Fed Chief Halts Facebook’s Libra Project, Digital Marketing Growth Statistics Released, and More Social Media News for July 2019

by Fronetics | Jul 31, 2019 | Blog, Current Events, Marketing, Social Media

Also this month in social media news: Facebook strives to attract content creators, and Pinterest debuts new video tools for brands.

Highlights:

Less than a month after Facebook released details of its new cryptocurrency, the project has met a stumbling block from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
Newly released statistics highlight key growth metrics and lay out expectations for digital marketing in the second half of 2019.
Pinterest’s new video tools as well as updates from Facebook are geared to content creators and brands.

It’s hard to believe it’s already July and 2019 is at its halfway point. It’s a time when organizations are evaluating their performance thus far, and setting goals for the second half of the calendar year. To that end, both Mobile Marketer and Marketing Dive published key digital marketing growth statistics, and we’ve got the highlights for you below.

Last month, Facebook made news by releasing details of its new cryptocurrency, Libra. Now the social media giant has hit a roadblock, in the form of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell calling for a halt until serious concerns are addressed. Facebook is also making news this month by taking a page out if its competitors’ books in its attempt to attract more online content creators. Read on for details on these social media news items from July 2019.

Fed Chief Calls for Facebook to Halt Libra Project Until Concerns Are Addressed

Following closely on the heels of Facebook’s releasing details of its planned Libra cryptocurrency, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the project “cannot go forward” until serious concerns are addressed. “Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability,” Powell said before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

The Fed chief’s tough comments not only underscore the regulatory hurdles facing Libra, but put pressure on the project, and dented the price of Libra’s forebear, bitcoin. The price of bitcoin fell by around 7% during his 3-hour testimony. Powell also called for regulatory review of the project to be “patient and careful,” while pointing to the fact that existing rules don’t adequately fit digital currencies.

“It’s something that doesn’t fit neatly or easily within our regulatory scheme, but it does have potentially systemic scale,” said Powell. “It needs a careful look, so I strongly believe we all need to be taking our time with this.”

Facebook spokeswoman Elka Looks responded to the testimony in an email to Reuters: “We are very much aligned with the Chairman around the need for public discourse on this,” wrote Looks. “This is why we along with the 27 other Founding Members of the Libra Association made this announcement so far in advance, so that we could engage in constructive discourse on this and get feedback.”

2019 Key Digital Marketing Growth Statistics Released

The midyear release of statistics from Marketing Dive and Mobile Marketer are important for brands and marketers to pay attention to. In the ever-shifting world of digital marketing, these statistics and trends offer valuable insight into where resources and time are best devoted.

Highlights from the reports include:

Global online advertising spend is on track to grow 7% this year. That’s up from the 4% forecast in December 2018.
Location-based marketing will likely grow 14%, reaching $24.4 billion in advertising spending by the end of 2019.
43% of all advertisers plan to increase spending on influencer marketing by April of 2020.
Social referral traffic to retail ecommerce sites has grown by 110% in two years.

Facebook Strives to Attract More Content Creators

In an effort to attract more content creators to its platform, Facebook is giving videos more ways to make money. Observers have noted that the reigning social media giant is “pulling inspiration from other platforms to let you throw cash at your favorite video creators in the form of subscriptions or tokenized ‘stars’ that pay them a penny.”

Facebook’s announcement of its new video developments comes just ahead of VidCon, the world’s biggest conference for online video creators. It follows on the heels of three years of investments in the network’s video services and is in line with consumer trends toward video consumption.

Pinterest Debuts New Video Tools for Brands

Image-curating platform Pinterest is ramping up its video capabilities, in line with a larger consumer shift in viewing habits and a boost from advertisers in spending on social video. New video features include an improved uploader, video tab, lifetime analytics, and Pin scheduling.

The updated video uploader “enables businesses and creators to seamlessly upload video directly to Pinterest to engage with new and existing audiences, and access latest metrics,” according to the announcement.

Pinterest’s announcement points out that unlike on other platforms, videos don’t disappear (as they do on Instagram and Facebook Stories after 24 hours). To that end, their video analytics tool will allow businesses to gain insight into a video’s performance over its lifetime.

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Trump, Kardashian West, and Rather: Lessons for Content Creators

by Fronetics | Apr 12, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

Interesting, original content is central to brand building for the supply chain and beyond.

What do Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian West, and Dan Rather have in common? Like ‘em or hate ‘em, they’ve each amassed an enormous organic following on social media. It doesn’t matter when or where they post it; these celebrities have proven that people will go out of their way to receive their content.

I came across an article the other day about the rising importance of the content creator that got me thinking about this. Joe Hyrkin, CEO of media company Issu, believes the age-old marketing debate about content vs. distribution is now a moot one. “Media consumers will change their behavior and go where a creator has produced interesting content,” he writes.

So many companies — supply chain, B2B, B2C, and beyond — spend an enormous amount of time and money trying to figure out the best places to distribute content and the best times to post. Don’t get me wrong: Those are incredibly important pieces of the puzzle. But I don’t think we can overemphasize the importance of the quality of your content and building a brand that reflects thought leadership.

In short, if you produce the kind of content that your target audience finds compelling, entertaining, and/or interesting, then you’re going to be successful.

“Interesting” is a matter of taste

You may roll your eyes at the idea that any of the above mentioned personalities qualify as “interesting content creators.” But that doesn’t matter — because a whole heck of a lot of people think they do.

The key for the content creator is, of course, inventing and creating for your specific audience.

Probably for your B2B business that doesn’t involve a scantily clad selfie or inflammatory tweet. But if you can be on the cutting edge of what does matter to your target audience, you’ll begin to build a brand that followers feel compelled to watch.

Speak your truth

We live in an interesting time for words like “true” and “fake.” But what I know to be important in content creation is authenticity.

Dan Rather offers an interesting case study. The 84-year-old veteran broadcaster’s rapid rise to social media stardom began with his candid election commentary on Facebook last November. Fans and critics alike have continued to engage with him via this platform. The resulting discussion can only be attributed to Rather’s authenticity — he shares what he truly thinks and feels, and encourages his followers to do the same.

Companies that use content and social platforms as an outlet for their missions, interests, and passions find greater success than those that are trying to be something they’re not in these spaces. For examples of companies who are doing it well, think of Coyote Logistics, Whole Foods, GoPro, Nike, Oracle, and Lowe’s.

Takeaway

The takeaway for the supply chain and other B2B companies is this: If you can build a brand with a reputation for creating really interesting original content, things like distribution, posting time, and posting frequency become less important.

People will know you as a source for cutting-edge ideas and thought leadership. People will be looking for your content. People will follow you because they care about what you have to say.

Don’t underestimate the power of quality original content.

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