industry trends Archives

The Rise of the Global Sales Phenomenon: Black Friday

We are at the eve of one of the greatest shopping day of the whole year. I believe some rings already rung on your mind. Yes, we are talking about that magnificent day, aka Black Friday.

Black Friday is the first Friday of the week which comes after U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but as a citizen of the world, we grasp that day’s meaning differently. In brief, we see it as a day full of discounts and special shopping deals. Moreover, given the fact that December is filled with holidays, Black Friday could stand for the beginning of the holiday shopping season. This can be mentioned confidentially that this very season plays a crucial role for not just the economy of the country, but the whole world. The ascending interest for Black Friday is plain as a day.

Just like 2020, this year as well, coronavirus pandemic loomed over the annual shopping event. For those who think Black Friday is a tradition, restrictions became a quite vexing problem. However, when it comes to discounts who can stop the shopaholics? eCommerce sales reach its climax when many retailers put their Black Friday deals and discounts online.

Enough with shooting the breeze, let’s dive into the serious stuff. Why this day play a tremendous role in the economy and how social media effect to the efficiency of Black Friday.

The Creation and Evolvement of Black Friday

There are two occasions where the term Black Friday has been used and surprisingly they have a little connection whatsoever. First one’s history goes back to 1869, when financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk attempt to put gold market through the hoops to hike the prices. However, that plan backfired and in September 24, pass into the history as the date of financial panic. These implacable Wall Street financiers’ conspiracy unraveled on Friday and that event resulted with bankrupting everyone, from cashed up barons to penurious farmers.

Right now most commonly used Black Friday term is refer to the day after Thanksgiving, which is often considered the first day of the holiday shopping season and is known for featuring discounts from retailers. However, why choose the black color to express a quite jolly day, and is there any specific reason hides behind the selection of Friday out of all week?

The thing is retailers are the ones who kind of formed that tradition. During the year, retailers were marking their loss with red color, and black, on the other hand, was symbolized the profit they made. Moreover, supposedly on the day after Thanksgiving sales would go into the black , because holiday shoppers spent so much money on discounted products. We don’t know for a fact that retail companies used to record losses in red and profits in black when doing their accounting, this version of Black Friday’s origin is the closest version we have to the truth.

First Things First, Change

Social media plays an irreplaceable role to drive the traffic towards online shopping. Coronavirus pandemic changed the whole worlds approach towards their traditional behaviors. That has been said that, this year 62% of the customers keep themselves away from entering to the actual store on Black Friday. This a good sign, at least we can be happy that people have the awareness to protect themselves, yet is it interfere with the astounding success of Black Friday? Certainly, not, because eCommerce fill in for the physical loss.

If you want to drive referrals to eCommerce sites you need to know which one could be more beneficial for your business. Although Facebook leads the queue, Instagram and Pinterest are the ones which are the most context-specific influential social media platforms.

Here comes one more necessary detail: If your focus is young audience, more specifically, Gen Z TikTok will be the gateway towards your aim. Snapchat and Twitter can seem left behind, but when you are roll up your sleeves to prepare your social media plan for Black Friday bear them in your mind too.

Everything Changes if One Thing Changes

At least once in our life all of us have seen a footage where people are literally marching into the stores at the crack of dawn. Pushing and pulling, fighting over an item or walking all over the things which stands on your way. Seems familiar for many of us, yet that is not the worst part at all. The destruction that these so called customers leaves behind evoke the scenery from post-apocalyptic movies for salespeople.

Fortunately, more and more, consumers are choosing to shop online. When we pause a little and think who would want to wait outside for hours or have an actual fight over the last most-cherished item? These all were happening years ago, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed shoppers online more than ever in 2020.

Tomorrow will be the biggest Black Friday ever for eCommerce sellers. Thereby don’t let anything hold you back or stir your vision. Try to make the most of it with social media, email marketing and advertising. Engage with your audience and stay true to your brand, success will come to you when you take the law in your own hand.

Rumiya Mammadova November 25, 2021

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Industry trendsInfluencer marketingNews

What is Earned Media Value and Influencer Media Value

Before the influencer era, earned media typically bound up with the editorial and mentions of brands in newspapers and magazines. But nowadays, all this changed, everyone can count as influencers on social media. Imagine one tweet or one post from an ordinary user on social media can make a Mexican wave and it can affect positively or negatively the brand’s online presence. That is why every single post on social media counts as a form of earned media. It increases the importance of Earned Media Value(EMV). Analysis and understanding of Earned Media Value are now becoming a clearer way for brands to evaluate the value of their investment in social media. In this blog, we will define EMV and demonstrate the usability of this metric in influencer marketing.

What is Earned Media Value (EMV)?

Earned media value is a more advanced metric about a brand that refers to the sum of any type of mention gained through social media, websites, blogs, forums, reviews, and so on. That mentions not from advertising (paid media) and didn’t come from brand’s media channels(owned media). Take a look at our previous blog to learn more details on the differences between each type of media. In General, this form of media includes word-of-mouth, recommendations, or conversations about the brand.

Marketers used to measure EMV entirely on user-generated content (UGC) and were not invested in it as it was not considered very valuable to brands. Nowadays, sponsored ads, influencers, and many such factors have increased the value of EMV and motivate brands to invest in it.

EMV helps brands understand how their marketing path and online presence affects their potential customers. If the earned media value is low, it is usually an indication of mistakes in marketing strategy. If EMV is high, it shows that this brand is on the right track or builds meaningful connections with its target audience.

The connection between IMV and EMV

The connection between influencers(Influencer media value) and EMV

The earned media value (EMV) is the method of calculating the value from every type of media. However, influencer media value (IMV) is more specific than EMV, focusing solely on influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing is a relatively new strategy for marketers who are willing to build strong relationships with their target audience. It is obvious that influencer marketing is the best of the effective marketing strategies. For this reason, the EMV model was adopted as an influencer media value (IMV) and applied to the influencer field with minor changes. It is proved that influencer posts lead to better quality impressions than traditional PPC(Pay-per-click) ads. That is why marketers shift EMV to influencer marketing.

Why Earned Media Value is Important to Influencer Marketing

Both earned media value and influencer media value assist brands to predict which influencers are likely to have the highest ROI. Of course, after knowing this possibility, brands can easily choose the right path and strategy to increase awareness and sales.

But do not forget that, firstly, you should identify a well-grounded perspective to calculating EMV and IMV, which could help you make better influencer marketing decisions.

Gaining a solid understanding of your EMV and IMV can help you save paid media costs by showing you which influencers also possess high EMV.

How to Calculate Influencer Earned Media Value

Since earned media is so valuable, you will want to calculate it to identify how it contributes to your brand’s sales. The problem with this is that there is no agreed formula for calculating earned media value. Here are a few different methodologies for calculating EMV.

Based on Non-Paid Impressions

Calculation: Impressions(Non-paid) x CPM

2. Based on Organic and Viral Impressions

Calculate: Impression(Organic Impressions Over Last 30 Days) x CPM x Average CLV(Customer Lifetime Value)

3. Based on Reach and Conversion:

Calculate: Reached Users X CPM by Vertical x Conversion Factor

These aren’t even all of the methods people have used to calculate EMV. For influencer campaigns, calculating EMV can help brands figure out how effective influencer activities have been. In influencer marketing, there are two methods to calculate EMV according to marketing KPI (impression or engagement)

Emv based on Impressions

If your target is to drive brand awareness, then you should track and calculate an EMV based on Impression. For that, you need to determine CPM (cost per impression). For instance, it can be based on the brand’s previous paid influencer campaigns or known digital media rates.

You can then calculate the Impressions EMV by multiplying the Impression CPM by the free impressions delivered / 1,000.

(Impressions) * (Cost per 1,000 or CPM)

EMV based on engagement

If engagement is more significant than an impression for your marketing strategy, you can also track an EMV based on engagement. In the calculation process, the same way is followed as above.

Figure out Engagement CPM, then multiply the Engagement CPM by the free engagements delivered (likes + comments) / 1,000.

Of course, calculating these formulas is not easy. With Keepface, brands can track engagement, along with influencer EMV. Brands can use EMV metrics to identify where they will get maximum ROI. Keepface uses proprietary technology to quantify the value of Influencer media value, making IMV the standard for measuring social media buzz and engagement.