SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING
SGG Media, StartEngine.com | September 02, 2022
SGG Media - A Division of Sports Gambling Guides, Inc., the up-and-coming sports advertising agency, is continuing its plans to turn the advertising world on its head by opening up a $5 million round of private funding on leading US investment platform, StartEngine.com via the SGG Media portal: https://www.startengine.com/sports-gambling-guides
Like so many things the company has done during its short but meteoric rise to prominence over the past few years, turning to one of America’s largest crowd funding sites to generate further investment in SGG Media is something of an industry first. It will give private investors the unique opportunity to buy into a sports gambling-related business from just $250 while helping SGG Media continue to grow.
With StartEngine.com having already helped other start-up businesses raise $50 million in private funding, SGG Media is confident of launching their $5 million offering on the platform – with this amount further complimenting the $3.25 million the group has already funded in the past 15 months.
The fact that SGG Media has ripped up the traditional funding playbook and made investment in the company possible for private individuals online should perhaps not come as a huge surprise to anyone in the sports marketing industry – after all, this is a young company that has always done things differently.
Having recognized the cost-prohibitive and largely unquantifiable nature of conventional TV, print and radio advertising, SGG Media set out on a mission to disrupt the sports affiliate marketing space by instead harnessing the power of social media to reach a whole new audience of modern sports fans.
From this simple but pioneering starting position, SGG Media has gone on to amass a vast network of over 1,300 “micro-sports influencers” – knowledgeable and engaged content creators who can deliver laser-focused messaging and promotions to a combined audience of 25 million avid sports fans.
The group has since partnered with some of the largest companies in the sports betting and daily fantasy sports industries, with these organizations all recognizing the importance of connecting with a new breed of fan that’s consuming sports info via Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of social media.
Troy Paul, Co-Founder and President of SGG Media, said: “We’re very excited to be taking investment in SGG Media online on the hugely successful crowdfunding platform, StartEngine.com. It’s perhaps the first opportunity for private investors to show support for a sports gambling-related company.
Troy Paul, Co-Founder and President of SGG Media, said: “We’re very excited to be taking investment in SGG Media online on the hugely successful crowdfunding platform, StartEngine.com. It’s perhaps the first opportunity for private investors to show support for a sports gambling-related company.
“To put it plainly, if you believe in the future of online sports gambling and the future of social media advertising, this is a great opportunity to get involved with our company from as little as $250. We strongly believe the crowdfunding round will prove to be another major success for SGG Media and will enable the group to continue its trailblazing work at the cross section of sports and social media.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING
Emplifi | August 05, 2022
Emplifi, the leading unified customer experience platform, revealed the findings of its Q2 2022 analysis of social media spend across thousands of brands worldwide.
The report findings highlight a rebound in median monthly global ad spend compared to the same period last year, a decrease in the median monthly click-through rate (CTR), a slight uptick in median monthly cost-per-click (CPC), and steady engagement on Facebook and Instagram. The data also shows a slight decrease in brands’ response rate to customers who ask questions on social media.
Brands increase investment in paid social media
After seeing a notable post-holiday drop in Q1 2022, median global monthly ad spend among brands rebounded by 18% in Q2 2022, climbing back above USD 4,200 – a figure close to the year-high level that was seen in Q4 2021. With this quarter's rebound, median monthly ad spend has increased 19% YoY, suggesting that brands are allocating more budget to reach their target audiences via paid social.
Click-through rate (CTR) continues to decline
Emplifi data shows that median monthly CTR has been steadily decreasing over time, dipping below the 1% mark in Q1 2022. This past quarter tells a similar story, with CTR lowering to 0.93%, signaling a 11% drop YoY. Despite this decrease, businesses can continue to depend on social media advertising to return value, as engagement remains fairly stable when consumers interact with paid social posts.
Median cost-per-click (CPC) remains stable
While CTR has steadily decreased, Emplifi data shows that CPC remains relatively stable despite some fluctuations in recent quarters, hitting $0.20 in Q2 2022. With average CPC rebounding this quarter after seeing a drop at the beginning of the year, it will be interesting to see whether this is a quarterly fluctuation or the start of an upward trend.
Instagram still dominant in engagement
After seeing a steady decrease since Q2 2021, median Facebook post interactions saw a slight bump quarter-over-quarter, reaching their highest level since Q3 2021. However, Q2 2022 levels remain notably lower than Q2 2021, with brands generating approximately 5.2 interactions per 1K impressions on Facebook, a 15% decrease year-over-year. When it comes to industries, the strongest performers for engagement on Facebook were brands in the Industrial (9.79) and Accommodation (9.04) sectors, while the lowest performers were Ecommerce (2.80), Retail (3.64), and Fashion (3.90).
Instagram continues to show much stronger engagement than Facebook, with about 32 interactions per 1K impressions in Q2 2022, which is on par with what has been seen across the past year. Brands in the Beverages (47.37), Alcohol (46.83), and Software (45.11) sectors saw the highest levels of engagement, with Retail (17.71), Telecom (21.58), and Ecommerce (22.81) brands lagging.
TikTok versus Instagram
In an analysis of sister TikTok and Instagram accounts across 330 brands from January-June 2022, Emplifi data shows that brands post more often on Instagram (68%) than on TikTok (32%) in relative posting frequency. While reach and interactions were higher on Instagram, video content had greater engagement on TikTok. Either way, both platforms have shown an upward trend over six months in terms of engagement rate, peaking in June 2022, reconfirming user interest for engaging video content.
“Brands need to connect with their audiences where they are and social media is an integral part of the marketing mix,” said Emplifi CMO, Zarnaz Arlia.
“Brands need to connect with their audiences where they are and social media is an integral part of the marketing mix,” said Emplifi CMO, Zarnaz Arlia. “It’s no secret that TikTok's surge in popularity is continuing – we’ve found that brands post more often on Instagram than TikTok, and video content has higher engagement on TikTok. It will be interesting to see how this trends in the months ahead. What is certain though is that in today’s world, having and maintaining a solid presence on both TikTok and Instagram is essential.”
Twitter shows the fastest response times to questions
Emplifi data shows that median response rates for brands answering questions on Facebook and Instagram decreased slightly in Q2 2022. On Twitter, after some mild fluctuations, response rates have returned to a similar level from the same time last year. When looking at engagement by industry, Beauty, FMCG Food, and Home & Living brands had comparatively higher response rates to user questions on social, while Automotive brands had lower response rates across all three social media platforms.
In terms of the time it took for brands to respond to questions, Instagram and Twitter saw slight bumps quarter-over-quarter, while Facebook saw a decrease for the second straight quarter. Examining the data by industry, some brands have the slowest response times on Facebook (alcohol, beauty, FMCG food, home & living, service), while for other brands, it's on Instagram (automotive, ecommerce, electronics, fashion, retail). However, except for one industry (FMCG food), Twitter typically sees the fastest response times among the three networks examined.
Methodology
Emplifi's analysis is based on Q2 2022 data and year-on-year comparisons downloaded at the beginning of July 2022.
About Emplifi
Emplifi is the leading unified CX platform that brings marketing, commerce, and care together to help businesses close the customer experience gap. More than 7,000 brands, including Delta Air Lines, Ford Motor Company, and McDonald's, rely on Emplifi to provide their customers with outstanding experiences at every touchpoint. For more information, visit www.emplifi.io.
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Niche | August 03, 2022
What happens when an entrepreneur who invented Tinder’s swipe feature and a top Facebook “do no evil” engineer join forces? They create Niche: an ad-free, decentralized social media platform consisting of user-owned communities, where members can own and sell their own content. Niche has recently closed its $1.8M pre-seed round. The investment was led by MetaWeb with follow-on from Alumni Ventures Group and a grant from the NEAR Foundation.
Current social media platforms profit from selling you ads. They harvest your data to create targeted ads that are more likely to apply to you and make them more money. This leads to poor content, easy propagation of misinformation, and a loss of privacy. One of the more challenging outcomes is the impact social media has on mental health; the platforms intentionally keep users hooked on their phones to see more ads. Niche is solving this product addiction by removing ads altogether. In fact, here’s a notable distinction: social media has users, and Niche has owner-members.
Niche is reinventing social media by distributing ownership of your networks to its members. Rather than traditional social media that uses your content to sell targeted ads, Niche Clubs reward engagement and content creation with token ownership. Each club has its own unique tokens that accrue real value over time and can be used for commerce, event admission, and membership status. The token can be exchanged for real currency. That means your networks are now part of your net worth. Niche fulfills the web3 promise of decentralized ownership and reinvents social media along with it.
Niche is co-founded by Christopher Gulczynski, CEO, and Zaven Nahapetyan, CTO. Gulczynski was a co-creator and CPO of Bumble, as well as a co-founder, CCO, and patented co-inventor of “the swipe” feature for Tinder. Nahapetyan was a senior engineering manager at Facebook, creating and leading key projects like Facebook fundraisers, civic engagement efforts, and several initiatives against misinformation.
“Versions of social media we use today do not value the individual user,” explained Christopher Gulczynski, Niche’s CEO.
“Versions of social media we use today do not value the individual user,” explained Christopher Gulczynski, Niche’s CEO. “As a decentralized, ad-free platform, Niche will not be driven by revenue; instead we will prioritize sharing credible and useful information, connecting people with others who share their interests, and allowing members to profit off the content they create.”
“We are thrilled to support Niche as one of our major investments of the year! NEAR’s goal has always been building a blockchain platform that can onboard creators and users from Web2 in a frictionless manner. With such a world class team building an innovative, community owned platform, we believe Niche will revolutionize social media,” says Amos Zhang, founder of MetaWeb.VC.
"We're really excited to have Niche building on NEAR. Social networking is the next major growth vertical in Web3 and Niche is the perfect team to accelerate that growth on NEAR. Their approach to community ownership and user-owned data resonates with our core values of usability and openness," said Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder of NEAR Protocol.
Participants can apply to the beta, where they will have a unique opportunity to join the movement: http://www.niche.club/.
For more information, and to speak with the founders, contact Richard Laermer (RLM PR) at niche@RLMpr.com; 212-741-5106 X 216.
About Niche
A decentralized platform powered by a token economy, Niche is changing social media by completely reinventing it. With interest-based clubs owned by members, everyone has a say in how their network is run. Niche clubs are for content creators who want access to their most engaged fans and direct distribution, collectors who want to buy and sell with ease, and real-life groups who want a digital home for their real-world community. A safer, more secure social media alternative free from advertising and algorithms that promote discourse and misinformation, Niche is launching to change social media as we know it today.
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