The Facebook + TikTok 'Partnership'. God Help Us All.

Today In Digital Marketing is a daily podcast showcasing the latest in marketing trends and updates. This week, Tod touches on:

• COMMERCE: Why Consumers Are on Retailers' Naughty List (Again)
• MEDIA BUYING: Snapchat's Study Says... (drumroll) Snapchat is Great!
• PLATFORMS: Gigi Hadid’s Vodka Pasta Anyone?
• PLATFORMS: Finally (Some Of) You Can Embed Instagram Profiles

Below is the transcription from this weeks topics

COMMERCE: Why Consumers Are on Retailers' Naughty List (Again)

And here we thought supply chain problems and shipping delays were going to be the most stressful parts of this year’s holiday season for businesses...

According to a new survey from CBRE and Optoro, retailers will be getting Scrooged big time this year in terms of holiday gift returns.

With more e-commerce sales, comes more returns. The report predicts that consumers could return up to $66.7 billion in purchases, up 45.6% over the past five years, and two out of three will return at least one gift.

The problem for retailers is that returns are often free for customers, because just like free shipping, consumers expect free returns.

How much does a return cost a retailer? According to the report:

• It is estimated that on average, it costs $33 or 66% of the price of a $50 item for retailers to process a return— up from 59% from last year.
• Transportation, processing, discounting, and liquidation losses contribute to high returns costs.

What products cost the most to return?

• Electronics can be 15 times greater than those for other product segments due to size, testing, refurbishing, and online-sales platform fees.

Additionally, the report indicates that warehouse space could be a problem for retailers. Space is in high demand as sales and returns are up, but availability is limited.

Here’s what businesses can do to manage returns more effectively:

• Allow consumers to return items in-store, if possible.
• Provide consumers with better information prior to purchase, including sizes, dimensions, videos, and virtual try-ons.
• Some retailers allow customers to keep or donate unwanted items rather than return them, depending on the price.
• Develop a process that automatically routes returns to the next most profitable channel.

MEDIA BUYING: Snapchat's Study Says... (drumroll) Snapchat is Great!

Attention consumer packaged-goods advertisers: A new analysis shows that running ads on Snapchat could be highly effective.

The company commissioned Nielsen to conduct a series of studies.

Quoting the report:

…We selected a representative set of five US advertisers within the Personal Care and Beauty vertical, and Nielsen constructed an aggregated dataset of each advertiser’s sales, Snapchat ad spend, ad spend on television, and spend on other digital channels using their Ad Intel dataset, pricing information, and other variables.

Given that only five advertisers were included, it's not a huge set of comparative data. However, the insights from the study provide a better understanding of how Snap ads contribute to CPG sales.

Here are the results from the analysis:

• Snap Ads earned double the return on investment compared to total media, social, and digital benchmarks.

Images: Snap

• The company showed 1.7x the return on ad sales compared to television advertising

Images: Snap

• Augmented reality Lenses were one of the most effective advertising formats in the Personal Care and Beauty category, in part because they provide an experiential element that other forms of advertising don't.

Images: Snap

Again, this is a study that Snapchat itself bought and paid for — so, if there were any lower-than-average results, you can safely assume they wouldn't be reporting it. But, some interesting numbers nonetheless.

CONTENT MARKETING: TikTok Adds a Facebook-Owned Feature

I never thought I'd say this sentence — but here we go: TikTok has partnered with Facebook. (Sort of.)

TikTok today announced a new set of video editing features, including new features in Green Screen, one-tap video enhancements, and so on.

But the big one: Animated GIFs from the GIPHY library. That's a library that Meta owns.

Quoting the announcement:

• In partnership with GIPHY, users can now select from a library of GIFs to apply as their background when they use the Green Screen creative effect.

Images: TikTok

• The new Visual Enhancement button will improve exposure, low-light, and color correction instantly. By using this option, you will be able to improve the look of your clips without having to make manual edits.

New musical and animal voice effects

• With the latest update, people can make any sound or voice from their videos sound like an animal or musical instrument.

High-Quality Uploading

• Another big one for marketers… in “select countries,” TikTok is rolling out the option to upload videos in up to 1080p HD.

PLATFORMS: Gigi Hadid’s Vodka Pasta Anyone?

With new video tools from TikTok comes… a new kitchen?

You heard correctly, the platform is preparing to get into the restaurant business.

"TikTok Kitchen" will launch in the new year as a delivery-only restaurant partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts. These will be so-called ghost kitchens, where real restaurants essentially have a side-hustle, preparing the food of another brand.

Quoting Virtual Dining:

Restaurateurs, earn up-to $500+ profits daily by utilizing your existing equipment and staff to operate this delivery-only brand. TikTok Kitchen will be available online only thus not affecting your restaurant’s in-person dining and pick-up options.
The menu is inspired by the hottest food trends on TikTok. The dishes celebrate food trends made famous by TikTok creators. TikTok, with over 1 billion subscribers, provides a space for a wide range of creators to post videos featuring recipes and food hacks. These culinary trends have made the food space explode, and VDC has a menu that allows restaurants across the country to opt-in and become a market partner.

Many of you might be scratching your head right now... thinking, why?

Well, this campaign is more of a marketing strategy than an attempt by the platform to break into the restaurant industry. Taking advantage of viral food trends on the app makes sense since it could potentially increase brand awareness of both the company and the creators of the app.

If you do any advertising for restaurants, this could be a unique marketing opportunity. Restaurant owners can apply to add a "TikTok Kitchen'' to their existing kitchens at tiktokdelivered.com.

PLATFORMS: Finally (Some Of) You Can Embed Instagram Profiles

Instagram is launching a new feature called "Profile Embed".

The feature will allow users to embed a miniature version of their profile into websites, blogs, and portfolios.

Embedding Instagram posts into a page is nothing new, but now you can show off more of an overview of your Instagram profile. This feature is currently only being rolled out in the U.S.

The company also announced a new end-of-year "Playback" IG Stories time capsule feature, which could be a great content idea for brands to wrap up for the year.

You can select up to 10 stories from your Stories Archive, to customize and share with your audience.

Credit to Tod Maffin and the Today In Digital Marketing podcast, Produced by engageQ.com