Today in Digital Marketing - The Myth of the 99¢

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Tuesday, December 6th. Today, Snapchat might be taking a page from Twitter Blue soon. Instagram keeps wanting to be a CRM. Should prices really end in a nine? A major email service hit by ransomware. And guess which platform's mobile app is starting to break? Here's a hint. It rhymes with quitter. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. All right, we start today with some media buying news. Snapchat may soon try to lure you into its subscription offering with increased reach, the platform testing a new feature that will boost your brand's stories to more viewers.

Starting point is 00:00:40 But unlike other paid boosted ads like those on Instagram, Snapchat is experimenting with their reach tool as part of its paid subscription tier. Yesterday, a back-end app researcher discovered the new option for Snapchat Plus subscribers called Story Boost. According to a screenshot, Story Boost lets premium users get more views on their stories, while people who follow that account will not be informed that they've been boosted. How would it work? According to Social Media Today, quote, presumably it would ensure that your story is given priority and displayed among the first stories for each of your contacts every day. Not sure that there's much else that Snap could do here, as all of your connections can see your posted stories already, though I guess if it were a public story, Snap could also highlight it to more randoms or showcase your story via other

Starting point is 00:01:30 discovery means, unquote. At this point, it's not 100% clear. Honestly, sounds a bit like the new Elon Musk version of Twitter Blue, where subscribers to that monthly upgrade would have their content moved higher in the algorithm. Snapchat declined to comment on the feature, which is still in testing. No, it's not just you. The Twitter app on iOS is a bit broken. Some users reporting that certain key security features aren't working on iOS and that the app is plagued with privacy setting glitches. TechCrunch reports that some users are unable to protect their tweets or toggle direct message privacy settings.

Starting point is 00:02:10 When they attempt to do so, a pop-up appears that says, some settings failed to save. These privacy features appear to still work on the web, but if these privacy toggles can't be accessed on the go, it could pose a risk to brands and social media managers during an emergency. Furthermore, as TechCrunch rightly points out, these issues could

Starting point is 00:02:31 be seen as a precursor of what's to come. Users worry that as Twitter's team shrinks, more features will break and the site could become unsafe. When asked where Twitter will be in a year, the former head of trust and safety for the company responded at a conference last week saying he doesn't anticipate a specific moment when it will collapse. Rather, he said the user experience will likely deteriorate over time. with DMs, Instagram is working on new DM labels that will let you manage interactions with your customers in your inbox to make things a little less chaotic. The five labels for business include flag, booked, ordered, paid, and ships. For small businesses or brands that may not have the means to onboard CRM tools, this could be a simple way to manage interactions with your brand. The labels are currently in limited testing. One of the tasks of many digital marketers is to put their products online, in an e-commerce

Starting point is 00:03:34 storefront, or promote it on social media. And you can't do either of those without one important data point. The price. It's established wisdom that a price ending in a nine, like $19.99, helps consumers frame the purchase as a much cheaper product than one priced just a penny higher at $20. This has been a widely adopted best practice for literal generations. But is it still correct today? Ana Maria Ortega is a marketing professor in Colombia. She recently published a research paper called Psychological Pricing, Myth or Reality? The Impact of Nine Ending Prices on Purchasing Attitudes and Brand Revenue. I spoke with her yesterday. It's not just about how much money do I need to buy a product.

Starting point is 00:04:18 It's about what the nine is telling me about the product. Is it a discount? Is the brand trying to push the product into the market? And for instance, brands like Apple, which are very positioned and are related to premium products, can benefit more of using round prices. Because round prices tend to give the public the confidence that the product is premium, that there is scarcity. Her full paper is a Google search away. Again, it's called Psychological Pricing, Myth or Reality. Or there is a direct link in today's premium newsletter. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit?

Starting point is 00:05:06 No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. Be protected. Be Zen. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at Rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N.C-A. LinkedIn announced some new analytics for B2B creators today. These updates expand on the creator analytics launched earlier this year.

Starting point is 00:06:06 Starting today, creators can track their follower growth over time with new data available in the audience tab. This is in the app, of course. There's also a new demographics section located just below follower growth in the audience tab, which breaks down followers by company name, company size, industry, job title, location, seniority,

Starting point is 00:06:27 and top performing posts. And finally, creators can see up to three of their top performing posts in the post tab. Top posts are ranked either by impressions or interaction over a selected date range. Cloud computing giant Rackspace confirmed today that it has been hit with a ransomware attack that left a number of its customers without access to email. Late last week, Rackspace's hosted Microsoft Exchange service began experiencing issues. At the time, Rackspace posted a notice saying it had powered down and disconnected the service due to a security incident. Now, five days later, the company is blaming a ransomware attack for the ongoing outage.

Starting point is 00:07:07 There is still no word on data security. Rackspace said the investigation is in its early stages, and that it does not know yet what, if any, data was affected. The company added, customers will be notified if sensitive information has been compromised. BuzzFeed is the latest media brand to announce layoffs due to reduced spending on digital ads. It announced today that it is laying off around 180 employees that amounts to about 12% of its workforce, quoting Adweek. BuzzFeed in particular has struggled to adapt to a shifting digital ecosystem as the social platforms it relies on for traffic have pivoted to promote vertical video.

Starting point is 00:07:48 Since going public, BuzzFeed Inc. has seen the price of its stock drop from $10 per share to around $1.10, a decline that has prompted it to cut costs amid pressure from investors. And finally, if you're looking to up your Pinterest game, the platform is hosting a webinar tomorrow in collaboration with PixArt, where you'll learn how to create engaging pins, embrace idea pins,

Starting point is 00:08:13 those are the TikTok format, and explore what's next using their AI image generator. Now, if you're looking for that research paper on pricing, again, it's called Psychological Pricing, Myth or Reality? The Impact of Nine Ending Prices on Purchasing Attitudes and Brand Revenue. And if you dig these interviews with marketing scientists, be sure to check out the ARRI newsletter. Again, I'm probably mispronouncing that. It's spelled A-R-I-Y-H. They cover marketing tactics based on science. Subscribe and you will get three-minute marketing recommendations based on the latest scientific research from top business and marketing schools. We've made an affiliate short link for you.

Starting point is 00:08:58 It's todayindigital.com slash science. And you can also sign up with the link in the show notes. And our LinkedIn newsletter is called The Top Story. It'll send you our top digital marketing story each day to your inbox and in your LinkedIn feed. You can sign up for that at todayindigital.com. It is completely free. There's also a link in the show notes. Sun finally came out.

Starting point is 00:09:22 Not enough to melt the snow, but it's a start, right? See you tomorrow. Want people to read your content? They'll start with your headline, and that's as far as they'll get. If your headline doesn't convince readers to take action, it's meaningless. Stop wasting time writing headlines that don't get results. Headline Analyzer Studio is a free writing tool from CoSchedule made to help you write effective headlines that actually get seen and clicked. With data-backed headline scoring, suggestions, and SEO tips,

Starting point is 00:10:05 you'll write better headlines that rank higher in search results and drive more engagement from your audience. Headline Analyzer Studio is also available as a free WordPress plugin and browser extension, so you can optimize your headlines anywhere you write them. Get the leading edge over millions of existing headlines and maximize the traffic, engagement, and conversions you get from your content. Sign up for your free Headline Analyzer Studio account at coschedule.com slash today. That's coschedule.com slash today.

Today in Digital Marketing - The Myth of the 99¢

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