Under the Influence

In This Issue:

📈 “Search blindness” is reducing the effectiveness of search marketing, pushing marketers to explore influencer marketing for more authentic recommendations.

💼 How do the salaries of new business hires in your agency compare with your competitors?

📸 Shutterstock shares its vision for Giphy's potential ad offerings.

🔍 Google's John Mueller says you probably don’t need to be concerned about keyword stuffing.

🚫 New malware variants target Meta business accounts.

🎥 Oops! Reels’ creators frustrated over Meta's revenue share payment slip-up.

📺 70% of users abandon streaming apps within three months.

🎬 Warner Bros. Discovery loses 1.8M subscribers following Max rebrand.

🛍️ Shopify reports positive revenues for the third consecutive quarter in Q2 2023.

📌 Pinterest shifts focus from creators to AI-driven content.

💌 Instagram implements measures to reduce DM request spam.

🎵 WPP partners with Spotify to leverage its first-party data insights.

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Unleashing Tiny Influencers in a Big World of Ad Haters

When the web first started, and ads showed up, they were banner ads — ugly, thin bars across the top. It didn't take long for consumers to just stop noticing them, something the industry called "banner blindness."

New studies are finding that search ads, too, are being seen less often — it's not that they're not being served as much, it's that consumers' eyes are just scanning past them. This is why search engines are trying to have their ads blend in as much as possible. We reported recently on Bing's test where the word ad is so tiny, you really don't even see it.

So if consumers aren't seeing search ads, where should our media spend go?

Influencers? Sure, that's been a thing for a while, but some signs indicate that traditional influencer content is losing effectiveness.

Which is why it's probably not surprising to see Adweek's report today that micro- and nano-influencers thrive due to their niche focus and dedicated, albeit smaller, following. Shoppers are also more inclined to follow affiliate links endorsed by influencers they trust.

Though lacking the broad reach of major stars, these content creators can connect with specific subsets of potential consumers who may overlook traditional search ads.

💡 Authenticity Matters

According to the report, the real strength of smaller influencers lies in how most are paid by brands.

"Campaigns with mega-influencers are most often billed per post, similar to a television ad which marketers pay just to air, while most micro-influencer campaigns are measured for clicks and conversions. This minimizes the risk to the brand, since they only pay for engagement and they’re able to effectively understand the value of the campaign.

"Channels like search may still have a place in marketing budgets, particularly dependent on your key verticals, but as costs rise, marketers should consider where their campaign elements will get the most value and retool elements based on these needs. While search signals intent, influencers need to create interest around products and services, breaking through the search blindness barrier found with paid search listings.”

How Much Agencies Are Paying New BizDev People

How much should you pay your new biz dev hire?

As the market evolves, more agencies are questioning how much they should pay their top salespeople.

💰 High Earnings and Experience

A new report from NBZ Partner, a growth consultancy, revealed that about half of the new business professionals surveyed earn more than $200,000 per year, and have at least 10 years' experience in the industry. The report also found that half of agency business development personnel receive commissions for the business they bring in.

📊 Commissions Across Salary Bands

The study also found that commissions are not limited to a specific salary level, with at least one-third of respondents in each salary band above $100,000 receiving commissions. However, they become more prevalent as salaries increase, with two-thirds of those making $250,000/year and half of those making $300,000 receiving commissions. Holding companies are more inclined to offer commissions compared to independent agencies.

Salaries tend to be higher at holding company agencies, but this is accompanied by increased pressure to deliver results due, in part, to shareholder demands for constant growth.

Images: Adweek / NBZ Partner

Shutterstock’s Million Dollar Plans for Giphy’s Ad Platform

From GIFs to riches... The launch of Giphy’s native advertising platform, set for release at the end of the year, will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Shutterstock's CEO.

The stock photography company recently acquired Giphy from Meta in a $53 million deal, following a ruling by Britain's Competitions and Markets Authority that deemed Meta's ownership anti-competitive.

Shutterstock says Giphy has about 1.7 billion daily users, with 14,000 API connections to major platforms including:

• Instagram

• Facebook

• Microsoft

• TikTok

Its library holds more than 100 million GIFs.

Giphy's previous 'Paid Alignment' advertising service was offered to U.S. marketers. Shutterstock plans to revive and expand this ad product in the coming months. The company would not provide any specific details about its upcoming advertising proposition.

Image: Canva

Keyword Stuffing: How Many is Too Many?

Is keyword stuffing an SEO urban legend?

According to Google Search Advocate John Mueller, having the same keyword ten or twenty times on a page isn't a concern, but rather when it reaches three hundred to five hundred or more occurrences.

In response to whether mentioning a product brand name 10-20 times on a page constitutes keyword stuffing today, Mueller replied:

"10-20x is amateur numbers when it comes to keyword stuffing :-).”

“I [don't] want to downplay the worry - it's just that when I run across pages where I worry about keyword stuffing, it's usually on the order of 3-500+ mentions on a page. I wouldn't worry about 10-20 mentions on a page just for SEO, but I would check if users think it's ok."

Rather than fretting over a few mentions for SEO purposes, he recommends focusing on user experience and ensuring that the content resonates with the audience.

Images: X via John Mueller

Phishing Campaign Targets Meta Business Accounts

Researchers recently detected a phishing campaign that uses new variants of the NodeStealer malware to completely take control of Meta business accounts.

Meta previously reported a threat from NodeStealer in May, which was written in JavaScript and let hackers steal browser cookies to hijack Facebook accounts.

Apart from the direct financial impact on Meta business accounts, the malware also pilfers browser credentials, paving the way for further attacks.

🎣 Phishing Campaign

The hackers executed the attack through phishing links, tricking victims into downloading files containing the malicious infostealer. Once activated, the malware scans for logged-in business accounts in the default browser and hacks them.

It collects information about the target, including:

• Follower count

• User verification status

• Account credit balance

• Ad details

The second variant can also gain access to the victim's emails.

⚠️ Future Threats

Although the campaign using the two new NodeStealer variants is no longer active, researchers warn that the threat actors may continue to improve the malware to target Meta business accounts in the future.

Meta’s Paying Out Reels Creators BIG! (J/K! J/K! 🤣)

Meta is facing backlash from short-form video creators after its latest payment notifications for its Music Revenue Sharing program promised them payouts of tens of thousands of dollars… by mistake.

The program lets creators earn a portion of in-stream ad revenue from their Reels on Facebook that contain licensed music. However, a 'display error' resulted in notifications being sent to some users showing massive pending payout amounts.

The company has sent out a notification addressing the mistake and reducing the payouts significantly.

Meta says only a small number of creators were affected, and all have been notified of the error.

Image: Meta

In Brief

📺 MEDIA APPS: More than 70% of American smart-TV viewers use streaming apps for just three months or less. Apps with lower monthly usage have the shortest retention. This, from a Samsung study that also found targeted advertising can reduce churn. more

🛍️ COMMERCE: Shopify reported a 31% YoY revenue increase to $1.7B for Q2 2023. Despite a $1.6B operating loss, operating income was positive. Merchandise volume rose by 17%. more

📌 CREATORS: Pinterest's focus has shifted from creators to AI. In their recent investor call, the term "creator" was mentioned just six times, a drop from 29 mentions in Q1 2022. more

📱 SOCIAL: Instagram is trying to curb spam by limiting non-followers to one text-only DM request. This change is meant to prevent unsolicited media in message requests. The move is part of a broader safety initiative underway there. more

🎵 ADVERTISING: WPP and Spotify have a new partnership that gives the global agency access to Spotify's first-party listening data for more effective campaigns. more

🎥 STREAMING: Warner Bros. Discovery lost close to 2M subscribers after the Max rebrand. The company now has about 96M users. Overlapping accounts between Max and Discovery+ could be a reason. More

And finally…

You might remember that Twitter? Excuse me... "X"... has for a few months now been selling the blue checkmarks. The badge used to be given to people who had a high risk of impersonation on the platform, but now anyone can get one for $8.

This sort of changed how people thought of those with the checkmarks. Before, it was a sign of authority, maybe even fame.

Now, in some circles — notably, the anti-Musk circles — it's treated more as a joke. Memes abound on the site with people replying to blue-checked tweets with comments like "this mf paid for Twitter." There are even browser plugins that hide any tweet posted by a verified user (ask me how I know).

Well now, if you're feeling embarrassed by paying $8 a month to use the site, a new feature exists where you can hide that checkmark so nobody knows.

Only, like a lot of things there, it's sort of broken.

The fine print reads:

“The checkmark may still appear in some places and some features could still reveal you have an active subscription."

Oh, and it might also cripple your experience on the site:

"Some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden.”

In other words, situation normal.

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