Today in Digital Marketing - Why Instagram's New Algorithm Change May Kill "Remix Culture"

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, why one agency has banned Photoshop, Meta's guide to helping brands capitalize in online communities, Google really is forcing you to switch to GA4, and Instagram is changing how it ranks your brand's content. A look at what content will get an algorithm boost and what will get penalized. It's Thursday, April 21st. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. We start today with Instagram, which this week announced it will algorithmically punish accounts that cross-post their content to the platform. This is a change in the way that Instagram will rank your brand's content and prioritizes what they call original work. Instagram's head Adam Mosseri tweeted, if you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you're resharing something that you found from someone else. As such, we're going to do more to try and value original content more compared to reposted content, unquote. So what he's basically saying is that we don't want you to repost things from TikTok,

Starting point is 00:01:02 which means if your content strategy includes resharing, it may be time to rethink. But if this sounds familiar, it's because they said they'd do this more than a year ago. Although back then they claimed, nah, this has nothing to do with that app. What's it called again? Tiki Tiki? Now all we care about is the video quality. Here's what they actually said back then. Quote, So we're making this content less discoverable in places like the Reels tab. Unquote. But what about if you use another app, like a video editing app, to create the video?

Starting point is 00:01:43 According to Instagram, content edited outside of the app, then uploaded, won't be penalized under this change, saying, quote, the idea is if you made it, it's original, unquote. So wait, what then qualifies as an appropriate app? TikTok's app has a better suite of video editing tools than Reels. Is that not a video editor? What about an app dedicated to video clips like CapCut? You'd think that would be okay, although that app is actually owned by TikTok's parent company. It all gets a little murky. And what about if you're using a watermark remover? How will the algorithm be able to identify which content is original then? Instagram admitted that it can't completely, saying, quote, we build classifiers to predict

Starting point is 00:02:30 how likely something is to be original, but that's not knowing. We look at things like who's in the video and if we've seen the video before, unquote. The platform also noted that content aggregators are the focus of this update and that it will use your account posting history to determine this. Consequently, if your brand is posting memes and content from other accounts, you may see a decline in reach. All of this is very hazy. Part of TikTok's culture, and I suspect what Instagram wants for its Reels copycat product, too, is the very function of repurposing. Remixes, duets, stitches. Hell, the majority of videos out there in this format are riffs on other people's content.

Starting point is 00:03:14 Will Instagram's new algo change ban those, too? Watch this space. Could this be the fall of the Kardashian branding empire? One agency is seeking to reverse the years of unrealistic beauty standards in advertising by refusing to work with social media influencers who edit their faces or bodies for brand campaigns. This is part of Ogilvy UK's strategy to combat social media's, quote, systemic mental health harms, unquote. According to the agency, influencer marketing is supposed to be the authentic side to marketing, quote, but now it churns out such staged content that it is harmful to anybody looking at social media, unquote.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Ogilvy's decision also comes as the UK government reviews the digitally altered body image bill that would require social media influencers to disclose edited content if the law passes. The ban on working with Photoshopped influencers applies to all the agency's divisions and companies, including Coca-Cola, IBM, and Dove, a brand that already claims, quote, real beauty, unquote, as its marketing strategy. The agency is urging the rest of the industry to follow suit. Meta has published a guide to help brands capitalize on online communities, focusing mostly on Facebook groups. However, it can be used for any community-based organization. The Community for Brands playbook includes how to build a community, resources for community building, meta tools that can assist, and case studies of brands that have succeeded with these tactics. Meta provides a community-based ROI framework that organizes community initiatives into activities centered around generating revenue, optimizing community operations,

Starting point is 00:05:06 and collecting and leveraging insights to scale efforts. The guide also provides community goal reviews and engagement tips to help maximize your efforts. Whether you are just starting out or trying to step up to your brand's community approach, the guide offers some helpful insights. A link to download the playbook is in today's premium newsletter. Big news for those of you who manage WordPress sites. The company has released Gutenberg version 13, which previews the anticipated improvements of WordPress 6.0 set to release next month. Here is what you can expect from the updated plugin features. First, you can now select and copy text fragments that span multiple blocks. Side note here, just as someone who does manage a WordPress admin site, and several actually, this has been one of the biggest glitches, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:05:57 bugs, pain in the asses that Gutenberg has had. In fact, Notion had this for the longest time, and they recently fixed this as well. So now it operates a little bit more like a word processor. Also in the latest version of the patterns feature, you can select page templates to use as a starting point when creating a webpage layout. You can start with a pre-configured pattern for an entire page and then customize it from there instead of starting from scratch.

Starting point is 00:06:20 You can build responsive groups, rows, and stacks. Make your blocks stand out with border control. So that'll let you change the style, color, and width of borders. And finally, show the featured image in the cover block. This update to the cover block adds a button to instantly use that featured image on a web page. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more.

Starting point is 00:07:00 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. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses,

Starting point is 00:07:32 data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Google is serious about forcing you to switch to Google Analytics 4, Be protected. Be Zen. And the only way to make sure your data is accurate is, shockingly, to migrate to the new version. Well, now the tech giant says it hasn't been able to fix that problem on the UA side, and it's going to stop trying. Quoting the company, knowing that this issue is temporary and that Google Analytics 4 properties have an improved real-time report that does not suffer from this issue, we are no longer seeking to resolve this issue. You've got to feel sorry for Trevor Jacob. He's a former Olympian, has a pilot's license, and he was out for a flight on his own a couple of months back when suddenly his engine shut off.

Starting point is 00:08:40 Holy ****. I'm over the mountains and I **** it out in Asia now. Oh ****. Oh ****. Understandably, this makes him panic a little. And eventually he bails out of the plane, deploys a parachute. He lands safely. The plane crashes on its own in a California forest reserve. And you might be wondering, how did I get audio of that crash? Well, that's because Mr. Jacob had attached a GoPro camera to one of the wings.

Starting point is 00:09:13 Actually, several cameras. It was also fortuitous that he'd had the presence of mind to put the parachute pack on his back before he took off. As for why he didn't contact air traffic control and declare an emergency, must have been an oversight. Oh, did I mention Mr. Jacob has a YouTube channel? Yes, in what the American Federal Aviation Regulator

Starting point is 00:09:34 is calling a YouTube stunt, it appears that Mr. Jacob was more interested in the likes than the landing. He uploaded the video called I Crashed My Plane and pretty much immediately, people were like, eh, this is a little sus. The FAA noted, quote, during this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you claimed the engine had failed. Also, you didn't try to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller,

Starting point is 00:10:01 and failed to look for a place to safely land, even though there were multiple areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing, unquote. The organization has demanded that the influencer turn over his pilot license. As of this morning, the video has 1.8 million views. Social Blade Analytics says that could be worth up to $7,200 in ad revenue for Mr. Jacob. Yesterday, we reported that Xbox is considering in-game ads, and today, its biggest competitor announces it's apparently doing the same. According to Insider, Sony is also working on introducing advertisements to PlayStation games.

Starting point is 00:10:42 Similar to Microsoft, the ads would appear in free-to-play games and would give developers a way to monetize their work and encourage them to continue building free games. Sources say that ads are expected to launch there by the end of the year and would appear in inconspicuous places within the game. Players could also be rewarded for watching ads. As for how to buy those new ads, they will be sold apparently through a private marketplace. miserable existences and like being able to cross post things and just like leave us with something,

Starting point is 00:11:26 please. I'm actually losing my mind. This is gonna be fun. This is gonna be fun. This is gonna be fun. This is gonna be fun.

Today in Digital Marketing - Why Instagram's New Algorithm Change May Kill "Remix Culture"

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.