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The Latest Influencer Marketing News & Insights: Snapchat’s New Ads, Instagram’s Stories Ads, YouTube’s Content Creation Hopes, & More

This week and leading up to the holidays, we shared on the Mediakix blog:

The reason brands need to be using Facebook’s branded content tool
An in-depth look into musical.ly’s live streaming app, live.ly
A breakdown of how publishers, brands, and influencers were using Facebook Live at CES 2017
The top trends, coolest products, and most popular influencers at CES 2017

Today’s Friday roundup of influencer marketing news will dive into influencer marketing’s rise, Google's YouTube Labs, and more:

Snapchat Finally Gives Advertisers What They Want

Snap is testing two new features in Snap Ads that will increase retailers’ and brands’ capacity to advertise on the app. The new features will appear in the video ads that appear between Stories and Discover. The first feature, deep-linking, will allow users to swipe up during a Snap Ad to view and learn more about the product or brands that is advertised (Mashable). Tapping the screen afterward will bring users directly to the product page for purchase. The second feature, auto-filling, will be used by advertisers to generate leads. Essentially, information that users have given to Snapchat at sign-up, including phone number, name, and email address can be used to populate forms in a one tap opt-in (eMarketer).

These new developments on Snap Ads are favorable to retailers and make the platform a real player in social and e-commerce. So far, Instagram has been reigning as the go-to platform for mobile social media marketing and commerce. However, Snapchat’s new offerings are giving advertisers new options in platforms and conversion opportunities. Snapchat is also more experimental, brands that are looking to break out on social media have an opportunity to do so on a growing platform (Digiday).

Instagram & Facebook Bring on New Ads To Encourage More Content

Instagram announced that it hit 150 million daily users on Instagram Stories this week, matching Snapchat’s daily statistic after just 5 months of its launch (Mashable). Additionally, right after Snapchat quietly announced its intention to roll out new advertiser-friendly features on Snap Ads, Instagram debuted a new ad format in its Stories. Predictably, the format is strikingly similar to that of Snap Ads. Auto-playing between flipping through different people’s stories, Instagram Stories ads are either a 5-second photo or a video lasting up to 15 minutes (VentureBeat). On the marketer’s end, Stories Insights will lend businesses an idea of their audience size, view numbers, replies, and exits statistics are on their Stories campaign (AdAge).

Instagram Stories ads may be premature, but Facebook's mid-roll video ads have been long awaited. These ads, which are inserted in the middle of a video, as opposed to the front or end, will be entering testing. Of the total revenue generated, 55% will go to publishers (Digiday). This cut represents exciting opportunities for video producers and publishers who have been struggling to monetize videos posted on Facebook. Facebook’s move to fund publishers through ads will encourage more substance from video producers, content creators, and social media influencers (TechCrunch). What will likely follow is a steady migration of the best content, trendiest influencers, and following users.

YouTube Boosts Video Discovery & Live Streaming For Influencers

Similarly, YouTube is encouraging users to develop and upload content on its platform with new features. Its new “On the Rise” label under the Trending Tab displays the new creators and music artists who are rising in social media stardom (TechCrunch). YouTube's aim is to see more creators passing a 1,000 subscriber threshold and to develop YouTube’s “middle class," or those that are struggling to balance relative success with financial security (TechCrunch).

The move to support content creators indicates the importance of influencers in maintaining YouTube’s relevance and viability as a fashionable video platform. Secondly, YouTube is implementing “Super Chats," a paid feature that allows users’ comments to be extra visible during a live stream (Tubefilter). This will allow live streamers to better engage with their audiences.

Content creation aside, YouTube’s ads are faring well, with nearly 30% of millennials watching skippable ads until they are finished (eMarketer). This is remarkable considering overall attitude with advertisements. However, the next generation is unlikely to believe the same. A recent study found that Generation Z, ages 16-19, will be the most difficult for marketers to reach because they are highly discriminatory towards advertising in general (Marketing Land). Marketers will need to find ways to access this 2 billion population through different marketing means that include selected types of branded digital content, such as sponsored content, tutorials, and social media content.

Maybelline Brings On Social Media Blogger As First Male Beauty Star

To promote its newest mascara, Maybelline is working with openly gay beauty influencer Manny Gutierrez, known on Instagram as @MannyMUA733, (Glamour). His vlogging beauty tutorials have attracted a large 3 million niche population that identify closely with his personality, sexuality, and his penchant for male glamming (AdWeek).

It is thrilling that a global beauty brand is recognizing male influencer talent, but Maybelline is not the first. CoverGirl, for instance, has appointed Instagrammer James Charles as a brand ambassador and other beauty brands have featured men in social media advertising campaigns (Los Angeles Times). Diversity and inclusivity have always been hallmarks of communities on social media. The space thus acts as ground for all companies, even ones that are entrenched by consumer and social expectations, such as that in beauty by gender, to reach out to new audiences. Marketers should look to social media as both a way to find new audiences and to evolve brand identity with a changing world.

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