Each week the Insights Team at The Goat Agency pull together the latest news from the social space in a weekly social media industry news round-up. This week we cover the Sidemen charity match 2022, the impact of brand diversity, quality and inclusion on sales, and TikTok announcing an extension to video descriptions.
Don’t forget you can follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter for real-time announcements of all our new blog content!
Contents
The Sidemen Charity Match 2022
Brand Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Directly Impacts Sales
TikTok Announces Increases To Video Descriptions
Instagram No Longer Splitting Stories Under 60 Seconds
YouTube Shorts Gets A Voiceover Option
Twitter Leans Into Emerging Video Trends
Snapchat To Launch $100,000 Halloween Spotlight Challenge
The Sidemen Charity Match 2022
The Sidemen Charity match took place on the 24th September. At its peak, the event amassed 2.6 million concurrent viewers as people tuned in to watch some of the biggest creators from the UK and across the pond. Big name creators, and action-packed entertainment aside, the Sidemen charity match took place to raise money for a number of charitable causes. By the final blow of Mark Clattenburg’s whistle, fans watching from around the world had surpassed £1 million in donations, which would later be distributed across selected charities.
The fourth Sidemen charity match proved to be an incredible success in many ways, with the inclusion of prominent creators such as Mr. Beast and ishowspeed, to the record breaking viewership and donation figures – not to mention the opportunity for brands to showcase their understanding of modern-day entertainment and the prominence of the parties involved in the event.
The Sidemen edged a hot contest that finished with Sidemen FC 8-7 YouTube All-Stars. The Sidemen’s talisman Miniminter settled the game with a superb lobbed effort from 40 yards, cementing his hatrick and the spoils for his team.
In total, £1,074,379 was raised. This sum will be donated between Teenage Cancer Trust (40%), CALM (40%), Rays of Sunshine (10%) and M7 Education (10%).
If you missed Saturday’s events unfold and want to catch up on all the big moments, goals and laughs from the event, you will be happy to know you can re-watch the entire event! Or, if you’d like to see the handpicked highlights from the match, there is a video package for that too.
Brand Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Directly Impacts Sales
A recent survey supports the conclusion that a brands diversity, inclusion and equality all affect the brands sales. The survey asked 1,500 people in the UK about their brand expectations, the following was revealed:
- Consumers are 25% less likely to consider a purchase from a brand that fails to deliver on diversity and representation
- 66% see diversity as more than just a brand’s image – diversity and inclusion must be integrated within the company, not just it’s marketing efforts
- ¾ people believe brands should hold themselves accountable
The reports highlights the importance of a brand’s purpose – brands need to be doing more to strive towards an equal playing field rather than just performative changes.
TikTok Announces Increases To Video Descriptions
Tiktok is leaning into the discovery opportunities that are possible with longer captions, by extending the length of video descriptions from 300 to 2,200 characters.
TikTok is giving users more room to explain their content and connect with interested users, with a massive expansion of its video description field. TikTok has fast become a means for younger generations to use when searching, meaning leaning into this searchable element is a key opportunity for the platform to further compete with big search engines such as Google. Almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram. The algorithmic advantages now combined with the detailed descriptions means more relevant search matches and content suggestions for each user.
“This allows you to express more details about your creations, describing what your videos show, giving you the opportunity to get closer to your audience, generating more engagement while becoming more searchable and better recommended by TikTok to viewers.”
Instagram No Longer Splitting Stories Under 60 Seconds
Instagram have announced that Stories under 60 seconds in length will no longer be split into 15-second segments.
The feature is being rolled out gradually, users will be alerted once they have access to the update. Instagram’s been testing the update with selected users over the past year, as part of its broader process to integrate its video options, in line with the short-form video shift and general engagement trends. Instagram have been merging video formats to better the user experience, with this update providing more seamless viewing in stories.
The update also benefits the user experience by allowing them to skip through stories with less effort (skip once instead of tapping through various individual 15-second frames).
Instagram are aiming to simply platform on the app, especially in regards to their video formats, in the attempt to better rival TikTok’s short-form video offering. This included all video content (under 15 mins) uploaded as Reels after the retirement of IGTV.
Creators will have to restructure their brand deals based on length rather than frame counts. As well as factoring in these changes for any content requirements and reporting.
YouTube Shorts Gets A Voiceover Option
YouTube has added a new option to help enhance Shorts content, with creators now able to add voiceover to their short-form clips in the app.
The feature has been a large part of content success on TikTok and Instagram Reels due to the additional layer of creativity and engaging elements the feature can add to content. YouTube are becoming a key player in the short-form video competition, so the option to add audio over makes complete strategic sense.
“Add another layer of creative expression to your Shorts by narrating what happens in your content (think: instructions, explanations, reactions, funny comments, or even adding your own new sounds and beyond)”.
Shorts on YouTube have seen rapid growth, with 1.5 billion people or 75% of YouTube’s total audience now engaging with Shorts regularly. Given this, and the broader trend towards shorter video content, all creators and brands should be considering if and how Shorts may fit into their strategy, and whether it could enhance their overall YouTube presence.
Twitter Leans Into Emerging Video Trends
Twitter have began testing two new features dedicated to better the video experience on the platform.
The update includes a full-screen video viewing mode once a video has been tapped. Users will also be able to use a swipe discovery mechanic, similar to Instagram Reels and TikTok, that will allow users to swipe between algorithm recommended video content.
The platform recently began testing full screen tweets that allowed users to swipe between Tweets. It’s worth noting the platforms dedication to matching user behaviour trends and habits across social media platforms.
The update is worth noting for any campaigns launching on the platform, as there could be a bigger emphasis and opportunity to utilise the lean into video. Twitter’s algorithm isn’t the most accurate so it’s hard to predict if the feature will gain any traction.
Snapchat To Launch $100,000 Halloween Spotlight Challenges
Snapchat’s iconic ghost logo will form a whole new meaning throughout October. As the app prepares for spooky season, Snapchat has announced a series of 12 Halloween inspired Spotlight Challenges. The total prize pool for the challenges is expected to be $100,000.
The fun will begin on October 3rd, when Snap plans to launch a quartet of competitions on its TikTok competitor channel. Spotlight users will be encouraged to share #CostumeFails from past Halloweens. They will also have a chance to post the #HalloweenDecorations they’re putting up as well as #FallFavorites and #HalloweenPredictions in the build up to October 31st.
The contests will test Snapchat’s proprietary features like Snap Memories for those looking to pull up old photos of their past Halloween fits. Participants will be able to make the most of Snap’s Green Screen Video and Photo Lens functions to depict this year’s inspired outfits.
The best submissions, selected by Snap, will take home a portion of the $100,000 prize pool. By spreading the purse across creators and partners like Mariah Carey and The Kardashians, Snap has turned Spotlight Challenges into a steady revenue stream.
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And that’s all for this week, but don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter for real-time announcements of all our new blog content!
Don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Goat Vlog! In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the Brand Licensing Expo, and delve deeper into what brand expectations in today’s climate, and a look at the Goat summer party!
