Instagram Now Allows Purchases from Chat
Topic: Social Media Marketing
Key Point: Qualified small businesses can now do more than chat with prospective buyers on Instagram — they can take the order during the chat.
But, what is a “qualified small business”? The good news is that you don’t need to be specially selected. You only need an Instagram business account and Instagram Direct payments in place, and you’ll have to provide basic personal information (including your social security number) to qualify for the “payment partner” (PayPal).
According to a Meta Newsroom release, one billion people a week use one of the Meta apps to message a business. Selling directly from chat could be a major boon for savvy marketers.
The Majority of Consumers Rely on Video for Online Purchases
Topic: E-commerce
Key Point: A Brightcove study says 85% of online shoppers (globally) watch videos to aid in their purchasing decisions. On top of that, 71% of consumers polled say interactive features are essential, and 64% say the video must load within five seconds or they leave the site.
Get more data from the Brightcove report and find out which age group rates video highest in desirability by checking this MarketingTech article. Video, it seems, is important at every touchpoint on the buyer’s journey from prospect to customer.
Google Analytics 4 Adds Features
Topic: Analytics
Key Point: Good news for those who realize the importance of analytics: Google Analytics 4 (GA4) added bounce rate, UTM term, UTM add content, and conversion rate metrics to the platform.
Many users found Google Analytics difficult to operate, but Google Analytics 4 removes much of the mystery and is providing more of the features marketers need.
Search Engine Land covered the story. Their article provides a breakdown of the new GA4 features and concludes that “additional insights into performance metrics should help advertisers diagnose and troubleshoot campaign performance issues.”
New Scam Alert: One-star Restaurant Reviews
Topic: Branding | E-commerce
Key Point: The online world is awash with scammers and spammers, but here’s a new swindle: crooks are leaving one-star reviews for restaurants, then telling the business the review will be removed if they’ll pay for the “favor” via a gift card.
According to one industry expert, there’s a pattern involved:
“I believe that these extortion artists have a sophisticated process in finding and vetting communicative and emotionally distressed business owners, and identifying them as easy targets who will quickly pay their ransom fees.”
Google’s advice is to not pay for removal of the fake review, but to flag them or contact the Google Help Center instead. Get more info by reading Google’s update on the scam.
Bonus Content
Marketing in 2022: by the numbers
