SMM's Key Events in November 2021 with Commentary / ITech content

Contents:

• Advertising in Telegram can be disabled
• Long stories have appeared on Instagram*
• TikTok will launch a platform for communication between bloggers and advertisers
• YouTube hid the dislike counter
• Twitter bought the Threader service and launches a paid version of Twitter Blue
• VK found a way to improve targeting for iOS users
• Research: how links in Facebook* affect user interaction
• What works better - Instagram* Reels or TikTok?

• Advertising in Telegram can be disabled
• Stories for a minute on Instagram*
• TikTok will launch a platform for communication between bloggers and advertisers
• YouTube will hide the dislike counter forever
• Twitter bought the Threader service and launched a paid version of Twitter Blue
• A new attribution model from VK for mobile applications
• Research: how links in Facebook* affect user interaction
• Which is more effective - Instagram* Reels or TikTok?
• 10 more news in one line

Advertising in Telegram can be disabled

Pavel Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced that he is taking user feedback into account and plans to introduce an ad-blocking feature in the messenger. This feature will be available to users via subscription, but the subscription price has not yet been disclosed. Telegram's founder guarantees that the price will be affordable for most users. Channel administrators will be able to block ads on their platforms. They will be offered the option to place ads with "invisible" ads on their channels. Currently, according to Pavel Durov, the messenger is working to calculate the economics of this feature. The platform has set a minimum CPM of €2, which has raised concerns among industry representatives. Many channels may face the problem of an excessively high price for ad blocking, which will negatively impact their revenue and the overall effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. This circumstance requires careful analysis and revision of strategies for interacting with advertising partners.

Telegram launched advertising capabilities in October 2021, after which a full-fledged advertising platform was introduced in the messenger. Advertising on Telegram is presented in the form of short messages posted in popular channels. To begin an advertising campaign, a minimum budget of €2 million is set, of which €1 million is a deposit. This deposit will be lost if the advertiser does not spend at least €10 million within the first year. Telegram's advertising capabilities open new horizons for businesses, allowing them to effectively reach their target audience and increase brand awareness.

The cost of entry into Telegram advertising campaigns remains high, and this is entirely justified. The platform sets a significant commission for the first advertising campaign, which serves as a barrier for smaller channels, preventing them from accessing advertising tools. However, this also creates significant costs for large companies whose value has not yet been properly appreciated.

Companies that are the first to launch advertising campaigns on Telegram will be able to attract subscribers at the most competitive price. As Telegram's financial capabilities increase in the future, advertising costs are likely to increase, making the platform less accessible for new users. Taking advantage of early access to advertising on Telegram can be a strategic advantage for businesses looking to grow their audience.

Vitaly Weber is a senior content producer at Palindrom KB. His experience and skills in content production enable him to create high-quality and unique content that meets modern market demands. Vitaly actively develops strategies to improve content visibility in search engines, which helps increase brand awareness and attract new audiences. His professionalism and creative approach make him a valuable member of the team, contributing to the successful implementation of digital content projects.

The situation with advertising on Telegram can be described as an ill-conceived joke. Cryptocurrency ads are being placed on government channels, creating complete confusion among users. The selection of promoted channels appears extremely chaotic and inappropriate. While it's possible to disable ads on Telegram, doing so is expensive and requires purchasing ad space in your own channel, and only on a temporary basis. This practice raises questions about the transparency and effectiveness of the platform's advertising strategy.

The only hope is that this is just a test, and the advertiser pool is still being formed. The cost of disabling advertising is expected to be symbolic, as promised by the messenger developers.

Anastasia Naimushinova is the head of the digital agency NAVIAN.studio. She specializes in the development and implementation of effective digital strategies for businesses. Under her leadership, the agency offers a wide range of services, including web design, SEO optimization, and digital advertising campaign management. Anastasia actively monitors the latest trends in digital marketing, which allows NAVIAN.studio to provide clients with relevant and effective solutions for promoting their brands online.

Long stories have appeared on Instagram*

The feature is not yet available to all users. A banner, which has appeared on a limited number of accounts, indicates the update. When recording video stories, users can now enjoy a new format that allows them to upload videos up to one minute long, instead of the previous 15 seconds. This update significantly expands the possibilities for creative content in Stories.

This news has both positive and negative aspects for content creators. On the positive side, users can now share full Reels videos, which increases organic reach. Advertisers will also benefit from eliminating the need to adapt advertising integrations for different formats. A uniform video length makes the process more convenient and understandable for all participants.

Among the disadvantages, maintaining audience attention will become more challenging. Bloggers are already complaining about declining reach. The primary metric for video is viewability, and maintaining the usual level of engagement is significantly more challenging in 60-second videos.

Anastasia Naimushinova is the head of the digital agency NAVIAN.studio, which specializes in providing comprehensive digital marketing solutions. Under her leadership, the agency successfully implements projects aimed at increasing the online presence and effectiveness of clients' businesses. NAVIAN.studio offers a wide range of services, including SEO optimization, content marketing, social media management, and website development. Anastasia's approach is based on data analysis and current trends, which enables her to achieve significant results for her clients.

TikTok to Launch Platform for Bloggers and Advertisers to Communicate

Creative Exchange is a platform that allows advertisers to fill out campaign briefs and receive offers from suitable bloggers. The feature is currently being tested with a limited number of advertisers. This simplifies the process of finding and collaborating with influencers, making it more efficient and targeted.

The tool is designed to support authors in monetizing their content, as well as for brands looking for suitable bloggers for their advertising campaigns. The general release date for this feature has not yet been announced.

YouTube has hidden the dislike counter

YouTube has removed the public dislike counter on all videos. Users can still dislike videos, but the number of dislikes will only be available to channel owners. This change is aimed at improving the user experience and reducing the pressure on content creators.

In a recent experiment, the video hosting service decided to hide the dislike counter for certain videos in order to assess the impact of this decision on their number, as well as to protect channels from negative attacks. According to the experiment, the number of dislikes did decrease. However, the social network does not provide detailed statistics on the results of the experiment.

The decrease in the number of dislikes on my channel is not noticeable. Their number remains between 5-9%. I do not see any benefit in the update, since creators can still track dislikes in the admin panel. This change does not affect the final result.

Sergey Pavlovich is the creator of the popular YouTube channel "People PRO." On this channel, he shares unique content dedicated to interesting stories, successes, and life experiences of various people. Sergey strives to inspire viewers to achieve and discover new horizons by presenting a variety of professions and hobbies. The "People PRO" channel becomes a platform for discussing current topics and exchanging opinions, making it a valuable resource for a wide audience.

We're committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment on YouTube that fosters growth and self-expression. Hiding the "Dislike" counter is one step in combating the unjustified negativity that content creators face. Our goal is to support creators and ensure a comfortable environment for creativity, minimizing the impact of negative comments and ratings on their work.

The official commentary on the Google Russia blog contains up-to-date information and updates about the company's work in Russia. Here you can find news about new features, policy changes, and other important issues. The blog also serves as a platform for user interaction, where they can leave their comments and feedback. Stay tuned to stay up-to-date with all the changes and innovations from Google.

Twitter acquired Threader and launches paid version of Twitter Blue

The Threader application was launched four years ago and allows users to create threads – chains of long messages on Twitter, which significantly improves their usability. Threader is now integrated directly into the Twitter platform, and its functionality will be available as part of a paid Twitter Blue subscription. This update will allow users to organize and read content more efficiently, making interaction on Twitter even more convenient and structured.

Twitter continues to actively expand its capabilities through various acquisitions. Since the beginning of 2021, the company has acquired four new platforms: among them the news platform Revue, the podcast service Breaker, the ad-blocking tool Scroll, and the Twitter client Nuzzel. In October, Twitter also added the group chat application Sphere to its portfolio. These acquisitions demonstrate Twitter's commitment to strengthening its market position and offering users new features for interaction and information sharing.

Twitter's move appears justified, as threads attract a large number of views. However, if a thread consists of more than 20 tweets, it becomes extremely difficult to read. If authors don't link tweets properly, the thread loses its coherence. Now Twitter will be more accessible to users accustomed to the longread format, which can improve the user experience and increase audience engagement.

Vitaly Weber is a Senior Content Producer at KB Palindrom. In his role, he is responsible for the creation and management of high-quality content that promotes brand development and audience engagement. His experience and professionalism allow him to effectively implement projects of varying complexity, ensuring compliance with modern content marketing standards. Vitaly actively monitors digital trends and applies them in his work, making his contribution to the team particularly valuable.

The merger of social networks represents an excellent opportunity to attract a new audience. Threader has not gained widespread adoption among Russian users, many of whom note its slow performance. The merger is expected to bring technical improvements, which may positively impact the user experience.

Anastasia Naimushinova is the head of the digital agency NAVIAN.studio. Under her leadership, the agency successfully implements projects in the fields of internet marketing and web development. NAVIAN.studio offers a wide range of services, including website creation, SEO optimization, and content management. Thanks to Anastasia's experience and professionalism, the agency provides high-quality solutions tailored to the needs of its clients. Each project is implemented with modern trends and technologies in mind, allowing clients to achieve their business goals.

VK has found a way to improve targeting of iOS users

The VK social network has developed a probabilistic attribution model that allows it to determine the contribution of each advertising channel to achieving target actions by users of iOS devices. This model helps more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and optimize promotion strategies, taking into account user behavior. With this technology, advertisers can better understand which channels are most effective and how to allocate their budget to maximize results.

After updating Apple's privacy policy, data collection has become more complex. This new development is aimed at restoring the effectiveness of user data analysis. This technology provides attribution of users using iOS 14.5 and above with a high accuracy of up to 90%.

The technology allows you to accurately determine ROI (return on investment) and LTV (customer lifetime value), evaluate the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and obtain profit forecasts from in-app purchases and in-app advertising. Data on the platform is updated hourly, ensuring the relevance of information for operational decision-making.

The technology ensures a high level of reliability of analysis that complies with Apple's updated security policies. All data is processed in an anonymized and aggregated format, which guarantees full compliance with information handling standards. At the same time, the technology does not violate user privacy, does not use third-party sources, and eliminates the practice of fingerprinting, which is prohibited by Apple.

The official Google Russia blog post contains important announcements and updates regarding the company's operations in the region. Here you can find information about new products, policy changes, and tips for using Google services. It's important to stay updated to stay on top of the latest news and trends in technology and internet services. Read our blog for up-to-date information about Google and its operations in Russia.

Study: How Facebook Links* Affect User Engagement

SocialInsider conducted a study to evaluate the impact of links on Facebook conversions. The results showed that links in posts, on average, reduce reach by half. This finding highlights the importance of content optimization to increase visibility and audience engagement. Given this data, brands should carefully consider the use of links in their posts to maximize the effectiveness of their social media marketing strategies.

This is likely due to social media's desire to retain users' attention and avoid redirecting them to external resources. Albums are the most attractive and engaging posts on social media. This applies to both posts with and without links. Albums help increase engagement with content and retain audiences on the platform.

An interesting fact from the study: 99% of brands do not publish links in the first comment under the post, although this could bypass social media algorithms. According to SocialInsider, many companies consider such posts unattractive and unprofessional. Furthermore, comments don't always appear immediately on mobile, which can reduce the effectiveness of this approach.

Facebook discourages external links in articles, as they lead to decreased user engagement on the platform. While you can leave a link in the first comment, not all readers will look for it there. It's recommended to place the link directly in the post to simplify access to the information and improve reader engagement. This will increase the likelihood that users will click through to your website, which is important for increasing traffic and improving SEO.

Vitaly Weber is a Senior Content Producer at KB Palindrom. His experience and skills in content creation contribute to the development of effective audience engagement strategies. Weber is responsible for coordinating and implementing projects, which enables him to achieve high results in content marketing. Thanks to his professionalism, KB Palindrom successfully implements creative ideas and strengthens its market position.

Which works better – Instagram* Reels or TikTok?

A study conducted by Creatopy compared the effectiveness of advertising on TikTok and Instagram Reels. As part of the experiment, two identical ads ran for three weeks. The same campaign settings and a single creative – a 15-second video demonstrating the advertised product – were used. The results of the study revealed key differences in audience engagement and conversion between the two popular platforms.

Reels emerged victorious. Here are the results:

The reach on Instagram Reels was almost twice as high, and the number of impressions was almost three times higher compared to TikTok. The cost per 1,000 impressions on Reels was $1.67, significantly lower than TikTok's $4.38. The cost per click on Reels was also lower: $28.08 versus TikTok's $35.72. This data highlights the appeal of Instagram Reels for advertisers, enabling more efficient use of their promotion budget.