This month we’re reading about the possibilities of Instagram’s new shopping tool, the implications of Facebook’s new redesign, how LifeFitness is embedding advertising into people’s workout experiences, and what we can learn from Airbnb’s original content gambit.
Instagram’s New Shopping Tool Will Likely Be a Boon for Influencers
Ad Week/Ann-Marie Alcántara & Diana Pearl
Instagram is a go-to platform for social media influencers, who have traditionally monetized their feeds by making paid sponsorship deals with brands and/or earning money from affiliate links.
Now influencers will be able to take advantage of more direct selling opportunities. At its annual conference, which kicked off late last month, Facebook announced the rollout of dedicated shopping tags for Instagram posts. This feature lets artists, celebrities, and influencers tag items in their posts for sale. Tapping these items will launch an in-app shopping experience, with the influencer earning a portion of the sale.
The feature is currently being rolled out in a limited beta. The implication? “Agencies can now look across their talent and see which products are selling with which influencers, at what price points and categories and so much more granular information to set them up with the right brand.” Stay tuned as we all learn how this feature shapes opportunities for beauty influencers and the brands they represent.
Facebook is redesigning its core app around the two parts people actually like to use
The Verge/Nick Statt
Facebook has taken a lot of lumps in the past few years, with data misappropriation scandals, privacy concerns, a Congressional grilling, a #deletefacebook movement, and even calls for it to be broken up (by a former founder, no less) all undermining the social network.
In response, Facebook has announced that the company is redesigning its experience to emphasize two popular features that both promote community: events and groups. “Facebook is in the earliest stages of completely redefining the type of company it wants to be and the products it wants to offer, following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge last month to transition the social network into a ‘privacy-focused communications platform,'” The Verge reports. The redesign will also involve transitioning away from the News Feed as the primary user experience on both the mobile app and desktop site.
LifeFitness’s Advertising Platform Brings Programmatic Ads to the Gym
Adweek/Shoshana Wodinsky
More consumer items than ever before are “smart,” connected to the web to deliver personalization, automation, convenience, and interoperability. These internet-connected items also offer an opportunity for just-in-time advertising with high contextual relevance.
Consider LifeFitness. The fitness equipment company has spun off a media arm to enable marketers to buy advertising on the screens embedded in its machines. Given that the LifeFitness brand is built for scale—the company’s bread-and-butter is selling to apartment buildings, hotels, college dorms, and gyms—this can present a significant revenue opportunity for the company, and a potentially promising placement for aesthetics practices.
Airbnb is Investing in Original Video Content & Shows to Showcase What It Has to Offer
Impact/Iris Hearn
Airbnb is placing a big bet on the effectiveness of great content. The global hospitality marketplace is investing in a raft of video content experiments, including a docuseries with Apple and content to be offered directly within the Airbnb app. Impact muses that the Apple docuseries, which will feature unique homes around the world, is a great opportunity for the company because “viewers can actually book these locations to stay in if they’re planning on traveling to the area. It’s almost like letting people experience the space before actually booking it.” How might elevated, polished, and lifestyle-focused content featuring patients who have undergone aesthetic procedures speak to consumers about the potential impact of procedures not just on their looks, but on their lives?
