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Building a brand that benefits the community.

For decades, Meals on Wheels and the Food Bank of Western New York worked together to help eradicate hunger across our community. While their efforts had an immeasurable positive impact, both organizations felt they could do more together. Before embarking on their shared mission, leadership at FeedMore WNY enlisted the help of The Martin Group to develop the new brand while delivering on three key goals:

• Educate the community on details of the merger and upcoming programs
• Retain and recruit volunteers
• Increase donations from new and existing donors.

To best understand the challenge ahead, The Martin Group performed a discovery and strategy session. Ultimately, it resulted in a strategic brief that would help our creative team build the new brand.

Leveraging bright, vibrant colors and a bold typeface, the new logo was attention-grabbing without overpowering. The direct, yet unique tagline “more food, more good” perfectly encapsulated the ideology behind FeedMore WNY. With these two main assets approved, our team then worked to develop other brand elements, including:

• A full brand standards guide
• Custom illustrations and animations
• Website
• Vehicle wraps
• Brochure
• Volunteer tote bag
• Business cards and stationery

Every tactic was designed to directly connect to the FeedMore WNY brand by utilizing the broad spectrum of their new color palette and playful messaging, including headlines that followed the “more food, more good” construct.

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As college students finish gearing up for the new school year, the usual late-August concerns – Did I buy the right books? Do I know how to get to all my classes? – seem quaint in comparison to the unprecedented uncertainty that COVID will bring to the fall semester. 

For the communications departments of our colleges and universities across the country, the students are but one audience among several key constituencies that require separate, ongoing communications strategies tailored to their distinct needs and concerns.

Here are the primary audiences for whom colleges and universities must maintain unique, COVID-specific communications microstrategies throughout the semester (and beyond).

Students  

While much work has already been done communicating to this audience about the myriad operational changes they will face as they return to campus, clear and consistent communication around safety precautions – both the required and the strongly encouraged – will play a critical role in reducing the risk of outbreak.

The tone of this communication is everything, however, as the need to encourage vigilance competes with the desire to instill and maintain confidence and optimism. 

The University of South Carolina has effectively utilized social media to convert an obligatory safety message into an inspiring call for solidarity, leveraging the hashtag “IPledgeColumbia” to ask students to take the pledge that they will do their part to protect themselves and others by following a series of public health guidelines.

Parents

While more than one out of every four U.S. colleges plans to begin fall classes entirely or mostly online, many schools are resuming in-person instruction and reopening their dorms. And for the parents of students returning (or otherwise heading off) to campus, the safety of their children will be of overwhelming concern. 

This is where regular, ongoing updates about the situation on campus will go a long way toward easing worried minds. If all goes well on campus and no new cases are being reported, this good news should be communicated frequently. (Indeed, the repetitiveness of communicating “there are still no new cases” week after week will be a great problem to have.) Likewise, if cases do crop up on campus, this information must be proactively communicated by the institution, along with decisive, reassuring information about the steps the school is taking to mitigate further spread.

Educators and staff

This group might be the most significantly impacted by COVID-related disruption. They will have already endured considerable hardship and anxiety before the first day of classes begins, as they’ve been forced to make major adjustments to their life and work, all while – especially for untenured professors – the specter of being laid off has loomed large. Indeed, approximately 225 institutions across the country have either not renewed employment contracts or announced layoffs and furloughs, according to the The Chronicle of Higher Education’s layoffs tracker.

As if that weren’t enough, educators returning to campus will also face heightened health and safety concerns compared to those of students, as they tend to be older and, therefore, at greater risk.

For this audience, many of the priorities mentioned above – ongoing education around safety precautions, regular updates that communicate the institution’s progress toward containing any outbreaks, etc. – are equally relevant here. But opportunities should also be taken, whenever and wherever possible, to celebrate this group, and to thank them for the very real risks they’re enduring by coming back to campus.

The community at large

The local communities surrounding our reopening colleges and universities will feel a unique type of anxiety all their own. As Yasha Mounk, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, recently wrote in The Atlantic:

“If colleges reopen, kids from parts of the country with high case counts will, inevitably, travel to parts of the country with low case counts—and bring their home-state problems with them. This is why the biggest threat posed by reopening colleges is not to students, faculty, or staff, but to the surrounding community.”

Lines of communication must remain open to the community at large. In many markets, local print and broadcast media will be an invaluable conduit for delivering messages from the institution. But social media can often provide a more direct channel, and both paid and organic social media tactics can effectively deliver timely news and updates to the community. Email and SMS messaging capabilities should also be considered for more immediate, time-sensitive news and information.

There are, of course, other audience segments – alumni, donors, policymakers, etc. – that mustn’t be ignored. But the above groups represent those set to be most impacted by COVID’s disruptions to school operations and, as such, must be prioritized accordingly.

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Outdoor play is beneficial to the health and development of children.

This is a reasonable, fact-based statement, and is backed up by everyone from nationally recognized free play advocates to internationally renowned research universities. It’s a simple realization, rooted in visions of kids on playgrounds or asphalt courts, and now expanded across the ambitious expanses of public parks or nestled within downtown streetscapes. The only problem appears to be that there still aren’t enough of these spaces inside all communities, especially those in need.

That’s the inspiration behind the Play Everywhere Design Challenge, established by playspace-focused nonprofit KABOOM!, and supported by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. Exclusive to Western New York and Southeast Michigan communities, Play Everywhere awards organizations an annual total of $1 million to create lasting, scalable design installations that provide more play-everyday opportunities for families in neighborhoods that have experienced significant disinvestment. After awarding grant monies to nearly 50 inventive installations in 2018 and 2019, the program planned to welcome applications for its third edition this summer.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and put the practice and safety of public play in doubt.

In these conditions, the taken-for-granted idea of children playing freely in artistically reconfigured locales  would be clouded by concerns for both the evolving present and unknown future. There could certainly still be new and inventive playspaces, but amid ongoing uncertainties of what the eventual state of play could look like, there needed to be a way to illuminate past successes—and personify the possibilities of what can still be.

To accomplish both of these connective elements, The Martin Group conducted a pair of interviews with two previous Play Everywhere winners to promote the competition’s application period opening on July 13. Through these interviews, we constructed two long-form features that put familiar faces on the community-energizing possibilities of creative playspaces, lamented the challenges such gathering spots face in the cautious times of COVID-19, and highlighted the overwhelming belief each has in how Play Everywhere projects can impact children—no matter the circumstances.   

For Advancing Macomb’s “Let It Flow, Mount Clemens”—an interactive 2018 winner established to highlight its Michigan community’s history and artistic potential—the project has inspired interactive play and interest in what came before, and what can still be. For GO ART!’s winning 2019 concept, “Play Me a Tune Music Garden,” the Batavia, New York-based nonprofit established an idyllic, instrument-strewn alleyway that unveils the possibilities of music, but because of pandemic-related safety concerns, is still enthusiastically building to its intended potential.

Together, these stories reveal not just the sentiments of each interview subject and the details of their projects. Both also provide a relatable aim for like-minded organizations, as well as inspiration for the installations that still could be. Each was established to bring communities together, and amid challenges either being managed or still unforeseen, community organizations are still working tirelessly to find ways to bring its families together within its neighborhood’s allotted space.

Do today’s hurdles make things different for this year’s applicants? Yes—but thanks to another year of Play Everywhere, ambitious designers can access the same inventiveness as past grantees, all to devise playspaces for a different (and much brighter) tomorrow.

For more information on KABOOM! and the Play Everywhere Challenge, visit kaboom.org/grants/play-everywhere-design-challenge. (Full application deadline is October 30.)

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In a matter of two months, the entire world has been turned upside down.

Office spaces are empty, with floors of staff members working from makeshift home offices. Normal interactions—from simple greetings at the grocery store to informal meetings over coffee—have been replaced with quick glances and necessary cancellations. Large public gatherings? Now a seemingly distant memory.

This is the world of COVID-19, and it’s a world that comes with significant restrictions that’ve upended the way we live—and the way we do business. Despite technological advancements that’ve made telecommuting and teleconferencing manageable, in-person meetings and events were always the preferred choice in most marketing and public relation plans. Up until less than 10 weeks ago, these types of calendar items were still scheduled. Yet, today, as we continue to navigate the pandemic and public health concerns, marketers are scrambling to find a new path forward.

So what happens when all these types of events—from large-scale conferences to press briefings to launch announcements—have to utilize available technology to go virtual? You have to rethink and re-plan things that were once formulaic to accommodate the crisis of the times, all while breaking through the clutter and delivering on the goals of the intended event.

Over the last two months, The Martin Group has had to perform such virtual transitions both internally and externally for multiple clients. But in the case of the Cornell University-supported global agriculture competition Grow-NY, converting a live press event initially slated for a crowded farmers’ market to a virtual briefing required a coordinated and integrated effort across multiple agency departments and stakeholders—and required a carefully constructed gameplan to make the unconventional function as the conventional. 

Here’s how our team took our initial plans and turned them into an executable occasion in the online realm.

Analyze the situation

No one wants to confront the impossibility of previously laid plans. But to successfully convert an in-person event to a virtual function, you have to scrutinize your state of affairs and see if you can make it work another way. 

Due to the unforeseen circumstances of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the need to continue adhering to social distancing guidelines, the planned announcement of the second installment of the Grow-NY competition—featuring industry and government leaders at the Syracuse Farmers’ Market—had to be cancelled. Instead of relegating the briefing to an expansive press release, the TMG team leaned on its digital experience and enlisted the help of its PR, social media and paid media teams to coordinate a virtual briefing to live broadcast across the website and social media channels.  By our estimation, this would work to maintain engagement and build excitement within both the industry and local community, as well as provide a platform for the competition’s reps to communicate how this year’s competition was ready to build upon last year’s successful endeavor.

Define your goals

Will the goals for your event be the same as they’d be in a traditional setting? That’s completely up to you and how you approach the digital space—but when laid out just right, you may find your goals may be more unchanged than you anticipated.

Despite going virtual, for Grow-NY, our primary goals were still connecting with media, influencers, and key stakeholders to announce the exciting details of the $3 million global competition for agtech startups and entrepreneurs, as well as specifics of the culminating Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit in Syracuse on November 17-18. Our secondary goals were to increase the number of incoming applications (and raise awareness of applications) throughout the submission period, ending on July 15. After reviewing these goals, we determined we could still accomplish all of them with a virtual production, so we proceeded with planning while understanding we may have to do more legwork to educate and inform our audiences of our new plans.

Whereas an in-person event would require a few TV crews and wayfinding signs to drive attention and ultimately crowds to the location, we relied more heavily on paid social media campaigns to get the word out to targeted geographical audiences in the Syracuse market, performed strategic media pitching and personalized influencer outreach to encourage “who’s who” log on and leveraged email marketing to encourage pro-active event registration.

Understand your limitations

What happens to the flair or fanfare of an on-site event when it’s relegated to an online webcast? A lot of it might be unnecessary—and this could be a good or bad thing. Businesses are learning this every day, as the absence of an in-person staff may save on costs, but might sacrifice much of the community or interaction that makes a specific workplace so desirable to available talent.

When taking our Grow-NY announcement from the backdrop of a vibrant (and topical) farmers’ market to a multiple-location online production, we’re obviously sacrificing setting—but these are the restrictions we’re living with. That makes the content of the message—as well as the run of show—even more vital than it typically is. If your information isn’t engaging, there’s no swag and on-site pyrotechnics to pad an otherwise underwhelming announcement.

The content is still the key, albeit served in a different setting. To enhance this content, we invited our past competition winners to participate in an engaging Q&A session on their progress to date and recruited our local politicians to submit video remarks on what the competition means for the region. We also didn’t shy away from addressing the elephant-in-the-room—COVID-19 and its impact on the regional trips and conference. These efforts ensure we created a run-of-show that still had that strong content hook and gave viewers the answers they were looking for.   

Outline your tactics and logistics

Once you decide to transition your event to a virtual affair, there are plenty of tactics and logistics to consider, just as there would be for a traditional event. The biggest tactical decision specific for a virtual event may be whether to execute as a live stream, pre-recorded, or a hybrid of both.

With Grow-NY’s May 14 launch briefing, our team recommended a pre-recorded video stream recorded on Zoom and powered by the Vimeo Livestream platform. While the platform allows for live and pre-recorded video integration, removing the live component would allow us to mitigate technology malfunction risks, all while still producing engaging content—delivered by a diverse speaker list, showcasing imagery from year one of the competition, and coordinated by a well-organized event outline. This pre-recorded content could also be broken up and distributed across social media platforms, allowing the event to be consumed in digestible soundbites as part of a larger communications plan—which is one great advantage that virtual events have over in-person ones.

Ultmately, you need to explore available software and technologies that fits your needs best. Some events may be more suited for a casual Facebook Live, others may need Q&A discussions on a Zoom or GoTo Meeting. Think about how much interactivity your event needs, the technology requirements of your audience and your campaign budget.

Remember: Traditional promotion still applies

Whether your event is happening via podium or portal, there’s still PR. There are still story pitches and press releases, and there’s still an extension of the on-site messaging across social media.

This makes the public relations and promotion aspect of the transition the most easily transferrable—albeit with a caveat. Without on-site access for cameras or reporters, this has required more detail for the Grow-NY event pitches, but has also provided additional opportunities. Pre-recorded footage could be made available for embargoed distribution, which could whet interest for larger, more detailed pieces by targeted media outlets. For paid digital and social, the decentralized nature of the event presents an opportunity to leverage paid advertising in combination with a destination landing page to capture lost attention, as well as a call-to-action to the competition website for more information.  

While we wait to pivot toward a functionality we’re more accustomed to, now is the time to explore new avenues—and see if they can take our professions and plans to more inventive places.

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How did you get started in your profession/the industry?

Paul Schmidt: I always knew I wanted to work in this industry. Graduating from Northeastern University with a Communication Studies degree and working on the ecommerce team at Reebok was how I got my foot in the door. From there, I continued my education and attended art school in Atlanta, working in restaurants and as a photography assistant part-time. I had never project managed in an official capacity prior to working at The Martin Group, but I can honestly say all of my experiences have prepared me for a different part of this role.

Pauline Wegman: After graduating college with a fine arts degree, I took an unpaid internship with a local startup. Luckily, they hired me as a full-time graphic designer after two weeks and I spent the next year designing footwear and apparel for FIFA and NASCAR. I then switched over to a different company where I worked in graphic and web design for a couple years, then was promoted to manage a digital media team for nearly four years thereafter. When the opportunity arose to work on the digital team at The Martin Group, I accepted wholeheartedly.

What kinds of projects are you working on right now?

Paul: I help manage digital projects on the Wegmans team—that includes anything as small as gifs and social posts, to large campaign sites and emails.

Pauline: On the Wegmans website, I’m currently revising and adding pages to the Feel Your Best campaign, as well as developing wireframes for a large salmon campaign. I’m also designing and coding emails geared toward staying in and their curbside pickup and delivery options.

What’s your favorite part about working on the Wegmans team?

Paul: Wegmans operates at an incredibly fast pace, so there’s no time to sit around. Some people wait months or years to see their projects come to life; whereas at Wegmans, it doesn’t take too long to see the work The Martin Group contributes to pop up in an inbox or in the stores themselves.

Pauline: My coworkers are amazing. The food photography never lets me down–though it does make me hungry most days. I also like knowing that I contribute to designs that reach a large audience.

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?

Paul: Any passage from the book, ​Feck Perfuction ​by James Victore.

Pauline: Stay focused and work hard; hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

What are you passionate about?

Paul: I’m passionate about creative projects, design, pop culture, politics, and food.

Pauline: Art/design, dogs, home renovation, traveling.

If you weren’t doing what you’re doing now, what would your dream job be?

Paul: Working as an editorial illustrator for a magazine or news site.

Pauline: Either an interior designer or a full-time painter/stay-at-home dog mom.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Paul: I like to get out and enjoy the warm weather in the summertime, attend festivals, try new bars and restaurants, draw and paint.

Pauline: Pretty much doing anything I’m passionate about. I can usually be found painting in my home studio, playing with my dogs, working on house projects, or researching and planning a trip. Oh, and if I’m truly being honest, I binge-watch a decent amount of trash TV.

Who’s the closest sitcom character to your real life?

Paul: Maybe a mix between Max and Penny from ​Happy Endings.

Pauline: 50/50 split between Monica from Friends and Jess from New Girl.

Describe your perfect weekend.

Paul: At this stage of quarantine, I’d settle for spending time anywhere in public, surrounded by people. But…some of my most enjoyable weekends have been spent on summer getaways along the New England coast, enjoying the beaches, seafood, and nightlife.

Pauline: Ideally in summer–lots of fresh air, kayaking, hiking, and hanging out with my friends and family.

What’s your favorite restaurant in Rochester?

Paul: Restaurant Good Luck for cocktails and their burger or Mr. Dominic’s at the Lake if I’m craving Italian.

Pauline: Fiorella! It’s super quaint and authentic and the food is to die for. They also have the cutest plates and napkins (these little details really feed my soul).

Describe your ideal pizza. 

Paul: A Wegmans Meals 2 Go, Large 2 Topping Pizza— Free Delivery; No-Contact Delivery with DoorDash.

Pauline: Bee sting pizza – pepperoni and honey. ? It’s. ?So. ?Good.

What music is playing in heavy rotation right now?

Paul Schmidt: According to Spotify: Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, Kacey Musgraves, and the playlist “Pollen.”

Pauline Wegman: I have to admit that I have a pretty bad habit of listening to songs on repeat until I get sick of them. I’d say my top three songs right now are: “PDLIF” – Bon Iver; “Crazy” – James TW; and “Neon Fools” – Adam Doleac.

What song do you know all of the lyrics to?

Paul: “Money Maker” – Ludacris ft. Pharrell

Pauline: Probably every song on the Maroon 5 “Songs About Jane” album. It’s really stuck with me throughout the years…

What is the top travel destination on your bucket list?

Paul: I’d like to explore Germany and Lebanon and trace some of my family’s roots.

Pauline: Australia and New Zealand.

OK, two truths and a lie.

Paul:

I’m vegan. My great grandmother was kicked off the Titanic. I drew my own tattoo.

Pauline:

I’ve traveled to Italy. I had chickens growing up. I own a motorcycle.

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The most recent Gallup survey on telecommuting (released in 2017) revealed that 43% of Americans occasionally work from home (WFH). This seems reasonable, as enabling technology, family responsibilities, and the constraints of commuting have made telecommuting a favorable option—from time to time.

But with the current COVID-19 health crisis affecting workers everywhere, time-to-time has transitioned to all the time. Employees versed in casually finishing up some work on the couch are now faced with doing an eight-hour shift on the couch, five days a week. Mothers and fathers who exhaustingly juggle professional responsibilities with parenting are now attempting to do both simultaneously—while moonlighting as homeschool teachers. The idea of home—traditionally established as a respite from the chaos that exists outside its door—has now been repurposed as part-office and part-daycare, all while existing as our shelter from an ongoing storm of sickness and social distancing.

It’s a lot to handle. But just like we’re managing lifestyle changes day-to-day, the transition to working from home—and all that comes with it—can be managed with a handful of helpful tips.   

Get dressed

Is it a lot easier to roll out of bed, set the kids up for the morning, then transition to your workspace in your incredibly comfortable pajamas? Yes—but this working-from-home routine is no longer a short-term situation. This could go on for some time, so dressing like it’s a workday can help make this new normal a little like the old normal, all while facilitating a focus that can waiver within the relaxed confines of home.

Tip from the trenches: Once my two- and four-year-old are on their second bowl of Cheerios—and third wrestling match over who gets the Magna-Tiles—I shower and change into what I’d regularly wear to the office, including a collared shirt, jeans, and shoes. (And note: GQ agrees with me.) 

Devise a workspace (that enables work)

If you don’t regularly work from home, then it’s likely you don’t have a set-up that’s conducive to hosting 10-hour workdays—or one that’s sequestered from everyday distractions. Now you need one. It doesn’t have to replicate your office, but it also shouldn’t be too comfortable. (See: Your bed.) It just needs to be a setting that enables productivity while affording you privacy to get the demands of the day done.

Tip from the trenches: For the last two years, my wife and I have used an old high school desk as my daughter’s changing table. She’s now potty-trained, so we’ve repurposed the desk—as a desk. For this WFH period, we moved it into our bedroom, and now split time at the sunlit space throughout the day.

Create some playlists

Music can motivate—and insulate. Depending on your mood and genre choice, the right run of tunes can keep you on track, hold your attention on a series of assignments, and block out distractions from roommates—or little roommates. To start, try devising a lengthy playlist on Spotify (for free or paid accounts) full of songs that can elicit creativity, calm your nerves, and carry you through the day.

Tip from the trenches: Over the years, my eclectic playlists have both facilitated writing and blocked out distractions from working in remote locations like loud coffee shops. Now at home, they keep me on task—and keep out the noise from the toddler battles happening on my wife’s watch.

(Some albums I listen to when I need to get work done: “Break It Yourself” by Andrew Bird, “American Hearts” by A.A. Bondy, “Devils & Dust” by Bruce Springsteen, “The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” by Neko Case, “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison, and, oddly enough, “OK Computer” by Radiohead.)

Connect with coworkers

We all need time to ourselves, but isolation (or time spent solely with family) isn’t for everybody. Communicating with your coworkers—whether on actual work or news of the day—is a necessary exhale for the extrovert in all of us. Being deprived of that can affect our overall well-being, so find an opportunity to hear a live voice or see a face, whether through Zoom meetings, FaceTime or your standard iPhone.

Tip from the trenches: Since the start of The Martin Group’s WFH period, much of our communication has happened through Microsoft Teams—and not just for work-related meetings. We’ve also hosted an office-wide Happy Hour, allowing coworkers to share a drink and some laughs amid the ongoing solitude; and the early April introduction of Snap Camera by VP|Creative Director Michael Tsanis has certainly added some extra entertainment.

Defend against distractions—big and small

There are plenty of distractions at home without a worldwide pandemic dominating your news and social media feeds. If you’re tending to any number of children at home, those disruptions can multiply exponentially—depending on the energy level of said kids. It’s an ongoing challenge, but it takes a stern commitment—and one that will be continuously tested—to tune out these interruptions. 

Tip from the trenches: For news, establish two times per day to check your source of choice for updates, then let it go. For the kids, let your partner take the reins for his or her shift, and barricade yourself in your space. For me, I put two free weights at the base of my bedroom door to stop any intrusions. (Note: The maniacs still try to break down the door, but that’s where the music comes in.) 

Schedule an escape

Working in this confinement can be depressing, so you need a daily release. While social distancing and various other measures are limiting our outdoor activity options, we can still take walks, runs, or bike rides, so be sure to schedule one (whether alone or with the family) for at least 30 minutes per day. It’ll not only provide a necessary exhale in a constrained day, but it will always give you something to look forward to. 

Tip from the trenches: Since the start of WFH, I’ve either taken a neighborhood walk with my family, a three-mile run—or dependent on my anxiety levels, both—every day. Adults or kids (especially kids) are not meant to be confined like this, so it’s an absolute necessity to get out, even if it’s for a short time.

Go to sleep

When you work from home, there’s no quitting time. No one says goodbye or turns out the lights, and no one tells you to go home—because you’re already home. Outside of time-senstive obligations, you set your own parameters, and this can be quicksand for those who can’t close their laptops. Set a time to end your day, then stick to it. You’ll need rest for tomorrow—and the weeks we’ll continue to do all of this. 

Tip from the trenches: Since my work day is now split up with childcare and my wife’s work responsibilities, I’ve established a three-hour block to work after my kids are asleep. Once it expires, I retire—and since I’m working at a desk next to my bed, I can roll off one and into the other. 

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It isn’t news that Instagram is becoming the preferred social channel above all others, but what about the growth of features and opportunities on the platform? One billion people use Instagram every month; this means marketers and brands alike have a lot of power to harness with the mobile app. Instagram is no longer only for teens and millennials following their favorite celebrities. In fact, 37 percent of American adults now use Instagram, and that number is on the increase.

There is a massive, engaged audience to reach on Instagram. Brands, influencers, and marketers are all taking advantage of new trends and updates on the channel, but the question is: are you?

Instagram trends to consider

Bye-bye likes

While Instagram is testing hiding likes on its platform, many accounts have already seen the update go into effect. Business pages will be able to review back-end analytics for their posts, but users will no longer be able to see the number of likes or views a post has. Is this the end of marketers and influencers on Instagram? Not quite.

Instagram reports hiding likes is for the mental health of its users, which is surely true, but it also will contribute to the likelihood of more feed posts. With the risk of poor engagement, many brands and influencers have limited their post frequency on the platform.

Quality over quantity is a sound strategy, but when 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day, this change seems like more of a balancing act between stories and feed posts. Should you sacrifice quality for more reach now that users can’t see the performance of your posts? Probably not, but it makes things a lot less intimidating when posting to your feed.

Influencers + e-commerce

Rolling out to only a handful of brands in 2019, Instagram Checkout and Shopping from Creators will likely be available to everyone in 2020. Both features allow users to make purchases from their favorite pages directly in the mobile app.

While offering an e-commerce feature with Instagram Checkout, celebrities and influencers can add product tags to their photos with Shopping from Creators to sell products. Will in-app shopping make it more enticing for users to complete purchases while browsing their feed? We think so.

TikTok won’t stop

You can’t really get through browsing on Instagram without seeing content from TikTok; the video-sharing app has surged its way to being one of the most downloaded apps in 2019, making it a vital platform to consider in conjunction with Instagram.

While you may not have the capacity or interest in reaching teens and millennials with short-form video on TikTok, you are probably aiming to create viable content for Instagram Stories, which is in a very similar format.

TikTok videos are incredibly real and unfiltered, which is leading other platforms, specifically Instagram, to produce more authentic content. Even if TikTok doesn’t make sense for your target audience, it’s beginning to greatly influence the type of content functionality we see on Instagram.

IGTV

With a shift in users seeking more authentic content, starting an IGTV series for your brand is as easy as pressing record. We recommend a well-planned strategy and creative concept behind your videos, even if they’re short. IGTV series will be a huge trend on Instagram in 2020 and with the right strategy, brands of any size can succeed.

Augmented reality (AR) in stories

Augmented filters, or “features,” have taken off in 2019 to practically take over story content on the platform. It’s hard to swipe through Instagram stories and not see at least one celebrity or influencer using an AR filter of their own.

Story filters on Instagram range from colors, style effects, and quizzes that can be customized with branded content. Viral quizzes like “Which Spice Girl Are You?” catapulted to the most popular form of filters that insist the feature isn’t going anywhere; this trend is bound to grow in 2020 and your brand can easily join in on the fun.

Platform updates to utilize

Social platforms change almost weekly with updates. It can seem overwhelming to master each new feature, but with Instagram users producing more authentic content, that makes things a little less intimidating.

GIF reacts to stories are a new feature to test when communicating with other pages. If you want Instagram to show your stories to other users, make sure to interact with them yourself! In addition to responding to stories with the six original emoji options, you can now search GIFs to react with. Personalized content always makes a difference!

A list of story mentions now helps brands manage accounts that have mentioned their page, lasting 24 hours (as long as the story); this new feature is housed at the top of the Activity tab and is helpful for listening to your audience and keeping them engaged.

Age limits for accounts is a helpful new feature for Instagram pages that sell products like alcohol or vape products. Since it’s new, it’s hard to say if Instagram will still have certain content restrictions even if a page has age limited, but it’s going to be fun to find out!

New inbox organization helps organize inbox messages by “Primary” or “General” distinguishers to sort user messages by importance or priority. When your page gets a lot of messages, this can be a useful tool to stay on track and respond in a timely fashion.

Optimizing paid ads and boosted posts

Whether you’re just starting to tinker on Instagram or a seasoned content curator, having a paid strategy is essential to your content being seen by your target audience and to growing your following. Since Instagram’s purchase by Facebook in 2012, Instagram adopted Facebook’s newsfeed style switching from chronological order to rewarding posts that get the most engagement, regardless of when they were posted.

So with the immense competition for space in user’s newsfeeds, how can we guarantee that our content will be seen? The answer: a paid social media strategy and budget.

Statistics show that 83 percent of Instagram users discover new products and services on the platform, so it’s important to make sure your content is being shown to (and seen by) your audience.

Not only has Instagram adopted Facebook’s newsfeed approach, but they also use Facebook’s sophisticated advertising platform and first-party data to guarantee your content will reach your exact audience.

Targeting capabilities include, but are not limited to: location, age, gender, language, interest, demographic, financial, industry, behavior, retargeting, CRM lists, and more.

Having the ability to boost your organic content on your profile to your audience will help grow your engagement and following, and additionally reach users and potential customers where they’re already consuming media on a daily basis.

Social media marketing on any platform can be a lot to digest. If you’re looking for a comprehensive social strategy to elevate your Instagram marketing, contact us today to figure out what’s going to work best for you.

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Giving is changing.

In a time when everything is changing, that might not be a surprising statement. But it is more than people giving with a smartphone rather than by dropping a check into a reply envelope. A fundamental change is taking place in philanthropy—and it impacts colleges and universities and the way they go about their fundraising campaigns.

Let’s blame the millennials. That seems to be the thing to do whenever there is a shift in the way we have always done things. Of course, they aren’t solely responsible, but they epitomize the transformation that has been going on for a while. There was a time when people were content to give to the “community chest” and trust that an organization would make sure their money went to a good and worthy place. No longer. Younger donors prefer to give to an individual or group than to trust an organization to channel funds to those in need. Trends also show that millennials are not driven by an attachment to organizations or institutions. Rather, they are passionate about specific causes and helping people. These factors are evidence of the millennial desire for involvement, which also sees their support taking the form of volunteerism more than any previous generation.

So what does this mean for higher ed institutions and their efforts to solicit financial support?

More and more, even with the deeply held attachments many people have for their alma mater, supporters want to channel their dollars to areas where they feel an emotional connection. And that is difficult to feel for a new building or an endowment fund. This is why scholarship support is often met with the most enthusiasm, because the result of their giving is tangible, emotional…and human.   

But what does that mean to the marketing campaign that supports the comprehensive or capital campaign? It illustrates the wisdom of choosing and highlighting people to represent the pillars and priorities of any fundraising efforts. Suddenly a campus expansion becomes a young woman from Brooklyn who is the first in her family to go to college. A scholarship becomes a young man from Kenya who used to gaze at a map of the U.S. in his childhood bedroom. An endowment becomes a beloved professor who has taught three generations of students that the best way to learn to write is to sit down with a good book. 

It isn’t always easy. Identifying the right representative requires a great degree of care to ensure inclusivity in many senses. If you choose a young Latina woman from the School of Nursing, perhaps you should also choose an African American graduate student from the School of Management. The instinct is to attribute this to diversity, which is of course, quite valid. But it also allows a school and their marketing partner to tell the full breadth of their story and to connect with the widest range of people looking to make a difference—because if there is a truth in philanthropy, it’s that donors tend to direct their support to causes and people close to their heart. Those affected by diabetes give to the diabetes society. Those who suffered a loss to cancer support cancer research. By putting a human face on institutional initiatives, a donor can see their own story in the plucky student or remember the love and dedication of a parent in the tireless teacher.

The impact is dramatic. It enables emotional storytelling in video, print, social media, and beyond that hits the right buttons with not only millennials, but anyone with a wallet, a heart, and a desire to use them in concert.

That’s where giving is headed. And while it is far too simplistic and presumptive to do it…let’s thank the millennials for a change.

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As we move into the new decade, the digital landscape continues to evolve to meet the needs of consumers. It’s up to marketers to be innovative and reach people on the channels they’re using, and to engage with them in the way they prefer.

Lead generation and traffic are still top-of-mind for marketers, which means the importance of understanding the digital realm cannot be overstated. Here are some of the top advertising trends as we head into 2020.

Shoppable posts for social media

With more than 500 million users on Instagram every day and 74 percent of them having made a purchase on the app, that’s a massive audience of engaged users for brands to tap into. While it’s no secret that social media is a necessary channel for brands and businesses alike, creating shoppable posts helps users along the buying process.

Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer e-commerce features that allow users to buy products without ever leaving the app. We saw strong results for our clients using this functionality in 2019, and think it will only get more effective in 2020.

Still, you’ll want a consistent, authentic social presence with an engaged audience before you try to sell your entire product line via Instagram posts. Strategy and execution on social media are an essential foundation if you expect to sell products using shoppable posts.

Native ads

Blending into the media format where they appear, native ads create the look and feel of content by showing up as recommended posts, articles, or blogs. Native ads are designed to integrate into social newsfeeds or websites to avoid being intrusive like a banner ad or pop-up.

Native advertising was the fastest-growing advertising segment, with 35 percent growth between 2017 and 2018. With users wanting control over the content and ads they consume, it’s no surprise that the lowkey style of native ads has grown so much and continues to make a stand moving into the new year.

This type of branded content is shaping many brands’ communications strategy heading into 2020, as more and more marketers are thinking about adding value, educating, and entertaining their audiences first before pushing sales messages down their throats.

Mobile

If you’ve doubted the need for mobile-friendly content and ads, now is the time to change your point of view. Consumers spend over five hours a day on their smartphones. That’s a lot of quality time to reach and connect with audiences who are ready to engage.

Not only is thinking of mobile for your content necessary, but you should also be thinking of it for every channel and placement. Almost every report on email open rates concludes that mobile is responsible for at least 50 percent of all opens. When planning strategically in 2020, how your content displays and interacts on mobile should be a vital part of the discussion.

Video Content

The popularity of video marketing isn’t a new trend, but it’s surely not going anywhere. A trend that has quickly become an industry standard is the length of videos. Short videos or bumper ads are frequently used to draw users in quickly and effectively. For example, brands on YouTube often use bumper ads to raise brand awareness in a very creative, six-second time frame.

When more than 50 percent of consumers prefer video content over blogs, social, and emails, video content should be a huge piece of your 2020 content strategy puzzle. It’s always important to remember the medium as well; short teaser videos on social media can point people to longer content on your website or YouTube.

Micro-Influencers

Influencers aren’t new, and they’re at the top of the social media food chain when it comes to marketing. Nowadays, instead of competing with top-tier influencers who have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, businesses are linking up with “micro-influencers” with more narrow audiences and oftentimes more authenticity.

Influencers with smaller audiences are more affordable to recruit, even accepting product as payment depending on the brand or industry. The ease of working with smaller influencers who have niche audiences that want to hear about their partnerships has become a huge trend that will continue into 2020. 

In fact, categorized as accounts with around 30,000 followers, micro-influencers had 60 percent higher engagement than influencers with more followers who have gotten so big that a lot of them have undercut their relatability. If your brand is an appropriate fit for an influencer campaign, it’s a trend you’ll want to consider.  

One thing to be aware of, though, is that with Instagram testing the removal of public likes from their newsfeed, brands need to be extra careful when analyzing influencers’ analytics. It’s always best (for both parties) to establish relationships with influencers and build long-term partnerships.

Voice Search

Who wants to type when you can ask something out loud? Whether it’s on a smartphone or smart home device, people are searching the web with the sound of their voice. What does that mean for marketers? There will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers in the U.S. by 2020. That’s a lot of voice answers your brand has the potential to be involved in. Depending on your target audience, you may want to include voice search in your strategy for 2020.

It’s not necessarily just about getting your audience to find your brand using voice search, but how your brand is reflected within voice answers. About 30% of all searches will be done without a screen by 2020, so implementing voice search into your search engine optimization strategy should not be overlooked.

Interactive Content/AR

There’s a lot of content coming at consumers from every angle. To cut through the masses, marketers are looking to interactive content to reach consumers in a new way. Marketers must provide new experiences to consumers that make them want to stay on a page longer and interact with a brand or business.

How is this accomplished? Aside from producing content that is shareable and exciting, brands can go the extra mile with augmented reality (AR). Not to be confused with virtual reality (VR), AR involves overlaying computer-generated information onto existing real-world views.

Augmented reality is about as interactive as content can get, with businesses such as garage door companies providing computer-generated imaging to show what your own garage will look like with a whole catalog of garage door styles to see and choose from. This year, 68.7 million people in the U.S. will use AR at least once a month—that’s a huge opportunity for brands to engage their audiences in an extremely creative way.

An impactful marketing strategy can require a different brand of thinking. For a comprehensive look at your marketing goals and the trends that can elevate them in 2020, contact the experts at The Martin Group.