INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
How brands and marketers can harness the power of new messaging and productivity appsColin BendellContributor
Colin is Senior Director of
Analytics and Strategy for Cloudinary, the co co-author of High Performance Images, and passionate about data, web performance and user
experience. Brands are often left to act like the person who searches for their keys under the streetlight simply because that is where the
However, when brand marketers focus only on engaging with the customers they can more easily see — where online activity is visible —
they risk overlooking the valuable opportunities hiding in darker spaces.One of the most valuable of those dark web spaces is in the realm
of what we call “microbrowsers” — the messaging apps like Slack, WhatsApp and WeChat
We call them microbrowsers because they display miniature previews of web pages inside private message discussions
These previews, also known as ‘unfurled links’, create your brand’s first impression and play a big role in whether or not the person
on the receiving end will click through to buy, or read or engage.Google Analytics lumps all microbrowser-generated web traffic into the
‘Direct’ bucket, which we often just ignore
This means we look for customers where we know how to create campaigns easily — on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and buying Google Ad
Words.And as more people rely more heavily on messaging apps for primary communication, these link previews from microbrowsers are becoming
the leading segment of your direct traffic visitors
In Cloudinary’s 2019 State of Visual Media Report, which drew on data from more than 700 customers and 200 billion transactions, we found
that 77% of link sharing in Slack occurs during working hours and that the vast majority of the click-throughs are reported as ‘direct’
The rise of microbrowsers gives us an opportunity to engage and attract customers through word of mouth discussions.The good news is that
the ‘leads’ that microbrowsers send to your brand site are usually highly qualified and close to the bottom of the traditional sales
When consumers arrive on your site they are often ready and eager to buy (or read, view and listen to your content).Whether it be for
sneakers, tickets to a concert, a birthday gift idea, or an article to read — a trusted peer recommendation typically happens in that
fleeting moment when the appetite to buy is right now
That isn’t just valuable, it’s the holy freaking grail!Top tips for creating links that engageImage via Getty Images / drogatnevThe way
to get the most value from microbrowser traffic is by helping along this peer influencing that happens in the dark
By creating compelling, informative links with images, video and text information specifically for microbrowsers, you increase the
likelihood that peer-to-peer recommendations in groups convert into sales and reads.What follows are some top tips to ensure that the links
unfurling within microbrowsers have the greatest impact.First, remember the golden rule: your audience is human
When creating content for microbrowsers, design it for humans, not machines.
