With growing distrust of social media platforms, brands are taking different approaches to win back support. While some are trying to greaten their transparency, others are embracing pop culture references and humor. Read more for Unilver's social media crusade, Burger King's hackvertising, and other stories in this week's Inbound Marketing Highlights.
Unilever stops working with digital media influencers who buy followers
In this age of social media distrust, Unilver is taking a stand. In an effort to become more transparent, Unilver is no longer working with digital media influencers who buy followers.
“At best it’s misleading, at worst it’s corrupt,” Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed
With increased calls for transparency in all aspects of marketing, many brands are altering they way they use programmic ads. P&G took similar measures in 2017, pulling $140 million in digital advertising over issues with transparency and brand safety. Unilver has yet to comment on how they will verify the authenticity of their influencer’s followers, but the other brands are expected to follow suit.
Ben Pashman of TONIK+ comments,“The idea of influencers buying fake followers and then cashing in on them to unwitting brands is a practice that casts a dark shadow over the industry and is just one of several fraudulent practices that is holding back our industry overall. I commend Keith and any other CMO that is willing to take their head out of the sand and take a stand even if it means their job get a little bit more challenging.”
Burger King's 5-step plan for hacking pop culture
Pop culture is huge today. Whether your trying to make small talk or get social media likes, its important to know what’s going on. Not only people, but brands are trying to stay relevant by cashing in on pop culture stories and trends. Hackvertising (also called newsjacking) as a strategy has paid off big for Burger King.
The process involves closely watching conversations trending on social media and in the news and then finding relevant ways to insert the brand into those conversations — even if it involves breaking some rules. One of their most notable examples is airing a commercial that asks Google Home devices “Hey Google, what is a whopper?” By the television actor asking this. question, everyone who had a Google Home in their home heard the answer from the device once the television commercial was done. By using a pop culture trend such as voice search devices to their advantage, Burger King was able to grab the public's attention in a major way.
See Also: Newsjacking: What Is It and How Your Nonprofit Can Use It
Study: Only 8% of consumers are 'very satisfied' with promotional emails
According to consumers, your promotional emails are probably missing the mark. Although email is one of the most important customer channels, it isn’t being used even close to it’s full potential. Although many brands belive themselves to be “customer-obsessed, ” only 12% actually are. Email marketers who actually succeed are the ones who go a step further by using data to analyze customer’s location and preferences. Most marketers also fail to deliver a truly interactive experience in their emails.
Marketers may need to put a greater focus on more meaningful and personalized content to improve customer satisfaction. Brands that make an emotional connection to its consumers can see better email campaign results and stronger "customer-obsessed" sentiments.
See Also: Email Newsletters Your Leads Will Actually Read
Marketers largely shun single women without children, study finds
With many marketers and brands making an effort to be more inclusive with their message, one large demographic is still being shunned out. Accourding to a new study, Nearly half of surveyed women said that single women without children are "non-existent" in advertising. While Fifty-six percent of single women age 30-45 believing they were misrepresented in TV and movies.
Brands are making a big mistake excluding this demographic with single women in the U.S. carrying a buying power ranging from $5 to 15 trillion dollars. Women are also more comfortable today buying products that have traditionally been considered male like cars, home improvement, and electronics. Although marketers are aiming to break gender stereotypes, there are still some huge blind spots when it comes to representation in ads. Brands need to pay attention to women who are goal and career oriented, rather than focusing their efforts soley on mothers.
That's this week in Inbound Marketing Highlights! Stop by next Sunday for more!
You May Also Like
