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Monday Morning Learning – 23 March 2020

WhatsApp Launches World Health Organization Chatbot to Answer COVID-19 Queries

To use the service, WhatsApp users can save the number (+41 79 893 1892) in their phone contacts, then text the word ‘Hi’ in a WhatsApp message to begin. The bot will then respond via a series of prompts, covering key queries and information – and ideally, dispelling some of the rumors and misinformation around the outbreak which have been spreading via social and messaging apps.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/whatsapp-launches-world-health-organization-chatbot-to-answer-covid-19-quer/574617/

Facebook Is Testing a New Option Which Would Connect Brand Loyalty Programs to In-App Activity

The process enables brands to use Facebook ads to connect with their loyalty program members on the platform using Custom Audiences to target those who’ve previously created a profile with the business.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebooks-testing-a-new-option-which-would-connect-brand-loyalty-programs/574521/

AR Approvals Temporarily on Hold

With the company sending more staff home to reduce the potential spread of the virus, Facebook says that all of its Spark AR reviewers will soon be inoperable. As a result, no user-submitted AR effects, for either Facebook Stories or Instagram, will be approved until further notice.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-says-that-approvals-for-ar-effects-submitted-to-facebook-and-insta/574503/

Instagram Launches ‘Stay Home’ Sticker and Story to Encourage Social Distancing Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

This week, Instagram has launched a new ‘Stay Home’ sticker for Instagram Stories in order to encourage people to stay inside amid the evolving COVID-19 outbreak.

Instagram’s Working on a Disappearing Messages Option

The new option, at least at this stage, would see all of your messages disappear from the chat window after you’ve read them and navigated to another section of the app. Note that WhatsApp is also looking to add the same functionality, though with added control elements for your disappearing communications (i.e. disappear after 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week etc).

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagrams-working-on-a-disappearing-messages-option/574534/

Facebook now lets most users opt-in to dark mode & desktop redesign

Facebook has officially rolled out its sweeping desktop redesign that offers dark mode, tabbed home screen and a cleaner profile, though the interface is slightly different in terms of position of the elements. For example, the profile cover+photo is now in a different position (photo is in the center, not on the side anymore).

Instagram Launches First Stage of IGTV Monetization, With In-Stream Ads Coming to Selected Channels

After its coming, IGTV monetization tools were spotted in testing last month. Instagram has now confirmed that it’s reaching out to a group of selected creators in order to invite them to participate in the initial testing of in-stream ads on their IGTV videos.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-launches-first-stage-of-igtv-monetization-with-in-stream-ads-com/574167/

Monday Morning Learning – 16 March 2020

TikTok Tests New Options to Add External URLs to Clips & Comment Downvoting

Last October, TikTok began testing a new option which enabled selected users to add Wikipedia links to their clips in order to provide more context on certain elements. Now TikTok appears to be expanding that option – user Sam Schmir has provided these screenshots of a new set of options in the ‘Add Link’ prompt which would enable creators to attach a link to Wikipedia, Yelp or TripAdvisor in their video post.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-tests-new-options-to-add-external-urls-to-clips-comment-downvoting/573758/

YouTube Switches ‘Trending’ Tab to ‘Explore’ Which Will Highlight More Content Categories

YouTube is replacing the ‘Trending’ tab in its app with a new ‘Explore’ listing, which will showcase more video categories, along with popular videos, in order to prompt broader discovery.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-switches-trending-tab-to-explore-which-will-highlight-more-cont/574143/

Instagram Bans Searches for COVID-19 AR Effects, Adds New Information Prompts in Home Feeds

After adding new information prompts and links to official resources in related search queries last week, Instagram is now expanding on its COVID-19 response tools, with additional information panels in the main feed and a ban on searches for coronavirus related AR masks.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-bans-searches-for-covid-19-ar-effects-adds-new-information-promp/574140/

TikTok Continues to Gain Momentum, But Challenges Remain in Maximizing the App’s Growth

TikTok was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide last month, outperforming both WhatsApp and Facebook. TikTok installs are up 96% year-over-year, with the COVID-19 outbreak seemingly fueling increased adoption as people look to keep themselves entertained while reducing their time spent in public.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-continues-to-gain-momentum-but-challenges-remain-in-maximizing-the/574134/

Snapchat Launches ‘Lens Web Builder’ to Simplify the Creation of AR Lens Campaigns

With Snapchat’s AR Lens ads driving significant engagement and interaction in the app, the platform is now looking to open up the option to more brands, with a simplified AR Lens campaign option that enables businesses to build custom Lenses based on pre-made templates and/or Snap’s library of 3D objects.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/snapchat-launches-lens-web-builder-to-simplify-the-creation-of-ar-lens-ca/573982/

Facebook Stories Tests Cross-Posting to Instagram

Facebook is testing the option to cross-post Stories to Instagram, instead of just vice-versa. Hopefully, that means the two apps will finally sync up the “already viewed” status of cross-posted Stories so we don’t have to watch reruns any more.

Montagut Invited Their Fans to Winter Wonderland with the Support of KRDS

With an ongoing retainer partnership, the Christmas Wonderland campaign was our fifth campaign collaboration with Montagut within the span of the past 18 months on the Chinese market. Don’t get fooled — Christmas is an increasingly significant event in the marketing calendars for most brands in the Mainland and it’s getting harder and harder to stand out among all the merry buzz.

But Christmas wasn’t the sole reason that Montagut wanted to celebrate with their fans in China. The second reason was the launch of Montagut’s new Winter 2020 collection with one of the goals for the end of 2019 being to communicate the arrival of the new garments and styles.

Our solution to gracefully feature both new collection and holiday spirit was a H5 WeChat game set in a French winter wonderland. Bespoke and dreamy graphics combined with hooking tapping game mechanism made this game an instant hit with Montagut’s existing followers as well as nearly 10,000 new fans.

According to Candice Meyer, Head of Brand Image & Communications Asia at Montagut, “This campaign was very fun and engaging. Beyond generating buzz and page views, KRDS was smart to find the right mechanism to attract a very high number of new fans”.

Miriam Dabrowa, Senior Communication Strategist at KRDS Greater China, said: “With the new opportunities coming in 2020, and especially Montagut’s 140th Anniversary, we truly can’t wait to create new exciting content together”.

Some of the KRDS’ clients include Vivo,  BNP Paribas, Hong Kong Disneyland, Meiji, BreadTalk, Toast Box, Volkswagen, AIA, Unilever, Sony, WWF, Grand Hyatt.

mml-11feb

MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 11 FEBRUARY 2020

Facebook Will Shutter Audience Network for Mobile Sites

The decision may be in response to recent changes by companies like Google and Apple to limit audience tracking with third-party cookies amid growing concerns about privacy and brand safety.

Source: https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/facebook-will-shutter-audience-network-for-mobile-sites/571807/

Next on Google Chrome’s Hitlist: Intrusive Ads

Google Chrome is blocking intrusive ad formats within short-form videos from 5 August 2020. More specifically, the ad formats affected will be:

  1. Long, non-skippable pre-roll ads or groups of ads longer than 31 seconds that appear before a video and that cannot be made to skip within the first five seconds
  2. Mid-roll ads of any duration that appear in the middle of a video, interrupting the user’s experience
  3. Image or text ads that appear on top of a playing video and are in the middle (⅓ of the video player window) or cover more than 20% of the video content

Instagram is Testing a New Trimming Tool for Instagram Stories Clips

Instagram is working on a new video trimming feature for Instagram Stories, which would make it easier to edit and upload your Stories clips within the app.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-is-testing-a-new-trimming-tool-for-instagram-stories-clips/571963/

Instagram Rolls Out Option to Reply to Stories With GIFs

It’s a minor update, in relative terms, but now you can reply to a friend’s story with your favorite GIPHY GIFs.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-rolls-out-option-to-reply-to-stories-with-gifs/571730/

IGTV to get monetized

Instagram is looking for opportunities to monetize IGTV to improve the uptake of the platform.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/igtv-monetization-is-coming-which-could-make-it-a-much-more-significant-co/571897/

How Marketers Can Stay One Step Ahead of the Voice Search Trend

  1. Voice search is clearly no longer just another search option to keep in mind
  2. 30% of these searches are done without a screen
  3. Voice search queries include three to five keywords and are longer than text-based searches
  4. 20% of UK consumers use voice search devices multiple times a day

Source: https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2020/jan/22/how-marketers-can-stay-one-step-ahead-voice-search-trend-guide/

Instagram Adds New Listings of ‘Least Interacted With’ and ‘Most Shown in Feed’ in Following Tab

Instagram has rolled out two new category listings within your ‘Following’ tab which will enable you to see which accounts get the most visibility in your feed, and which ones you rarely engage with.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-adds-new-listings-of-least-interacted-with-and-most-shown-in-f/571870/ 

TIK TOK UPDATES

TikTok Provides Option to Upload Content via Desktop

This could be handy for digital marketers looking to make use of the rising video app TikTok. Users can now upload TikTok videos via the desktop version of the app.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-provides-option-to-upload-content-via-desktop/571867/

TikTok Is Testing a New Instagram-Like Profile Format

TikTok is reportedly looking to update its profile design, switching to a more Instagram-style format.

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktoks-testing-a-new-instagram-like-profile-format-while-questions-remai/571727/

Monday Morning Learning – 4th February 2020

Half-life of Content Across Platforms

The half-life of a content piece is the time it takes for it to reach 50% of its overall expected engagement.

Twitter: 20 minutes

Twitter utilizes short-form content, simple “tweets” and small comments to relay information across users. So content spreads the fastest on this platform.

Facebook: 5 hours

While Facebook has over 2 billion active users daily, it has a large number of ways information can be relayed. For eg. pictures, videos, written content, stories, comments, shares, etc. Also, due to the traffic on Facebook, it takes a relatively long time for content to reach its half-life.

Instagram: 20 hours

Instagram is a lot slower in relaying content amongst its users. While its algorithm tries to boost pictures at all times, its main focus remains to be visually compelling and most of its user interface is filled with space-consuming pictures that increase the average half-life of any content shared on the platform.

LinkedIn: 24 hours

LinkedIn is for professionals, for the most part, and there isn’t a lot of traffic on the platform, so content pieces should have a low half-life. But on the other hand, LinkedIn is mostly used for job searching, profiling and lead generation. It doesn’t focus on boosting content on the feed but rather boosting companies on its job portal.

YouTube: 20 days

In the case of YouTube, such a long half-life is because of two reasons: 1. The high volume of traffic and 2. Even higher volume of videos. With a market as saturated as YouTube, videos are bound to take their time to reach their half-life.

Pinterest: 4 months

Pinterest is a huge platform cataloging millions of creatives and pictures, but the lack of social experience has only gotten it low traffic and a high bounce rate.

Blog post: 2 yrs

The only way blogs get traction organically is through SEO. But for any blog post, there may be 50 other blogs with the same keyword that may have the same content strength or may exist on a domain far older and stronger. SEO is a long-term strategy game that only gets better through testing, experience, and patience.

Ref: https://twitter.com/anutopiaa/status/1222314236791197696

Shopper Marketing Trends for 2020

  1. Know everything there is to know about your target audience.
  2. Invest wisely and appropriately in the right channels.
  3. Optimization (content and SEO) across platforms is key.
  4. Create a seamless shopping experience.
  5. Showcase on shoppable social sites.
  6. Leverage user-generated content.
  7. Utilize new age technology like chatbots.
  8. Connect with customers on a personal note.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/8-social-commerce-strategies-to-win-consumers-hearts-and-wallets-in-2020/571513/

Twitter Rolls Out Conversation Threads on iOS

Twitter is bringing a new ‘threaded’ conversation update to its iOS app, which more clearly defines replies from people you know on any given tweet.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-rolls-out-conversation-threads-on-ios/571529/

Instagram is Testing Emoji Reactions for Direct Messages

As with Twitter’s recently launched DM reactions tools, given the availability of similar response functionality on other messaging platforms, it makes sense for Instagram to move in-step, tapping into habitual messaging behavior in order to facilitate more engagement. It’s worth noting that Instagram also already has a ‘quick reactions’ emoji response process for Stories.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagrams-testing-emoji-reactions-for-direct-messages/571460/

Instagram Officially Begins Testing of DMs in its Desktop Version

After being spotted in testing months ago, Instagram is now officially launching a test of direct message access in its desktop version and is going to slowly roll out to the public.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-officialy-begins-testing-of-dms-in-its-desktop-version/570428/

Instagram is Adding a New Way to Find and Share Stories that Mention Your Profile

Instagram has added a new Stories @ mention option, which highlights any Stories that mention your profile, and enables you to easily re-share them into your own Stories stream.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagrams-adding-a-new-way-to-find-and-share-stories-that-mention-your-pr/570888/

Google is Working on Chatbots Which Can Engage in a More Genuine, Human Conversation

Google has built a new chatbot model called Meena, which is trained on a 2.6 billion parameter end-to-end neural conversational model and can conduct conversations that are more sensible and specific than existing bots.

Ref: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/google-is-working-on-chatbots-which-can-engage-in-a-more-genuine-human-con/571354/

Monday Morning Learning – 20th January 2020

Facebook Reportedly Won’t Go Through With Whatsapp Ads

With Facebook dropping its plans to put up ads on WhatsApp, the latter will be focusing on building features for its business users. A large number of people use WhatsApp for their businesses. The company has been rolling out features that can aid small to medium scale companies and they are expected to stay on this path for now.

Continue reading Monday Morning Learning – 20th January 2020

Wildlife Reserves Singapore Renews KRDS Singapore For Digital Creative and Social Content

Wildlife Reserves Singapore has recently extended its partnership with KRDS Singapore for the third year since 2017 to grow its presence on Facebook and Instagram.

KRDS Singapore is now its agency of record, managing social media needs across its 4 parks, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari, and Jurong Bird Park. KRDS Singapore has won the business after a pitch process that started in March 2019.


On top of creating educational and awareness-driven content about animals, KRDS Singapore will also be responsible for consultation, conceptualising and executing campaigns throughout the period of appointment.

The goal for this renewal is to further engage with both locals and visitors with innovative and immersive content, and drive them further down the conversion funnel with detailed analytics.

Muhd Hidayat, Account Director at KRDS, said:

“We are excited to continue on this remarkable journey with Wildlife Reserves Singapore, which started off 3 years ago. The team at Wildlife Reserves Singapore encourages innovation and we are confident that our digital expertise combined with progressive strategies will take it to greater heights.”

Neo Garden Renews Social Media Contract With KRDS Singapore

Singapore’s leading caterer, Neo Garden Catering has been serving up delicious food since its inception in the early 90s. It has become one of the trusted names in catering for their ability to offer high-quality food to both large crowds & small gatherings. Neo Garden Catering has partnered with KRDS Singapore for another year to grow their presence on Facebook and Instagram.

2018’s goal was to promote Neo Garden Catering as the one-stop caterer that truly empowers its customers with the experience of a personalised unique celebration for every occasion. One of the biggest highlights of 2018 was Neo Garden Catering’s Chinese New Year Game Microsite that ran for a period of 20 days. The microsite was designed to provide individuals to have his or her fortune read ahead of the Lunar New Year. Fans could then go on to redeem gift vouchers and a chance to participate in the Grand Lucky Draw (Grand Prize of $888). Over 1,500 people had their fortune read and 800 vouchers were out!

The goal for this renewal is to enable fans to create new memories and celebrate important milestones, with Neo Garden Catering playing an integral role towards these celebrations.

The content on social will focus strongly on micro-moments – moments when users celebrate and drive conversations.

The agency will also be developing an Instagram-focused content strategy and explore different types of Instagram Stories and interactive formats to weave an engaging brand story.

Amantha Koh, Assistant Marketing Manager at Neo Garden Catering, said:

“Working with KRDS Singapore has been a great experience and rebranding of our Facebook has been a success. The team has also been very up to date with the latest trends and often updating us on their new features, innovation and ideas. We are looking forward to working with KRDS again.

Muhd Hidayat, Account Director at KRDS, said:

“It gives us immense pleasure to partner with the No.1 caterer in Singapore once again and be a part of their journey. We look forward to bringing our comprehensive digital knowledge to help Neo Garden Catering build a strong community on social and to establish the brand as the go-to caterer for any events and occasions.”

Amadeus – Business Traveler Journey : A nifty travel booking solution for Companies in the Middle East & Africa region

  • Amadeus is a leading technology company in the travel industry. As part of their extensive portfolio of IT solutions for travel players, they launched a business travel solution tailored and perfected for the Middle East and Africa region. 
  • Changing how the world travels, is Amadeus mission statement. So offering an online booking tool for companies to manage business travel, including the specifics of our region made perfect sense. 
  • The solution is called Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller. It is basically an online travel booking portal dedicated to business travels. It is accessible on desktop and mobile, that acts as an online self-booking tool) and also offers an expense management module.

Delphine Delebarre, Amadeus Marketing Manager for Middle East and Africa:

“We were looking for a digital marketing agency to build an impactful campaign to raise awareness about our corporate travel online solution and encourage our target audience (corporations in the Middle East) to request a free demo. When I met KRDS, I liked their humble but professional approach and the fact they already had expertise with other travel players. Our collaboration was seamless, fully transparent and based on regular communication. They are professionals and we really benefited from their expertise.”

KRDS Middle East and Amadeus join hands for an interactive online activation tailor-made for the Middle East and Africa region to make business travel booking niftier. Amadeus is a leading technology company that is a powerhouse for making travel simpler. It is a key player in the technology sector. Amadeus help connect over 1.6 billion people a year to local travel providers in over 190 countries.

So when Amadeus launched Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller, they worked in collaboration with KRDS Middle East to promote the tool across the Middle East and Africa.

The campaign was meant to create an appetite, a sense of awareness and not just to create leads, which ultimately ended up happening thanks to a tool that acts as a holistic approach upheld by a Facebook & LinkedIn campaign to manage and redefine business travel in the region, and showcase added values of Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller for businesses, such as control business travel costs, facilitated multi level approval process, and quick implementation as per companies travel policies. 

KRDS, conceptualized a tailor-made content approach and an ad strategy staying in line with Amadeus needs, hence a globalized content video came to light from KRDS to seek as well as enable awareness for the right target audience. Apart from the global video, 4 other shorter videos were produced by KRDS for a specific target segment and the approach was to create a unique experience. The Self-Booking system (Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller) was not only for the business travelers across the region but also suited for the Procurement and IT departments.

Below is a message from the General Manager of KRDS Middle East, Mr. Leonard Guillermin-Hazan who shares his thoughts on the campaign that ran for 1 month under his supervision:

“Amadeus has been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to travel technology. We’re pleased to have joined with such a name like Amadeus to uphold one of their newest tools. We at KRDS trust our social media capability and mobile-first approach will benefit the company reach many new consumers and lead to more business conversions.”

Have a look at how Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller works.

KRDS Singapore Expands Its Senior Team In Mainland China & Singapore

KRDS Singapore recently welcomed 5 senior hires to the China and Singapore offices to lead and grow different departments in their respective markets.

Joining the Senior Account Management team, we have Ken Tham (pictured first from right) who has over 6 years of experience working with both B2C and B2B brands such as P&G, Porsche, Spotify, Airbnb, Boeing, Montblanc, and HPE. Before this, Ken was an Account Manager at Ketchum where he managed up to 7 to 9 team members for both social, digital and PR work.

Shu Qi Lee (pictured second from right) from Hashmeta has joined as a Senior Account Manager in the Singapore office. She served as Account Manager and subsequently, Senior Account Manager, in Hashmeta. She has managed a few regional brands and has helped grow their digital presence. Some of them were Bosch Home Appliances Asia Pacific, TÜV Rheinland Asia & Africa, DaVinci Gourmet Asia, Tramontina South Asia and NTUC LearningHub. Shu led and won the pitch for the DaVinci Gourmet Asia social media account and spearheaded lead generation campaigns for her ex- clients, DaVinci Gourmet and NTUC LearningHub, through an effective mix of content and visual strategy, media planning & buying and gamification solutions, and results achieved exceeded the clients’ expectations. She also successfully streamlined and improved workflow and processes within the agency for better team performance and client satisfaction.

Yoganand Raju (pictured third from right) will lead the KRDS Design Team to grow their creative capabilities.

As a Creative Director at Rubecon Communications more than 6 years, he led creatives for the key accounts of the agency and worked closely with the client and the internal teams to deliver the best creative solutions for the brand. Yoga was managing teams across the department from copywriters to brand managers and other stakeholders to ensure a seamless flow of creative deliverables that are maintained at industry standards. He ensured the studio personnel are brought up to speed with the latest updates of Adobe CC and worked on design and strategy for new client pitches. He also collaborated with an array of talents such as photographers, illustrators, retouching artist etc from the country and overseas to produce the best creative solutions for the brand.

Some of the key brands that he handled were Amazon.in, Nippon Paint India, Hatsun dairy products, Arun Icecreams, Ibaco, Oyalo Pizza, The Times of India, Beverly Hills Polo Club, SPI Cinemas, Dalmia Bharath Cements, Schwarzkopf Professional, Star Health Insurance, TVS, Sundram Fasteners.

Mia Kuang (pictured fourth from right) will head the Community Management Team in Shanghai. Previously from MSLGROUP China, she worked with global brands like IKEA, P&G Pampers, Melco Resorts & Entertainment. Her expertise includes social media (WeChat) management and digital strategy planning. Mia led a team to maintain WeChat accounts for IKEA (3 million+ followers) and successfully attracted about 1 million+ followers in a year. She supported ‘Make Room for Life’ Campaign for IKEA, which won the Work of Excellence of MSL Global Awards; and also successfully helped her team to win new businesses including Philips, Lexington Home Brands and Rothy’s.

Miriam Dabrowa (pictured fifth from right) joined as a Senior Digital Strategist for Shanghai. Miriam was employed at We Are Social as a Global Team Project Manager and has helped Chinese brands create a global impact in the digital world. In particular, she worked on a successful campaign for Vivo Mobile during the FIFA World Cup, she helped win for her agency the award for Mumbrella Best Localisation of Global Strategy for the campaign “Inspiring Bonding Moments” for TCL. She also was largely responsible for the growth of the JAC Motors global accounts for more than 2 years.

Commenting on the rapid expansion Preetham Venkky, Director at KRDS Asia said:

“We are excited about growing the KRDS family across the various countries we are in. With these new strategic senior hires, we’re confident of delivering more exciting and innovative campaigns to existing clients and partnering with new brands. We’re confident that 2019 will prove to be another fruitful year for KRDS