A blog for students of Professor Kagan's Digital Marketing Strategy course to comment and highlight class topics. From the various channels for marketing on the internet, to SaaS and e-commerce business models, anything related to the class is fair game.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
As with all things, there is black and white. Within SEO, some providers market themselves as white SEO. This means that they are “clean” and ethical, and do not engage in practices that falsely represent page ranks higher than they deserve.
In the past, you will be surprised to know that paid links were once considered white SEO tactics, until Google outlawed it. White hat SEO includes link building and other activities that does drives traffic by plain vanilla link building, keyword research and using Google’s search engine functions.
Black hat SEO typically entails a cat and mouse strategy with Google, and can generate an enormous amount of benefit if executed right. Both strategies in actually do not conflict with one another, and they co-exist within Google’s guidelines. Many SEO executives uses Black hat SEO tactics, which can be shorter term in nature. This is the Churn and Burn strategy whereby, a website is created, monetized and then penalized. While this practice is sometimes labeled as a failure, it can also be highly effective in creating a short term interest boost.
While the ethical struggle between white and black SEO continues, the actual line is seemingly more blurry than first thought. It should be viewed upon as a moral dilemma, but rather a business strategy approach that can be used for different purposes.
After last week's class, I knew I needed to up my game with keywords and hashtags. I went down a hashtag rabbit hole on Instagram, but it will be worth it. To deepen my understanding of what people are searching for online and what's trending in the cider world, I started to follow more and more hashtags relevant to my business.
I took some of the advice of this site and wanted to understand my target niche. I know the demographic I'm trying to reach, but what are the hashtags they are following? What do they want to stumble upon?
In addition to following all of my direct competitors, which I was already doing, I also started following brands and accounts that are either indirect competitors or are adjacent interests. That way, I can see how they are positioning themselves and what their followers like.
I also took the plunge and posted my first piece of content on my business instagram - a video! While there are so many "to dos" and "what not to dos", standing still is not an option. Content is king and we all have to start somewhere. With enough (popular) posts, Page 1 on search will become a reality!
It will be interesting to see the effects of the CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act) on digital privacy here in the United States, and its broader implications for the major tech players it is now hard to imagine life without.
The legislation, which gives residents the ability to request the data being collected on them and decline to have this personal data sold to third parties is remarkable in that it puts so much power back in the hands of the consumer to control their own digital footprints. Importantly, the CCPA changes the conversation about how we think about ownership of personal data here in the United States and could be a landmark precedent as other states such as New York and Nevada consider enacting similar consumer protections.
Unsurprisingly, tech behemoths such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple have been working hard to carve out exceptions to the law for special business groups, to the dismay of privacy advocates. Consumer protection groups have every right to be concerned about opaque data brokerage practices, with consumers having little control over where their personal data ends up. At the same time, it is almost equally troubling to imagine a world where the likes of Google and Facebook are no longer able to take advantage of their most important assets: their data. If Google or Facebook were no longer able to amass such a detailed and nuanced view of each of their users, given increased transparency as to how this data was collected or souring public opinion, they could lose their edge in being able to deliver highly effective targeted digital ads. Without this effective targeting, digital ads hosted by such publishers could become less lucrative, especially as marketers have a less detailed picture of their own target audiences. With tech giants such as Facebook and Google becoming less lucrative, one wonders how long such businesses would be able to continue offering free services that have become so integral in daily life such as WhatsApp or Gmail.
Ultimately life online requires a bit of give and take, ceding some rights to privacy to enjoy a wealth of free digital services. Unless consumers are really willing to pull out their pocketbooks to pay for these services we take for granted, we should be careful not to push the privacy concerns too far.
Following up on my former post which was half paranoia and half reality- I've often wondered how Instagram ads or sponsored posts get to me? And how are they so accurate to what I would want to buy! Well it appears that the targeted ads follow similar formulas to the organic ads of google and the demographic data compiled by Facebook...aka...we are all being watched as I thought...but moving on... According to the platform, over 60% of users have said they discover new products on the platform and 75% actually do something about it after seeing the post. Those numbers make it clear to see the value in the social networking platform as a digital marketing forum. So how does it happen?
Instagram uses the same demographic data as Facebooks to align ads to the right parties. Downside? Instagram ads can be slightly higher in cost than Facebook ads - going as high as $5 a CPM. To touch further on this "Facebook demographic data" - you have the ability to set up your target audience based on age, gender, languages, interests, demographics etc and since Facebook already has formulated that information based on locations - you can accurately target who will see your ad. There are many more inputs that a digital marketer could select - frequency of the ad, the hours which your ad are shown, the mechanism your ad is delivered (via story, via post) and the links between your ad and other attributes of Instagram such as #hashtags. With all of that said, I was unaware of how shoe brands, jewelers, and subscription based companies like Birchbox reached my feed and getting more educated about how I am targeted is certainly eye opening. As consumers, we naturally think of ourselves as unique not realizing how we could easily be put into boxes by those that are looking to sell to us.
I was surprised to learn last week that Google changes it's search algorithm just as often as most Americans shower. I had just assumed the algorithm, in all of its complexity, must have been perfected and maybe tweaked every now and then.
What a coincidence that this week The New York Times published an article about how Google will be updating its algorithm to highlight "original reporting" of new stories. This move will favor larger, more credible journalists and agencies, and also help to against fake, viral news. The downside to all of this is that the mid-tier news outlets might suffer from this change.
Only time will tell to see what will come of this change.
I am from the Dominican Republic so I find it fascinating when things are happening across Latin America. There is so much rapid change happening especially around technology and the overall economies of these countries. What will be the next big thing? What is already in progress? Can I see it coming? I came across this article on TechCrunch and I found it so interesting. They spoke about 3 various apps that could potentially change the way Latin America is doing business today. It would be like a Wechat and Alipay in China. Technology is moving so fast that it could potentially happen overtime. A lot of the super apps mentioned in the article were around financial services, food delivery and transportation. This could dramatically change the overall dynamic of Latin America. It is something to watch.
Glossier, the darling direct-to-consumer beauty brand that has popularized the "makeup no makeup" trend, has also revolutionized how brands are discovered online. The purpose of search and digital marketing tactics is to create a system of prioritized hierarchy system to how things get found. Glossier leapfrogged this logic by selling directly to consumers on social media channels. Instead of "push," Glossier was successful in building a brand that "pulled" in millennial shoppers who loved the brand ethos and aesthetics.
While the campaign is still being described by the company as a digital-first way to "create an emotional connection at scale," it is a departure from Glossier's digital strategy that made it one of the most successful disruptor beauty brands. Since founding five years ago, Glossier is now a $100 million behemoth, with 70% of its sales still come from its organic channels. Glossier owns the relationship with consumers built not through traditional digital marketing tactics such as banner ads and SEO. Glossier's form of customer engagement is also not based on repetitive displays but through content and social media touchpoints. One can argue it's the millennial way of doing business targeting millennials, but the reality is that Glossier's way offers flexibility for product launches and close-to-nothing marketing spend.
Many digital brands such a Glossier--Casper and Allbirds comes to mind--have pivoted to traditional advertising mediums as they grow. As companies become bigger, it is inevitable to invest marketing dollars to offline channels? Can we assume that traditional marketing funnels still have value, despite the naysayers? Does social commerce and engagement only take a brand so far? These are questions are my mind as I follow Glossier's journey to upend the beauty industry.
Just as I was learning about how effective digital marketing is. I wondered today, while paying off most of my outpost outstanding balance for doing a OOH. Does it make sense for me to spend any more money on OOH next year? Execution not alone, strategizing the how-to's cost me $millions. I am not sure if I should invest any more in the OOH.... Attached is something that I have done this week. It makes sense for me to do something like this...……………. ever?
As we learned last Saturday, Google's algorithm can cost (or make) millions to companies. Same as Amazon's but who is regulating them from favoring their own products to fatten their own bottom line?
This week (and it has happened many different times in the past for both companies) allegations that Amazon made changes to their own algorithm to improve revenues were reported by the Wall Street Journal:
It comes to show that with such a large impact in revenue, and no transparency at all, the room for maneuver is pretty ample. This is likely not the last time we hear about this.
Search engine optimization is not advertising. But it still costs time and money. If you’re short on time but have the money, an SEO agency or consultant is an option. But if you’re short on money, use these do-it-yourself SEO tips to improve your organic rankings.
1. Master Keyword Research
Always start with keyword research. Don’t assume that you know what consumers want.
You likely understand your industry jargon. But your prospects might use different terms than trade colleagues to refer to your services or goods. Keyword research provides an understanding of the words and phrases that consumers use to find your products. It also helps to gauge the demand for them. It identifies the keyword themes that real searchers use in their search queries.
The best keyword tools offer a quantitative demand score that helps determine the relative value in targeting each keyword theme. Google Keyword Planner is the go-to keyword research tool, though you’ll need an active Google Ads — formerly AdWords — campaign to get the most useful data.
Non-Google keyword research tools include Übersuggest (a free Google Autocomplete scraper) and SEMrush and Wordtracker (two paid alternatives).
2. Understand Your Competition
Search for the most important products and services you offer and note the most prominent websites in the search results, those that share your business model as well as the ones that are dissimilar to yours but compete for the same searches.
What are they doing well?
What content themes do they have that you’re lacking?
Do they structure their site differently to target more valuable keywords?
Do they have interesting features to better engage their prospects?
Also, study their reviews and benchmark their social media activity to learn what their customers think versus what you hear, or not, from your own.
3. Plan Your Site
With an understanding of what consumers want and the keywords they use to find those products and services, identify pages on your website to address those search queries.
Having a list on paper or a spreadsheet of all top-, mid-, and low-tier web pages and their corresponding keyword focus forms the basis of your website’s architecture. Each high- and medium-priority keyword from your keyword research should have a corresponding page to optimize on your site.
Use long-tail keyword themes that drive fewer searches and are typically much longer and more specific — such as “how to get red wine out of carpet” or “where to buy wooden hangars” — in blog posts and FAQ pages.
4. Optimize Your Site
The next step is to create the pages. This is the hard part. Depending on your ecommerce platform and your access to developers and designers, you may need to outsource some of this work.
Any website today should be mobile responsive to cater to the ever-growing faction of smartphone and tablet users. A mobile-friendly site is important for two reasons. First, according to Google, more than half of searches come from smartphones. Make sure that the experience of those users is seamless and engaging.
Second, Google now ranks all organic search results — for desktop and mobile devices — based on a site’s mobile experience, including page speed.
5. Produce Regular Content
You don’t have to start a blog or turn your business into a publishing company by posting content every day. It’s unrealistic for many ecommerce sites. But publish your own content regularly. Schedule weekly or at least monthly updates. Consistency is key.
Content does not need to be text. For example, an architectural firm could publish photographs of its projects with short textual descriptions. Realtors could publish weekly video bulletins with transcripts. Publishing content that is tailored to the consumption habits of your target audience is the goal.
6. DIY Public Relations
Link authority is a major component of SEO, but purchasing links is forbidden by Google, Bing, and other search engines. That’s where outreach and public relations come into play. If you have PR representatives, coordinate with them so as to not invalidate their efforts. But if you’re doing it yourself, read on.
Google advises site owners to build compelling websites that users want to tell their friends about — sites that users visit over and over. This content-heavy approach to SEO is Google’s answer to the ever-present question of “how do I get more links ethically?”
The content you’re already producing should be targeted to different segments of the media or blogosphere. These pieces then become conversation starters with different sites, as an enticement for them to write about or link to.
The competitive research in step two, above, comes in handy here because you now have an idea of the most influential and best-ranking sites to approach.
7. Build Your Social Media Network
Join Twitter and one or two other social media platforms. You have many options — Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, many more. Social media enables you to connect with your customers and prospects and offers an audience for your content.
Understanding and nurturing these relationships boosts your SEO in the long run. Increasing the exposure of your content also increases the likelihood that some of those viewers will blog about it or link to it.
8. Understand Google Analytics
You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. The importance of analytics in digital marketing is akin to financial reports in business. Both are essential to track performance.
Have a basic understanding of Google Analytics (or whatever web analytics package your business uses). In Google Analytics, study the reports under Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels. By clicking on “Organic Search,” you’ll be able to analyze performance for your SEO program.
9. Read an SEO Blog
Study an SEO guide such as my “SEO How-to” series. Then subscribe to an SEO blog.
Coming soon - a new venture - Quibi - will offer a streaming service, packed with a library of 10 minute episodes designed for millennials on the go. The streaming service - which has raised $1 billion of funding and boasts already having sold $100 million of advertising - is betting that
The recent trend in digital marketing is swiping the beauty industry. Especially with the influencers. We break down the SNS(Instagram mostly) influencers with influencing power like following:
- Mega influencers: followers with more than 1 Million
- Micro influencers: followers with 500,000+
- Nano influencers: followers with 100,000+
What we pay them to come to our even tis so crazy. We would pay them $1mm to just show up in one of our events and post about it. They would take about 10 hours to make $1mm.
But, why we use them is even more amazing. The influence they build amongst the tremendous. I would see the instant result, ROIs that I have never seen with traditional marketing. This is so addictive, because once you can used to this digital marketing, there is no way going back.
In the Food & Beverage industry, digital marketing and brand strength are key to building a following and not fizzling out. For many businesses, having only an online presence and reaching their customers directly (i.e., no brick and mortar) is a great way to keep overhead costs low and keep margins high.
I found a robust list of digital marketing campaigns that food & beverage brands can embark on. That's helpful from a general perspective, but in the alcohol sector, it gets a bit more complicated. Going direct to consumer isn't necessarily going to cut out the middleman either - depending on the state, online sales to consumers isn't allowed unless it's done through a distributor/third party.
All aspects of alcohol commerce is highly regulated, and advertising is no different. Don't forget - "please drink responsibly".
Friday, September 13, 2019
Search optimization: are we all in together? or are some of us just pawns in a greater game?
When I read about the algorithms, strategic keywords, links, and searches that develop the best and most sought out websites to present to me... half of me is thinking- great! I get the most applicable sites that are vetted from the most knowledgeable sources to produce a product of service for the applicable audience. The other half of me is thinking, I am a consumer of what is a pre-conceived product I have no choice in. Paying attention to the latter is the part of me that thinks I don't have a choice- the choices are made for me.
To elaborate- how much of what I see in digital marketing is because of what I am saying to the 'internet' by choice and how much of it is produced from things out of my control? What are the lines between thoughtful, applicable marketing based on my preferences/searches and how much of it is being produced by things I don't even know I am searching and sharing? More often than not, lately I find myself feeling like I have a big brother listening to my every conversation. I hate that feeling. To be honest- I love having curated sponsored ads on Instagram, catered to my searches or thoughtful to the types of accounts I follow. I get it, I am a demographic, a consumer, a 'type'. But I also feel that I am constantly being listened in on, tracked, and followed without a choice. For example: I recall walking with a friend after dinner discussing the popular drink 'aperol spritz's' which before 2012 was an Italian native drink no-one in the US was following. After discussing the drink, not two minutes later I saw an ad on Instagram. I never searched it in google, I never tried to follow on Instagram, yet there it was! How was my phone intelligent enough to know that every year, moment, second before this conversation was mute but after discussing this BOOM it appeared? I feel as though digital marketing is crossing the boundaries of thoughtful marketing to 'big brother' and I worry for when we become bots of purchasing instead of humans.
This week I started research to purchase a new pair of bed sheets. Over the last few years/months I have been seeing a lot of targeted and OOH advertising for new premium sheet companies claiming to have revolutionary and patented sheet technology. I have not paid the industry much attention, although, it apparently stuck with me as I was able to quickly recall some of the leading new-age brands from memory: Brooklinen, Boll and Branch, Percale, Parachute, etc... I surprised myself with how many I recalled strictly from my subconscious. In that way their advertisements worked.
As I dug in to each company's website I quickly realized it would be impossible to decipher the quality of their offerings and calculate a value equation. Each company had made up their own patented technology with a name that sounded scientific and authoritative but likely with comparable meaning and quality.
So my next step was to look for independent reviews online to get an idea of the differences and the internet favorite. This is a product I would be willing to pay more for if they could demonstrate value. I was in luck as there were many review websites on the first page of Google. As I read through each one, each with more grandiose marketing speak than the next, I started to question the legitimacy of these review websites. Somehow every single sheet/linen manufacturer had a superior product with no issues... So I took my search one step further and started to dig in to these review websites themselves. At the bottom of the page, each of these websites had a disclaimer stating they receive payments for customer acquisition from the sheet companies, and some of them even disclose being financed by the sheet companies themselves!!
While this raised a red flag for me, I think this is a very clever strategy for the sheet companies. If a consumer is researching one particular company and wants validation to support their decision, it would be very easy for them to go to google, click on a few links, and see several "independent" validations for the quality and value of that product. This seems to be an essential step to convert people to buy a product that is very censorial and historically people wanted to feel in person. However, if you are me, and are naturally suspicious of online marketing tactics, you might just comparable quality sheets without the hip new age name for 25% the price on Macy's.com. Buyer beware!
Digital marketing revenue growth has outpaced other forms of media platform in the last decade. Consensus estimates that growth will remain in the low double digit range for the medium term. In fact, digital marketing has already accounted for more than half the advertising spend. A big reason for this growth is due to the accessibility of the internet.
Mobile phone adoption ushered in the golden age of advertising. Advertisement can be customized to viewing habits, spending frequency etc. Data analytics allowed companies to gain better insights, and allow management teams to optimize shopping experiences, supply chain management and product design.
With the advancement of advertising, the future remains largely untapped. While it is unclear as to what form of customer engagement will change, we can be sure that digital advertising will continue to evolve. Will customer behavior eventually become so predictable that AI can automate advertising for optimal yield? If customers increasingly use voice, how will firms monetize that form factor. As form factors continue to evolve, so will digital marketing.
Social media giants, Instagram and Facebook have been saturating our internet communities with paid advertisements for over a decade. Over the course of the last few years, that these advertising mediums have evolved into eerily accurate at targeting customers and, sometimes mind-numbingly weaved into our newsfeeds and stories. And for these companies that are hoping to find new customers with their marketing budgets? It has become a huge investment expense.
I recently read an article in The Business of Fashion about the rising costs of Instagram and Facebook have made brands question whether the investment is worth the return. Instead, brands like M.Gemi shoes and Away luggage have allocated marketing resources to "old-school" advertising like Billboards and catalogs. With rising costs, skeptical customers, it might be only a matter of time that we all go back to thumbing yellow pages and relying only on word-of-mouth endorsements people we trust!
I was in Hangzhou, China this past week and visited Taobao Makers Festival, an annual offline event hosted by Alibaba's social commerce arm Taobao to celebrate the maker spirit of China's entrepreneurs. Taobao Makers Festival (TMF) is a celebration of ideas, hobbies and a place for creators who typically gather and interact online to the physical space.
The festival is divided into themes--technology, food, culture, fashion. The technology portion of the festival showcased emerging technologies such as exoskeleton that help workers carry heavy loads, consumer tech gadget brands and mixed reality technologies. Consumers can try new combinations of flavors in the food section. Time-honored culinary brands reinvent and cross-collaborate with other brands--anyone cares for a hotpot flavored lollipop? A popular hotpot chain did create a lollipop with three levels of spiciness, and there was even a garlic crawfish flavored ice cream in another TMF store. Traditional culture and heritage institutions, for example, the Forbidden Palace, are creating new brand collaborations and incubating products from stationary to imperial pastries.
All of the brands at the festival have an online presence--they operate Taobao e-commerce stores, maybe also a Wechat platform page for content creation, a TikTok channel to stream short videos, or Red page to seed interest in products and build consumer engagement. The offline stores offer the opportunity to showcase, but beyond the two-week festival, the brand owners can continue to leverage the social and content tools embedded in Taobao and other platforms.
I often think about the difference between China and the U.S. in terms of marketing, social commerce, engagement & fans management and how important the role of content is in driving conversions. In my view, China's digital and the physical worlds collide and converge and will continue as larger segments of society becomes digitalized. In China, interactions between the consumers and brand owners are not unilateral and highly social, engagement is 24/7 and extremely sticky. The Taobao Makers did not come to the festival hoping to just gain a few hundred paying customers, they want their product ideas, however niche, known to a bigger audience and generate a higher brand likability score. No vendor I came across gave out coupons for a few RMB off, they requested visitors to follow their store on Taobao or Wechat. Cultivating interest and building a community is more important for brand building than ever before.
A recent article on Wired.Com sounded only the latest alarm in the Internet of Things/botnets security crisis. Whether you are a user, developer, digital marketer, or corporation, everybody should look carefully what they connect onto their networks and into their lives with a mind to how they could be hacked.
Truly, connected devices offer an exciting new frontier to digital marketers: enhanced experiences for customers, new levels of data granularity for marketers, and new ways for products and brands to connect into peoples' everyday lives. From geofencing for targeted marketing and sales attribution, to automation of mundane tasks (why should I walk all the way to my thermostat to change the temperature?) to new modes of search through voice-connected devices, the possibilities seem endless.
So what could be the problem? Apparently, a lot. The billions of connected devices (yes, that's billions with a "b", and we are on track for 20 billion connected devices by 2023) work on a patchwork of unique, propriety operating systems. Unlike more widespread systems like Windows, Android, or iOS, it is very difficult to anticipate, write, or update antivirus software for every device in circulation. Even with the increased standardization and security improvements in recent devices, the Wired.Com article estimates that extant flawed devices will remain in circulation for decades before they are gradually replaced.
This means that as a part of your data security management, any device that you (or your company) connect to should be regularly monitored for vulnerabilities, and should receive regular security updates. Anything could be suspect, from refrigerators, to smart bulbs, to my personal hellish nightmare, a German doll named Cayla with cameras and microphones designed to spy on you and your family.
Don't think that your customers will blame you for a hacked third-party device? They will. (Target's massive 2013 credit card breach came in via a connected air conditioning system).
Long story short: IoT is here to stay, and is growing, but we need to be careful and vigilant as we adopt it.
I just read this article on the business insider website on mobile banking. I was extremely shocked to see that Chase was not one of the top mobile app cited in the article. I have worked at Chase for over 17 years in the banking retail space and one of the things we speak about the most is our mobile application. Time and time again, we get recognized for having one of the best in the industry and helping our clients with it. This makes me think about where is business insider getting their information. Are they trying to get Citibank and Wells more clients by talking about their applications? I recently took a course at Columbia Business School called Qualitative Intuition and it was all about looking at data and asking deeper questions. Well, I have a lot of deep questions about this data? Who is it really for?
As I see in the syllabus that we are going to learn about search engine optimization (SEO), I thought it was appropriate to write about my experience with working at an SEO company.
My previous job was at WeWork, which is not an SEO company but it acquired one in 2018. The company is called Conductor, which provides a variety of services using its technology to assist customers in making a higher ranking in the organic search results according to the users search words.
As I assisted with the acquisition of Conductor, I had the opportunity to work very closely with the company and learn about the types of services they provide.
The basics of their technology called 'Searchlight,' collects data to determine the stage of the users are at prior to making a purchase at the customers' website, the types of words that they used to get there, and how many times the users that used certain key words clicked on their site. This data is generally used by Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) in making decisions on how they can optimize their websites to reach higher ranks in the search results.
They also provide other services, with collaboration with other technology company, such as scoping through the companies' websites and identifying the key words that are currently on their websites. With this data, companies can then determine if they are appropriate for users to find their way to their sites.
Consulting services are also offered for smaller companies that do not have CMOs or any other persons that do not have the capabilities of utilizing the data collected by Searchlight. This type of service involves making changes to the company's websites, inserting key words that may be most appropriate, and even monitoring and reading the data to provide the company's management on recommendations on how to best make use of their websites.
I thought this was a very interesting company, especially when WeWork acquired it and how they were going to utilize the data collecting ability of Conductor's products and identify the needs for a office sharing space, and open new locations accordingly.
For more information on Conductor, visit www.conductor.com, or alternatively, it's quite amusing when you search conductor in Google and you'll find that the first 5 or 6 organic search results are related to the company. Why wouldn't they use the technology for their own use right?
This week I discovered a new expression, a new app, and that 90s fashion is back (!), all in one article, which led me to another, and to another. This is the one I believe summarizes all you need to know best:
VSCO is a new app, similar to Instagram, but with more editing features that Gen Z's use (from wikipedia: Generation Z (often abbreviated as Gen Z) is the demographic cohort after the Millennials. Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to early-2000s as starting birth years). There are no likes in VSCO or stats.
Women in their teens that use the app have started calling themselves VSCO girls and have a particular look that reminds me closely of the 90s:
-shell necklaces and bracelets
-checkered vans
-scrunchies
-oversized tshirts
Some brands associated with this new look are Vans, Birkenstocks, Fjällräven, Crocs. This asthetic is not as new as the article suggests, I've lived it!
What's new is how these brands are reacting to their unrequited attention. They will likely have to learn first (like me) what VSCO is and how to use it.
TikTok is a platform where people post short form edited videos that places a premium on users who can generate highly curated videos with solid production value. This has resulted in younger users who are more involved in specific sub cultures or memes reposting content within their networks that has allowed newer users to become influencers and since followers arent as relevant has decreased the barriers to entry for new content creators.
We’ve seen plenty of social apps rise and fall (Vine, Yik Yak, Meerkat, to name a few). But the short-form video app TikTok has a powerful owner and a concept that’s catching on not only with young people, but also older generations in the US. Can it take on Facebook and the other big names of social media?
What Is TikTok?
TikTok is the international version of Douyin, a popular short-form video app in China. Users can upload short, quirky videos of themselves to the app and share them with followers. ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns both apps, acquired US short-video app Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it with TikTok in August.
TikTok has been on a growth tear around the world, but its US performance has been especially notable. TikTok's US monthly active user audience grew by 30 million in the three months since the merger, and downloads were up 25% in the US and 20% worldwide, according to app tracker Apptopia.
Tracking by App Annie found that TikTok was the second most-downloaded app in the Apple App Store and Google Play as of November, among social, communication, photo and video apps. In June it ranked No. 7.
Some of the uptick seen in the Apptopia and App Annie data can be attributed to the fact that Musical.ly users were automatically switched over to TikTok once that app shut down. But there are other factors, such as a promotional push by late-night host Jimmy Fallon, who used TikTok for a series of viewer challenges, including one where users could make a video of themselves rolling like a tumbleweed and then upload the video to the app.
Worldwide, TikTok rose to the No. 2 spot in app downloads in November 2018, according to SensorTower, behind WhatsApp and ahead of Messenger, Facebook and Instagram.
Though the app has natural appeal with teens, it’s also catching on with people older than that. A recent article from The Washington Postdetailed how nurses and members of the military have taken to the app, creating their own TikTok groups to share videos.
What Do We Know About TikTok's Chinese Version?
In China, Douyin is very popular. In July it had 300 million monthly active users and 150 million daily active users, according to China Daily.
Parent company ByteDance has deep pockets and big ambitions to grow. In October, SoftBank and other investors poured $3 billion in the company, according to Bloomberg. Subsequently ByteDance was reported to be raising over $1 billion for its own investments in media and artificial intelligence (AI).
What About Advertising?
TikTok has no paid advertising yet, but some brands have used it for influencer marketing campaigns or to publish their own videos. In the meantime, the app is making money in other ways—user spending on in-app purchases increased 275% between October 2017 and October 2018, to $3.5 million, according to Sensor Tower. Users can purchase emoji and digital gifts to share with TikTok users during live streams.
Douyin does contain paid video ads and is part of a growing economy of short-form video apps that were expected to bring in an estimated RMB14 billion ($2 billion) in marketing and advertising revenues in 2018, according to a forecast published by iResearch Consulting Group.
In another sign that TikTok may be on to something, Facebook recently launched a TikTok competitor called Lasso. Facebook’s track record with me-too apps has been uneven, so it wouldn’t be wise to read too much into Lasso. But it’s definitely going to make sense to pay attention to TikTok in 2019.
This means that as a part of your data security management, any device that you (or your company) connect to should be regularly monitored for vulnerabilities, and should receive regular security updates. Anything could be suspect, from refrigerators, to smart bulbs, to my personal hellish nightmare, a German doll named Cayla with cameras and microphones designed to spy on you and your family.
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