Today in Digital Marketing - Why is Lush Washing Away Its Social Media Sins?

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. I'm particular about the sound of this podcast. I spent years as a public radio producer, at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. like Guy Raz from How I Built This, and companies such as Spotify and The New York Times use Riverside.fm to record their audio video content remotely. We like Riverside.fm because it records studio-quality audio and up to 4K video. If I'm interviewing a guest a thousand miles away with the shakiest of internet connections, it still sounds like we're sitting in the same room.

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Starting point is 00:01:28 Sign up today so you can focus on your content and leave the quality to Riverside.fm. Today, the big brand giving up social media, but this time for good. Also, Snapchat's drive to make marketing augmented continues. B2B marketers now get better tools on LinkedIn, the latest platform to copy TikTok, and Instagram finally makes the change content managers have all wanted. It's Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021. Happy National Espresso Day. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in Digital Marketing, episode 511. We begin today with either a bold or stupid marketing decision from a big

Starting point is 00:02:12 British cosmetics brand. Lush has announced it is becoming antisocial with a new policy that they call the Global Antisocial Media Policy. According to the company, From November 26th, the Global Lush brand will be turning its back on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat until the platforms take action to provide a safer environment for users. This policy is rolling out across all the 48 countries where Lush operates.

Starting point is 00:02:38 In the same way that evidence against climate change was ignored and belittled for decades, concerns about the serious effects of social media are going largely ignored now. Lush is taking matters into its own hands and addressing the issues now, not waiting around until others believe in the problem

Starting point is 00:02:54 before changing its own behavior, unquote. The high-stakes marketing decision will leave 10 million followers across the company's platforms in the dark. Does this sound familiar? It should, because Lush tried to quit social media back in 2019. But then the pandemic came around and forced the company to return to its platforms. Because of store closures and lockdowns, the company claimed it was the only way to stay

Starting point is 00:03:18 connected with customers. Then came the Facebook Files whistleblower accounts, and now the company claims it's finally had enough and feels that this is a more stable time to reposition its digital ethics strategy. Quoting them again, It is not enough for companies to just stop placing paid advertising. People and their time are the currency of these channels, and we do not want our content to be used by hidden algorithms designed to hold people captive on a channel, unquote.

Starting point is 00:03:47 For brand protection reasons, Lush will of course keep its social media handles and accounts, but will be signing out of its platforms. Although, dig a little deeper into their announcement and you learn they will still be in digital and social, expanding their YouTube presence, using Twitter for customer service. They'll be doing email newsletter campaigns, using Pinterest, and, quote, promise to invest in new ways to connect and build better communications channels elsewhere. Canadian businesses using Square have a new way to engage with their customers.

Starting point is 00:04:25 Square Marketing, essentially a marketing platform anchored by email, has launched in Canada just in time for the holiday season. Quoting the announcement, The tool allows businesses to create, send, and track email marketing campaigns, promotions, discounts, and coupons in minutes and all in one place. From one-time email campaigns to personalized automation, Square Marketing expands customer reach and helps sellers gain key business insights with analytics.

Starting point is 00:04:51 In the U.S., Square Data revealed that in August 2021, 78% of coupons and discounts sent through Square Marketing were redeemed within one week, up from 50% in January. So some of the key features of the Square Marketing program include gift cards, a directory, businesses can schedule or immediately send emails to customers, and real-time tracking is available in the dashboard around active campaigns. You'll be able to see open and click-through rates as well as attributable sales for both in-person and online purchases. Square Marketing is free until the end of the month if you're interested in kicking the tires. Do you have business insurance?

Starting point is 00:05:35 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, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Snapchat will be showcasing its evolving augmented reality tools to expand its e-commerce credentials.

Starting point is 00:06:04 The company is launching its Snap Holiday Market on Black Friday. The holiday market uses AR to let shoppers browse products and offers immersive experiences from six partners, Amazon Prime Video, Coca-Cola, Hollister, Under Armour, Verizon, and Walmart. Each brand will have a dedicated custom-built virtual store within the market, and shoppers will be able to complete purchases in the app. The Snap Holiday Market will be accessible via the Lens Carousel, the For You tab, and each brand's public Snapchat profile.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Brands participating in the virtual market will use lenses to help shoppers find apparel, gift ideas, or holiday discounts. For you B2B people, the LinkedIn sales navigator is getting a few updates. Quoting the company, we are in the middle of the great reshuffle and 80% of salespeople have delayed or lost a deal because of a job change within an account. Selling right now is a moving target. This means, maybe more than ever, that quality data is non-negotiable, real-time alerts are critical, and knowing your buyers and what's important to them is essential, unquote. So what are the new features? Well, the homepage has been redesigned to highlight insights from key accounts. There's a new bookmarked alerts tab. But the big one I think here is they've created this thing called priority accounts

Starting point is 00:07:28 that lets you focus on key prospects easier. You can star accounts from your saved accounts list to ensure that they're featured in this section. Once added, users can track updates on headcount growth, employee count, open opportunities, and buyer interest. The team and enterprise users who are on the same Sales Navigator contract can invite teammates to join an account map, allowing the entire team to visualize the full buying committee. And finally, LinkedIn announced the addition of more CRM

Starting point is 00:07:56 integrations across Sales Navigator. It's become a meme on this podcast, but here we go again. Everybody is going TikTok. The most recent wannabe, Reddit. Reddit announced today it is shutting down the Dubsmash app, which it bought to jumpstart its move into the vertical video trend, and will be integrating Dubsmash's creative features into Reddit itself by launching new video features. Quoting the announcement,

Starting point is 00:08:25 To date this year, video content has soared on Reddit. We're seeing nearly 70% growth in overall hours watched and a more than 30% increase in daily active video viewers growth. And we've seen a 50% increase in quarter over quarter short video viewership in our new video player, unquote. As a regular Reddit user, I can confirm that there have been more videos lately, and honestly, some subreddits have just become reposts of TikTok videos. The new Reddit video player is strikingly TikTok-esque, icons roughly in the same positions,

Starting point is 00:08:59 and so on. The new video creation tools include a new camera with recording speed options, timer options, the ability to upload videos in landscape. Seems a bit weird for a TikTok inspired thing, whatever. Portrait mode and fill and clipping options. There's also a new editing screen where you can add text stickers. You can draw, apply filters, add voiceovers and so on. These new features are available now on Reddit's iOS and Android apps.

Starting point is 00:09:25 February 22nd will be Dubsmash's last day as an app. And finally, filing this update from Instagram under Finally, Instagram is testing longer stories. Videos up to 60 seconds will no longer be broken up into segments, meaning you can now add music and effects to the full video without interruptions. This feature is available now, but only for some users. That is it for today. Stay sane, fellow performance marketers.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Talk to you tomorrow. Well, I gave all my love to a girl And I chased her all over the world Lost myself inside a dream Such a senior living love I waited on her right from the start

Today in Digital Marketing - Why is Lush Washing Away Its Social Media Sins?

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