The impact of mobile: Friday’s daily brief

MarTech’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s digital marketing leader. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.

Good morning, Marketers, and when does mobile really make an impact?

One day this week I received endless warnings of severe thunderstorms and flash floods on my phone, and I didn’t see one drop fall from the sky. You can understand if I don’t pay too much attention to every alert I receive.

But last week, I saw a new one. An alert went out to New York City residents (including me) asking us to reduce our energy consumption. The power grid was getting overwhelmed. I didn’t seriously consider jacking up my AC for the remaining minutes of coolness I had left before a citywide blackout, although that would be the most appropriate self-serving action in this case. Instead, I went over to my AC and upped the temperature perhaps four degrees.

It turns out that other New Yorkers took the same altruistic path. A tweet the following day from NYC’s director of the Office of Climate and Sustainability (Ben Furnas, great name!) showed “striking evidence” that the mobile warning worked, and consumption ticked down in the minutes after people were warned.

Now if we can show the same courtesy for our fellow citizens when piling into subway cars as we do when safely isolated in our mobile phone bubbles.

Chris Wood,

Editor

NFTs for marketers  

Blockchain-backed artworks allow collectors to own unique or limited-quantity artifacts that grow in value through the bidding process at auction, and through reselling after the initial auction. An emerging industry is starting to develop around the tech companies that create the NFTs and provide the technology that supports the digital marketplace where auctions are held.

NFTs are “non-fungible” because the transactions from when they are bought and resold are recorded in their unique code. This avoids the doubt surrounding some older collectibles that could be forgeries. Collecting NFTs is therefore attractive to consumers and investors who participate, in other ways, in the digital economy.

“NFT collectors and enthusiasts believe in a new digital economy and in the digital world in general,” said investor and art collector John Dodelande. “These people want to form their own identity, and art is a big signifier of identity. This generation grew up in the digital space, and they want to stay in it.“

Brands that want to engage this kind of consumer must connect in a deep cultural way. If influencers are to make an impact, they need to appear authentic. The proliferation of NFTs taps into this same digital authenticity because it takes a consumer’s digital lifestyle seriously.

Read more here.

Shoppers looking to be wowed by AR  

As vaccines roll out and public places open back up, consumers who spent more time on digital channels over the last 16+ months will be looking for a techy nudge to get them in-store. 35% of US consumers would go out of their way to visit a store if there was some kind of interactive virtual service tied to the experience, according to new findings from Snapchat.

The company teamed up with Foresight Factory’s data methodologies and existing trends intelligence, as well as follow-up surveys and interviews — so the predictions aren’t just derived from behavior on Snapchat.

Mobile shopping. One in three US consumers says mobile is their preferred way to shop. They aren’t just showing off a new purchase to their friends on social, however. They’re actively gathering information and likely making contactless payments. Six in 10 millennials won’t ever go shopping without their phones.

Is IRL shopping possible online? A sizable group of online shoppers isn’t willing to buy certain categories of products they can’t see, touch or try out. It remains an open question how many of these consumers (four in 10 overall) are willing to close the sale if virtual try-on experiences answer some of their questions.

AR demand is growing. The study predicts that over the next five years demand for AR experiences will grow in the US from 30% to 41%. This keeps pace with a growing number of Gen Z consumers.

Shoppers seek in-store, for now. Nearly half of US consumers say they missed the social aspect of in-store shopping, and one in five say they would visit a store if experts were on hand to offer advice. This seems like a demand that savvy marketers can fulfill through social media messaging, even when shoppers are at the physical store (with phones in their hands).

Why we care. Big brands are executing substantial campaigns on social media platforms that cover both ends of the marketing funnel. Users are finding interesting ways to discover entire new categories of products, on the one end, as well as being able to purchase products seamlessly with buy buttons that make social media “social commerce.”

As these platforms evolve, marketers need to pay attention to specific traits that are native to the unique environment on the platform and among its community of users. If you look at the evolution of Snapchat, it’s easy to see why its users are so quick to integrate AR elements in a natural way in their interactions with other users. But these same extra layers of audio and visuals might not seem as authentic on Facebook or Pinterest. You may find a different audience that’s still a relevant one to your brand, but you’ll do best by engaging them differently depending on which channel you’re using.

Media business platform Maven adopts Verizon’s identity solution

As the curious mixture of competition and collaboration between identity solutions persists, major media business company Maven has opted for Verizon Media’s ConnectID to maximize the performance of first-party data.

Maven provides technology and business services to over 140 media brands including Sports Illustrated, History and TheStreet. It will be leveraging ConnectID across its full portfolio. Verizon’s solution reaches 148 million deterministic users through first-party data as well as 400 million unique devices.

Why we care. Speaking to an audience of industry peers on Wednesday, The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green said he did not expect or want Unified ID 2.0 (developed by The Trade Desk) to be the single, universal identity solution for the open internet.

He’s getting his wish, as major media businesses and publishing networks make their choices among the rich selection out there.

How to source content from UGC online

Creating an editorial calendar that’s new, interesting to write, AND good for SEO can sometimes feel like a hassle — especially if you’ve been doing it for a while (or if you’re in a creative slump). Abby Reimer, content expert and senior SEO analyst at Uproer, shared her top tips for using UGC across the web to source content ideas for your brand.

“Forums like Reddit and Quora are awesome places to find topics your audience is interested in. Threads give you insight into the top questions people are asking. Plus, the comments can be a gold mine to understand the language and sentiment around these topics,” said Reimer.

The last part is key, in my opinion. See how others who are passionate about a topic are talking about it and see how you can incorporate that verbiage into your posts. Oftentimes when we’re “into the thick of it” in a business, the jargon we use gets disconnected from the words our target audiences use to describe the same products and services.

One of my favorite tips that I’d not thought of before? “Pay special attention to the 1-star reviews. Learn what is not working for your audience so you can address those issues,” recommends Reimer.

Read her other tips here.

Doceree taps Comcast executive to be President

Stephen Hoelper, after almost seven years leading product development and data science at Comcast, has joined Doceree as President. Doceree is a precision marketing platform exclusively serving healthcare brands, built around a specialist physician identity resolution tool Espyian.

Beyond his time at Comcast, Hoelper has experience in the digital healthcare space with Merck, then with Merck’s subsidiary Vree Health. At Doceree he is expected to support product innovation and the development of new technologies. He joins a leadership team headed by founder and CEO Harshit Jain.