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Acquisition Channel Trends #002 (Should I call them "Trends" or "Opportunities"?)

You're probably using some well-known acquisition channels (like Facebook, Twitter) to try and get new users (I did a report on this).

If you're familiar with the law of shitty clickthroughts, you'll know that over time, the effectiveness of these channelsis declining for two reasons: a) They become more saturated b) People notice them less and less (think: banner blindness).

The solution? Be on the lookout for new & promising acquisition channel opportunities/trends. How?

Platforms like Facebook/Twitter/Google release new business features & ad formats & new content formats all the time. When they do that, they actively promote them by giving businesses (like you) who use them more exposure.

This is great news for you because suddenly, acquisition channels that were previously hard-to-enter/not affordable suddenly get within your reach. This is the second issue of a weekly newsletter where I explore such trends/opportunities (and I'm not sure how to call them, please help me out), listing the latest news and what they mean for your user acquisition strategy. Let' begin:

Snapchat Publishers Report Higher Revenues (Opportunity: Place small bets on Snapchat)

Snapchat publishers are reporting higher RPMs (revenue per impressions) which mean 2 things: a) Advertisers are spending more money. b) More and more advertisers are coming on Snapchat

What this means for you: Businesses (as a whole) are not dumb. If they see a positive ROI, they'll spend more money on a channel. This is an opportunity to place some small bets on Snapchat ads (these guys offer A LOT of ad formats) and see you get promising results.

Like it so far? Get 3 brand new insights like these every week:

Facebook Releases Data-Driven "Best Practices" for Video (Opportunity: (Re)consider Video Ads)

Adding a trailer to your video can increase 1-minute video views by 43%. Using a 4:5 aspect ratio outperform 16:9 by 2x. These are some of the insights Facebook recently released on their official blog

What this means for you: Things like these can make or break a FB Ads Video campaign. If you've run FB video ads unsuccessfully, (re)consider making these changes and see if your metrics will improve.

TikTok: 80% of Gen-Z Have Influenced Their Parents to Buy Them Something They Saw on TikTok (Opportunity: Teens May Not Be a Waste of Time?)

TikTok released a holiday toolkit for small businesses looking to advertise on their platform. One of the interesting insights were that "a whopping 80% of Gen Z TikTokers have influenced their parents' purchases.". Another: "47% of TikTok users made a purchase decision based on what they saw in TikTok content."

What this means for you: If you're into B2C and target the younger generation, you'll def find stats like these useful, and consider placing some small bets on TikTok.

Pinterest Tests Online Events (Opportunity: Consider Adding Online Events as Part of Your Content Marketing Plan)

More specifically, they're working on enabling online classes where participants can join via Zoom.

What this means for you: More and more platforms allow content creators (like you) to a) Promote b) Monetize their online events (FB is beta-testing this). Consider getting into online events if they're compatible with what you do.

My predictions is that more and more mainstream platforms (FB, Pinterest, Google may follow suit) will make online events more visible to their audience & add new ad-formats where you can both promote and monetize these events.

Like it so far? Get 3 brand new insights like these every week:

  1. 3

    Yes you should write these @zerotousers :)

      1. 1

        Should I continue writing this?

        I’m just answering your question :)

        1. 1

          oh, sorry :D Thanks.

  2. 2

    Love the insights here. Keep at it Darko

    1. 1

      Thanks. If you have any suggestions for whether to call it trends/opportunities/any other word, let me know.

      1. 1

        Darko - consider words like insights, fresh-takes. I like opportunities as well.

        1. 1

          Thanks for the suggestions. Will def consider them.

  3. 2

    Nice post again, Darko. I'm curious about the Pinterest Live Events!

    1. 1

      They seem to be beta-testing it with specific creators atm. But things point to platforms wanting to make online events a content format businesses can easily promote/monetize.

  4. 1

    Great stuff Darko. Good job on synthesising loads of information into short(ish) :D posts
    Would probably try Snapchat for a client, thanks.

    1. 1

      Would be interesting to hear the results :)

  5. 1

    Very nice article!

    1. 1

      Thanks. Is there any particular channel that you want to be covered more?

      1. 1

        I'm new to this whole marketing thing and really the opposite of being trendy so I'm not sure. But I have found great value in your pdf and weekly email.

        I have this one small piece of feedback that I'm not sure where to share: People like me don't really follow marketing related content but prefer to consume in burst when we need advice. So I'm not sure if the weekly email format makes sense. But that's just me. :)

        1. 1

          Oh I see. You def want to then start with the basics and a) Make an assumption on which channels your audience hangs out (and/or simply ask them) b) Test 2-3 channels max at the time. The Traction Book by Gabriel Weinberg provides a good framework for this.

          Didn't quite get you on the weekly email format. This kind of stuff is basically news, and it's impossible to consume it in bursts, because I have no control over/how/when such news appears. But for information that analyzes the past (like the PDF report), yeah what you said def makes sense.

          1. 1

            Thank you for the book recommendation! I wish I had read this months ago.

  6. 1

    Great post, thank you Darko !

    1. 1

      Thanks. If you have any suggestions for whether to call it trends/opportunities/any other word, let me know.

  7. 1

    Awesome find! Thanks a lot for the Facebook best practices for videos, I was just considering to test this format and it is very handy

    1. 1

      I was actually surprised at the work these companies put in helping you make good ads. Thing is, the (mainstream) media doesn't really cover them.

  8. 1

    Awesome article!

    Especially the thing about online events!

    My product (https://newny.io) is trying to help improve the ROI for businesses using virtual events as marketing / customer engagement.

    I'm going to read into that trend for sure!

    I prefer TRENDS!

    1. 1

      Hey Mukhtar, Newny looks awesome. You guys are def riding on a rising trend. When did you launch this?

      1. 1

        Hey, Thank you!

        We're hoping to be ready and launched in January, New Year's week!

  9. 1

    Hey guys, really appreciate your comments, but would also appreciate if you let me know if you prefer 'trends' or opportunities' more :))

    1. 2

      Opportunities sounds better to me.

      1. 1

        So far it seems most prefer 'opportunities'. Would be curious if there's a different opinion.

  10. 1

    WOW! I didn't know that TikTok that has SO MUCH influence!

    1. 1

      Seems like it's not a bogus stat, judging by the company that did the research. I've seen some reports from people on FB groups on how their TikTok (usually e-commerce-related) went viral and got them a surge in sales.

  11. 1

    Great post! I wonder how TikTok measured that stat.

    1. 1

      Hm, I did some research, it seems the source is: "GWI, TikTok US Survey". GWI = Global Web Index, they look like a pretty big market research company.

      1. 1

        Oh, interesting. Took a look at their website (https://www.globalwebindex.com/), they seem to be working with some pretty big names like EA/Spotify/Google/Twitter.

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