Agency Insights

Have you ever heard the saying: “Less is more”? It’s less a belief and more of a practice because making a great impression with only the basics is a reality. Google has proven its belief in the “less is more” approach through Google My Business, a service which presents verified users with clear and basic information when conducting a search for a particular business. And this service will soon be getting better through a feature called “short names.”

It was observed last year that Pinterest had achieved “unicorn status.” This meant the startup company, exclusively devoted to images on every possible topic, was worth more than one billion dollars. That was in September of 2018. When the platform went public in mid-April, its fortunes reached heights beyond belief. And brands advertising via social media must sit up and take notice.

Ah, Facebook. Great but frustrating. Great because it can connect others in ways that go leaps and bounds beyond the “six degrees of separation” theory. Frustrating because it has been subject to much controversy. The controversies of last year, combined with changing trends in social media, have required a change in the culture of Facebook and how it presents itself. What is this change? (Oh, incidentally, have you noticed more ads popping up as messages?)

“Pandora’s box” originated as a story in Greek mythology and over time became a term for anything which seems valuable at first but turns out to be a source of trouble. There is a new option of advertising on the horizon: “interactive voice advertising,” where listeners can essentially have a give-and-take conversation with the content they are hearing. And its testing ground will be on a well-known music streaming service – Pandora®. But if this new method of advertising takes off, there will be little troubles and only value.

Native advertising – presenting an ad within the context of specific content (and without being intrusive) – is among the most valuable and effective methods of promoting a brand’s message. But what’s going on with native advertising today? Very simply, it is expanding, and continues to do so.

There is a familiar expression: “Less is more.” This means to make a point directly and quickly. A living example of this phrase can be traced to online video; specifically on Facebook. Recent studies show that in the course of the last couple of years, the shorter the video running time – the more engagement it received. Is this a sign of things to come?

Batman vs. The Joker. Dorothy vs. The Wicked Witch. Whoever they may be, there’s nothing more intense than a showdown between good and evil. In the real world of online marketing, there is a similar (and at times more subtle) battle that is always raging: White Hat vs. Black Hat practices in search engine optimization (SEO).

Facebook has recently settled a number of lawsuits with organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), among others. This week, however, the social media giant faced new criticisms, leading them to update their advertising policies further. The New York Times recently published an article detailing complaints accusing Facebook of allowing advertisers to serve ads to audiences based on race, gender, income, and age biases. Many of these ads were related to topics that expressly prohibit discrimination.

In advertising, the general train of thought is a brand or business must be big and bold in its messaging, with cutting-edge and attention-grabbing graphics and taglines. This is true in many cases, and it works. This can also be overwhelming – particularly for small businesses that may not have the resources, budget, or simply prefer a more low-key approach. Their wishes may soon be answered by Instagram.

Remember these famous words from an equally famous movie? “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.” Aside from the fact this quote is from “The Godfather,” think of the two operative words: “personal” and “business.” The reality is that business is personal, and there must be a connection between a brand and customer. And today, a lot of the communication between business and customer begins and is supplemented through digital; particularly email.