Discover the latest trends and incorporate them into your marketing strategy.

• YouTube: The Little Mermaid
• Twitter: Ticketmaster
• TikTok: Duolingo x MSCHF
• Spotify: “A&W” - Lana Del Rey
• Google: Rihanna x Vogue

Fed up of spending even more budget on acquiring the same number of customers? We hear you!

What you need is a solid retention strategy to get more revenue from your existing customer base. 👉 Learn how at Loyalty Connect.

Depending on your business goals, a successful marketing campaign can help you raise brand awareness, drive traffic, or build an engaged community.

And Rihanna’s Super Bowl strategy checked all the boxes, as it combined her music, beauty, and fashion brands to:

LAUNCH LIMITED EDITION MERCH

• Fenty Beauty launched limited-edition products — like the NFL-branded Gloss Bomb (with a new shade).
• Meanwhile, Savage x Fenty promoted IRL pop-ups of their exclusive Game Day collection.
• And post-performance, the Fenty team broke down which products Rihanna wore on stage — bringing it all full-circle.

Limited-edition merch creates a sense of exclusivity — plus, it’s great for building buzz. If you don’t have the budget, consider a timely promo code or giveaway instead.

Create a post-campaign plan so you can identify opportunities to promote your products and keep the hype train going.

TAP INTO STORYTELLING

Stories are integral to any marketing campaign. They give you an opportunity to share your brand’s purpose and your “why.”

Rihanna’s team tapped into this with her Apple Music commercial leading up to the Super Bowl. Paired with one of her most popular songs, we were reminded of her upbringing, values, and love for Barbados. The result? Over 54M views and 40K comments on Instagram.

GENERATE BUZZ ON SOCIALS

Prior to Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance, fans tried to predict what her set list would be and whether she’d have any guest performers.

And the Fenty brands leaned into this, as they dropped hints in their posts and engaged with fans' content too.

They even rolled out a custom audio — with influencers using it in their Reels and TikTok videos. And the Fenty brands continued to post about the performance — keeping RiRi on everyone's mind.

Join us on June 7th for The Web3 Creator Summit where we will bring together leading innovators who are redefining art, design and entertainment in the next generation of the creative economy.

Explore how social interaction, content creation and monetisation will develop as decentralisation and blockchain-based platforms become more prominent.

Register 👉 here

For a long time, Instagram has felt like a black box. The algorithm is constantly being tweaked. Always adding features that no one requested. Keeping a veil of mystery over what is actually working to grow accounts.

But one thing has been clear for a long time: Instagram is improving its Reels feed in order to compete with TikTok and YouTube Shorts. 

I've found myself consuming an increasing amount of content from the Reels tab. I still watch more TikTok — but it's closer to a 70/30 split right now.

We now have some idea of what the Instagram algorithm was prioritising. If you wanted to advance, you should post Reels.

As I've been scrolling through Twitter recently, I've noticed a few social media managers mentioning a trend they've noticed:

Instagram de-prioritizing Reels performance.

If your company has an Instagram account, it's worth experimenting with more carousels in the coming weeks. But what makes carousels appealing to the IG algorithm?

Simple. They keep people on the platform for a longer period of time. And this is the goal of ad-supported social media platforms like Instagram. Keep users on the platform longer so that they can serve more ads.

Here are some simple ways to incorporate more carousels into your Instagram strategy:

A) Infographics

B) Meme dumps

C) Behind-the-scenes photo dumps

D) Product photo carousels

I'd suggest taking a look at the assets you and your team have right now and seeing how you can use them in a carousel format. Keep it simple.

Reels are still alive and well! Please accept my apologies for the subject line. But I needed to make certain that you read this topic and gained this insane amount of value.

The resurgence of carousels on Instagram in 2023 gives marketers a choice.

If you still enjoy video? - use Reels.

More of a writer? - use carousels.

Like both? - use both formats.

This is a far more promising future than having every piece of social content be a highly optimised TikTok that melts your brain cells and fries your dopamine receptors.

In China, livestream shopping is a huge business:

• In 2022, the industry was estimated to be worth $500 billion.
• In just half an hour during China's 2020 Singles' Day shopping festival, livestream platform Taobao processed $7.5B in transactions. During the 2021 event, one social media personality (Viya) sold $1 billion in product.
• There are boot camps where you can train for a career in the field.

According to CNBC data, however, chances are you've never watched such a livestream in the United States.

Instagram has announced plans to discontinue its live shopping feature, reducing those chances even further.

The move highlights some of the challenges that livestream shopping has faced in Western markets. Aside from Instagram, Meta discontinued live shopping on Facebook in October, and TikTok's live shopping tests reportedly yielded mixed results.

While the West has yet to replicate China's success — with TikTok, Amazon, and YouTube continuing to invest in the space, and live shopping startups like Whatnot raising $485 million — the industry may simply require some time.

• Airbnb's earnings surge following 'incredibly effective' shift in marketing spend. (Marketing Week)
• How Nestlé is using AI to set creative rules for its 15,000 marketers. (The Drum)
• Artificial Intelligence content: Marketing friend or foe? Three ways to use AI content tools. (Forbes)
• 9 marketing trends to watch as 2023 tests transformation bets. (Marketing Dive)
• Does influencer marketing really pay off? (HBR)