Author: alejandra

Over the past few years, companies from several markets have tested Instagram’s platform to reach a social commerce and the liquor market is no longer an exception to the case. The tequila label Patrón is now the first liquor brand to sell their products through the Instagram app. Instagram users can now come across a Patrón advertisement on their Stories and can swipe up to shop. Once users swipe up on the advertisement, they will be able to place a liquor order through a few third-party platforms. As shopper’s checkout they can input their age and credit card information which the third-party platforms will have instead of Patrón, according to Adweek. So far, the social media delivery service is available in 48 states. This isn’t the first time Patrón has used innovative technology and trends to boost their companies marketing strategies. Over the last few years, the tequila brand has experimented with social media campaigns, Amazon Alexa, augmented reality and a variety of bots. However, most of their innovative projects haven’t involved social media commerce. In the spring of 2019, Instagram had expanded its position as a commerce business by adding a checkout feature to posts and stories. Instagram users can even leave their checkout information with the app in order to make the checkout process easier after their first purchase through the app. On posts that feature eligible items to shop will include a blue “Checkout on Instagram” button on the bottom of the post. Most of the early business partnerships for Instagram sales have featured retail and beauty products. However, Patrón’s partnership with social media commerce agency MikMak could prove to open new doors for liquor brands and other business markets. According to Adweek, the success of the advertisements will be based on the number of clicks, purchase intent and conversion rate. MikMak has helped create content for the brand that will emphasize the Patrón experience and products. Based on a Klear report in Mobile Marketer, Instagram stories now account for 1 in 3 sponsored Instagram posts in 2018. The biggest demographic that these social advertisements are appealing to are Gen Z who are most likely to purchase products through Instagram. If social media liquor advertisements prove to be successful, then liquor brands will have the opportunity to target younger consumers directly to drive sales.

The days of stressing over how many likes your post received may be over.  Facebook announced it will be following its subsidiary Instagram’s lead of hiding total like counts on posts within the platform. After Instagram rolled out this change in designated regions earlier this year, Facebook is set to begin a test run in Australia this week. This change may seem small, but it is a step in the direction of Facebook’s broader goal of working to improve user mental well-being within their platforms. Research shows that users perceive like counts as a sort of validation — which can have negative effects on users mental health. After Instagram tested hiding total like counts in Canada and then Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand earlier this year, they did not publish data on the results of the tests. However, judging from Facebook’s move to follow suit, it seems as though it had positive effects. Facebook is moving towards focusing on the mental well-being of users and the removal of like counts — which are believed to increase social comparison and its associated negative impacts — may be a step in the right direction. In an interview with CBS News in June, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said, ”We don’t want Instagram to be such a competition. We want it to be a place where people spend more of their energy connecting with the people that they love and the things that they care about.” This change does not mean that users are totally blind to who has liked your photos. Users are still able to scroll through the people that have liked their posts,  they will just not be able to find a total number of likes as a number anywhere on the app.

The week before Miami-Dade School District students headed back to school, we held our second annual Back to School Donation Bonanza drive right here at MoMo Studio alongside Moniomi Design.  MoMo Studio donated over 150 backpacks essential supplies for the school year…that’s 100 more than last year! Backpacks were stuffed with not only folders and wide-ruled paper, but also filled with color pencils, calculators, protractors and books! Big thanks to our friends, Valasan of Miami and Fabrice Tardieu, who allowed us to make a bigger impact on ourneighborhood of Little Haiti by donating uniforms and custom made shoes to the students nearby.  We also had enough leftover supplies that we were able to donate to Miami Edison Senior High School. We’re looking forward to making our annual school drive bigger than ever in 2020–if you would like to participate to donate, please drop us a note!

As marketers utilize the trends of the business, most have noted the impressive use of influencer marketing. According to a marketing survey in 2018, 81% of marketers found that influencers use in their marketing plans was an effective strategy. Although having a good relationship between influencers and marketers is beneficial, the partnership can pose a threat to a brand.  These dangers vary from the changing dynamics of the industry to the actions of influencers. Regarding the issues on the industry side, the increasing popularity of influencers has led to poor engagement from followers’ overtime. Instagram feeds are overwhelmingly covered in this type of content which has forced followers to glaze over the posts. The abundance of influencers has also resulted in more skepticism from the public regarding the products they are sponsoring.  The FTC has cracked down on misleading influencer content with new advertisement restrictions. Now influencers have to reveal their relationship with a brand through hashtags before a sponsored post. This is why you will find that before most sponsored influencer posts there will be a #ad which drives engagement down even further.  Fitness influencer on social media online. Companies have to also be wary of the morality and honesty of the influencers they are working with. For instance, when Logan Paul posted a video of a dead body he found in the Japanese suicide forest, brands in partnership with him tried to get out as fast as they could. Paul’s decisions affected not only his brand but also put his partnering companies in jeopardy due to their relationship. Another major hurdle for marketers is verifying partnerships in advance to ensure influencers have not bought followers. With the update Instagram is said to roll out where they will hide the ‘like’ count on each post, this could make it harder for marketers to do their own vetting of the personality.  Despite the risks associated, marketers should continue to work with influencers and ensure that they don’t view the influencer themselves as a product. A company can avoid this by allowing full creative range to the influencer. Mochee continues to work with influencers in many capacities by creating thoughtful, strategic partnerships for our clients. 

Instagram has launched new functions that are both efficient and creative. Through Facebook, users can now receive and react to Instagram direct messages from their Facebook page inboxes. Now admins on the site can easily answer messages from their Instagram and Facebook Messenger in one location. Facebook’s goal to merge their messaging system with other platforms’ messaging methods is beneficial to businesses and social media agencies like Mochee. Before the new features, companies managing several social platforms had to split their attention between Instagram and Facebook. Now, people can save time and easily monitor their feedback and engagement. Users on Instagram can also expect a raise in engagement with a new creative element expanding how music can be incorporated into daily content. Individuals can add music stickers with an option for lyrics, which permits accounts to post videos with lyrics appearing along with the song selected. Instagram appears to be following the popular trend of music-related video clips which apps such as Vine and TikTok became famous for. With this feature, Mochee and other businesses operating Instagram accounts can now increase their engagement with stories to sing along to. How do you feel about the new functions being added to Instagram? For further details on Instagram messages read more here. For further details on Music Stickers read more here.

Have you ever questioned how much of your budget should be allocated to influencer partnerships? Mochee completely understands how challenging that can be. Influencer Marketing is a huge part of social media strategies today, especially Instagram. As you probably know, collaborating with influencers gives brands an opportunity to reach a new engaging audience. Although, these partnerships are necessary in today’s market, there is no one-size-fits all strategy for budgeting influencer collaborations.  It can be easily assumed most wonder what exactly a “Fair” asking rate would be when reaching out to potential influencers. As mentioned on Later, “Many digital marketers adhere to the one cent per follower (or $100 per 10K followers) rule”. However, this rule is not applicable to every influencer collaboration. Before agreeing on a partnership rate, brands and agencies should measure the influencer’s engagement rate, brand sentiment, traffic, and conversion rate if possible.  One of our Mochee’s found a great online resource that evaluates the authenticity of an Instagram account’s followers called IG Audit. This is just one way to decide if investing in the partnership is worth it. I think we can all admit the return on investment is what we really look for. Did you know Later reported, “Influencers with 50K to 250K followers deliver a 30% better ROI per dollar spent than macro-influencers, and 20% better than influencers with 1+ million followers”? Hopefully, that fun fact comes in handy. The importance of influencers goes without question. For a more in-depth understanding of how influencer marketing works, and the cost click here! 

Dealing with a social media crisis can be overwhelming. A social media crisis is when an issue on or offline is brought to various communication channels at a vast speed. Apps have definitely changed the speed of which good and bad news travels. Since a dilemma can strike at any moment, it is best for brands and corporations to have policies and plans in place. Mochee for example has a policy for each client which states specific brand guidelines on how and what to post. Everyone having proper training and utilizing social listening decreases the possibly of an issue occurring. If this happens with a client (fingers crossed it doesn’t!) we jump in asap. Our first step is doing a thorough analysis of what the fodder is and the volume. We immediately pause planned content and re-strategize what posts should be to ensure they don’t fuel the fire. From there, it’s working closely with the client and their communications team to get the conversation offline.  Mochee’s approach to handling a social media crisis is equivalent to the 5 tips from Social Media Today. To read about all 5 tips click here!