Welcome back to The Mantle, your monthly download on all the marketing trends and industry insights brewing below the surface, courtesy of Quartz’s in-house studio, Quartz Creative.
Did you see this epic Twitch stream? What about that hilarious TikTok? Have an extra Clubhouse invite to spare? While some of today’s emerging content platforms will fade away, others are undoubtedly here to say. This month, we’re taking note of who’s making a splash and how marketers can get in on the action.
Social media reshaped 3+ billion individual behaviors and countless marketing strategies, and all it took was about 10 years. Strange as it is to say, several single decade-ish-old companies (FB, Insta, Twitter, YouTube) are now considered legacy brands. And when it only requires a handful of years to establish dominance, it may be just as easy for a new class of apps to take the #1 spot.
That’s why Quartz operates in a mode of constant experimentation and investigation. Early in the pandemic, we spun up a live Zoom show helping managers handle the sudden WFH shift. Right as Clubhouse started making headlines, our journalists launched weekly audio sessions tackling topics from climate reparations and sobriety to EVs and NFTs.
And since last fall, our CEO Zach Seward has been talking with the people charting the future of digital platforms every Tuesday via Facebook and LinkedIn’s live functions. These executive interviews have spotlighted how Boxed’s e-commerce backend is being used to circumvent the Pink Tax for its shoppers and how Airbnb’s booking system is being repurposed toward philanthropy. Next up? His conversation with Khartoon Weiss, head of global agency and accounts at TikTok, on 6/1.
The trick to staying ahead isn’t chasing every trend and channel. The winds of change blow too fast and hard. The smartest marketers are permanently positioned to dip a toe in the water before deciding to make a calculated plunge.
— Natalie Diamond, CRO, Quartz
Trendgame
In the quest for sustained relevance, every social platform’s strategy is to “copy all the features.” Just a few months ago, we saw the adoption of Stories—first introduced by Snapchat in October 2013—on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Google Search.
The latest example is social audio, with everyone and their motherboard announcing real-time, in-app audio chat rooms. The shift, seen on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Peanut, Slack, Reddit, and even Spotify, is a direct response to Clubhouse, which recently announced a path toward profitability in the wake of its $4B valuation and growth milestone of 10M weekly active users.
Turns out, people are into this whole listening thing. Here’s what that means for your brand:
🔊 With beaucoup apps rolling out social audio features, early brand adoption of Clubhouse probably isn’t as critical as it was with a more singular app like TikTok.
📱 This “sameification” benefits brands who can offer audiences analogous experiences on their preferred apps and easily port content from one space to another.
đź‘€ Still, keep an eye on Clubhouse. If the platform can perfect the art of social audio, it might be around for the long haul.
🎙 Social audio has similar use cases to webinars, virtual events, content marketing, and online community building and is worth considering as a more intimate alternative to these options. If you do decide to dive into social audio, make sure you’re prepared. Here are some mistakes to avoid, courtesy of Quartz at Work.
Content Ă la Carte
To game these new platforms and algorithms, context is key. Explore the Quartz stories below to learn about how Discord kept teens connected during pandemic lockdowns, TikTok’s penchant for blowing up smash hits old and new, and Quibi’s downfall.
Twitch is the undisputed champion of video game streaming
Gamers turned Discord into a $10 billion juggernaut
New from the Stu’
Figuring out which technology to invest in requires costly, time-consuming trial and error. In March, we collaborated with Invesco to offer brand leaders an in-depth look at the next big players in the work and lifestyle spaces. It’s no crystal ball, but with key insights from the Invesco QQQ fund, the report(s) just might help you keep the spaghetti off the walls.
See you next month
Thanks for reading The Mantle! Please invite us to any cool Clubhouse chats and let us know which TikTok dance(s) to practice. As always, you can direct these thoughts and any others to quartzcreative@qz.com, and check out our portfolio to view some of our latest work.