At the beginning of the pandemic, influencers suffered a blow to their usual schedules, with events and collaborations being cancelled left, right and centre.

8 months later, scheduling has started to resume as some brands have picked up the partnerships again. Instagram has continued to cement itself as the perfect e-commerce partner, as users can now purchase products direct from IGTV, Live AND Stories.

News:

• Get pumped up with Spotify ? Still unsure about heading to the gym during a pandemic? Spotify Pumped allows users to create free personalised and music-led HIIT workouts.
• Shop savvy on Instagram ? Instagram has been hot on monetising the platform for a while now. From this week, users can purchase products across IGTV, Stories and Live.

Start-up news:

• The newest in neurotechnology ?‍⚕️ The neurotech company founded by Elon Musk, Neuralink, has innovated a brain implant device. It will help conditions such as paralysis, anxiety and addiction.

Insights:

• Mounting enthusiasm for influencer marketing shows 58% of marketers actively working with influencers on YouTube over other mediums.
• Reports from marketing agency, Takumi, shows that 73% of marketers have allocated more resources to influencer marketing this year.
• According to reports by Google, 28% of early bird consumers have most of their shopping done 3 to 6 months before the Christmas period.