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The Legal Battles of Music in TikTok & Going back to basics with Brand, Product listing, and UGC Ads

March 14, 2024 - Edition #3

Author

Dia Creative
March 14, 2024

March 14, 2024 - Edition #3

This week you’ll learn:

  • 🎵 How muted TikToks hurt artists and marketers

  • 📔 Why a brand guide is what you need to stand out in the market

  • 🔊 4 go-to formats for UGC ads

  • 🛒 How to beat Amazon Basics 

  • ⚡️ Quick Hits: Customer Communities, AI account managers, a 60 million dollar deal & more.

Universal Music vs TikTok: Artists Caught in the Crossfire

Image Source: The Poly Post

Universal Music Group's decision to pull its catalog from TikTok has left many artists feeling helpless and unheard, despite the label's claims of protecting their interests.

The Human Impact

While Universal and TikTok wage a public battle, it's the artists who are bearing the brunt of the fallout. From emerging acts to established songwriters, many are expressing fear and frustration over losing access to the most powerful music promotion tool available.

  • Conan Gray: The Republic/UMG artist joked that his "career's over for sure" without TikTok, highlighting the platform's importance for hit songs.

  • Bonnie McKee: The songwriter behind hits for Katy Perry and Britney Spears said, "TikTok is how you get the word out about a new song — and now you're muting someone's entire catalog?"

  • Verskotzi: The alt-pop artist shared, "To have the biggest social media platform mute all of the songs that I put so much energy into over the past two or three years — I just broke. It was so hard, so discouraging."

The Democratization of Music Promotion

TikTok has arguably been the most democratic music promotion platform to date, allowing artists of any level to reach millions of fans for free. This is a stark contrast to the traditional gatekeepers of radio promotion.

As artist Versktozi put it, "Two huge corporations are pulling the strings on behalf of artists. We are the actual product — without us they have nothing, but this showed me how little power we have."

TikTok Looks Weaker

TikTok's role as a bridge between musicians and fans is at risk.

Popular songs from Universal also provide the backing for countless advertisements and brand collaborations, which could all go instantly silent. The loss of a significant portion of its music catalog shifts the competitive advantage to other platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram, where music trends continue to thrive.

Universal's decision to remove its catalog from TikTok may be framed as a fight for artist rights, but many artists feel it's a battle that disregards their voices and livelihoods.

The Power of a Brand Style Guide

A brand style guide is not just nice to have; it's a necessity for consistency, unique identity, and building trust with customers.

Why Your Brand Needs a Style Guide

A brand style guide is the blueprint for all brand-related activities. It aligns every piece of content with the brand's values and identity and guarantees a true connection with customers.

  • Consistency Across All Touchpoints: A brand style guide guarantees that every interaction with the brand, from customer service to social media posts, presents a unified message and vision. This consistency builds trust and reliability in the eyes of customers and can increase revenue by 20%.

  • Clarifies Brand Identity: Defining the brand's mission, values, and personality, differentiates it from competitors. Brand identity not only attracts the right audience but also builds connections to them.

  • Accelerates Communication: Scale by quickly bringing new employees up to speed on the brand's voice and visual guidelines.

Case Study: Mailchimp's Success

Image Source: Mailchimp

Despite its expansion, Mailchimp has maintained a consistent brand image that resonates with its mission, balancing the brand's playful personality with its structured services.

To accomplish that, Mailchimp has introduced a brand framework made up of persistent and expressive elements, which allow creativity while maintaining visual harmony. Their new elements work together to create a harmonious system.

Consistency and creativity can coexist to build a successful business. And Mailchimp’s success is nothing but brilliance!

If you don't have what your brand stands for and how you communicate it written down, you don't have a brand at all. Build a rigorous style guide and watch your marketing start to shine. Download our template to help get you started.

Elevate Your Ads with UGC Styles

User-generated content (UGC) gives ads a personal touch. Consumer’s attention is saturated with promotions. Hearing from a peer instead of the brand directly can break through the noise.

Below are four UGC conversion-boosting ad styles.

Engaging UGC Ad Styles

  1. Native Comment Box: This style incorporates a question or comment about the product, mimicking social media posts. By blending into the audience's feed they avoid the disruptive feel of a typical ad.

  2. Green Screen: UGC footage overlaid on background videos focuses on product demonstrations without removing the creator from the screen, providing an engaging way to showcase the product or website.

  3. Secret Hack Format: Presenting the product as a secret hack positions the product as a must-have, revealed by a trusted internet friend.

  4. ASMR Unboxing: Catering to an audience that enjoys ASMR content, this style features unboxing videos that provide an immersive experience, focusing on the sounds of the product being used.

These UGC ad styles authentically and creatively enrich the connection between brands and their audiences.

Outsmarting Amazon: A Brand's Guide

If you compete against them, it can feel like Amazon’s own brands (Essentials, Basics, etc) always have the "home team" advantage. But with the right strategy, you can beat them on their own turf.

Strategies to Shine on Amazon

Despite Amazon's stronghold, smaller brands can carve out their own space. Here's how:

  • A+ Content: Elevate your product pages with A+ Content. This feature allows for richer media like high-quality images, videos, and comparison charts, directly answering customer queries and improving sales. Creative visuals and detailed descriptions can increase sales by up to 8%, with brands seeing 31x more repeat purchases within 60 days.

  • Amazon Ads: Use Amazon Ads to boost visibility. The right ad strategy can significantly lower your cost per click while increasing customer acquisition.

  • Brand Storytelling: Differentiate your brand with a compelling story. Unlike Amazon Basics' generic approach, your brand can connect deeply with its audience by sharing its passion and focus.

  • Customer Reviews: Build trust through authentic reviews. Encourage feedback naturally without resorting to fake reviews, which can have serious consequences. A simple request for reviews in your product packaging or a gentle reminder on social media can go a long way in building credibility.

Competing with Amazon may seem daunting, but with the right strategies, smaller brands can not only survive but thrive.

⚡️ Quick Hits

What we’re working on right now

We have a new IG account! After experimenting —perhaps too much—with our older account, we realized our posts were not getting the reach and engagement we were looking for.

Testing new ideas and moving at the forefront of innovation proved invaluable to understanding content that converts, especially for our clients. However, testing too frequently can come at cost and you may find your reach artificially limited by your preferred social media platform, frequently referred to as a shadow ban. Your account is still in good standing, but the audience reach is purposefully limited.

So, we gave ourselves a fresh start and a renewed focus on reshaping our social accounts to deliver consistent higher-quality and more relevant content. Our new IG now highlights the latest marketing trends, tips, study cases, and valuable information to help businesses grow.

Interested in how to grow your own IG account from the bottom up? You can follow us on our new journey here.

Looking for more personalized marketing strategy?

We’re starting a new YouTube series where we take a deep dive into your business. If you’re looking for a free in-depth analysis, apply here to get started!