The weekly Digital Download is out. Get all the Marketing hot news, quick tips, and highlights you need to get you through the week, rolled up into a five-minute read.

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In the News 

Hot Off the Press 

• Why the US government wants Facebook to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp
  • On Wednesday, the US Federal Trade Commission and 48 US state attorneys general filed major lawsuits against Facebook that argue the social media giant is a monopoly whose anti-competitive practices harm Americans. The two lawsuits are the biggest antitrust challenge Facebook has faced. They each call for Facebook to be broken up by forcing it to undo its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which together have billions of users. Read More.
• Mediation App HeadSpace Plans Multiple Netflix Shows
  • Medication became a necessity for many people through the pandemic, and it appears that trend will continue into 2021. Netflix is seizing on it with new shows in partnership with Headspace, a leading meditation app. The first eight-episode show, “Headspace Guide to Meditation,” will focus on the science of meditation. Each episode will be 20 minutes long and spotlight different techniques viewers can use in various situations. A second series will focus on sleep, and a third will be an interactive experience for viewers.

• Twitter Acquires Multi-Participant Streaming App Squad, Which Enables Screen-Sharing Within Chats
  • Squad is primarily a video chat tool, which enables users to connect in real-time, like Houseparty. But the app’s key addition is simplified screen-sharing. Squad allows any chat participant to share their screen, at any time, which then enables discussion based around content from other apps, private messages, etc. Squad noted that its usage has increased 1100% as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
    
• Burger King Lends Its Instagram Account to Indie Restaurants to Help them During Lockdown
  • Following its efforts to encourage people to order from shuttered rivals like McDonald’s and KFC last month, Burger King France is now reaching out to help independent restaurants by lending them its Instagram account during the newest lockdown. In its latest campaign, Burger King is letting Indie restaurants use its IG account while France remains in lockdown. Burger King will not post any of its own pictures, and will instead, highlight several indie restaurants a day. Anyone who posts a photo of their signature dish with the hashtag #WhopperAndFriends can participate and Burger King will repost their picture, name and menu item. Read the full story here.
• The Marketer of 2021
  • What skills will marketers need in order to thrive in 2021? Learn how 100 industry professionals from organizations like Monster, Publicis, and Amnesty are adapting as we head into the new year. In this guide by Brandwatch, marketers learn how to adjust their mindsets and invest in the right skills and tech to prepare them to do their best work in 2021. Read the full report here.
• What We Learned from UGC in 2020 and How to Plan for 2021
  • UGC has always been one of the most compelling forms of content. It’s more trusted than brand-led campaigns and it instills a sense of trust in a digital landscape. The key elements of your UGC strategy in 2021:
    • Build trust – Brands will have to work harder than ever to recapture the trust and loyalty of customers in 2021. A precedent has been set this year, and this will continue to play a huge part in strategies moving forward.
    • Provide social proof – When things start to return to normal, consumers will want validation that others are buying from you or are at the very least re-engaging in shopping and purchasing.

“UGC has always been one of the most compelling forms of content. It’s more trusted than brand-led campaigns and it instills a sense of trust in a digital landscape.”

Creativity 

Out of the Box 

• Ultimate Grey and Illuminating: Pantone’s 2021 colors of the year spark hope and despair
  • In 2020 Pantone’s color of the year choice, Classic Blue, proved eerily prescient. Classic Blue was announced just weeks before the first Covid-19 cluster was discovered and is the shade of medical scrubs around the globe. For 2021, the US-paint brand’s team of trend forecasters have selected two shades – Ultimate Grey and Illuminating – the second time they have done so in the Color of the Year’s two-decade history.
    
• The State of Video 2020 Edition
  • Video isn’t just a common form of content and a popular digital channel; it attracts, engages, and converts better than the alternatives. Vidyard and Demand Metric have researched the state of video every year since 2014. This annual research effort aims to examine the use of video, how it’s measured, and its impact.
• Toilet Paper, Overgrown Hair and Murder Hornets: Reddit Debuts Its First Year-in-Review Film
  • Major tech brands and platforms often close out the year with a look back on their top moments. Last week Spotify released its “Wrapped” campaign and this week, Reddit debuted its first-ever year-in-review film. It opens with a question posed on r/askReddit: “How could 2020 possibly get worse?” It then goes on to recount everything from what users did in quarantine, to what we lost, to what broke our hearts and of course, COVID-19 and murder hornets. It’s told in the format of a sing-along video, accompanied by a charming, folksy acoustic track.

Tricks of the Trade 

Tips and Tricks 

• How to Create Instagram Guides: Step-by-Step Setup
  • Instagram guides are individual albums or groups of content collected into a single resource. Instagram guides allow you to group a mix of educational content, product information, team insights, behind-the-scenes looks, and more into relevant categories. This makes it easy for your audience to quickly find and view those posts, rather than scrolling through all of your content. Whether you’re a B2C or B2B brand—or anything else for that matter—there are plenty of creative ways you can use Instagram guides to gather and group content that best serves your audience.

“Whether you’re a B2C or B2B brand—or anything else for that matter—there are plenty of creative ways you can use Instagram guides to gather and group content that best serves your audience.”

• 10 Social Media Trends Every Marketer Should Know in 2021 (Infographic)
  • Social media marketing is one of the most important marketing strategies for e-commerce businesses. This requires more than opening a few social media accounts where you expect your target audience to find you – you also need to understand the latest social media trends:
    • The Proliferation of Memes on Social Media
    • Start Profiting from Your Social Media Videos
    • Niche Platforms Growing in Popularity
    • Social Media Stories Are Not Going Anywhere
    • Social Media as a Discovery Engine

• Digital Marketers Share Advice on Social Strategy Adjustments for the New Year
  • In a year with a news cycle and social media landscape overwhelmed with conversations around COVID-19 and the 2020 election, having the right monitoring tools and knowing how to uplevel them was a key part of strategy in 2020. As we head into 2021, there’s still time to take your NetBase skillset to the next level to add to a successful new year. If you didn’t get a chance to join NetBase for NetBase Quid Live 2020’s virtual sessions, we have some key takeaways from some important sessions to share (you can also check out some sessions on their website here) as you consider adjustments to your social media strategy in the new year.

• Metrics that Matter for Content Measurement and Optimization
  • Determining if your content strategy is performing as expected isn’t easy, and without understanding your content’s impact, you’re just making content for content’s sake. Mastering content analytics and identifying content’s specific effect on how you attract and convert new customers is challenging. It takes time to craft the right approach so that you truly measure the metrics that matter. The best rule of thumb is to measure early and measure often.

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