🚫 New Zealand.

Pressure mounts against TikTok, Meta tears a page from Twitter’s playbook, and more. March 20, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning, happy Monday. Today is the first day of spring, which means it’s a great week to get a haircut. You know… to cut off those dry winter ends and look fresh for the warming weather. Kudos if you’re one of those people who can cut their own hair. We’re not brave enough to try that. META Just launched: Verified [article-image] Oh look, another subscription… Meta launched “Meta Verified,” its [paid tier for Facebook and Instagram](, in the US after opening it up to Australia and New Zealand last month. More than a badge: Users that opt for Verified get a blue verification badge similar to Twitter blue subscribers, plus a number of other perks like: - Effective and quick protection from impersonation. - Direct access to customer support. However, the US version won’t provide increased visibility like it does in Australia and New Zealand. Bummer. The price of privilege: The subscription tier costs $11.99 per month on the web, and $14.99 on mobile devices. For comparison, Twitter Blue for web costs $8 and $11 for smartphones. Why we care: However you feel about blue checks, they’re a useful way to demonstrate instant credibility to followers, especially if you’re trying to build an audience on Meta’s platforms. So Verified might be a good move… if you don’t mind spending a little extra. TIKTOK New Zealand bans TikTok on government devices and pressure mounts in the US Oof, talk about Monday blues. Back the ban: Six more [US senators have sponsored legislation]( to give president Joe Biden powers to ban TikTok in the country. The US Congress will question TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on March 23 before deciding on next steps. No more kiwis: Meanwhile, [New Zealand is the latest country to ban TikTok]( on government devices out of “cybersecurity concerns.” That makes New Zealand yet another name on an [ever-growing list of countries]( prohibiting the app on government devices, including the US, Canada, Taiwan, several European countries, and more. Influencers to the rescue: In an interesting turn of events, TikTok is planning to bring [a crowd of influencers to Washington DC for three days this week](. Why? To hold a press conference on Capitol Hill in the hopes of preventing a forced sale of the company – which is one of the US government’s conditions for avoiding an outright nationwide ban. Why we care: A TikTok ban would directly affect every brand, business, and influencer using it for marketing, so it’s worth knowing what’s going on. And as we’ve said before, this is just reason #1339 why you shouldn’t rely too heavily on any one platform. So be sure to take your learnings and assets and apply them to other relevant channels. No time like the present! SPONSORED BY RETENTION.COM 70% of customers never finish a purchase. Here’s how to reclaim 5–10x of your abandonment revenue in 30 days [article-image]( Getting customers to visit your site and place items in their cart is only half the battle. In fact, only about 30% of carts make it through the checkout process. That means 70% of the time, customers add items to their carts without completing their purchases. That’s a lot of revenue you’re missing out on! All is not lost… [You can reclaim as much as 5–10x your lost revenue with Retention.com.]( When a customer abandons a browser, cart, or product, [Retention.com]( identifies the visitor and triggers a personalized flow in your messaging platform. It’s effective personalization at a massive scale. Just ask Tonal, which [saw Retention.com 10x its email list.]( Or Blendjet, which [made $1.8M over 30 days of emails](. With [Retention.com](, you’re up and running in under a day, ready to scale up your abandonment flows for “set-it-and-forget-it” ROI. [Schedule your demo now](. INFLUENCER MARKETING How much should you pay for an influencer campaign? [article-image] So you decided to hire an influencer for your campaign. That’s probably a good idea, since research says [64% of brand marketers will do the same]( this year. But there’s one question you need to answer… How much cash are you expected to splash? [Anna Freer writes]( that the price of your next influencer depends on two factors – the platform and the number of followers. Let’s see what that’s all about… For starters, not all platforms are equal in performance. If you’re working with a tight budget, you may find that the most popular ones are too pricey. Here’s an example: - Instagram is the most popular influencer platform. Influencers with less than 1000 followers are expecting $90 compensation for a post, while those with 10k followers expect at least $400. Those above 100k could charge as much as $1k for a single post. - TikTok takes more creative effort and is nearing Instagram in terms of performance. Its influencers expect similar prices to Instagram, albeit 10-15% more expensive. - Facebook and Twitter are perfect for brands with shallow pockets, since creators expect significantly fewer dollars per post. However the exact amount is not specified. There’s something else to consider. Instagram influencers with small followers tend to have a skewed realty of the market – sometimes overcharging per post. So make sure you do your homework on their engagement and follower quality. Also, campaigns on TikTok increase exponentially as a user crosses 100k followers, so if you don’t want to overpay, you may be happy with those who just crossed the mark. Ready to launch that influencer campaign? Remember: ask around, educate yourself and maybe even your potential influencer partner on the going rates… and you’ll have a better shot at winning together. SPONSORED BY WISTIA Analyzing 80 million videos and surveying 1,500+ marketers shows you how to make your business video stand out [article-image]( Wistia [analyzed over 80 million videos and surveyed 1500+ marketers](, then distilled all the findings into its 2023 State of Video Report. You'll get data that informs you on how to: - Make effective investments in your video strategy. - Create high-impact videos that can grow your reach. - Distribute videos to the best social media channels for B2B. - Edit videos that beat video engagement benchmarks. - Practice the best conversion tactics for your videos. … And loads more. [Download the free report](. THE CREW’S INSIGHTS How to use AI to write effective cold emails [article-image] So you’re at your computer again, and you’re dreading writing that next cold email. Don’t. Instead, let ChatGPT write it for you. It takes a bit of fiddling with the prompts, but we spent the last couple months diving into [AI for Stacked Marketer Pro](, so we have you covered. Here’s a prompt we used to generate some good cold emails: Prompt: I'm selling project management software for senior software engineers. I'm writing an email to Michael, who works at Microsoft. His LinkedIn "about" section is: "Skilled in software design, distributed systems, and technologies including C#, Git, and C. I earned a Summa Cum Laude Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University along with a minor in Music, Media, and Enterprise." Write a personalized email to him, connecting his "about" to my proposal for a project management software. Make the email informal, like you're talking to a friend. Mention facts from the person's "about" section at the beginning of the email. Of course, you can play with the format all you want, but we’ve found it’s a pretty effective prompt for getting cold emails. Why this is helpful: Most cold emails, even the good ones, follow similar structures. Automating this structure and letting ChatGPT do the work can save you lots of time—and it can give you inspiration as you’re writing a few of your own. If you want to learn how to leverage AI to create better copy, images, and advertising—and even make more money—[read the full report in Stacked Marketer Pro](. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [AUDIENCE TRENDS:]( Many businesses struggle identifying trends early enough to act on them. Spate leverages the power of data science to help brands like L'Oreal, Olaplex, and Benefit get ahead of competitors. Tap into emerging trends with machine learning. [Book your free trial.](* [AI MARKETING:]( Needs a human touch. While it appears you can copyright AI-generated art, the US copyright office says it’s more likely to register AI art that you’ve edited afterwards than the one created solely by a prompt. Good to know. [TWITTER:]( Open house. Elon Musk tweeted that all Twitter code will go public on March 31, and you may “discover many silly things” while the platform works on fixes and patches. A deeper look into how the Twitter algo works? We’re in. [ANALYTICS:]( Another day, another Google Analytics 4 addition. This time, it’s the ability to apply item-scoped custom parameters from e-commerce events, which should allow you to get more custom item-specific data like product color, size, availability status, and such. Nice. [ADVERTISING:]( Head’s up if you run programmatic ads. Did you know there’s a difference between how TV programmers and YouTube measure their audiences? No worries if you don’t… neither do they, apparently. But important to know if you’re reporting on results… [TWITTER:]( Bookmarks matter, too. At least according to Twitter. The blue bird added a new bookmark count that reveals how many users saved your tweet for later. Tell your marketing manager that shares aren’t everything! *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER How do you spell “candy” using just two letters? You can find [the answer here.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT This PC powered by… mushrooms [article-image] If you don’t end up sautéing those mushrooms for your risotto, maybe [you can use them to power your PC](. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. A group of scientists from England managed to connect fungi to a motherboard and use mycelium—a network of fungal threads capable of sending electrical signals—to communicate with each other. Of course, these “infected” CPUs are still a long way off from powering today’s high-end tech. For now, at least… In other news, we learned that our nervous system uses a similar “spiking activity" for communication. … And that gives us The Last Of Us vibes. Yikes. SHARING IS CARING We’re not crying, you’re crying. It seriously means a lot to us when you share our newsletter. So when you share Stacked Marketer with other marketers—and they subscribe—we reciprocate instantly with awesome content and merch, like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals) - The Marketer Mug (30 referrals). … And lots more. Hit the link below to get started! [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking [here.]( Our postal address: Spectrum IT Solutions GmbH, Canettistrasse 1/Top 0107, 1100 Wien, Austria