📰 NoGood News | Vol. 62
Why TikTok may no longer be the #1 platform for brands anymore
Hi NoGoodies,
Before we jump into another round of the NoGood News, here's a quick TL;DR of what's below:
Why TikTok growth is slowing down
Why might they no longer be the number one platform for brands?
There’s a “Before Apple Vision Pro”, and an “After Apple Vision Pro”
How AR advertising will permanently transform brand experiencesWe’re headed to SxSW 2024!
See you on March 8 in Austin, Texas
Ready? Let's get into it.
📉 Why TikTok growth is slowing down
Why might they no longer be the number one platform for brands?
TikTok isn’t what it used to be.
As of 2024, TikTok continues to grow — but its growth is decelerating.
TikTok Shops, increased ad cadence, censorship, a push for more long-form content, and continuous changes to the algorithm all have led users to question if the once great TikTok was starting to lose its charm.
Many users even took to the platform to complain about all the changes that are hurting their experience.
TikTok Shops’ goal was to turn all the influencer content you see on TikTok (“get ready with me” videos, unboxings, etc.) and make it way more streamlined for conversion and sales.
But in the process, you take content coming from creators that started as authentic and genuine and turn it into a promotionally heavy commercial.
Now that Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have been widely adopted by users and serve as alternatives to the platform, TikTok is no longer the only place to go for addicting short-form content.
This increased competition might make users more likely to spend less time on the platform.
🥽 There’s a “Before Apple Vision Pro”, and an “After Apple Vision Pro”
How AR advertising will permanently transform brand experiences
The early success of the Vision Pro has caught everyone by surprise – even Apple.
Despite being over a decade late to the party, Apple has brought a new approach to virtual reality that has already shown the potential to propel the medium from a niche into the mainstream.
This technology will open up doors for marketers that would’ve never even been conceivable just a few months ago.
Instead of 2D video ads showing off a product, think about immersive experiences that allow potential customers to demo products… all from the sanctity of their own homes.
Although the Vision Pro is only a week old, a few brands (e.g. Alo Yoga, Formula 1, ESPN) have already made attempts to leverage the technology in their marketing strategy.
🎤 We’re headed to SxSW 2024!
See you on March 8 in Austin, Texas
It’s no secret that the key to creating a strong online presence as a brand today is through authentic, relatable, and value-driven content.
Pulling the curtain to offer your audience a glimpse of your brand’s true story — and the team behind it — can help them feel connected to the brand more meaningfully, thereby strengthening longer-term brand loyalty.
Whether it’s through behind-the-scenes office TikToks, in-house creators, or podcast interviews with team members, why not add a face (or faces) to the brand?
Why not lean on your best asset — your people — especially when it can help you grow your community?
Join us on March 8, 2:30-3:30 pm CT at SXSW to hear Mostafa ElBermawy and Sarah Baus discuss the art of building an engaged brand community with culture-driven content.
🎙 Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: Open' AI’s newest text-to-AI model, Sora, is causing a huge debate between performance marketers and creatives. What do you think its impact will be on A/B testing, cost efficiency, and ROI?
A: Sora opens the doors to personalization and rapid A/B testing at a much faster pace and larger scale than ever before, meaning it’ll lead to lower overall costs and higher ROI. With more creative leverage, you don’t have to risk as much in the video production stage, which allows you to yield more results, learn faster, and optimize faster. That being said, it does then demand more human QA to make sure that creative quality is not jeopardized simply because of the ease of the AI model. Video creation may become easier, but prompt generation and quality assurance now become more of a challenge.
Q: With the potential for AI-generated content to blur the line between authentic and fabricated, how can marketers build and maintain consumer trust in their campaign messaging?
A: With the growth of UGC platforms and dedicated UGC creators, we’re already seeing a growing demand for greater consumer trust because consumers know that a lot of the content they consume is often scripted, staged, or paid for. Sora is prompting a (valid) discussion about trust and transparency right now, but I think it’s important to note that this is already an ongoing conversion in the marketing space with the creator economy, branded content, and social commerce. Consumer trust has and always will be of utmost importance, whether the content is created by AI or humans.
✍️ We wish we wrote this
A curated list of the past 2 weeks' must-read articles:
Pinterest is getting Gen Z users to shop through their ‘Inclusive AI’
Is the TikTok algorithm a bag of chips?
Barbiecore? Bed rotting? Greedflation? Dictionary.com adds new 2024 words.
👀 Keeping up on the socials
Because we know you like to stay in the know:
The showdown between Rhode and Rare Beauty
BeReal's downfall has begun — and we can’t say we didn’t see it coming
Our office hired a Peleton instructor — here’s how it went