Hello Digital looks at the highlights from the week that was.
Which social media platform do you think has the highest ad receptivity? Well, we have the answer, as well as the latest information about Google’s new SEO tool for videos, Instagram’s fresh feature for co-creating posts, and Australia’s recent cyberattack accusation against China. Join us for the latest instalment of The Weekly Wrap.
TikTok ranks #1 for ad receptivity
A new study conducted by Neuro-Insight has revealed that businesses on TikTok see higher levels of receptiveness to brand messaging, calls-to-action, and ad breakthrough compared to other social media platforms.
As part of the study, researchers examined the emotional valence (i.e. likeability) of what users would see in a video ad and its correlation to in-the-moment action. The findings indicated that promotions on TikTok generate greater response intent (+44%) than those on competing apps.
The study also looked at the personal relevance of the ad content, and whether users would act on the information in the future (e.g. make a purchase online). Similarly, TikTok’s engagement rate appears to be 15% stronger than other leading platforms, meaning that TikTok ads stay on users’ minds the longest.
The immersive nature of TikTok, which allows users to watch videos in full-screen, may be a key driver in both of these results as it fuels the app’s algorithm matching. On Facebook, for example, users have several posts and ads displayed on their screen at the one time, which makes it challenging for the platform to definitively know what content they are engaging with. TikTok, on the other hand, only plays one video at a time so its system can accurately determine what users are interested in and therefore show them more of the same.
It is important to note, however, that although TikTok has an engagement advantage over its competitors, businesses still need to read up on how to create appealing ad campaigns if they want to evoke positive audience responses.
Google introduces new feature for video SEO
Google has released a new way for business owners to embed videos in their web pages in order to increase their site’s visibility on search results pages. Publishers will now be able to markup their videos for the ‘key moments’ snippets, allowing searchers to navigate directly to specific segments (just like chapters in a book).
Previously, website owners had to manually label each part of the video, which proved to be quite complicated and time-consuming. Now, all they have to do is tell Google where timestamps typically go in their URL structure.
Google will then apply its AI system to automatically identify the ‘key moments’ in the video and will show links to those snippets in the search results. This tool, named SeektoAction, was unveiled earlier this year at the company’s I/O developer conference, and has been in the beta phase for the last several months.
If publishers prefer to label the video segments the old fashioned way, the Clip markup can be used instead.
In other Google news, the company has recently designed a way to make users’ browsing experience more secure in Chrome by providing an HTTPS-first mode, which you can read all about here in the last Weekly Wrap.
Instagram tests co-creation tool
Instagram has begun to test out a new function, called Collab, that allows users to partner with each other to create posts for the main feed and Reels. From the tagging screen, users can now invite another account to be a collaborator on a post or Reel, which will then be shared with both sets of followers.
When users collaborate on a piece of content, one of them will be able to post it directly to their profile, while the other gets to share it; however, both accounts will have access to the Collab analytics.
This will be a valuable tool for brands as they have the potential to broaden their audience reach and increase post engagement by collaborating with prominent Instagram creators. But we can also expect this to become the new ‘growth hack’ strategy, with people asking their followers to follow their friends via a Collab.
As per usual, the new option is currently being tested with a subset of users, so stay tuned for more updates about its official release!
Earlier in the month, Instagram announced it will be trialling a new Stories feature that allows users to reshare posts that they have recently viewed in their main feed via a sticker, which you can read more about here.
Australia blames China for Microsoft hack
Australia has joined the United States and other countries in pointing the finger at China’s Ministry of State for engaging in “malicious cyber activities”, including the large-scale hack on Microsoft’s Exchange Server which occurred earlier this year.
The Microsoft hack was first detected in January and was quickly attributed to Chinese cyber spies by private sector groups; however, it has taken until now for Australia to publicly link the crime to Beijing.
The global hack gave attackers access to tens of thousands of email inboxes, which has cost governments and businesses billions of dollars in stolen intellectual property, ransom payments, and cybersecurity mitigation efforts.
Although the Australian Government understands that there will be “serious implications for any attribution” to hacking by foreign powers, officials insist they will not be compromising their position on sovereignty and national security.
The number of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents has been on the rise recently, with hacker groups setting their sights on not just Microsoft, but Apple, Google, and LinkedIn too (which you can read some more about here).
While Australia is planning to retaliate, the White House also wants to line up an international coalition of allies to collectively call out China and develop new cybersecurity capabilities.