📹 Video.

Longer Instagram stories sound like a good idea. So do Podcast ads. Sure they work, but for how long? December 17, 2021 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Happy Friday! 2021 has come and gone, but with the end of this year we are left with thanksgiving in our hearts, presents under our trees, and new goals ready to be achieved. We hope you’re ready because 2022 is calling your name into a bright new year. This will be our last newsletter of 2021, but don't be sad! We’ll be back on January 3rd to share some more fun and exciting nuggets of knowledge. Have a happy holiday! INSTAGRAM Instagram wants to increase the length of video stories to 60 seconds [article-image] [Instagram has notified]( a few select users of a major change. The ability to create 60-second-long story videos. The current state: Currently, the maximum length of Instagram videos is 15-seconds. If you upload a Story video that is longer than 15 seconds, Instagram will "split" it into multiple 15-second videos for you. Which is far from ideal. How this change can benefit advertisers: Essentially, you’ll have more time to persuade. Instagram stories can be boosted [with Carousel ads](. Currently, each Story ad can contain a maximum of 10 videos. If you do the math, the maximum length of your boosted Story video is 150 seconds (two and a half minutes). This change could increase the maximum limit to 600 seconds (ten minutes). If you had a product that requires more explanation, this change could be a lifesaver. Let’s see how long before Instagram rolls this out more widely. ADVERTISING Podcast ads work. No one knows how long Meet Fum, a company that sells smoking cessation devices. Fum has been killing it with podcast ads. They went from spending $3,000 a month at the beginning of the year to $30,000 by the end of it. Podcast ads are “our number one revenue source,” says Fum PR manager Adam McNeil. But, according to McNeil and other successful podcast advertisers, [things are changing due to 3 factors](: - Big shows getting licensed & acquired. Fum advertised on a show which doubled their price after it was acquired. Acquisition often results in instant price hikes. - Dynamic ad insertion. If you advertise on a smaller show, you can get the host to say your ad. Your ad will be visible for as long as the podcast episode is available. This is not the case with dynamic ad insertions. Here the podcast episode is suddenly interrupted, someone (usually other than the host) tells your ad creative, and you get charged on a CPM basis. - Big brands are getting into podcast ads. And they bring their big budgets, which means higher ad prices for the rest of us. The Crew’s take: This is totally expected. Podcast ads, like any other acquisition channel, is not immune to the [law of shitty click throughs](. At the end of the day, the marketers who adapt best win, and we're pretty sure you will be one of them if you're reading us :) SPONSORED BY FOLDERLY Up to 40% better email open rate with this one-stop solution [article-image]( Email marketing is essential for any business but did you know that 51% of all business emails worldwide never reach the inbox? Most of the effort that brands put into email marketing goes wasted because their audience never reads or gets their emails. There’s a solution to that deliverability problem. [Folderly is an AI-based email deliverability solution]( that provides deliverability and inbox placement tests, IP and domain reputation checks, DNS records fix, spam and blacklist checks, warm-ups for your IP, domain, and email address, and much more. This means that Folderly will guarantee that your emails land in the right folder, and increase your average open rate by up to 40%. [How would your email revenue look like with such an open rate?]( We wish we knew about Folderly in our early newsletter days… It could have saved us hundreds of hours! [Try it for free.]( SOCIAL MEDIA Duolingo’s formula to explode their TikTok account [article-image] Twerking on tables. That’s part of the formula. We are not joking. One of Duolingo’s most viral posts shows Duo the Owl, Duolingo’s mascot, twerking on a table. As dumb as it may sound, there’s some genius behind their strategy. [And Kimeco McCoy broke down their strategy in this Digiday post.]( If you check Duoling's TikTok account, you’ll see that at some point their videos started to average a few hundred thousand to millions of views. And that growth also matches the introduction of Duo the Owl. There are brands that get TikTok. And brands that just don’t get it. Here’s how Duolingo is winning on the app: Be brave: According to Brendan Gahan, “The brand embraced this slightly menacing perception of the owl. “I don’t think that most brands have the bravery to do that and embrace these things which, on the surface, can be perceived as a negative.” Let your audience lead you: Social listening is the name of the game. The idea is to throw a dart in the dark. There’s no expectation. The only expectation is to get better 1% every day and let that compound. Test. Learn. Iterate. Only post if you have authentic content: Zaria Parvez, Duolingo's social media manager, says that they post anywhere from three to five times per week, but only if there are original and authentic ideas. Duolingo humanized their brand: This has been mostly achieved through their mascot. Here’s Zaria Parvez’s thought process: “The way I think about it, especially when I’m commenting as Duo or creating content as Duo, Duo is that pushy friend that motivates you. But we never want Duo to be that pushy friend that makes you hate your existence. He wants you to do well and will always be up in your business. The way to make Duo love you is to do your lesson.” SPONSORED BY INSIGHTS Leveraging a personal brand to build a $30M+ yearly revenue supplement company [article-image]( It’s an impressive figure, for sure - but that doesn’t mean they are perfect. This deep dive unveils how LadyBoss succeeds even though they have a high-friction purchasing process, messy design, and “tacky” branding. We think Kaelin (LadyBoss founder) and her storytelling ability have a lot to do with their success. [Check out the free preview of this deep dive.]( Want access to the full deep dive? [Check out Insights risk-free]( with our 24-hour money-back guarantee. THE CREW'S INSIGHTS A big list of cart page guidelines [article-image] The cart page is a salient element in your customers’ purchase journey. It’s the decisive set of a match (if you’ll allow us a tennis analogy), you can’t be superficial. And this is why you want to check out this big list of e-commerce cart pages guidelines from the [Ecommerce Checklist blog](. Enjoy! - Show all the necessary information: Let users know they are buying the right product by showing the title, image, chosen variant, shipping costs, quantity, total price, etc. - Make the CTA button the most prominent element on the screen: The main action you want them to take is to proceed to the checkout. Hence, make sure they can clearly see the CTA. - Use scarcity and urgency triggers to push them off the fence. - Show information about returns, refunds, and guarantees. - Include relevant upsell and cross-sell sections. - Show the alternative payments options under the CTA, preferably with images. - Make sure the main CTA explains what happens after they click. - Show the subtotal price near the CTA. - Automatically update the cart when the shopper changes the quantity. - Make sure the cart saves the customer information for their next visit. These are some of our favorites. [But you can find the full list here.]( ROUNDING UP THE STACK [PPC:]( It wasn’t just you. Google Ads went down for everyone yesterday for several hours. [TIKTOK:]( You know what’s better than videos with images as backgrounds? Videos with GIFs as backgrounds. The latter is possible with the most recent TikTok update. [INSTAGRAM:]( You can now embed your Instagram profile on a website. [WORDPRESS:]( What’s new in the Wordpress world? For starters, they’ve surpassed 43% market share. Here are some of the announcements made by Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, at the annual State of the Word address. [TWITTER:]( If you use Twitter Ads, here’s a useful update: You can assign names to tweets. [SEO:]( Google is being straightforward with us: You can’t tell which SEO efforts lead to ranking success. [SNAPCHAT:]( How well do Snapchat ads work for CPG companies? Here’s some data straight from the social network. BRAIN TEASER How do you spell COW in thirteen letters? You can find the [solution here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Politicians in Brazil have started settling disputes the old fashioned way: via MMA fights [article-image] If you can’t settle it with words, use your fists. [That is the philosophy to which some Brazilian politicians]( have recently begun to adhere to. Two Brazilian politicians settled a dispute over a local waterpark project in an old-fashioned way: by fighting in the ring. The two men have previously exchanged some names, calling each other “crooks.” Anyway, the fight took place over the weekend, and there was a winner. Don’t worry, all went well and the politicians were both in good spirits afterwards, hugging and shaking hands. It's unclear how the fight will affect the waterpark dispute. Or will we see a rematch? SHARING IS CARING Share this email with your friends and get cool rewards! From our Insights Poolside Chat, to stickers, T-shirts, one-of-a-kind coin, custom-made magazine cover, to lifetime Insights full membership and a trip to Vienna, Austria! Just click the button below! It takes less than 60 seconds to share. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [INSIGHTS]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. 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