Making data-driven marketing decisions is what we all strive for. As much as we might enjoy thinking we are intuitive and know our consumer inside out, we know it’s a risk. After all, guessing what your consumer really wants is the single biggest cause of marketing and PR disasters. 🤯

Attest helps you steer away from uncertainty and towards confidence. It’s a consumer research tool that lets you tap into the minds of over 125m consumers across 58 countries, bullet-proofing your campaigns with the confidence of data-led insights. 

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Until a few years ago, business owners were advised to never talk religion or politics at work functions or dinners. Why risk taking a stand on an issue that could easily offend the people you are with or the customers you seek? But with the surge in social media? My, how times have changed…

This year’s Advertising Week New York event saw several brand executives discussing their corporate activism efforts. According to several studies, consumers – particularly those of the Gen Z and Millennial generations – are becoming more invested in conscious companies with relations to human rights and environmental activism.

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Marketers know BeReal has captured an audience. 

Marketers are steering clear of the app, at least for now, advertisers told Digiday, until the platform opens up an opportunity to advertise.

Unless BeReal moves quickly to offer those marketers unique features they’re interested in, the potential forthcoming global recession could put experimental ad dollars on freeze, and prevent the app from getting consistent checks from marketers any time soon.

Some marketers are dipping their toes in the water (Chipotle, E.l.f. Cosmetics). However, this early interest from advertisers won’t monetize the business long-term.

So, if this app is free to download and use, and doesn’t have ads, what happens when BeReal has plowed through its investment? BeReal did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

BeReal ads

If advertising is on the cards, which recent reports suggest, then BeReal has a short window of opportunity to get an ads business up and running. Dither for too long and one of BeReal’s larger competitors could try to copy it. In fact, TikTok did just that last month with the launch of its BeReal clone, TikTok Now, which the platform states is “a daily photo and video experience to share [users’] most authentic moments with the people who matter the most.”

Since then, TikTok has started pitching it to agencies. 

For now, BeReal is more of a social network than a social platform, which is never welcoming to advertising.

In other words, marketers aren’t sure how to use it yet for two reasons: 

• App users love the authenticity of its content, which doesn’t lend itself to ads
• More importantly, there is no ads feature available.

Recession impact

Even if ads do arrive on BeReal they wouldn’t necessarily be an immediate win. Aside from the time, money and commercial nous needed to get advertising right out the gate, there’s the small matter of a looming global recession to think about. Whenever there’s a recession marketers tend to revert to platforms with guaranteed ROI given their lean budgets. There’s little time for experimentation on anything new.

Regardless of growth, BeReal needs to figure out the best way forward to monetize itself longterm, to keep Gen Z happy, before all the fun (and funds) come to an end.

Brands are prioritizing content more than ever. Here are key tips that brands should consider when creating their SEO content strategy and aiming to get more eyes on their brand:

• Create video content - short-form video is extremely effective on social media platforms and is one of the prime ways that people are consuming content. Not only do brands need to be creating video content that resonates with their target audience when they watch but they also need prioritize SEO optimization to ensure that their content is easily found among a sea of other videos.
• Optimize for voice search - with 27% of the global online population using voice search on mobile and over 4 billion voice assistants being used on devices around the world, brands that refuse to optimize their content for voice search are leaving significant opportunity on the table.

Some advertisers were initially all-in on Netflix's ad tier, but many are now planning to buy ads on competitors like Amazon or Disney instead. 

What's so unappealing about Netflix ads?

• Netflix's projection of having between 400,000 to 1 million targetable viewers nationwide at launch is not valuable to advertisers, especially given the industry-high $60 CPM (cost to reach 1,000 people) that Netflix is demanding.
• Some TV advertisers that were initially interested in buying Netflix ads dropped out, leaving only about half following through. Netflix ad prices are projected by some advertisers likely to dip in six to 18 months. So there is no sense of urgency to 'get in now, or you miss the boat
• Advertisers are also reluctant to buy Netflix ads because they're untested and competing against platforms that have proven performance, like Hulu, NBCUniversal's Peacock, HBO Max's ad tier, and Amazon.
  
• Ad buyers said they were also disappointed with some capabilities that Netflix still doesn't have. For instance, it doesn't offer exclusivity deals to ensure brand's ads aren't running alongside their competitors and it is only offering basic targeting by country and genre at launch.

Due to Meta’s recently updated API, creator management platform Grin’s software is no longer functioning at its prior capacity.

On September 27, a Grin customer success manager sent an email that said, “To align with the requirements for Meta’s API and service guidelines, our industry is going to undergo some changes, and Grin is on the front lines so that we make sure we remain the closest to Meta and all these changes.”

Some influencer marketers said that these changes have apparently made the platform less useful for them. For example, the software’s Shopify integration is no longer available meaning that influencers must grant Grin permission to use their information. Additionally, marketers can no longer search for creators from Instagram on Grin’s main platform.

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TikTok has become an increasingly important for platform for advertisers looking to drive sales. Brands have struggled to understand TikTok's unique algorithms that promote videos not based on follower counts, but on content recommendations tailored to each user.

Wishu identified top tools helping marketers make their TikTok ad campaigns easier to create and execute, based on conversations with advertisers, analysts, and investment bankers. 

• Adsmurai - provides a creative team that designs image, video, and motion graphics that helps clients build those entertaining ads, and it also offers campaign management services to help clients set and reach their marketing performance goals.
• Shuttlerock - eliminates that challenge by helping brands use existing campaign materials to build ads that work across social platforms, including TikTok
• Smartly.io - The company offers templates to help advertisers build TikTok videos, relationships with creators, and tools that can track and help improve performance. These tools help brands make sure their videos feel like an organic part of TikTok.
• Sprinklr - helps clients plan and manage both paid TikTok ads and organic TikTok content.
• VidMob - helps make marketers' TikTok ads work better by giving them insights on their creative campaigns to show them which elements work, which don't, and why.