Influencer Marketing Blog | Julius

Matters of Influence: Week of 12/13/20

Written by Julius | Dec 16, 2020 5:36:12 PM

Influencer marketing news moves at the speed of social media. Every platform update, algorithm tweak, and current event makes a huge difference to the influencer marketer. We’ll help you keep up.

Featured headlines

Links In Bio: Instagram Creators Expand Social Justice Conversations With Linktree (Forbes)

If you’ve ever clicked a “link in bio,” odds are, you’ve stumbled across a Linktree. If you haven’t seen one before, Linktree is a simple landing page tool which allows Instagram users to add multiple different links to their bio. This year, the founders of the startup noticed a significant increase in social justice and voting resources added to Linktrees. They saw over five million visits to Linktrees that had voting resources, which themselves earned over 120,000 clicks. This summer, they added the option for users to include a banner with anti-racism resources, which has been enabled by over 235,000 users and has received over four million views. As more influencers are speaking up about causes that they care about, resources like Linktree are here to help spread the word. 


DHS Launches ‘Be an InFLUencer Campaign’ to Increase Vaccination Rates in Communities of Color (Channel 3000)

The Department of Health Services in Wisconsin is taking action to encourage people of color to get the flu vaccine. Dr. Kevin Izard explains that communities of color are more likely to experience complications with the flu, so this year it is more imperative than ever to receive immunization. Communities of color in Wisconsin have had the lowest vaccination rates historically, and the highest rates of the flu, so the new awareness campaign aims to remedy this issue by spreading information and resources. The campaign will feature ads across social media channels as well as television and radio. 

 

Instagram Launches Shopping in Reels, its TikTok Rival (Tech Crunch)

While Reels was originally regarded as just a TikTok copycat, Instagram has proved that they can put their own unique spin on short-form video. User-friendly shopping features are one of Instagram’s greatest strengths, so it seems only natural that the platform would eventually integrate them into Reels. Just like the original shopping tool for standard Instagram posts, users will now be able to tap on a video to find links to featured products. This feature was originally teased back in October, but now that it has been officially launched, brands and influencers have a new way to organically incorporate products into video content.

 

[INFOGRAPHIC] TikTok Looks Back at Best-Performing Brand Campaigns of 2020 (AdAge)

After an eventful year for the platform, TikTok has published their first-ever year in review, which includes their best-of list for “brands that inspired us.” They emphasize that the following campaigns embody their belief that great content happens when you “don’t make ads, make TikToks.” The roundup features categories like hashtag challenges, music trends, branded effects, viral videos, brand communities, and more—each with several top contenders. The platform’s affinity for creativity and authenticity shows in their glowing reviews of the branded content that best captured the spirit of TikTok.

Featured blog

On Thursday, Dec. 10, Julius and Day One Agency hosted a panel discussion about diversity and inclusion in the influencer marketing industry. The panelists discussed the current state of the influencer marketing industry, what allyship looks like, and advice for brands moving forward. While many companies are taking positive actions to make their brands more inclusive, there is still a lot of work to do. Read our recap of the panel to learn more about how to practice allyship and help make the influencer marketing industry a more inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone.

Julius product spotlight

Influencer marketing is founded on the creator's ability to reach and engage the brand’s target consumers. Regardless of strategy or messaging approach, it is paramount to thoroughly vet the influencers followership in order to qualify them as a valid partner. This should be part of every marketer’s influencer criteria, and is why we developed Audience Health Scores–to let Julius ensure that they will be working with influencers that can actually reach the audience they desire. For more information about Audience Health Scores, see this Help Center article.