Hello Social Media Marketers! We hope your new year started off in an amazing way, with lots of fun new projects and experiences. While it’s still a bit cold over here, we are not taking a break from supplying you with the hottest social media news. Get ready for a tasty and informative morning crunch on what’s happening in the world of LinkedIn, TikTok, Meta & Co.!

Pinterest’s first ever ESG report

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report outlines Pinterest’s various
efforts to address workforce diversity, product safety, environmental impact and
internal governance and the company has published its the very first one in early
February.

The 30 page report also includes data on Pinterest’s growth, the firms own internal
staffing approach as well as its environmental impact goals and much more.

You can find the whole ESG Report, which is planned to be updated on a yearly basis,
here.

The importance of music in Instagram reels

Everyone knows that the use of the right sound in a Reel can go a long way, but fanpage
karma wanted to know the positive effects of the song choice in more detail. Here are their
findings:

• Reels with music generate higher engagement rates
• Proper music/songs generate better than random sound effects or background noises in
the video
• The right music pick can increase interactions up to 200%
• Reels with sentimental music have a higher reach than Reels with energetic songs
• Reels with energetic songs on the other hand generate higher interaction numbers than
Reels with sentimental music
• Reels that are “aesthetically pleasing” to the ears and eyes perform best (= if a Reel is cut
“on-point” to the change of the beat that you hear in the song)

Costly verification for brands on Twitter

A verification tick is a nice add-on. It verifies the business account and lets followers as well as
potential clients know, that this account is genuine and can be trusted. The question is, is this blue, or in Twitter’s case golden, tick worth to pay money for?

Elon and Co. certainly think so, as they have communicated to some brand partners in early February,
that they intend to charge $1,000 per month for the golden verification tick. In one year, that would
sum up to $12,000, a big lump of money most businesses do not have or most likely wouldn’t spend
on this particular expense.

To clarify, this costly verification for brands on Twitter isn’t final. It is very likely that Twitter is simply
trying to see where the market is at and will go lower once they receive feedback from their brand
partner

TikTok introduces new ad functions

TikTok added a couple of new functions to its on-platform advertising program Promote, which are
meant to support small and medium-sized companies to build and expand their TikTok presence.

Let’s take a look:

Location Targeting
• Creation of a custom audience with TikTok Promote based on various characteristics
• It is now possible to select gender, age, interests and location
• Particularly interesting for companies with a physical shop, as this feature allows to address the
local community
• Usage of location tags is advised by TikTok for local businesses
• A “local feed” is in the works that will show content from the users current location

New Goal: Increase Number of Profile Visits
• This is now a specific goal which can be selected for marketing purposes in TikTok Promote
• With this goal, users can be directed to a businesses profile in order to convince them there
• Campaigns with this goal have a large red button labelled “View TikTok profile”
• The profile should either be aesthetically pleasing or include an interesting brand story to tell the
user
• According to TikTok companies that present a range of products can also benefit

New Goal: Receive More Client Messages
• Interesting for companies and self-employed people who rely on direct interaction (e.g. artists,
hairdressing salons, life coaches etc.)
• B2B brands can also benefit from the new goal objective

Promote The Content of Other Creators
• Companies that work with creators can ensure that their content gets even more widespread
• Before promoting someone elses content a request must be submitted and can’t be promoted until
the creator authorizes the promotion
• Selection of which video or live-event to promote is done organically, then a campaign can be set
up around that video with additional goals and personalized budget

How to properly use ChatGPT

There have been a lot of guides floating around the internet on how to use Chat GPT, Open AI‘s new
chat bot, and to make use of all its possibilities.

We have found, that Sam Szuchan‘s guide is one of the most reliable ones out there. On his LinkedIn
profile he shared a simple manual on how to unlock the Chat GPT‘s enormous potential. Sam divides
his guide into the following three steps:

• Prompting
• Playing the role
• Even more examples

Google joins the AI game with “Bard”

In the beginning of February, Google announced ‘Bard’, its very own conversational AI
service that looks a lot like the new Chat GPT system.

As per Google:

“AI is the most profound technology we are working on today. Whether it’s helping
doctors detect diseases earlier or enabling people to access information in their own
language, AI helps people, businesses and communities unlock their potential. And it
opens up new opportunities that could significantly improve billions of lives. That’s why
we re-oriented the company around AI six years ago – and why we see it as the most
important way we can deliver on our mission: to organize the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful.”

While Google is busy incorporating Bard into their systems, they have also been criticizing
Chat GPT for its inaccuracy in information, most likely in the hopes that people will turn
their backs away from the new famous chatbot and give Bard a fair chance.

Best Practices

Bumble on Snapchat

Virtual dating has taken off during the lockdown era and while there are
tons of dating apps out there, the dating app Bumble, where women
message first, has gone on a mission to normalize virtual dating even more
and has come up with very interesting Snapchat campaigns.

For one of their Snapchat campaigns, they partnered up with
Cosmopolitan magazine and created short movies which resorted with the
younger demographic, who are looking for culturally aware and socially
responsible ways to date and connect.

Here are some examples on what these movies included:
• Lockdown love lessons
• Own experiences with online dating from Cosmopolitan employees
• Online dating experiences from women who have used Bumble
• Women sharing real-life relationship stories
• Women sharing their honest opinions on what it means to be single, in a
relationship, married or divorced

Clemens Brock on TikTok

Clemens Brock is a German content creator on TikTok and his
videos have been going through the roof in the recent months.
With 1.7 followers he has a huge fanbase who enjoy his parody
videos in which he acts as a “typical German dad” and delivers
relatable and funny content.

Mr. Brock has understood that a high number of people visit
TikTok in order to relax and be entertained and knows how to
deliver his comedic lines perfectly for his viewers.

Tasty on Facebook

Anyone who spends time on Facebook has most likely come across Tasty
at least once. This Buzzfeed owned brand focuses mainly on the
production of short video content in which they share quick and easy
recipe’s with there viewers.

With a total number of 97 million likes, their
page is one of the most successful on Facebook. This isn’t only because
their main focus is food (and everybody loves food), but mostly because
they have figured out how to use this particular social media platform in the
best way possible. Here are some of their main points, that have helped
them succeed:

• Primary medium is engaging video content
• Videos don’t require audio to engage the viewer (audio independence)
• Content is readily available on their Page or the user’s feed
• Production of visually appealing videos

Amazon’s Super Bowl Ad

The super bowl season is always a great time for brands to
release new advertisements. Some rely on comedic effects,
others on plot twists. Amazon however decided to go with a
sentimental point of view.

In its ad, Amazon told a story from the dog’s perspective, the
family’s loyal companion, and made viewers revisit the biggest
shakeups of the era. The company points out the struggle of
adapting to change, in us humans and in our beloved house
pets alike. But the ad takes a positive turn and reminds us that
creative solutions are just around the corner and that hard
times don’t last forever.

From a marketing perspective, this ad is perfect in reminding
us, how important compelling storytelling is, especially if it is
told from the viewpoint of a collective experience such as life
during the COVID era.