They Grow Up So Fast These Days

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

• TikTok is Trying to Grow Up... Fast
• Twitch Expands to Promote "Gameup" Content
• Andrew Foxwell on Facebook Ad Optimization
• Twitter's New "Tip Jar"
• Carole Baskin Makes Her Own Cryptocurrency Because Nothing Makes Sense in the World Any MoreBelow is the transcription from this weeks topics

TikTok is Trying to Grow Up... Fast

There probably aren't many marketing teams left that haven't, at least once, raised the possibility of trying some TikTok out. And, I expect, most of those suggestions have been met with "Isn't that the lip-syncing dance app for teens? Why would we be there?"

TikTok knows it's perceived as a younger person's platform, but it also knows history is in its favour. People forget, but there was a time when brands wouldn't touch Instagram with a ten-foot pole because, well, "Isn't that the food-sharing app for teens? Why would we be there?"

So, TikTok is trying its hardest to move into broader demographics.

And while there weren't any big announcements of new ad products at its appearance at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's NewFronts Thursday, we did get a peek into the heads of its executives as to what they're hoping their future looks like.

Quoting their head of global marketing:

You can't get to the scale that we've reached without reaching almost everybody and having content for everybody... [Brands] always talk about trying to reach this younger audience. Even if you're trying to reach an older audience, they're all on the platform, they're all engaging...
We are diligently building the tools in 2021 to further enable and drive community-based commerce."

Indeed when you watched their presentation, it's clear they think of themselves much less like a Facebook and Instagram, and much more like a Netflix. Social networks, they say, are things you check in with. TikTok is something you watch.

Anyway, like I say, no actual specific announcements, but definitely a platform we'll all need to keep our eyes on in the coming year.

Twitch Expands to Promote "Gameup" Content

Another platform trying to shed its typecast...

The livestreaming site Twitch, which is almost entirely known for its gaming content, has announced that a cosmetics brand will launch a channel there with a three-hour livestream hosted by a special effects makeup artist. But, true to its roots, that artist is also a gamer and that show's guests will include gamers as well.

In fact, this unlikely union of gaming and makeup actually has a name now — Gameup.

And the same cosmetics brand is running a parallel campaign on TikTok asking people to post videos about how they put on makeup in preparation for livestreaming games.

There's also a community support pillar that aims to support female gamers.

Twitch has more than 140 million monthly active users, and the pandemic lockdowns were partly responsible for a 28% growth in viewership last year.

Andrew Foxwell on Facebook Ad Optimization

I've just finished Andrew Foxwell's outstanding course called "Optimizing and Auditing With Confidence and Clarity."

It's a program designed for people who are in Facebook's ads manager at least daily.

Andrew has always been one of the few people I trust with this kind of content. He runs campaigns and audits the ad accounts of major brands, and his training programs are much more in-depth than anything out there.

In particular, he walks through some Custom Metrics he and his team have created and my mind was kind of blown. They've created a metric that can determine how thumbstopping content is, or measure the quality of a link click, or even find out how many people tapped the See More link — these are things that Facebook doesn't offer as a standard metric.

He also interviews a bunch of people in the field and has some really good Excel calculators, like a full-business ROAS Calculator and a Delayed Attribution Worksheet, which is especially helpful these days.

This is a course he spent three months on, and it includes quarterly updates as the landscape changes — which, of course, it always does.

You can find his course at b.link/facebookcourses — that is an affiliate link, but this is a program I've personally taken and would vouch for.

Twitter's New "Tip Jar"

Twitter's race to add more revenue streams continues, today launching a limited rollout of a Tip Jar.

It's a button that's on someone's Twitter profile, and when users click it, they can donate money via whatever platform that person uses: PayPal, Venmo, Cashapp, Bandcamp, and Patreon.

On Android, tips can also be sent within Spaces

Accounts in this first batch include journalists, non-profits, and popular experts and creators.

Twitter says for now, it is not taking a cut of those donations.

Carole Baskin Makes Her Own Cryptocurrency Because Nothing Makes Sense in the World Any More

In case you're wondering when this whole crypto thing will jump the shark, I present for your consideration the new cryptocurrency CAT (yes, like the animal) — created by Tiger King star and popular meme inspiration Carole Baskin.

God love her, she's launched her own cryptocurrency.

For those of you playing along at home, we now have

• CAT
• DOGE
• the TrueFlip dolphin coin
• Nyancoin (backed by Nyancat obviously)
• Pandocoin
• and Neucoin which is a Squirrel. (Or a coin backed by a squirrel. Or fronted by one? Or based on one?)

Anyway, Baskin's new crypto-currency, which she of course insists everyone call a crypto-purrency, comes with perks. Buy enough of it and you'll get VIP tours of her sanctuary and even meet her in person.

And I know you're thinking — come on, cryptocurrency is for boomers. What about those sweet, sweet NFTs? Well, Carole's got you covered there too. Her NFTs launch in about two weeks.

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