Happy Friday!
At Movable Ink, it’s been another busy one. This week, we released Inkredible5, Spring Edition, to showcase five great emails that are making use of our contextual marketing platform. We also talked about the importance of API integrations for email and analyzed the research from Google about this thing called “micro-moments.”
This week, Instagram announced some major advertising initiatives and that included making API integrations available to a roster of partners. Read about that and more in this weekend’s reading:
1. Instagram Unveils New Advertising Functions
It was only a matter of time before Facebook decided to make a bigger push to monetize Instagram. While combining Instagram and email marketing can be really effective, it’s traditionally pretty hard to make any hard sales on the platform.
This week, that’s going to start changing. Instagram debuted “Install Now,” “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” and “Sign Up” buttons that brands can use to drive sales, app downloads, registrations, and more.
Not only that, Instagram is launching an Instagram Ads API that can connect to a “broader ecosystem” of social ad platforms to inform programmatic advertising, according to TechCrunch.
2. YouTube is Ranked as the “Coolest” Social Network
Teens in the United States and United Kingdom have spoken: YouTube is the “coolest” social network, according to a survey conducted by GlobalWebIndex.
While 20% of respondents voted for YouTube, 16% voted for Instagram and 13% voted for Facebook. Among all Internet users surveyed, Facebook came out ahead, with 37% of respondents saying it was coolest. YouTube and Pinterest followed.
More than anything, this shows just how fragmented the social media landscape is today. People are using over a dozen channels and loyalties are pretty finely divided.
3. Retail is Alive & Well
In the retail industry, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about just how much impact digital sales may have on the brick-and-mortar side of the business.
But maybe retailers can breathe a little easier – a recent report from TimeTrade, “The State of Retail,” found that 85% of consumers still say they prefer brick and mortar stores over online stores and 90% were more likely to buy when helped by a knowledgeable associate.
Interestingly enough, only 13% of respondents said they had made a purchase with a mobile device – so, despite the findings from our Q1 US Consumer Device Preference Report, mobile conversions still have a long ways to go.
Changing Channels
All this news goes to show that customers could be on any number of channels, on any device, at any given time. Small pockets of your audience can be found scattered across different social networks. Other customers may be in your store or looking up your products online before coming to the store.
We’ve talked a little bit about how email can become central to this experience. With so much data to track, collecting that information isn’t as offering, in real-time, what matters most to the customer.
How are brands building emails that work for an omnichannel experience today?
Download Inkredible5, Spring Edition, to learn how Lenscrafters, eHarmony, and other companies are creating next-generation emails.
