Mediaboss Marketing

Jews around the country have recently been celebrating the annual festival of Hanukkah, eating way too many doughnuts, lighting Menorah candles and celebrating one of many stories in their history of managing to not be wiped out.

Like most Jewish festivals, the Hannukah story is something along the lines of, "they tried to kill us, we survived, so let's eat."

Along with all of the expected festivities, we've also seen the expected rise in hatred and anti-Semitic violence, spiking around the world in timely fashion. In Ukraine, a Jewish religious site was desecrated, in New York, Jewish children were physically attacked on the streets of Brooklyn, and right in the centre of London, a group of Jews were surrounded and spat at, chased onto a bus, from where they had to watch their attackers bang on the windows, and raise Nazi salutes to them.

This was a group, with children, on their way to celebrate in central London, a place where they should have felt entirely safe.

You probably won't have heard about all of this. It wasn't a trending hashtag, and it certainly wasn't responded to with an anti-hate or anti-racism campaign by any of the brands or influencers that usually take a stand when it comes to social issues. In the realm of inclusive marketing and social justice marketing, to use David Baddiel's words, Jews don't count.

Why is this the case? I guess there could be two potentially defensible reasons for such a strange lack of support in our apparently purpose-led world. Firstly, perhaps there are not enough Jews to make taking a stand for them a commercial priority. Or secondly, perhaps anti-Semitism is not seen as a major enough issue to put it on the radar of social justice advocates.

Let's take the first one. Is it because there are so few of us that it doesn't make commercial sense? It is true that Jews make up less than 1% of the UK population, however, brands that seek to include and take a stand for marginalised voices don't do this based on a particular group's market size, they do it based on their brand values and social purpose. And when it comes to marginalised voices, they are inherently likely to be a minority group i.e a small market.

What about the second argument - that anti-Semitism is not a major issue and so it doesn't deserve a high level of attention, or effort, to combat it from all the usual players. Setting aside the attacks this week, the quantitative data makes it very clear this is not the case. This last year has seen the largest rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes across the UK. In the first half of 2021, the Community Security Trust reported a 49% increase in anti-Jewish hate incidents in Britain. That's a staggering increase for a group of people that have remained a flat minority of less than 1% of the make-up of this country.

Furthermore, this tidal wave of anti-Semitism isn't a collection of isolated incidents by crazy people. It is also institutional. What could be more institutional than the Equality and Human Rights Commission being called to investigate one of the two leading political parties, the one that is meant to stand for social justice, and concluding that it had committed unlawful acts of anti-Semitism, to the extent that it was legally bound to tackle the unlawful findings of the independent inquiry?

I can easily tell you from my own experience living as a Jew in this country that anti-Semitism is a major issue. But the data above also makes it categorically clear. Something that makes it even more painful, is the lack of interest it is met with by the big voices in social justice, from influencers to social-justice-centred brands that are usually quick to challenge hate with loud and creative voices.

Why is it so invisible? Why is this probably the first Hannukah/anti-Semitism article you have read in our industry press? My personal experience of anti-Semitism leads me to believe that there is still a pervasive unconscious bias when it comes to the age-old racist stereotype of "powerful Jews". Despite all the contemporary evidence above, and despite the systematic murder of Jews every 50 or so years in history around the world, people still see Jews as some "powerful other" that therefore don't face the challenges required to be included in the social justice movement.

The irony is that the creative industries have always attracted Jewish talent, and this is still the case. Although Jewish people in advertising are a tiny minority when it comes to hard numbers, we still make up a significant 2%, according to the All In Census. The challenge is not that our voices do not exist; it's in raising them.

This issue is deeply ingrained in our cultural experience of being Jewish in Britain. Go back just a couple of generations and we were immigrants escaping from places that forced us out for who we were. When we arrived in this country, many of us changed our names to sound more British, and we tried to keep our heads down at work, and keep our visible Jewishness at home, as much as possible.

Calling out a lack of Jewish representation, calling out anti-Semitism, and talking openly about our experience doesn't come naturally. But it becomes an especially tall order against a backdrop of silence.

So, following this year's Hanukkah, where we told the story of age-old Jewish resilience alongside news of rising Jewish hate crimes, I've decided that I'm no longer going to be a silent Jew. Because the longer we are silent about anti-Semitism, the more we let it go unchallenged.

Matthew Waksman is a planning partner at Ogilvy UK

This article first appeared in Campaign.

Read more here:
When it comes to social justice and inclusive marketing, Jews don't count - PR Week

PR pros and marketers know plenty about Gen Z, the group of Americans born after 1996. In addition to their racial and ethnic diversity and the potential to be the most-educated generation, theyre probably known best for an affinity with social media. Indeed, they average 2 hours and 55 minutes per day on social.

Yet PR pros and marketers have saddled Gen Z with several stereotypes. They reflect Gen Z behavior, but miss the underlying psychology. A better understanding of Gen Z's social media motivation may bolster your targeted campaign.

Peer pressure is an important factor driving Gen Z's heavy engagement. Humans are inherently social and desire a sense of belonging. Gen Z seeks this connection online, having created a rich, quickly evolving culture through social media.

Members of this generation feel pressure to be in the know with the latest humor, nostalgia, lingo and pop-culture references. Remaining current requires consistent engagement, as social media enables rapid virality and changes in trends.

In addition, Gen Z feels pressure to engage with peers on social, which has become an extension of day-to-day interactions. Unspoken rules, which vary by platform, guide online etiquette. For example, in many friend groups, there is an expectation to like and comment. Gen Z is receiving marketing and advertising content while adhering to these online social norms.

While Gen Zs high level of online engagement seems tantalizing for PR and marketers, its rarely a direct line. For instance, engagement often occurs in distracting settings. Theres a lot of automatic processing and users often expend little cognitive effort on content.

When creating content, marketers should be aware of how environments unique to Gen Z affect consumption. For example, much of Gen Z is in school, and students frequently check social media while walking between classes (or even in class).

Furthermore, 66 percent of Gen Z frequently use multiple devices simultaneously. A typical Gen Z is streaming Netflix while checking Instagram. Many descriptions of Gen Z fail to address these environmental factors. Offline behaviors provide important insights to online behaviors.

Moreover, environments Gen Z engages with social media vary by platform. Instagram and Snapchat feature primarily visual content and allow engagement in distracting, public settings.

In contrast, TikTok depends on audio, and users are more likely to use the platform privately. Platform-specific content can be optimized for these settings and their resulting psychological impact.

Social platforms serve as catalysts for word-of-mouth communication amongst Gen Z. As a result, peer content is critical.

While influencers can reach Gen Z, non-influencers also are extremely important. Their low-key content is perceived as raw and authentic, characteristics Gen Z values.

Gen Z greatly enjoys reading and engaging with the comments section on social. Members spend as much or more time on it than viewing original content. Gen Z is quick to post and comment, contributing immediate, blunt reactions. As Gen Z users compete for likes, comments are humorous, dramatic or even antagonistic.

As such, marketers should pay close attention to comments, as they shape and reframe how viewers interpret content. Furthermore, marketers can directly observe Gen Zs communication, gaining insight about lingo, memes and trends.

When creating Gen Z content, consider algorithms. Just as SEO determines web search results, algorithms underlying social media platforms determine which content achieves popularity, and thus, cannot be ignored.

Many algorithms are heavily dependent on engagement. Development of provocative, intriguing, comment-worthy content that stimulates engagement can leverage algorithms to achieve greater reach.

Elise Karinshak is a Foundation Fellow at University of Georgia, class of 2023

Original post:
Gen Z and Social Media: What PR and Marketing are Overlooking PRNEWS - PR News - For Smart Communicators

First off, we must acknowledge that when this drinking game started, it was not called "Smirnoff Icing." No, back in the bad old days of 2010, it was called "Bros Icing Bros." As much as this prank has transcended its frat boy roots, it very much started as a trick that fraternity brothers played on each other.

Unlike most other drinking games, the origins of Smirnoff Icing can be precisely traced back to the very beginning. That beginning, we're sorry to say, was an email from some frat bros at the College of Charleston in South Carolina to the website BroBible. The email laid out the two crucial rules of the game: First, that if a friend surprises you with a Smirnoff Ice, you must immediately drop to one knee and drink it, regardless of the setting. Second, if you happen to have a Smirnoff Ice on your person when somebody attempts to Ice you, that unlucky trickster must drink both your Ice and the one they tried to prank you with.

Although the original email to BroBible hid the identity of Smirnoff Icing's inventor, quite soon after that, a South Carolinian who identified himself to Fortuneas "Joe" registered the brosicingbros.com domain name. Whether or not Joe was the true inventor of the fad, he certainly brought it to the mainstream.

See original here:
The Untold Truth Of Smirnoff Icing - Mashed

As we head into the final weeks of 2021, TikTok has shared an overview of some of the top creators and trends of the year, which also serves as a summary of the broader web trends and memes that dominated another COVID-impacted period.

As explained by TikTok:

This year, our community discovered new ways to express creativity, championed the teams and the causes they care about, and found new favorites - from recipes to new music trends and genres. Across the United States, creators inspired others to open a new book, chomp on hot chicken, and treat themselves to a "Bones Day."

There are some interesting, and potentially valuable considerations in here, both in terms of what people are engaging with, and the content styles and formats that work best on TikTok.

First off, TikTok has shared the top videos of the year, starting with Drone Dancing by David Allen (aka @totouchanemu)

The video incorporates several key elements of the most popular TikTok clips, including a pop music soundtrack, a remix of an existing clip (though not direct) and an engaging, creative visual style. The clip is currently sitting on 313.9 million views and 43.9 million likes, underlining the reach potential of viral TikTok clips even with a relatively simple, yet interesting idea.

Other videos on TikToks top clips list include:

Music also plays a key role on TikTok, which has made the platform a key consideration for many artists and publishers, with some new even altering their tracks to fit in with TikTok trends, and maximize sales.

The top songs on TikTok in 2021 were:

TikTok has also shared the most popular AR features among users thoughout the year, with the Psychedelic Clown effect topping the list.

As you can see in these examples, the effect is most commonly used in a self-deprecating way, making fun of your own foolish decisions.

Other popular AR effects were the Inverted Filter which, flips the camera perspective, and lets you see how other people see you in real life, while Versailles Run, which adds your face to an animated effect, and Buffering were also heavily used.

TikToks also shared a listing of products that gained traction among TikTok users, which point to the expanded potential of eCommerce in the app.

TikTok has also shared insights into the top rising stars on the platform, popular food trends, top creators looking to raise awareness of various causes, and emerging communities, like #BookTok and small business tips.

Its an interesting overview of how the platform is expanding its horizons, as it continues to grow, and how people are utilizing TikTok clips in a variety of ways to connect and engage.

If youre looking to get a better understanding of what TikTok is all about, and what works on the platform, the creators and clips listed here provide a good starting point - and if TikTok is on your digital marketing agenda for 2022, its worth digging deeper on each, and getting a better perspective on the key trends and elements.

You can check out TikToks full best of 2021 overview here.

Read more from the original source:
TikTok Shares the Top Creators, Clips, Effects and Songs on the Platform in 2021 - Social Media Today

Influencer marketing continues to grow in the United States, with 2021 witnessing a 26.7% increase in sponsored Instagram posts. Meanwhile, sponsored stories increased by 33.5%, with influencers creating an average 16 sponsored stories a week.

The growing demand for this type of endorsement advertising was unveiled by the 2022 The State of Influencer Marketing report.

The report was compiled by Klear, an influencer marketing platform for Fortune 500 brands and agencies. The study involved the review of more than three million posts across the leading social channels.

The findings are important for small businesses, as they demonstrate the surging demand for this type of marketing. Small businesses not yet utilizing influencer marketing to promote products and services could be missing out on opportunities for sales and growth.

The reports authors note how social media habits are changing and influencers are playing a key role in accommodating for new demands.

2021 redefined the role brands play in consumers lives, and the way in which consumers relate to brands. Consumer habits have forced brands to prioritize digital and adjust budgets, which has dramatically increased the role influencers play in a brands overall strategies, the report states.

The analysis of millions of social media posts found that micro-influencers have dominated the influencer marketing trend. In 2021, 91% of all sponsored post engagement was with content created by micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers have smaller, more focused audiences, which can generate higher engagement. With high engagement, these types of influencers can offer the best ROI for brands.

Consequently, micro-influencers are a brands top choice for collaboration, the study found.

Klears analysis explored the social channels proving most popular for collaboration with micro-influencers. It showed TikTok generated the most collaborations with micro-influencers, with brands beginning to understand how the platform fits into their social marketing strategy.

However, Instagram remains the most popular social channel got influencer marketing, with 94% of campaigns incorporating the hugely popular image and content sharing social network.

Image: Depositphotos

Link:
Influencer Marketing Continues to Grow in US - Small Business Trends