Wondering what the latest news from the wider marketing world is? Well, we’ve got you covered. Take a look at our round-up of the industry’s biggest stories from the last seven days below.
53 Per Cent Of People Say Images Grab Their Attention More Than Headlines
Pure360 has analysed YouGov consumer data and found that more than half of internet users are more likely to notice an image than a title. Furthermore, 61 per cent said they expected marketing messages to include images, and 62 per cent would not buy from a brand unless they could see a product in its entirety. 54 per cent of respondents said they prefer brands that use product imagery over lifestyle photos.
Komal Helyer, Marketing Director at Pure360 said:
“With image sharing platforms like Instagram growing in popularity, brands are paying special attention to the power of a picture in marketing efforts to attract customers. Thankfully today they benefit from a plethora of technologies to deliver more relevant, interactive, responsive and targeted images.”
Four Companies Fined £600,000 For Spam Marketing
We’re strong believers in quality over quantity, and it appears the Information Commissioner’s Office (IC) agrees. After an extensive investigation, four UK companies have been fined £600,000 for millions of spam emails, calls and texts they made.
• Barrington Claims Limited, Port Talbot was fined £250,000 for 15 million automated calls
• Newday Limited, London was fined £230,000 for over 44 million spam emails
• Goody Market UK Limited, Liverpool was fined £40,000 for 111,367 spam texts
• TFLI Limited, Macclesfield was fined £80,000 for almost 1.2 million spam texts
ICO enforcement group manager Andy Curry said:
“Firms cannot get away with failing to follow the rules designed to protect people from the irritation and, on occasions, distress nuisance calls, emails and texts cause.”
“I would urge anyone bothered by nuisance marketing to report it to us. Your reports help us take action against firms like those we have fined today, putting a stop to the trouble they cause.”
Instagram Influencer Marketing Activity Doubled In 2017
New research has revealed that in 2017 there were 1,504,383 Instagram posts tagged with #Ad in 2017. The study by Klear states that this is almost double the influencer marketing activity of the previous period (198 per cent) and there was a 5 per cent average growth month-on-month.
Females ruled the roost during this time with 83.9 per cent of #Ad posts coming from women, whereas young millennials (people aged 18-24) posted the most sponsored content (42 per cent). One in four of all sponsored posts were related to fashion and accessories.
Facebook Is Revamping Its News Feed
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, has announced a major change to its news feed which will see posts from businesses and media deemed a lower priority than content from friends and family.
Facebook’s new algorithm will prioritise posts that offer ‘meaningful interactions between people’ and should be seen working within just a few short weeks.
In a post on his personal Facebook page, Zuckerberg said:
“Recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other. […]”
“Now, I want to be clear: by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable.”
For more news updates, guides and opinion pieces, take a look at a few more of our articles.