is as a channel to meet new people and learn from industry experts. I’m having a lot of fun doing both, if you are on Clubhouse, please follow me, my name is @mackcollier, same name and avatar as on Twitter.

What is the future of social audio?

So we know that the popularity of Clubhouse is going to drive bigger social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to attempt to copy its social audio format, or buy Clubhouse outright. One of the key issues with Clubhouse is that the conversations in the rooms aren’t recorded. So if you aren’t in the room, you don’t know what’s being said and have no way to review what was said. Perhaps this will lead to Clubhouse offering recordings as a premium service down the road.

The reality is that both Twitter and Facebook are seeing a userbase that’s increasingly frustrated with the platforms, and looking for something new. It’s part of the reason why sites like Clubhouse, Parler and Gab saw such growth in late 2020, because Twitter and Facebook users were looking for other places to spend their time. Both Twitter and Facebook will be focusing on getting users back in 2021, you’re already seeing Twitter buy newsletter site Revue as a play to keep users on the platform. Incorporating social audio functionality will be part of their plan for winning back users and bringing in new ones.

I don’t think your company should be diving headfirst into social audio and apps like Clubhouse, at least not yet. Having said that, you should absolutely check out Clubhouse if you have an iOS device and you should be keeping up with the monetization moves that the bigger social media platforms make this year. 2021 will be a very volatile year for social media, and that will create some opportunities for your business.

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Twitter Needs Revenue, Top Social Apps Surprising, Staying On-Brand Means $$$

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is safe, warm and happy as we start the week. The warm part is gonna be tougher as a good portion of the southwest and southeast woke up to ice and snow this morning. It feels like I’ve been cold for weeks, let’s hope winter breaks way to Spring soon!

BTW, thanks to everyone for the great response to the first issue of the newly launched Backstage Pass newsletter! If you missed the first issue, you can view it here, and subscribe here. Next issue hits inboxes this Friday at 8am!

 

If Twitter’s recent moves are any indication, the social media site is anticipating a decline in revenue. Twitter is making moves to unlock additional revenue streams, such as recently buying newsletter service Revue, and now exploring adding charges to some features, as well as maybe adding subscription options for users. This could be setting up a very interesting Q1 earnings report for Twitter. I’m almost wondering if Twitter could be setting up such moves as a hedge against disappointing revenue performance or forecasts for later in the year.

 

For the first time in maybe a decade, there seems to be a real sense of competition developing among social media platforms. Just look at the top social media app downloads and note how Facebook and Instagram were shut out of the Top 3 on all lists, and Twitter didn’t crack the Top 10 on any of them. And breaking just as I’m writing this, it seems Twitter-competitor Parler is coming back online (still not loading for me, although I am seeing many people on Twitter saying it’s back up). And I would suspect Clubhouse will rank pretty highly in the next App Store downloads update.

 

And finally, I love this example of the power of branding that resonates with customers, and that’s on point.

 

Hope y’all have an amazing week! See you back here tomorrow with a new post on the social audio phenomenon, Tuesday night at 7pm on Twitter discussing overcoming our content creation obstacles on #ContentCircus. and Friday morning at 8am the next issue of Backstage Pass drops, helping CEOs and Managers deal with a workforce that’s suddenly remote.