Branded content tools coming to Threads

Originally published in Axios

Instagram is planning to bring its branded content tools to Threads, a source told Axios, giving marketers a way to get involved with paid promotion on the app while advertising is still off limits.

Why it matters: Companies see a clear advantage in being a first-mover on Threads, but with the rules around paid promotion in flux, it's unclear the best way to get involved beyond creating organic posts.

State of play: Instagram's terms of service, which includes guidance around sponsored content, applies to Threads.

• That means brands that work with influencers to post sponsored content are technically required to use Instagram's branded content tools.

• Instagram's branded content tools, which allow companies to add paid partnership labels to their posts, are only made available to eligible brands.

• Instagram's branded content tools aren't currently available on Threads. But a source told Axios that Instagram is working to quickly make them available, which would give marketers an opportunity to begin experimenting with paid promotion, while advertising is still unavailable.

• (Threads won't introduce ads until its user base reaches a critical mass, a Meta source told Axios.)

• In the interim, the guidance being offered to brands is to clearly disclose any paid partnerships through text or hashtags until Threads gets its branded content tools up and running.

Between the lines: Instagram head Adam Mosseri said Threads will try to avoid courting news and politics content creators because the topics aren't worth the scrutiny and integrity risks that come along with policing them.

• That makes Threads more of a brand-safe bet for marketers, but it's unclear how the app, which is centered around text-based conversations, plans to remain hyper-relevant without that type of timely content.

• For now, most major companies have already set up accounts on Threads, and many have already begun posting content organically.

Be smart: Threads has not yet rolled out chronological feeds, which makes real-time announcements from news, sports and local governments less reliable.

• The lack of chronological feeds also presents a risk for corporate accounts and public figures, said Nu Wexler, a former Twitter and Facebook communications executive who now serves as a partner at the strategic communications firm Seven Letter.

"There's a big risk with the algorithmic timeline, because a brand or public person could make a post in the morning, and then a huge industry event could happen two hours later," he said.

• "And if the post is served later that day, it could make them look out of tune with everything else that is going on. That's possible in any algorithmic timeline, but Twitter has [conditioned] users to expect this content to appear more chronologically," says Wexler.

The big picture: The explosive success of Threads has caught the attention of brands looking to experiment with the new app early while it's still hot, but social media managers, public figures and journalists are also wrestling with fatigue.

• Without being able to rely on paid promotion, brands and professional creators need to focus more resources on creating buzzy organic posts that can go viral.

• Meshing their Instagram persona with their Twitter persona on Threads can be difficult because it's unclear what Threads' audience wants.

• Twitter refugees might expect pithy observations, while Instagram natives want visually appealing content.

Bottom line: Right now, it's all about establishing a presence on the platform and using common sense, says Geoff Gates, creative director of social strategy and content at Boathouse marketing agency.

• "Brands should be experimenting [by] engaging with their audience a bit and keeping it light and having fun. Especially in these initial few weeks the recipe for success is just spending time on it and paying attention to the dialogue and what people are doing on the platform."

---

More Insights

No Turning Back: AI Is the Future of Social Media

By Geoff Gates

Originally published in ANA

Just as we've witnessed massive shifts in social media since its early days, we find ourselves at another pivotal moment in the still nascent existence of social media — one that I believe has the potential to completely disrupt what we consider social media to be. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the way we interact with the internet, and in the coming years it's going to shape social media, and the way people use it, more than any other variable.

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all have leveraged algorithms, or sets of instructions, to serve users content. These platforms continuously analyze their algorithmic performance and optimize. But with AI, machine learning happens within the system itself. Instead of continuously telling the program what to do, the AI itself determines the best course of action and acts.

Here's what marketers must understand to succeed in the new social landscape.

AI will make follower counts obsolete. 

With AI powering what content gets seen, the number of users following a brand or creator won't have as large a performance impact as it has in the past. We've seen this effect, before Tik Tok mastered it, with YouTube. Subscribers to a YouTube channel tend to make up a very small portion of total views of any given video because YouTube's algorithms are very good at serving users relevant content.

To put it plainly, legacy accounts will see impressions plummet if they aren't producing compelling, timely content. Marketers will have to update their KPIs and communicate upwards to leadership that followers are no longer a measurement of success.

Competition for eyeballs will skyrocket.

Content performance on social media will be more democratized than ever. I don't stand a shot at mass exposure on a platform like Instagram that prioritizes influencers and celebrities with large followings. But on Tik Tok, with AI that grades content individually considering advanced audience insights, everyone has a chance to take off. In fact, we see it happen all the time on the platform. Because of this, we're going to see a large rise in the number of micro-creators, or creators who don't have large audiences but still gain large reach.

In order to keep up, marketers are going to have to increase spending on social and content resources. Platform experts will be needed, paired with content specialists who know what content works, where. Remember, quality content is what drives results. Platforms are simply the delivery method.

Speed and risk will become huge factors in achieving success.

The window to catch attention is getting smaller and smaller, and in the future, it will be more important than ever to go where the eyeballs already are instead of trying to get eyeballs onto your owned channels. Trends used to last years, now they last weeks, sometimes days. If a brand or creator is late to the party, they're going to miss it completely.

This approach comes with inherent risk. Accounts that participate will have to be diligent in doing their research before commenting on or participating in conversations. It takes years to build trust and only one mistake to lose it. Put a timely process in place for moments such as this, one that goes through multiple people and that takes a critical look at the context of the moment, but also one that allows for enough speed to capitalize on the moment.

Content production quality will decrease.

Because of the new demands for speed, marketers will be forced to capture content for social media in scrappier ways. Cell phone footage and less-produced videos are going to be the new norm due to speed and access. It's difficult and costly to mobilize a production crew. The most successful marketers will be the ones who understand the data, act quickly, and prioritize story over production. And to clarify, production quality decreasing does not mean that the quality of the content decreases. You can have a fantastic piece of content filmed on a cell phone. Marketers will need to embrace this approach to stay relevant and continue to get results.

We're going to continue to see the evolution of AI's involvement in social media, and I for one am very excited to see where it goes. Unfortunately, the platforms who don't keep up will become obsolete. After all, we only have so many hours in the day to scroll.

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.

Geoff Gates is creative director of social strategy and content at Boathouse.

---

More Insights

Thinking of jumping in on that trending topic?

By Geoff Gates

Boathouse Creative Director of Social Strategy and Content

Originally published in Smart Brief ANA 

Here’s one part of marketers’ social media strategy that is highly underrated: their approach to major world events and trending topics.

Image source: unsplash.com

This is a complex issue that many brands go into without a structured process or approach – which is a huge mistake that could create irreparable harm. Inserting your brand into a conversation is a high-risk/high-reward situation. It’s one that should be thoroughly examined before sending that tweet. 

While this is a difficult landscape to navigate, there are processes you can put in place to determine if you should be entering into a discussion or not. So, the next time a major event occurs or there’s a trending topic that you and your brand want to join, here are some questions and considerations you should first examine.

Will people be upset or even notice if you don’t join the conversation?

This is the first question you should ask yourself when a topic arises that you’re considering joining: If we were to sit this out, would our customers be upset, or even notice? 

Queen Elizabeth’s passing is a great example of a topic that brands were asking themselves about. You need to really ask yourself, Does it make sense for us to talk about this? Do we have some connection to this topic that makes it appropriate for us to discuss? Or are you posting about it simply to check the box that you’ve posted something, or because you’re on the hunt for quick engagements? If after all of this you feel entering the conversation makes sense, you should move forward expecting to get to a point where you’re going to post. 

But whether it’s a yes or a no, you still need to walk through a series of other questions and considerations before going live.

Have you done your research?

Brands often look to leverage the power of real-time trending topics on platforms like Twitter to get speedy results. This is a great way to make a big splash, but that splash could turn into a tsunami if you don’t do your research. Years ago, #WhyIStayed began trending. At first glance, it seems harmless enough to join. But this hashtag consisted of women and men explaining their own, very personal, domestic abuse stories and their reasoning for staying in abusive relationships. Some brands didn’t do their research, jumped on the trend with lighthearted content, and suffered the consequences. 

Take the time to investigate exactly what it is you’re joining before you offer an opinion or stance.

Do your actions match your words?

Following the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, brands were quick to publicly condemn racism in all forms. This, on paper, is a great thing. But plenty of brands were quickly called out because their words didn’t match up to their actions. Whether it be unfair hiring policies, pay and advancement discrepancies, or a litany of other actions and inactions, their behaviors didn’t ladder back to the words they posted on Instagram. 

Actions speak louder than words, and a smart approach here would be to highlight the actions your brand has taken to address racism internally and externally. If you’re drawing a blank here, I’d recommend spending your time developing a tangible plan to become an anti-racist organization instead of brainstorming ways to enter the conversation.

Take a breath

It’s amazing the clarity that can come by holding off for an hour or two. This is a skill I learned and honed with my time at the Los Angeles Lakers, a brand that’s examined under a microscope.

Often, more information on the topic of conversation will come out during this time. This allows your brand to better address the situation. If a story is developing and it’s apparent that information is lacking, hold off. Taking a beat also gives you time to see what not to do, as you better believe there will be brands who rush to their keyboards in an attempt to capitalize on an increase in eyeballs only to see what they’ve done backfire. 

There’s a lot of pressure to be quick, but there’s no amount of impressions or engagements that are worth risking your brand doing damage to itself. It takes years and even decades to build trust with an audience but it takes one ill-informed tweet to watch it all come crashing down. A few hours will have a small impact on your performance, sure, but it could save your brand from entering a conversation it shouldn’t.

Ask four random people in your company screen your post

OK, so you’ve gone through everything we just discussed and are confident about posting. Your team creates something, you review and approve it. Time to post? Not so fast!

A smart practice is to audit the post with other members of your company who weren’t involved in its creation. Choose an assortment of people to review from different backgrounds and career paths. We often experience tunnel vision, missing key elements that others may pick up. 

Throughout my career I’ve taken this approach and it has absolutely saved us on a number of occasions. People miss things all the time, ask others if what you’re planning on doing feels right

All of those in leadership positions should communicate clearly the importance of patience and sound social media strategy when addressing world events and trending topics. By clearly articulating those as priority over engagements, you and your teams will put yourselves in a much better position to make a true impact on the conversation you’re joining.

---

More Insights

Apple vs. Facebook: The Fight Over Consumer Data and What It Means for Businesses and Advertising

There’s been a lot of noise around data privacy and consumer protections recently. If you’ve seen (or heard about) the film The Social Dilemma, you probably know what we’re talking about. The film and the rallying cry of many data privacy advocates have spurred a call for limiting what information tech companies and the advertisers and businesses that utilize their platforms can collect and track about users. 

Last summer, Apple announced its new AppTrackingTransparency framework as part of a future iOS 14 update, which will enable users to choose how they want apps to track their data and movements around the Internet. The change will specifically impact companies like Facebook and Instagram that make money by selling this information to third parties. 

Businesses and advertisers that use these platforms as a medium for mobile advertising won’t have the visibility and insight they previously had into consumer behavior and activity for many users with Apple devices with iOS 14, and how they interact with ads. The changes will limit advertisers’ ability to target and access specific audiences/potential customers. Apple reports that iOS 14 is installed on 80% of all active iPhones and on 86% of iPhones introduced in the last 4 years, as measured by the App Store on February 24, 2021.

Boathouse has been actively monitoring all of the changes, especially relative to how they will affect our clients. Let’s dig into some of the back story: what it means, how it will affect businesses and advertisers, as well the steps we’re taking to help our client businesses prepare for the changes.

Background on the Battle Over Consumer Data

As part of their marketing campaigns, advertisers have successfully used the Facebook platform, in addition to many other platforms, to target prospective customers by tracking their online behaviors and interests, and then serving them hyper-targeted content and ads tailored to them based on that information.  

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the change is rooted in the company’s belief that “users should have the choice over the data that is being collected about them and how it’s used.” So, at some point this spring, Apple’s iOS software for iPhones will require that apps get explicit consent to track what people are doing on their mobile devices for the purposes of sharing it with third parties. Apple will require apps in the App Store to send push alerts to users, through which they can either opt in or out of tracking their data and interactions. Facebook has argued that these changes will be “devastating to small businesses” that rely on personalized advertisements to reach customers and find new ones. They even launched an ad campaign supporting their opposition to Apple’s changes: “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere” and Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found. These changes will continue to allow measurement of conversion events from iOS 14 devices, albeit with limitations, to bridge the gap between user privacy and effective campaign management. 

NPR reports that during a recent interview, Facebook’s director of privacy and public policy, Steve Satterfield, argued that this is an attempt by Apple to undercut the business model used by Facebook and other ad-supported free apps. “[T]his is going to have a real impact on the Internet as we know it, which is increasingly going to move to a paid experience, which again, benefits Apple’s bottom line,” Satterfield said.

However, in recent days, according to a report from CNBC, Mark Zuckerberg now says Apple’s iOS 14 privacy feature might benefit Facebook: “It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms.” Facebook has prepared for the looming Apple changes by introducing more commerce products. Most notably, the social media company in 2020 introduced Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops. These features make it possible for brands to list their product catalogs directly on Facebook’s most popular apps, and sell goods directly on Facebook and Instagram.

Whether these changes are in response to questionable practices around tracking consumers’ online activity and data collection, or a culmination of the fierce competition between these two tech titans, they pose real challenges for businesses and advertisers that have come to rely on the platform to reach potential customers. 

The Technical Aspects of the Changes

To adapt to Apple’s requirements, Facebook has made extensive changes that will affect campaign setup, pixel strategy, reporting, and analytics. Below is a summary of some of the changes that will affect our clients directly. You can find more detailed information on the Facebook changes here.  

Pixel Limitations: Advertisers will now be required to choose and prioritize eight events that can be used for optimization per website domain (includes both standard events and custom conversions). For people who opt in to tracking, Facebook will return the maximum eight events. When a user opts out of sharing their data with Facebook and the family of apps, only the highest-ranked event will be tracked. 

For example, previously, for a website visit, we were able to track and measure when a user: 

1. Visited the product page

2. Added a product to a shopping cart 

3. Purchased a product, for this segment of users

Now, only the highest-priority event will be reported: the purchase. 

Campaign and Ad Set Limits: Each ad account will be limited to nine campaigns with five ad sets each.

Shortened Attribution Window: Facebook will now report fewer conversions, relying on a default 7-day click attribution model for all conversions. 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows will not be supported.

Delivery and Action Breakdowns: Reporting by age, gender, region, and/or placement will not be supported for conversion events.

Delayed Reporting: Real-time reporting will no longer be supported, and data may be delayed up to 3 days. Pulling reports any sooner than 3 days after campaign end could exclude performance. 

Audience Size: Because less data will be collected, remarketing audiences will be smaller.

Over the last few months, Boathouse developed a plan of attack to prepare for the changes. We have been working with clients to ensure a smooth transition to work within Facebook’s coming changes and successfully pivot active or upcoming campaigns.  

The Boathouse Approach to These Changes

In the world of advertising and online marketing, there will always be changes, disruptions, new players, and innovations right around the corner—especially as consumers become more attuned to data privacy concerns. In a recent interview, analyst Dan Ives contends that this Facebook-Apple row is setting the stage for a larger fight over how technology companies will balance privacy with data collection in the digital economy.

These changes are a reminder for advertisers that we can never become complacent with our strategies and tactics. We constantly need to stay at the forefront of potential industry and platform changes and what they mean for our clients’ bottom lines.

At Boathouse, our commitment to our clients’ business goals remains uncompromised. While the current changes by Apple and Facebook pose some near-term challenges, they are also an opportunity for us to cut through the clutter and focus on fundamentals. 

The results we used to see from Facebook and Instagram will change, but at Boathouse we are constantly looking holistically at data and will plan to quickly adapt based on performance. Our proprietary methodology and analytics tools monitor all aspects of a campaign across all platforms, allowing us to let the data drive our decision-making. Guided by the deep knowledge and expertise of our channel experts, we are able to optimize strategy and tactics as necessary.  

Currently, Facebook has not established a solid date for when this will all be enforced and put into action, but we know it will occur soon, so we are getting ahead of it to limit any disruptions to our clients’ campaigns. As this rolls out, products will adapt, workflows will change, and new best practices will emerge, but we will continue to work through it and aim to keep our clients updated and informed.

Concerns about consumers’ data privacy will likely spur more changes to how our data is collected. The changes from Apple’s and Facebook’s subsequent responses, we believe, are an indication that there will be more changes on the horizon from other platforms, including Google, LinkedIn, and more.  

Being on the cutting edge of “what’s coming next,” anticipating and strategizing for the long term, keeping our clients’ business goals at the forefront, and achieving the best marketing performance possible on their behalf will always be our main priorities at Boathouse.