KIMP’s Picks 4th October: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More
Friday – a day to recharge, reflect, and reconnect. A day to catch up on all the social media buzz and the exciting discussions that rocked the social media stage. That also means that it’s time for another edition of KIMP’s Picks.
KIMP’s Picks is your weekly curated collection of the most engaging, thought-provoking, and inspiring content from the digital sphere. From marketing insights and design inspiration to AI news and algorithm updates, we’ve got something for everyone. So, let’s waste no time and jump right into the latest social media buzz from this week.
In the Marketing Realm
New records in holiday shopping in 2024
The holiday season is here and marketers have rolled up their sleeve and gotten into the game. Amidst this, what are the trends to expect? This post from the popular marketing technology news site MarTech answers this question.
One quick fact is that the average spending in the months of November and December is projected to reach about $240.8 billion among US shoppers which is an 8.4% increase from the previous year. One of the key factors driving this growth is the increasing popularity of early-bird sales events like Amazon Prime Big Deal Days. As consumers become more accustomed to these pre-holiday discounts, they are spreading out their gift-buying throughout the year, leading to a more consistent stream of online purchases.
Reportedly there is also a substantial increase in the online shopping trends. Therefore, the success of this year’s holiday shopping season will depend on retailers’ ability to adapt to changing consumer preferences, leverage digital marketing strategies, and provide compelling offers that resonate with their target audience.
Social media response times
The next post is from the popular social media management tool Sprout Social and this one is about the need for brands to provide customers with timely responses on social media.
According to the data shared in the post, about 16% of customers expect brands to respond within minutes and nearly 30% of them expect replies within the same day at least. Considering the need for timely social media responses, Sprout Social also suggests 6 strategies to speed up the response times.
From streamlining social communications to using AI tools for automated responses, and chatbots to speed up the process, the post delves into several effective ways to reduce the time it takes for brands to get back to customers on social media.
Marketing analytics challenges
Marketing analytics is a must but it’s not often that people talk about the challenges that come with it. The Content Marketing Institute, a leading authority in the world of content marketing, shared an insightful discussion on this topic.
The post discusses how digital channels have simplified the process of obtaining customer data while also overwhelming marketers with the abundance of information. The article discusses some of the common challenges like data overload, lack of relevant integration, data silos and collaboration issues among other things. The post further delves into some quick and effective solutions to these challenges.
CAKE.com gets creative with its Halloween ad
Holidays like Halloween mean that brands around the world are coming up with campaigns to woo their audiences. Therefore, you need to get really creative to cut through the noise. This post from Ads of The World discusses one such creative ad from CAKE.com. So, here’s some marketing campaign inspiration for you.
The ad builds on simple office scenarios like misplaced documents and deadlines and metaphorically ties these back to the Halloween theme. The ad uses humor and horror to highlight the power of their tools in tackling everyday work stress. This shows the power of using emotions to communicate the message clearly.
Focusing on fandom to build beauty brands
Beauty branding comes with its unique set of challenges. And in the digital age, leveraging fandom can be one way to tackle these challenges. A post shared by The Drum, a leading online publisher of marketing news, discusses how fandom helps beauty brands rise above competition in the digital age.
The post delves into the need for beauty brands to foster strong relationships with their audiences. And then it delves into the need for beauty brands to build a strong brand identity and use interactive content to engage their audience.
The post is built around the example of Elf Cosmetic’s growth and their strategies to tap into fandom to nurture meaningful connections with their customers. Elf Cosmetics is a prime example of a brand that has successfully harnessed the power of digital communities to drive sales and loyalty.
In the Content Marketing Realm
Keyword mining tools
Search Engine Land shared a resourceful post that explores some of the most useful tools for keyword mining. Since relevant keywords are essential to succeed in PPC ads, the post talks about tools that can make it easier for marketers to find the right keywords to use in their ads.
From the effective use of Google Search Console to the related searches section on Google, Microsoft Advertising and Social Monitoring tools, the post discusses some of the most effective yet overlooked resources that are valuable assets in keyword mining. Therefore, if you are looking to elevate your content game, then consider exploring the 19 tools listed in the post.
The growing need for audio content in marketing
International Podcast Day was observed on September 30th. Aligning with the trend, Statista shared some quick data snippets showing the importance and growth of podcasts in recent times.
The post shows the podcast listening trends in various regions and an observed drop in the digital audio revenue. But it also captures the growing popularity of Spotify and Amazon Music as the platforms for podcasts. So, if audio content is part of your strategy, then the data shared here should give you some fresh perspectives.
Google’s UGC push
Google Search Liaison recently shared some insights about the increasing prominence of user-generated content (UGC) in search results. Search Engine Journal, a leading authority in the search-related news realm discussed these insights in the post here.
Driven by user demand and the prevalence of low-quality marketing content, Google aims to provide more authentic and firsthand perspectives through UGC. The post discusses how users are seeking more authentic information and experiences, leading to a growing demand for UGC. And how Google is continuously refining its algorithms to improve the quality and relevance of UGC in search results.
In the Design Realm
A creative and modern brand identity for AG1
Now, it’s time for some brand identity design inspiration. This post from The Brand Identity discusses the rebranding project for a popular nutritional drink brand AG1.
AG1’s rebranding effort focused on refining its existing identity rather than reinventing it. The post discusses how the project aimed to create a visual system that was both imaginative and functional, reflecting the brand’s foundation in research and evidence-based nutrition.
This new visual system created for the brand includes a fresh set of fonts, color schemes, motion design and other elements. The elements are also stitched together to represent the brand’s dual emphasis on “life” and “science”.
On the whole, the project emphasizes the need for creating brand elements that represent the crux of the brand, its philosophies and values.
Font ideas
Google Fonts is one of the most diverse font libraries with endless options for designers. In a recent post, they discussed a font named Matemasie. This is a display font with so much character. With its rounded edges there is a friendly tone to this font.
It also looks modern and effortless in many ways. Given that chunky fonts are trending this year, this bold and bubbly font is a great one to use in designs that call for a fresh and lively feel.
TechCrunch’s redesign
TechCrunch is a leading source of technology news. They recently underwent a brand identity makeover. This redesign aims to provide a sleeker, faster, and more immersive user experience while retaining its core strengths of in-depth reporting and analysis.
The new interface features improved navigation, making it easier for users to find the content they’re interested in. Notably, the site has adopted a new color palette and a more modern aesthetic, providing a visually appealing experience.
The makeover here shows the need for staying fresh and focusing on enhanced user experience.
Mobile optimization tips
Semrush recently shared a post exploring a few effective strategies for mobile optimization of UI design and web design in particular. The post begins with the need for responsive website designs for brands. And how this helps your website pages adapt to the size and layout of the device where the user accesses your website.
It further delves into the use of mobile-friendly navigation and focusing on reducing the page load times so as to avoid poor user experiences. Additionally, considering the increased use of smartphones in the digital age, the post also talks about the need for adding touch-friendly elements in the UI.
In the AI Realm
Gemini 1.5 Pro in Gemini Advanced gets a major upgrade
A few days ago, Google announced the arrival of new Gemini models. And now they have introduced the Gemini 1.5 Pro model in Gemini Advanced accessible through chat. This upgrade empowers users to delve deeper into complex topics, tackle challenging math problems, and receive more accurate responses than ever before.
The 1 million token context window also allows Gemini to better understand and analyze information. They also shared a post highlight how the upgrades allow users to upload multiple code files in order to process and comprehend complex codes or even debug them.
Making Copilot an AI assistant for everyone
While there are many AI assistants out there, not many are user-friendly. Therefore, Microsoft recently discussed their mission for Copilot and how they are working toward ensuring that Copilot serves as a helpful and supportive AI companion.
The recent updates on Copilot ensure enhanced personalization, intuition and security. Moreover, you can now talk to Copilot and have natural-sounding real time conversations with the AI assistant. This also adds up on the image processing capabilities of the tool and personalized responses that the tool is built for.
A video shared by Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI gives a preview of what to expect from the AI assistant after the latest updates.
Microsoft revamps search with AI
TechCrunch shared a post discussing some new upgrades coming to Bing Search. Given that Microsoft is consistently bringing new improvements to their AI tools and offerings, Bing is not left behind either. Keeping up with the AI-powered enhancements on Google Search like the recently popular AI Overviews option, Bing is also bringing a host of generative AI powered updates to Search.
Generative search presents search results in a visually appealing and cohesive layout, enhancing user experience. Moreover, beyond surface-level results, generative search provides detailed explanations, problem-solving assistance, and in-depth research. Refinements like these indicate the beginning of a new era in search technology.
Amazon’s Fire devices are getting generative AI upgrades
One of the trends we observed recently is that tech companies introducing AI-powered software capabilities are slowly moving these features to the hardware segment as well. In May this year, Microsoft announced their Copilot+ PCs. Keeping up with the trend, Amazon, a company that has been quite active in the AI segment recently announced the introduction of AI-powered features in the Fire HD 8 devices.
From AI-powered suggestions to refine your writing to getting quick AI summaries there are a host of features integrated to elevate user experiences on the Fire HD 8 devices.
Big announcements made at OpenAI DevDay 2024
Sam Altman recently shared a post showcasing the biggest announcements made at OpenAI DevDay 2024.
The key updates include Prompt Caching, Vision Fine-Tuning, Realtime API, and Model Distillation. In short, these new updates aim to reduce overall costs, improve visual understanding, create more intuitive conversational experiences, and also make AI more accessible to smaller companies.
It also seems like the company is now focusing on creating a thriving developer ecosystem through the new tools and refinements to their existing ones.
Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes
TikTok’s new feature alert: Flip Story
TikTok has launched a new feature called Flip Stories, allowing creators to add a second side to their stories, enhancing engagement and providing a more dynamic way to share content. Given that the Story post format is already a hit on Instagram, refinements like these take TikTok closer to success with the Story format as well.
The Flip Stories format on TikTok offers a unique way to engage with followers through before-and-after reveals, exclusive announcements, and sneak peeks. This lets creators make the most of content drops to excite and engage their audience consistently.
Pinterest elevates the experience for advertisers
Pinterest recently unveiled a suite of AI-powered updates and automation features for advertisers through their Performance+ offering.
These upgrades are designed to enhance the performance of advertising campaigns on the platform. These features, unveiled at Pinterest Presents, aim to make advertising campaigns smarter, more efficient, and more powerful.
According to Pinterest, Pinterest Performance+ campaigns leverage AI to optimize targeting, budgeting, and bidding and therefore result in improved performance.
Reportedly, these new updates also help reduce the overall time taken for advertisers to create and launch their campaigns.
Whatsapp gives a preview of Meta AI updates
A week ago, Meta announced some cool new updates coming to their AI assistant Meta AI. Whatsapp recently shared a snapshot of what these mean to the AI assistant access within the platform. The post here gives a preview of the kinds of things Meta AI can do on Whatsapp.
Some of the features highlighted here include the option to talk to Meta AI and get voice responses. Additionally, Meta AI on Whatsapp can also analyze images and answer questions about them. These are some handy features that take Meta AI closer to becoming a helpful virtual assistant.
TikTok STEM Feed comes to Canada
TikTok’s STEM Feed (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is now active for users in Canada.
This Feed will put educational content and creators known to consistently produce informative videos on the spotlight. Appearing right next to the Following Feed the STEM Feed is for all those users who are looking to leverage the platform to learn something new.
On a Final Note…
So with that we come to the end of the KIMP’s Picks 4th October Edition. We hope you liked this week’s social media roundup. If such weekly recaps to keep you in the loop sounds like a good idea, stay tuned and we’ll be back with another edition of the KIMP’s Picks with all the latest social media buzz and technology news that you cannot afford to miss.