What were some of the top stories from the world of marketing and video? Each week with Render Perfect Productions, your video marketing experts in Baltimore and beyond, we’ll take a look at marketing news this week. In this edition, we are covering some of the top stories from the week of March 14th to March 18th 2022.
YouTube Adds New Livestream Features
YouTube has previewed some coming updates for YouTube Live, including live stream guests, new notifiers for when a channel is broadcasting in the app, and updated viewing options.
First off, on live guests – similar to other live options, YouTube will soon launch a pilot of what it’s calling ‘Go Live Together’, which will enable creators to invite a guest to their live stream by simply sending a link.
The added capacity to go live with a guest can reduce the pressure on a solo creator – because going live when it’s just you talking to your camera can be intimidating. Adding the capacity to invite others will help to get more people streaming, which could then lead to more creators monetizing their content through YouTube’s developing ad tools.
YouTube’s also adding new ‘live rings’ which will help viewers identify when a channel is going live.
As it works to build out its broader content offering, and provide more avenues for creators to expand and monetize their presence, Live offers another means to connect and engage with fans, which could be a valuable lure for YouTube in swaying stars away from other apps.
These new tools are largely in line with features we’ve already seen in other live stream offerings, but they could arguably be even more beneficial on YouTube, and it’ll be interesting to see how creators respond to the additions as they become more widely available.
Instacart Adds Shoppable Recipe Tool to TikTok
- Instacart on March 16 introduced a product integration feature that lets consumers order ingredients for delivery when they see a recipe on TikTok or Hearst publications, including websites Delish, The Pioneer Woman, Good Housekeeping and Country Living, according to a press release emailed to Marketing Dive.
- Shoppable Recipes will allow food creators on TikTok to link Instacart grocery lists into their video content. The feature will gradually roll out to all food creators, though select creators can now start using the tool through an integration powered by Jump, TikTok’s third-party integration tool. More tie-ins will be announced later this year, per the release.
- Instacart’s new product integrations come a week after the delivery app debuted in-store navigation, live phone support and a safety toolkit for shoppers. Its suite of new features is part of Instacart’s recent pledge for a month-long rollout of fresh product features.
Integrating on popular digital publications, recipe sites and TikTok, where a large and loyal community of home cooks convenes for inspiration, may prove to be a way to differentiate Instacart from its rivals. The added convenience of recipe buttons can save consumers time, easing assembling a grocery list and visiting a store or manually ordering items for delivery. Shoppable Recipes leverages Instacart’s grocery catalogue with real-time AI modeling to locate in-stock items and link customers to shoppers for speedy delivery.
“We’re expanding our touchpoints beyond the weekly grocery shop or late-night cravings, and meeting people when food inspiration strikes and they want to discover new meals and cooking experiences,” said Asha Sharma, chief operating officer of Instacart, in an emailed statement.
For creators, the new tool allows for deeper follower engagement on TikTok, helping home cooks to make dishes more easily. Select food creators can already start using the new shoppable recipe functionality in their videos and earn payouts based on engagements and Instacart orders placed.
Google Launches Related Search for Content
Google has added a new ad unit to its AdSense suite, with ‘Related Search for Content’, which aims to help drive users to more related elements on your site.
As explained by Google:
“Related search for content is a contextual navigation unit that shows users search terms related to the page they’re viewing on a publisher’s website. When they click a search term, they’re taken to a search results page on the publisher’s site where they can explore other relevant topics, including search ads. As a result, related search for content can help publishers increase site engagement – including site traffic, page views and ad impressions – and drive incremental revenue.”
So it’s a means to both keep visitors on your site for longer, while also increasing ad exposure, branding, etc.
And importantly, Google also notes that this is ‘a privacy-preserving solution’.
In line with Google’s broader shift away from user data tracking, the option could help deliver more tailored ad solutions, without the need for cookies.
Which will be gone soon. Google’s already outlined its plan to phase out tracking cookies, in favor of a new topic-based model, which will enable ad and performance tracking without exposing user data.
Related Search for Content is one of its first ad solutions within this approach, and while its value will vary significantly, it could be worth experimenting with in your process.
Pinterest Provides New Ways to Share Pins on Other Apps
This could be a handy update if you’re looking to boost your Pinterest presence – though it is a slightly cheeky function, which does come with some extra considerations.
This week, Pinterest has launched the capacity to download your Idea Pins for sharing to other apps, complete with a Pinterest watermark.
Sharing your Idea Pins to other social apps is simple – you can select the “FBStories” or “IG Stories” icon in the share menu, which will start a download customized to each app, and will then open either with the video ready to go in the upload flow, while you can also download the clip and upload to TikTok as well.
Cool, right, and good for some extra Pin promotion. Maybe.
The problem is that Instagram already penalizes Reels uploads that include a TikTok watermark to stop people from simply cutting and pasting TikTok content. In fact, Instagram says that any watermarked video will cop a reach hit, and while that is Reels-specific, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if IG, and Facebook, has the same restriction on Stories uploads as well.
That could be an additional factor to consider, but even with a reach penalty, it may still be worth trying it if you’re considering new ways to promote your Pinterest feed.
Pinterest has taken a hit in its active user count of late, as COVID restrictions are eased, and more people revert to in-store shopping. But at 430 million activities, all primarily focused on product discovery, it remains a key consideration for eCommerce brands, and Idea Pins have proven popular with users.
It could be worth experimenting with if you want to give your Pin presence a push.
About Render Perfect Productions:
Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.
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