target audience - 24 fingers

TikTok overtakes Facebook as the world’s most downloaded app

Scheenagh Harrington — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 09:33:49 +0000

“I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids”, said almost every Scooby Doo villain ever. Those clever boffins at Facebook might be muttering something similar into their chai lattes at the latest social media bombshell – they’re no longer the world’s number one downloaded app.

According to 2020 data from analytics platform App Annie, that honour now belongs to Chinese upstart TikTok. It has one billion users worldwide, including more than 100 million in the United States alone.

So, what is the secret behind TikTok’s sudden boom in popularity? Well, it has proved massively popular among younger users, with some truly eye-popping content doing the rounds.

Like Facebook, it’s proved itself to be a relatively easy platform for businesses to post content and grow their brands among a receptive and fairly affluent audience using nifty engagement solutions and immersive formats.

It’s also given even the oldest social media hands a chance to flex their creative muscles. Who knew razor-sharp editing could be so much fun?

Add into the mix last month’s move allowing post videos up to three minutes in length, tripling the previous cap, and we reckon Facebook will have to do a bit of work to catch up – which means more goodies possibly coming our way. Naturally, when they drop, we’ll make sure you’re the first to know.

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the 42 Club, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community, the Organisation for Responsible Businesses and the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket. We help companies who are all fingers and thumbs with their social media grow their business and brand. Book your free strategy call here.

The post TikTok overtakes Facebook as the world’s most downloaded app first appeared on 24 fingers.

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No words needed

Grace Scott — Thu, 19 May 2016 15:18:40 +0000

Don’t really ‘get’ Snapchat? It’s time to get on board. Snapchat announced recently that it’s now serving 10 billion video views per day – that’s two billion more than Facebook. Some seriously impressive growth for a company that started as a simple platform for short-term selfies.

So what is it? Snapchat is a photo and video sharing app which invites users to get creative with what they share. When you send a snap to someone, you choose how long they’ll see it for – anything between one and 10 seconds. Same for the length of videos. This means you’ve gotta be pretty creative with what you send. Users can also save snaps to their ‘story’ – where images and videos are saved for 24 hours and can be viewed by your friends list as many times as they please.

The video element has grown exponentially and is becoming the main way to share information online – when done right, it’s engaging, entertaining and super shareable.

One of the ways Snapchat stays ahead is with constant updates. New features are added daily, including the hilariously pointless ‘filters’ – snap your face and it’ll give you options to turn into a dog, a cake, a zebra, a princess. No, really. These have become almost a cult for millennials – it will only take you five minutes to find a teenager’s Twitter profile photo using a Snapchat filter.

You can also include a location tag, time, date and temperature to a snap. In doing this, Snapchat has established itself as a platform where you can have a conversation without saying a single word.

Writing a Facebook status including where you are, what you’re wearing, what the time is, what the temperature is… takes longer than simply snapping a photo and adding it all in seconds. Yes, this plays up to the lazy millennial stereotype, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for Snapchat and I’m not sorry. I love the fact that in a world where the internet is constantly telling me what I (supposedly) want to see, Snapchat is giving me the opportunity to broadcast my own content – it invites people to become a creator and not just a consumer.

Yes, the platform can seem a bit transient and pointless – but its growth in influence and relevance cannot be denied. Lots of influencers use it and those same influencers will use Snapchat to push any relevant, pre-organised brand promotions. Brands too, albeit ones with money to spend, appear on a ‘discover’ screen with their own videos and article links that change daily. For businesses, Snapchat doesn’t offer an obvious ‘in’ and changes so regularly it can be difficult to plan a strategy that makes best use of the platform but that doesn’t mean that businesses shouldn’t try.

Millennials love it and keeping on top of what younger demographics are up to can be tricky. Snapchat is an easy way to do that. It isn’t polished or perfect, it’s in the moment and on the go which is a great way to become more relatable and accessible to an audience. Tap into that with your brand and you’ll be laughing.

Want to take Snapchat by storm? Find out how.

The post No words needed first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post No words needed appeared first on 24 fingers.

Gone in 60 seconds

Grace Scott — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:04:13 +0000

Instagram has begun running 60-second adverts. Previously, the maximum length for video ads was 30 seconds. Advertisers involved in the initial test included T-Mobile’s Super Bowl ad – which speaks volumes about the shift from TV ads to digital.

We’re in the #BigGame with @ChampagnePapi. #YouGotCarriered

A video posted by tmobile (@tmobile) on Feb 3, 2016 at 8:37am PST

With its update from square to any image format, Instagram has allowed brands to use adverts simultaneously on different platforms, so there is no need to reshoot their video ads. The downside of this is that brands underestimate the importance of content made specifically for certain platforms. Just because it’s well received or suited to television doesn’t mean it will go down well online.

To be honest, the move to longer adverts seems strange – 60 seconds is better for conveying a message, but will people watch to the end? Especially not *shudders at using this word* millennials who are used to their own Instagram videos being 15 seconds and six-second Vine videos.

Generation Social are a savvy bunch. Initial Instagram-targeted ads received a lot of negative comments: “Get this off my feed”, “Stop selling me stuff.” Longer ads are proving to be blunt selling tools that users are already sick of being hit over the head with.

The changes Instagram introduced to try to get ads onto the standard user’s feed have been subtle, but not this. Of course Instagram wants to monetize and become a platform brands can easily advertise on, but for a platform previously free from ads, it’s venturing into dangerous territory.

Don’t hit your customers over the head with selling tools, let 24 fingers plan your social media marketing (no blunt instruments used, we promise).

The post Gone in 60 seconds first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Gone in 60 seconds appeared first on 24 fingers.