Why DMG’s social brand Eliza is not worried about owning the audience

A fashion and beauty brand aimed at Millennial Women, which was launched by DMG Media 2022, closed its website and focused on social media where it got “almost all” its eyeballs.

Mail, Metro and in Paper Publisher DMG Launched Eliza 2022. It originally began to publish creator-led content On Instagram (where it now has 255,000 followers) And teltok (371,700) but also launched their own website.

Eliza delivers the social campaigns for social and creators purchased with Mail Metro Media and last year was said to have worked on over £ 2 million, including brands such as Matalan, Supertrug, British Airways and much.co.uk.

Co -founder and editor -in -chief Joanna Bridger told a “Death of the website” panel at PPA Festival In London: “When we first launched, we built a website from scratch. But traffic was difficult to build and almost all our attention came from social.

“As a small team with limited resources, we made the radical decision to retire. We put all our energy in social and now receive about 50 million views a month.”

Co -founder and CEO Hannah Blake added that the advertiser’s preferences had played a role in this decision: “When we launched and was talking to advertisers and brands, they were not interested in a new content on the website. Everything they wanted to know was how we could create really efficient social video.”

Panel host Mel McVeigh from PPA, Blake asked how she felt Eliza’s success was dependent on social media algorithms.

“People always say that we are famous by these platforms,” ​​Blake replied, referring to critics who say they don’t “own their audience”.

“But it’s really just something I hear from people in traditional companies. Because if you look around, there are creators who jump on these platforms, millions of views get really fast … Take the community they have made and develop products that become very successful. They see these platforms as a massive opportunity.”

Eliza is still trying to convert her social audience to her newsletters. Blake added: “Newsletter is a huge part of our strategy. We use social to drive to our newsletters,” Blake said, pointing out that newsletters act as a “government layer for a more dedicated audience.”

Eliza has a team of full -time social media that also plays in the films it produces.

Eliza contains as a case study in a new PPA report by Enders -Analysis called “Rewrite of the Media Gel Book” As notes: “Trademarks can sponsor all formats native to the platform or commission tailored content, blur the boundaries between commercial and non -commercial content”.

Successful Eliza content strings include the video series “Guess which outfit is the most expensive” that has attracted more than 200 million views.

It has two Eliza creators who go out in identical clothes, a high fashion and the other from High Street. The Vox Pop members of the public to find out which they think is more expensive. Commercial versions of this format have been created for brands such as TU, Deichmann, TK Maxx, Elf Cosmetics, Tresemme and British Airways

Ender’s analysis CEO Douglas McCabe told the PPA festival in a major figure that the website format “gradually becomes superfluous” for changed consumer behaviors, algorithms and AI LED search.

His feeling was repeated in the same session as the Eliza founders by the CEO of AI-Start Miso.ai Lucky Gunasekara who referred to Statistics shared by Cloudflare CEO Matthew PrinceThat: “Ten years ago, Google would scrape two pages and send a visit to a website. Now it’s six pages per visit. Open AI scratches 200-300 per visit. For anthropic (Claude.ai) it’s 6,000 per visit.

“Google AI reviews have led to a decline of 40% in click speeds. It is an asteroid that comes to Planet Earth. It’s not over … But (websites) must invent or revive themselves.”

He added that publishers must “understand that the sea is drying and (your site will be) an island. How do you make it sustainable? How do you make it a destination that people want to go to?”

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