10 Social Media Marketing Tools You Just Might Need

February 8, 2019 | 102 views

Social media marketing is a rather counterintuitive field. It looks like anyone could do it: post something (anything!) on social media, look for existing content, talk to people, fill your company’s Instagram account with your most photogenic team members. Sounds like a task for any kid of today’s social media era.

Spotlight

The LOOMIS Agency

If you’re in second place, third place, seventh place—odds are you’re being vastly outspent by the big dog sitting in first. But that doesn’t mean you can’t compete. Challengers just need to think differently. LOOMIS specializes in helping Challenger Brands find their strengths and turn them into authentic marketplace advantages. Competitors may outspend us, but they’ll never outthink or outwork us.

OTHER ARTICLES
SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Google’s and Facebook’s Grip on Digital Advertising Markets

Article | July 14, 2022

Since July 2019, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has been conducting an extensive investigation of the digital advertising market. In its preliminary report on the investigation, the CMA expresses concerns that Google and Facebook have grown so “large and have such extensive access to data that potential rivals can no longer compete on equal terms.” 2019 marked the year in which digital advertising finally took the crown from TV and other legacy media both in the US and worldwide. Estimates point out that digital ads now account for 51 percent of the almost $600 billion spent globally on advertising, a percentage that should only rise with time.

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SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Which Online Advertising Strategy Is Right For Your Business?

Article | July 6, 2022

Part of running a business in this era of technology is establishing an online presence. This does not only mean having a well-put-together website and being active on social media, which are both a big part of what online marketing means. In order to reach audiences and turn them into customers, you also need to invest in online advertising. Sometimes, finding the best-suited advertising strategy for your business can be quite daunting, especially given the fact that you have so many options to choose from in the sea of digital marketing. The accessible costs of digital advertising, especially when compared to traditional advertising, may make it tempting for you to what to invest in as many types of ad campaigns as you can find, but keep in mind that they may not all work for your business.

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ADVERTISER CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

Alex Webb: More kids with smartphones spells advertising bonanza

Article | July 19, 2022

The revelation that, by the age of seven, 53% of British kids will own a mobile phone, will come as good news to one group in particular: advertisers. By the time U.K. youngsters are 11, the ownership ratio reaches a whopping 90%, according to a report published last week by the research consultancy Childwise. And as the penetration of smartphone usage rises, it creates more opportunity for advertisers to get in front of young eyeballs. Parents need to get clued up if they want to stop that from happening. For now, advertising targeted at children has been slower to migrate online than in the broader industry. Whereas more than half of the world's $614 billion of ad spending is now online, less than a third of the outlay for ads targeting children is digital, according to a 2019 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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Amazon Big Game Ad Tallies the Most Views via YouTube AdBlitz

Article | February 10, 2020

YouTube revealed the five most-viewed Super Bowl LIV ads on its YouTube AdBlitz portal for Big Game spots. YouTube ads marketing cultural moments and trends lead Gina Shalavi unveiled the top five by views as of 11:59 p.m. ET Feb. 5, as well as short descriptions of the ads, in a blog post Monday. Amazon topped the list by asking, “What did we do before Alexa?” Shalavi wrote, “With a medieval theme, people cover everything, from the temperature to news to jokes, all features on Alexa.” The spot features Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi. Bill Murray helped drive Jeep to the second spot with Groundhog Day, and Shalavi wrote, “Murray takes a groundhog and escapes in an orange Jeep for endless adventures.”

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Spotlight

The LOOMIS Agency

If you’re in second place, third place, seventh place—odds are you’re being vastly outspent by the big dog sitting in first. But that doesn’t mean you can’t compete. Challengers just need to think differently. LOOMIS specializes in helping Challenger Brands find their strengths and turn them into authentic marketplace advantages. Competitors may outspend us, but they’ll never outthink or outwork us.

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ADVERTISER PLATFORMS

Creator Guided Shopping Platform LTK Launches Social Media Advertising for Brands

Business Wire | April 03, 2023

LTK, the global creator marketing platform, today launched social media advertising for brands to further leverage LTK Creator content to drive business outcomes. The new LTK Boost™ advertising solution allows brands to amplify creator collaboration content directly from the creator’s social media handles – leading to higher engagement and conversion. Brand investment in LTK Creators continued to increase last year with brand campaigns growing nearly 50% in the second half of the year. In a recent study, LTK found that Gen Z and Millennials rank influencer content over brand and even user-generated content when making a purchase decision. With LTK Boost, LTK can now run social media ads directly from creator profiles on behalf of brands -which creates a more authentic message, reduces the cost of content production and drives higher engagement and conversion versus traditional social media advertising. In an initial offering, LTK worked with several brands across multiple categories to run LTK Boost ads from creator profiles, which led to an increase in traffic to the brands’ sites, as well as a significant lift in sales with some brands seeing nearly 4X sales growth. All brand results outpaced social media ad industry click through averages by 80%. In addition, creators that participated in the trial saw significant impact with increases in audience reach, outsized gains in new followers and incremental sales and commissions for each creator. Participating creators saw nearly 200K new audience views per post and reached a near 30% increase in retail sales. “Creators are undoubtedly having an impact on consumer shopping behaviors. 92% of Gen Z – a group that will make up the largest consumer segment in a few years - rely on creators to inform their purchases across virtually every category. And, creators are the number one most trusted source to help with purchase decisions for Gen Z and Millennials – beating social media ads and celebrities. That’s why we continue to introduce solutions like LTK Media Boosting to help brands to fully harness the power of creators and reach their customers efficiently and effectively,” said Kristi O’Brien, General Manager of the LTK Brand Platform. LTK Boost is available now in the LTK Brand Platform. For more information, please visit https://company.shopltk.com/en/brands. About LTK As the founder of creator guided shopping, LTK is the trusted and effective platform for creators and their businesses by powering the connection between content and commerce. Founded in 2011 by Amber and Baxter Box, the LTK mission is to empower creators to be as economically successful as possible. World premium lifestyle creators in 150+ countries drive more than $3.6 billion in annual retail sales through their LTK Creator Shop profiles. Today, more than 18 million consumers turn to LTK Creator Shops in the LTK shopping platform each month to find inspiration and instantly shop the styles recommended by their favorite creators. And, more than 6,000 brands partner with LTK to gain access to its global creator network for content that converts against performance-driven, cross-channel KPIs. A three-time honoree on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Retail Companies, LTK is headquartered in Dallas, TX and currently operates on five continents. To download the LTK shopping app, search for LTK in the App Store or Google Play. For the latest shopping trends and updates from LTK, follow Shop.LTK on Instagram and TikTok.

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AD TECH AND MARTECH

Smartly.io CEO Drives Company Momentum Towards The Next Generation of AdTech with The Smartly Digital Advertising Platform

Smartly.io | March 17, 2023

Smartly.io, one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, today announces significant company advancements, stemming from months of strategic moves—including two acquisitions, a new platform release and strategic hires to senior leadership—under the guidance and vision of industry veteran Laura Desmond. The company, which holds certified partnerships with media leaders Meta, TikTok and Google, among others, brings dynamic integrations to the digital and social space, successfully “redefining social and creativity,” according to Nikhil Lai, Senior Analyst at Forrester. Desmond, the former Global CEO of Starcom Mediavest Group and senior executive of Publicis Groupe, has a seasoned track record for creating symbiotic relationships between advertising and technology—influencing opportunities that reshape entire industry categories. As was the case in 2021, where Desmond, a member of DoubleVerify’s Board of Directors and operating partner at Providence Equity, played an integral role in leading its IPO—one of the most successful in the media and technology sector that year. “When Providence acquired Smartly in 2019 and I became Chair of The Board, the company’s potential was clear from the start. Smartly is uniquely solving real problems that brands and marketers need to have solved: agile creative and media management at the same time; rapid intelligence around performance—what's working and what's not; the ability to execute personalization at scale. The steady updates we’ve been making are unlocking a depth and breadth to the technology that’s affording brands the ability to move across channels as fluidly as the consumers they aim to engage do,” commented Desmond. “Coupled with the additions of Brett Wein as Chief Sales Officer, and Oli Marlow-Thomas as Chief Innovation Officer, I am confident that our vision for Smartly.io will effectively redefine the future of digital advertising for brands and marketers alike.” Smartly.io’s continuous releases to Workspaces has created a unique full-funnel, multi-channel approach to social advertising, integrating creative, media buying and intelligence at scale, in one platform. Specifically, the company’s creative-focused adtech enables marketers to: Reach Smartly: Automate campaign workflows across all major platforms, reaching audiences quickly, easily and cost effectively. Engage Smartly: Create beautiful, cohesive, and effective creative across the funnel that drives action. Learn Smartly: Extract consolidated actionable insights to respond to audience behaviors in real-time to maximize return on investment (ROI). "The depth of knowledge [Smartly.io] brings across verticals is really impressive,” said Merry Morud, Lead, Global Creative Optimization for Consumer Products at Uber. “On top of that, they have a fantastic creative team, which is very mobile-first, which is what we, as digital marketers, in a mobile space and mobile-first world look for.” Uber, a longtime client of Smartly.io, has used the company’s platform to execute iterative creative approaches at scale as part of their global media buying practice. Smartly.io, now managing upwards of $5B in media spend, is unlocking the ability for true multi-platform brand building that exceeds both customer expectations and drives engagement across platforms, at scale. As a result, platform partners like Meta have leveraged Smartly’s Advantage+ Shopping solution to deliver upwards of 150 creative variations across all creative placements, expanding consistent brand reach and personalization in a privacy-safe way. “Reinvention tends not to come from large scale companies, so we are using our nimble size and strong influence to create real movement in the industry,” said Oli Marlow-Thomas, Chief Innovation Officer, Smartly.io. ABOUT YOU, one of Europe’s fastest growing fashion platforms, leverages Smartly’s TikTok Shopping Ads across markets. Since implementation, it's seen a near 30% uplift in ROAS for catalog sales, compared to the business-as-usual catalog sales campaigns, and greater than 100% uplift for "add to cart” actions compared to TikTok’s data. “The Smartly Digital Advertising Platform is the result of years of collaborations, acquisitions and continuous innovation that’s allowing us the ability to really push the limits of what’s been possible, up until now that is. We’re working on some exciting new builds with partners that will hit the market in the coming months, that will take dynamic creative and media optimization to new heights,” continued Marlow-Thomas. To learn more about the Smartly Digital Advertising Platform and how it’s revolutionizing the industry, please go to https://www.smartly.io. About Smartly.io Smartly.io is one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, managing nearly $5B in ad spend with 700+ brands worldwide. Our leading end-to-end technology and outstanding customer service help brands such as Walmart, FanDuel, L’Oreal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Nestle, and Disney/ESPN to better reach audiences, engage creatives and learn what performs best—consistently driving scale for brand and performance across the largest media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google. Visit Smartly.io to learn more.

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ADVERTISER PLATFORMS

Circle K Debuts First National Fuel Advertising Campaign in U.S.

Circle K, Alimentation Couche-Tard | December 06, 2022

Circle K, a global leader in convenience and mobility, today announces its first-ever U.S. nationwide advertising campaign, “Fueled by Circle K.” Taking place over the next year, the campaign focuses on Circle K fuel, which is now available in over half of its 7,000 U.S. locations. The campaign underscores Circle K’s mission to make customers’ lives a little easier every day, highlighting fuel they can trust as yet another way the brand serves the communities where it operates. The campaign will run primarily on digital streaming and social media channels, taking a customer-centric creative approach in the four-part ad series that showcases different customers, their fueling experiences and how Circle K has everything they need for their journey. Launched on Dec. 2, the first ad of the year-long campaign is holiday-themed, featuring actual Circle K employees alongside a variety of Circle K customer personalities, from delivery drivers to Santa’s helpers. The ad also features user-generated content from actual Circle K customers, and an original festive jingle to get customers in the holiday spirit. “With the continued growth of Circle K in the U.S. and the expansion of Circle K Fuel reaching close to 4,000 stores by mid next year, now is the right time to introduce our first national fuel campaign,” explains Melissa Lessard, Head of North American Marketing. “With the continued growth of Circle K in the U.S. and the expansion of Circle K Fuel reaching close to 4,000 stores by mid next year, now is the right time to introduce our first national fuel campaign,” explains Melissa Lessard, Head of North American Marketing. “As a major milestone for our brand, we want the ‘Fueled by Circle K’ campaign to celebrate our valued customers and show how they can trust the quality of Circle K fuel to support them on their journeys as well as enjoy so many customer favorites in store.” To continue showcasing real customers throughout the campaign, Circle K fans are invited to share how Circle K is part of their life for a chance to be featured in future ads or social media posts, plus the opportunity to win fun prizes. To enter, customers can post to social media using #MyCircleK or upload their photos and videos directly to the My Circle K website. View the first ad, “Holiday,” on YouTube. For more information on Circle K, Circle K Fuel, and to find a nearby location, visit circlek.com. About Circle K and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 24 countries and territories, with close to 14,300 stores, of which approximately 10,900 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong SAR. Approximately 122,000 people are employed throughout its network.

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ADVERTISER PLATFORMS

Creator Guided Shopping Platform LTK Launches Social Media Advertising for Brands

Business Wire | April 03, 2023

LTK, the global creator marketing platform, today launched social media advertising for brands to further leverage LTK Creator content to drive business outcomes. The new LTK Boost™ advertising solution allows brands to amplify creator collaboration content directly from the creator’s social media handles – leading to higher engagement and conversion. Brand investment in LTK Creators continued to increase last year with brand campaigns growing nearly 50% in the second half of the year. In a recent study, LTK found that Gen Z and Millennials rank influencer content over brand and even user-generated content when making a purchase decision. With LTK Boost, LTK can now run social media ads directly from creator profiles on behalf of brands -which creates a more authentic message, reduces the cost of content production and drives higher engagement and conversion versus traditional social media advertising. In an initial offering, LTK worked with several brands across multiple categories to run LTK Boost ads from creator profiles, which led to an increase in traffic to the brands’ sites, as well as a significant lift in sales with some brands seeing nearly 4X sales growth. All brand results outpaced social media ad industry click through averages by 80%. In addition, creators that participated in the trial saw significant impact with increases in audience reach, outsized gains in new followers and incremental sales and commissions for each creator. Participating creators saw nearly 200K new audience views per post and reached a near 30% increase in retail sales. “Creators are undoubtedly having an impact on consumer shopping behaviors. 92% of Gen Z – a group that will make up the largest consumer segment in a few years - rely on creators to inform their purchases across virtually every category. And, creators are the number one most trusted source to help with purchase decisions for Gen Z and Millennials – beating social media ads and celebrities. That’s why we continue to introduce solutions like LTK Media Boosting to help brands to fully harness the power of creators and reach their customers efficiently and effectively,” said Kristi O’Brien, General Manager of the LTK Brand Platform. LTK Boost is available now in the LTK Brand Platform. For more information, please visit https://company.shopltk.com/en/brands. About LTK As the founder of creator guided shopping, LTK is the trusted and effective platform for creators and their businesses by powering the connection between content and commerce. Founded in 2011 by Amber and Baxter Box, the LTK mission is to empower creators to be as economically successful as possible. World premium lifestyle creators in 150+ countries drive more than $3.6 billion in annual retail sales through their LTK Creator Shop profiles. Today, more than 18 million consumers turn to LTK Creator Shops in the LTK shopping platform each month to find inspiration and instantly shop the styles recommended by their favorite creators. And, more than 6,000 brands partner with LTK to gain access to its global creator network for content that converts against performance-driven, cross-channel KPIs. A three-time honoree on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Retail Companies, LTK is headquartered in Dallas, TX and currently operates on five continents. To download the LTK shopping app, search for LTK in the App Store or Google Play. For the latest shopping trends and updates from LTK, follow Shop.LTK on Instagram and TikTok.

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AD TECH AND MARTECH

Smartly.io CEO Drives Company Momentum Towards The Next Generation of AdTech with The Smartly Digital Advertising Platform

Smartly.io | March 17, 2023

Smartly.io, one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, today announces significant company advancements, stemming from months of strategic moves—including two acquisitions, a new platform release and strategic hires to senior leadership—under the guidance and vision of industry veteran Laura Desmond. The company, which holds certified partnerships with media leaders Meta, TikTok and Google, among others, brings dynamic integrations to the digital and social space, successfully “redefining social and creativity,” according to Nikhil Lai, Senior Analyst at Forrester. Desmond, the former Global CEO of Starcom Mediavest Group and senior executive of Publicis Groupe, has a seasoned track record for creating symbiotic relationships between advertising and technology—influencing opportunities that reshape entire industry categories. As was the case in 2021, where Desmond, a member of DoubleVerify’s Board of Directors and operating partner at Providence Equity, played an integral role in leading its IPO—one of the most successful in the media and technology sector that year. “When Providence acquired Smartly in 2019 and I became Chair of The Board, the company’s potential was clear from the start. Smartly is uniquely solving real problems that brands and marketers need to have solved: agile creative and media management at the same time; rapid intelligence around performance—what's working and what's not; the ability to execute personalization at scale. The steady updates we’ve been making are unlocking a depth and breadth to the technology that’s affording brands the ability to move across channels as fluidly as the consumers they aim to engage do,” commented Desmond. “Coupled with the additions of Brett Wein as Chief Sales Officer, and Oli Marlow-Thomas as Chief Innovation Officer, I am confident that our vision for Smartly.io will effectively redefine the future of digital advertising for brands and marketers alike.” Smartly.io’s continuous releases to Workspaces has created a unique full-funnel, multi-channel approach to social advertising, integrating creative, media buying and intelligence at scale, in one platform. Specifically, the company’s creative-focused adtech enables marketers to: Reach Smartly: Automate campaign workflows across all major platforms, reaching audiences quickly, easily and cost effectively. Engage Smartly: Create beautiful, cohesive, and effective creative across the funnel that drives action. Learn Smartly: Extract consolidated actionable insights to respond to audience behaviors in real-time to maximize return on investment (ROI). "The depth of knowledge [Smartly.io] brings across verticals is really impressive,” said Merry Morud, Lead, Global Creative Optimization for Consumer Products at Uber. “On top of that, they have a fantastic creative team, which is very mobile-first, which is what we, as digital marketers, in a mobile space and mobile-first world look for.” Uber, a longtime client of Smartly.io, has used the company’s platform to execute iterative creative approaches at scale as part of their global media buying practice. Smartly.io, now managing upwards of $5B in media spend, is unlocking the ability for true multi-platform brand building that exceeds both customer expectations and drives engagement across platforms, at scale. As a result, platform partners like Meta have leveraged Smartly’s Advantage+ Shopping solution to deliver upwards of 150 creative variations across all creative placements, expanding consistent brand reach and personalization in a privacy-safe way. “Reinvention tends not to come from large scale companies, so we are using our nimble size and strong influence to create real movement in the industry,” said Oli Marlow-Thomas, Chief Innovation Officer, Smartly.io. ABOUT YOU, one of Europe’s fastest growing fashion platforms, leverages Smartly’s TikTok Shopping Ads across markets. Since implementation, it's seen a near 30% uplift in ROAS for catalog sales, compared to the business-as-usual catalog sales campaigns, and greater than 100% uplift for "add to cart” actions compared to TikTok’s data. “The Smartly Digital Advertising Platform is the result of years of collaborations, acquisitions and continuous innovation that’s allowing us the ability to really push the limits of what’s been possible, up until now that is. We’re working on some exciting new builds with partners that will hit the market in the coming months, that will take dynamic creative and media optimization to new heights,” continued Marlow-Thomas. To learn more about the Smartly Digital Advertising Platform and how it’s revolutionizing the industry, please go to https://www.smartly.io. About Smartly.io Smartly.io is one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, managing nearly $5B in ad spend with 700+ brands worldwide. Our leading end-to-end technology and outstanding customer service help brands such as Walmart, FanDuel, L’Oreal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Nestle, and Disney/ESPN to better reach audiences, engage creatives and learn what performs best—consistently driving scale for brand and performance across the largest media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google. Visit Smartly.io to learn more.

Read More

ADVERTISER PLATFORMS

Circle K Debuts First National Fuel Advertising Campaign in U.S.

Circle K, Alimentation Couche-Tard | December 06, 2022

Circle K, a global leader in convenience and mobility, today announces its first-ever U.S. nationwide advertising campaign, “Fueled by Circle K.” Taking place over the next year, the campaign focuses on Circle K fuel, which is now available in over half of its 7,000 U.S. locations. The campaign underscores Circle K’s mission to make customers’ lives a little easier every day, highlighting fuel they can trust as yet another way the brand serves the communities where it operates. The campaign will run primarily on digital streaming and social media channels, taking a customer-centric creative approach in the four-part ad series that showcases different customers, their fueling experiences and how Circle K has everything they need for their journey. Launched on Dec. 2, the first ad of the year-long campaign is holiday-themed, featuring actual Circle K employees alongside a variety of Circle K customer personalities, from delivery drivers to Santa’s helpers. The ad also features user-generated content from actual Circle K customers, and an original festive jingle to get customers in the holiday spirit. “With the continued growth of Circle K in the U.S. and the expansion of Circle K Fuel reaching close to 4,000 stores by mid next year, now is the right time to introduce our first national fuel campaign,” explains Melissa Lessard, Head of North American Marketing. “With the continued growth of Circle K in the U.S. and the expansion of Circle K Fuel reaching close to 4,000 stores by mid next year, now is the right time to introduce our first national fuel campaign,” explains Melissa Lessard, Head of North American Marketing. “As a major milestone for our brand, we want the ‘Fueled by Circle K’ campaign to celebrate our valued customers and show how they can trust the quality of Circle K fuel to support them on their journeys as well as enjoy so many customer favorites in store.” To continue showcasing real customers throughout the campaign, Circle K fans are invited to share how Circle K is part of their life for a chance to be featured in future ads or social media posts, plus the opportunity to win fun prizes. To enter, customers can post to social media using #MyCircleK or upload their photos and videos directly to the My Circle K website. View the first ad, “Holiday,” on YouTube. For more information on Circle K, Circle K Fuel, and to find a nearby location, visit circlek.com. About Circle K and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 24 countries and territories, with close to 14,300 stores, of which approximately 10,900 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong SAR. Approximately 122,000 people are employed throughout its network.

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