The Scoop: Recruitment Trends & Industry Insights | July 2020

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Here is your July guide to the latest in trends impacting the world of work. Every month, we provide perspective on the biggest news affecting the industry and explain what to expect as new trends continue to emerge.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING MUSICAL CHAIRS

The emergence of the “Stop Hate for Profit” advertiser boycott has seen hundreds of brands make the commitment to pause spending on Facebook, and in some cases Instagram, through the end of the year and potentially beyond. There have been previous boycotts of social media platforms, but what differentiates this moment is the impetus behind the movement — companies committed to social justice and change. These companies are taking a monetary hit to actively convey to customers and employees (current and future) their stance on these issues.
https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/07/08/why-facebook-advertising-boycott-different

Facebook’s problem has created an opportunity for TikTok. The platform has been the breakout star of social media during quarantine as its users, stuck at home, got creative and posted the “challenge” du jour. TikTok has been on many brands’ radars as a part of their Gen Z engagement strategy. Like Snapchat before it, TikTok has its sight set on unseating Facebook and the other big players as it rolls out its self-service platform. 

“Ad rates on Snapchat were around 30% lower than comparable ads on Facebook in the first three months after the former company launched its self-serve ad manager in 2017 and then started calibrating upwards as more advertisers began to use the service. Self-serve cost-per-view rates on TikTok are also currently tracking at around 30% lower than those on Facebook.” 

Activity on TikTok is more curated than that on Facebook, so it remains to be seen how big of a dent the former will put in the latter’s business. However, this still presents an opportunity for brands looking to build affinity with a younger audience, 40% of whom are not on Facebook. 
https://digiday.com/media/tiktoks-self-service-platform-launch-is-perfectly-timed-to-kick-facebook-while-its-down/

Alas, a twist in the third act. Recently, governments in Australia, the U.S. (mostly unlikely) and India, which has the largest social media market and represents TikTok’s biggest market, are making moves towards banning the platform. TikTok’s international problem has created an opportunity for Instagram — the platform has updated its TikTok rival known as Reels. 

Reels, which mimics TikTok features, allowing users to create 15-minute videos to music, has seen a recent global expansion to India, following its use in Brazil, France and Germany. It may soon roll out to other countries — but no plans for the U.S. just yet.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/06/instagram-reels-arrives-in-india-following-tiktoks-ban/

NEW INTERACTIVE ADS WITH GREATER DEPTH PERCEPTION

Not to be left out, Google recently announced a global rollout of its 3D interactive ad format called Swirl. 

Swirl lets consumers engage with a product like it’s right in front of them by allowing them to rotate, zoom and expand the creative in the ad. Swirl ads allow brands to illustrate changes in behavior, new technology performance, unique product features and more.

As companies incorporate AR and VR into their brand storytelling tool kits, Swirl could be a novel addition. For employers looking to add depth of experience as they market to candidates who continue to work remotely, there is an opportunity to get creative. For example, showcasing the connection of the work of a software engineer to the end result of a product or impact to the customer. 

Although Swirl ad development requires technical capacity, Google Web Designer will now also include Swirl templates, and marketers will be able to create Swirl ads using pre-made 3D assets.
https://blog.google/products/marketingplatform/360/create-3d-immersive-ad-experiences-display-video-360

MS TEAMS TOGETHER MODE: A VIRTUAL TRICK TO COMBAT ZOOM FATIGUE 

Engaging at a distance for work, school, social life, etc., has become the norm. And while lovingly called “Zoom Fatigue,” the exhaustion we feel from video conferencing in many more areas of our lives is the same whether you’re on Meet, Teams or any of the other video communications platforms. 

MS Teams is offering new functionality, called Together Mode, to help combat fatigue. Instead of a grid of faces, colleagues are placed in a “natural” environment such as a lecture hall. As a result, if one person is speaking, everyone else is looking in that direction, as you would IRL, thereby tricking the brain.

Whether this new feature has a long-lasting effect, or only temporarily positively impacts users, remains to be seen. Video conferencing platforms were built for the exception, but as working remotely goes from temporary to seemingly permanent, products will continue to evolve as we learn more about how we adapt to this new reality.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/09/1004948/microsoft-together-mode-solution-to-zoom-fatigue/

ROUNDING OUT THE SCOOP: STAY INFORMED

About Jahkedda Akbar Mitchell

Jahkedda has many years of experience providing strategic guidance, data, and insights on job-seeker trends in support of Radancy and its clients. She has also worked in-house on the candidate attraction team for a large fortune 500 company. Jahkedda has a passion for psychology and storytelling; understanding why we do what we do and how to change behaviors...only using her powers for good. Jahkedda is a member of Radancy Labs: a design thinking focused innovation lab.

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