Dragging myself into the weekend like…
Would you buy these?
Yes or No?
🎧 Podcasting 🎧
What 20-30 podcasts have taught Barstool Sports and how it believes podcasts will continue to grow them
"We like [podcasting] because it is a strong storytelling medium. It is free form, it’s creative, and can be distributed at any time."Great Podcast: Social anxiety and success can go hand in hand
It’s been a big week for Social Media
🆓 Free Speech? Twitter is following suit and going to limit the reach of RT’s for misleading statements from World leaders
Meanwhile, Twitter is testing reaction on DM’s🛑 No Safe Space: Facebook ads are coming to Groups
No surprise and a lot of opportunities here if you can find large engaged groups.
I’ll leave it up to you if you would like to read or watch Zucks free speech talk yesterday.🧐 Insta-React: Instagrams removing likes makes it more like "‘stories’ & if people enjoy your content they’ll like it - this, of course, is according to Instagram Director. Eva also suggested it liberates you to post more. That positive feedback loop is real.
📈 Growth Tactic: Find out how businesses are leveraging WhatsApp
💬 Text Me: Text a celeb is the new the newnew Twitter
Celebrities having a dedicated SMS number isn’t new, music producer Ryan Leslie released an app a few years back that enabled this. The personal connection is key to success here, and a way to manage notifications (and leverage old behaviour from Radio)What does a grainy selfie + bad lighting + a few Friends equal = A record-breaking Instagram post. Rachel Green aka Jennifer Aniston smashed records with the below selfie, it is a Marketing and PR lesson for anyone should study. Find out how Jen studied Instagram before becoming a record breaker. I know what you are thinking, posting a selfie with your friends might get you 17 likes.
Modern Day Marketing
👏 Blackout Marketing: Fortnite managed to leverage downtime as a Marketing stunt, this is important as they lost money to announce a launch their update via taking their game down, it did, however, drive a huge amount of traffic.
🍬 Sweet Drop? Two generational powerhouses Tic Tacs & Coca Cola joined forces for a limited edition collaboration “drop”
👾 Microgaming: GIPHY released GIPHY arcade this week, enabling you to play and create your own (micro)games.
This is super smart and something that really makes giphy unique. Entertainment (wasting spaces in micro time) time-wasting always needs more tools or games.📺 Money TV! Appears the Uber drama has influenced Billions creator to turn Super Pumped (the uber book) into a TV show
I have been listening to the audiobook and its 👌🎧 Be first, be best or be different 🎧 - Friend of the newsletter Beth gave some top advice this week for content makers and strategists, find out what her 4 W’s are
💰Worth How Much? The most valuable brands in 2019 were released this week
Company Culture
Cultural Ignorance: How China is influencing more than just NBA
Culture Dynamics: Here is a good video of the importance of company culture and the dynamics
Language and Words Are Important - Watch this very good TED video
💎 Ice Cold Language: Why cold and frozen became associated with luxury
Thinking about conferences for next year? Friend of the newsletter Paddy Moogan and his agency Aira are putting on a what looks like a top conference in March, with some of the smartest minds and best presenters in Search.
As ever, thanks for reading Must Reads.
Don’t be afraid to share this newsletter and recommend the newsletter to your friends or forward to your colleagues (email, slack or teams).
—> 👏 Must-Reads By Me 👏 <—
🎧Must Listen 🎧 Think beyond the newsfeed
The Business books I recommend the most & why you should read them
Growth: The Growth Commandments (read if you want to understand a proper Growth department & why it is not just another Marketing or Product team)
FYI: Thoughts and ponderings are my own.
Image Sources - Gif = Giphy, Twitter & Instagram