f28admin, Author at Digital Marketing Devon - Function28

Is TikTok damaging its own USP?

It was announced a few days ago that TikTok will be increasing its video length to a whopping 10 minutes long. Over the past few years, the platform has been steadily increasing the length of videos, with the maximum of 3 minutes being rolled out last July. Is TikTok damaging its own USP by doing this?

What does TikTok say?

A TikTok spokesperson said in an interview, “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.”

History

TikTok started back in 2018, and thanks to the pandemic, hit stratospheric levels with the amount of times the app was downloaded (it hit a total of 2 BILLION downloads in 2020!). People saw it as a boredom buster, and funny videos took their minds off being stuck indoors. The platform’s USP was its plithy, and short videos which have struck chord with many, leading some to become huge stars off the back of the app.

Imitation is the best form of flattery

So many other platforms have tried to copy TikTok’s success by introducing their own short video option, i.e. Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Shorts on YouTube. If others are copying you, surely you should be secure in the knowledge that you’ve invented a really cool thing?!

F28’s opinion

We’re not entirely sure why TikTok has made this decision. We think they want their users to stay on the platform longer and perhaps feel under pressure from its direct competition, YouTube who have always preferred longer content.

In our opinion, this move will narrow the difference between TikTok and YouTube. With attention spans getting shorter and shorter, even a 5 minute video runs the risk of losing your attention. A 10 minute video will get less engagement than that of a standard 15 second TikTok. Extending the video length may well switch off big creators on the platform, and therefore, could hurt it financially.

It feels like we’ve been here before though. Way back in 2017 with Twitter changing their character limit from 140 to 280, there was a huge uproar at the time but the platform doesn’t seem to have changed significantly as people had thought it would.

If the app did go under because of this decision, it would be a big shame. Whilst some might not ‘get’ TikTok, it has undoubtedly changed the way many businesses around the world connect with, and market to their followers. You can see the huge cultural impact it’s had everwhere you look.

Let’s see how this pans out!

If you have any questions about your social media marketing, please contact Gemma on 01884 308091.

Check out our other blogs here.

Function28 teams up with council for key campaign

Function28 is very proud to announce that we have joined forces with Somerset and North Somerset Council to promote their Safer Streets Awareness campaign.

Background

The Safer Streets campaign is part of a wider, national campaign to stop violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public places.

With the tragic killing of Sarah Everard in March last year, it became increasingly obvious that attitudes towards women and girls needed to change. The government soon launched a nationwide initiative. Somerset and North Somerset Council put in a joint bid and were awarded funding in the latter half of 2021.

Function28 has worked previously with the council on their, ‘Healthy Teenage Relationships’ campaign. We were over the moon to find out we had been selected to take part in this new project.

The Campaign

Campaigns run previously put emphasis on women and girls to change their behaviour in order to stay safe. The Safer Streets campaign has turned that around.

The brief was to change attitudes through education. We focused on how certain acts and words are wrong, and by bringing attention to the unsettling statistics on sexual harrassment on UK streets.

We worked closely with our contacts at the council to get the imagery and tone just right for this senstive campaign.

This was to be a far reaching campaign, across many different mediums.

Our work will be seen on bus stops and on buses around the county of Somerset for the next few months. The radio ad is now playing on Heart Somerset FM, and the website www.saferstreetsawareness.co.uk went live in January. The social media campaign will be running on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with a big ad campaign going live on YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat very soon.

This project was one of the biggest in Function28’s history. The campaign was organised in a matter of two months, with a Christmas break in the middle! We coordinated with local companies, to help us get the project off the ground, especially when it came to filming. Find out more about these amazing people here – Nigel Payne, Ryan Hallett.

We’ll put up another blog with the full results of this campaign once it is all wrapped up, so please keep an eye out!

To find out more about this important campaign, visit www.saferstreetsawareness.co.uk and follow the hashtag, #itcanstop on Instagram to keep up to date.

If you need help with campaign management or any aspect of your marketing, please give us a call on 01884 308091 or email us on info@function28.co.uk.

Facebook Jobs coming to an end

This December, Facebook made the big announcement that the Facebook Jobs product will be coming to an end on the 22nd February 2022, with the exception of America and Canada.

What’s changing

According to Facebook’s official website:

Existing Facebook Groups with a “Jobs” group type will be changed to the “General” group type and the “Jobs” group type will no longer be available.
The ability to distribute free jobs via a partner integration with the Facebook Jobs API will no longer be available.
Facebook Jobs will no longer be available on the Facebook Lite app or Facebook mobile website for both employers and jobseekers.
The Facebook Jobs browser will no longer be available.
Facebook Jobs is shutting down outside the United States and Canada.

What does that mean for your business?

Obviously, this depends on the kind of business you run, for most, this won’t be too much of a change.

If you’re heavily reliant on Facebook Jobs, you’ll need to make sure your website is set up for any applications to go through here instead. You’ll also need to ensure that those applying by email, will be answered.

When it comes to advertising a new job on Facebook, you’ll need to create the job listing on your own business page, just like you’d do when creating a normal post. Key information such as job title, hours, wage, and how to apply must be made very clear. When it comes to advertising for the job outside your own business page, you’ll still have the option of sharing your post to local or relevant groups.

The upside of Facebook Jobs going

There are several reasons why some companies don’t like using the Jobs section of Facebook. It can attract bad candidates who don’t fully read the job description, and there is also a lot of competition meaning many ads are not seen due to everyone else advertising too.

Here at Function28, we believe this is a great opportunity to get creative with your job adverts and stand out from the crowd to attract the right kind of candidate for your company.

We believe that by advising through your own Facebook page, you’ll get a better level of the candidate, and they will no longer be trigger happy on that Apply button. Pointing them in the direction of your website to find out more, and by following the steps of applying, this will funnel out the timewasters, which in turn will save you lots of time sorting the wheat from the chaff!

For any questions about this blog or about your social media pages, please call us on 01884 308091 or info@function28.co.uk.

2021 Roundup

This year at Function28 has been the busiest and most exciting yet. We’ve been working our socks off producing fresh new websites, managing campaigns, and helping businesses with their social media. We’ve worked on so many fantastic projects that we want to share just some of them with you!

Red Ruby Cattle

The good people from the Devon Cattle Breeders’ Society came to us after finding out we built and managed Mid Devon Show’s website and provided them with tech support. Devon Cattle Breeders’ Society had been let down by another agency that started the project of designing and developing a new website, but left them with a product that was unfinished and not fit for purpose. We took on this project and delivered a new website with a fresh, modern look, we also made sure it was fully responsive on mobile devices too. With hundreds of members on their books, they wanted to make the site easy to navigate and attract new members.

As part of the package that they have with us, we’re also hosting their site as well as setting up their new emails too.

Fentrigan Manor Farm

We worked closely with Richard to help promote his beautiful holiday cottages on his working farm in Cornwall. We redesigned and developed the website to make it easier to navigate, respond on mobile devices and we’re also hosting the site along with his emails too.

The team really enjoyed working on this project and it’s always a joy to see new pictures of Richard’s dog, Oscar pop up every now and again!

Somerset County Council

A few key projects that we were part of earlier this year were the Somerset County Council campaign’s to fight knife crime and domestic abuse.

We created and managed major ad campaigns across all social media platforms, collaborated with local companies to make videos for YouTube, and we completed several PPC campaigns on Google. Our team provided clear and precise reporting back to the Council to show how successful these were across the board. We had a great response back from our contact at the Council and we’re very much looking forward to working with them on their new campaign in 2022 (keep an eye on our Blog area for more info!).

Cully Pet Shop

Earlier this year, we helped Cully Pet Shop as they made the transition to an online shop. They wanted a modern take on their business so we updated their logo design, website to match, and an online shop with a simple paw design. We also provided some printed posters, business cards, and vehicle graphics which we think look pawsome! (Sorry, not sorry!)

With Cully Pet Shop being a small local company, it was very important for us to walk them through the process from start to finish.

Other projects we’ve completed, take a look!
MJ Smith
Repair Wizard
Near and Near
JPD Services
Ball and Lawton
Bancoft Locksmiths
Bridgeman Jacks
Crossfit The Physical Edge
Edwards Plumbing Services

We’re looking forward to continuing working with our clients into 2022 and collaborating with new ones too! You can speak to Russ, Adrian and Gemma about your requirements by giving us a call on 01884 308091 or email us at info@function28.co.uk.