Today in Digital Marketing - You Are Doing Product Photos Wrong

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Wednesday, January 18th. Today, the one change that could make your product sell better. Twitter rushes to adjust its new home feed after reports it was killing engagement. Mastodon starts to get big platform support. And Netflix's new ads platform struggles to gain traction. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. One simple change to your product photos could increase your sales.

Starting point is 00:00:28 A new marketing science study finds that multiple products of a product next to each other in advertising makes it appear more effective. According to the study, consumers will perceive the product shown as better both when choosing to buy and also when using it. The study's researchers suggest that when we see multiple identical products together,

Starting point is 00:00:48 we perceive them as a unified group. Thus, the unified group feels more effective because we believe it's more likely to get the job done. For this to work though, the product has to be positioned as effective at one specific thing. For example, boosting energy, improving health, and so on. The study recommends applying this strategy

Starting point is 00:01:09 to your ads and packaging, as well as your website and even shelf displays. The paper was published in the Journal of Consumer Research. It's called How the Presence of Product Replicates Increases Perceived and Actual Product Efficacy. There is a link to the study in today's premium newsletter. Last week, we reported that Twitter was changing its distribution algorithm and replacing its home feed with what it calls a 4U feed. And industry watchers speculated that the change could have

Starting point is 00:01:40 a significant impact on your brand's abilities to reach its followers. As it turns out, that's exactly what happened. Elon Musk today tweeting that the platform is updating the algorithm on its For You tab after users complained they were seeing too many tweets from accounts they weren't following. His comments were in response to a user who said that people were reporting massive drops in engagement with their posts. In other Twitter news, a new report from The Information says Twitter is suffering a 40% drop in daily revenue

Starting point is 00:02:11 after more than 500 of the company's top advertisers have pulled out of spending since the takeover in October. So while Twitter is declining, the anti-Twitter is thriving. And now Mastodon is starting to be recognized as a more welcoming place for brands. Buffer, the social media platform, has now added Mastodon to its list of social distribution channels. Up until now, no other social management platforms supported Mastodon. Here's how to set it up if you are a Buffer user.

Starting point is 00:02:45 You can add your Mastodon channel via the Connect Channels page. Buffer will display the top five Mastodon servers, but will let you specify the server that you use if it's not listed. You'll then be taken to the server where your brand's account lives, where you must authorize Buffer to access the account. Once it has been authorized, the account will appear in the Connected Channels list. The process for creating Mastodon posts on Buffer is the same as for other social channels there, complete with image and video uploads, carousel creation, and post scheduling. By the way, we too are on Mastodon. Follow the podcast at todayindigitalatmas.to. Follow my personal account at tod at hci dot social or just look for the text that says

Starting point is 00:03:27 follow us on social media near the top of today's show notes. Discord has acquired gas, the app for teens to compliment each other or as the kids say, gas up your friends. The app which we we reported previously on, has become popular in recent months. Users sign up with their school, add friends, and answer polls about their classmates. However, poll questions are meant to boost confidence, not damage it. So what is Discord, a messaging platform, planning to do with it? The company said at this time, gas will remain a standalone app, but its team will join Discord. Although Discord says it'll keep gas as a standalone product for the time being,

Starting point is 00:04:08 they recently reported that it would integrate a selection of apps into its servers. So as TechCrunch suggests today, it's possible that these positive community polls will appear on the messaging platform in the future. So far, neither Discord nor Gas has any kind of method of buying ads or other consumer targeting features. But then again, neither did Facebook at one time. 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, data breaches, and natural disasters.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Amazon's Prime membership may be past its prime. For the first time, the Amazon Prime membership program has stopped growing in the U.S., according to a new Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report. The data shows that the e-commerce giant ended last year with 168 million Prime members in the U.S. That's down from 170 million at the end of 2021. For its part, Amazon says the report is false. A spokesperson for the company told Business Insider, quote, just because an analyst firm reports something doesn't make it true or fact.

Starting point is 00:05:32 And in this case, the research is not accurate. Prime membership continues to grow as the value members receive continues to increase, unquote. The spokesperson did not specify though, whether they were talking about US memberships or global numbers. When asked specifically for U.S. data, Amazon's spokesperson said, quote, we don't offer country-specific breakdowns of Prime membership quantities, but I can tell you

Starting point is 00:05:54 that there are more than 200 million paid Prime members worldwide, unquote. But if the analysis is true, this could be a big deal. The analysts estimate that as of December last year, nearly three quarters of all Amazon transactions in the U.S. were made by Prime members. The previous year, that number was only two thirds. And finally, things aren't looking so hot for Amazon Prime's streaming rival either. Netflix is expected to report its slowest quarterly revenue growth tomorrow as its ad-supported plan struggles to attract customers in the U.S. Reuters today reporting this could lead the company to reduce content spending this year. The streaming giant had hoped the launch of the ad-supported tier would help it

Starting point is 00:06:41 rebound from financial woes, but analysts report they have not seen a burst of subscriptions at the lower price tier than they thought they'd see. In the fourth quarter, the company is expected to have added 4.5 million subscribers, its lowest addition since 2014. The $7 ad-supported plan does not offer access to all titles, and analysts say it's not cheap enough to attract a significant number of customers. Kind of in a rut with video games. I finished Fallout 76. Well, I didn't finish Fallout 76.

Starting point is 00:07:21 I never really finished that game, but I'm at level 300 now. I have all of my legendary perk slots. Now what do I do? Just like run dailies constantly? There's only so many Scorch Beasts you can fight. You know what I'm saying? I have my T-65 armor. I'm maxed out on the reputations.

Starting point is 00:07:37 I don't know what to do. So I thought I would try some simulators. I did Flight Simulator. I did City Skylines. I did The Sims. I even did Power Wash Simulator. I did City Skylines. I did The Sims. I even did Power Wash Simulator last night just to kind of chill out. But all of those seem to require more brain power than I appear to have lately at the end of work days. So I don't know.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Is there a good Xbox simulator I don't know about? Something chill? Because all I'm doing now is chain-spoking YouTube videos, and that's not healthy either. If you've got a marketing position you're trying to fill, or maybe you're looking for that next great gig, consider a classified ad right here. It's just 20 bucks. You can book it online. Link is in the show notes. I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

Today in Digital Marketing - You Are Doing Product Photos Wrong

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