Welcome to our second episode of our “Fortnightly Digital Marketing News Roundups”.
We know it can be difficult to keep up with all the changes in the Digital Marketing industry. Many of us work in busy offices, sometimes barely having time to grab a sandwich or a coffee. So, we wanted to make it easier for all of you to know what’s going on.
In our first episode, we filled you in on the breaking digital marketing news, covering Google, Facebook LinkedIn and more. In this episode, we’ve got more digital news released in the past fortnight to keep you up to date.
So, grab a hot drink, sit back and let us get you up to speed. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/2QMK1Fu
Martin: Hi everyone and welcome to this month’s digital marketing news roundup from Blue Thirst. We’ve got the latest goings on from Google Facebook, so if you’re in digital marketing you’re in the right place.
Martin: Google is expanding when it shows ads to people in targeted locations.
Katy: Local inventory ads are rolling out of beta in Microsoft Advertising.
Martin: Google announced June 2019 core search algorithm update.
Lucy: Instagram advertisers can now convert organic influencer posts into ads.
Katy: Google and Bing talk web spam and penalties.
Emily: Facebook video creation kit gets new editing, resizing options and save feature.
Lucy: Google brings the Assistant to Waze.
Emily: YouTube now plays two ads on some videos longer than five minutes.
Martin: Google is expanding when it shows ads to people in targeted locations.
Google has been quietly rolling out changes to location targeting options. First spotted in display campaigns, it now appears to have been rolled out in to search and shopping. “People in your targeted location” has now become “People in or regularly in your targeted location”.
When creating a campaign, this feature is under Location > Location Options.
There are varying opinions on this new feature. Some think that both options should be kept available. While others believe that, people are moving around a lot more now, and it’s important to be able to target those relevant to your business. Especially if you are a local business. However, Google have not provided information on the criteria to fit this option.
Katy: Local Inventory Ads are rolling out of beta in Microsoft Advertising
Early this month Local Inventory Ads will be coming out of beta in Microsoft Advertising. These ads function just as Google Local Inventory Ads do. When a user searches for a product, nearby retailers can show relevant inventory that’s in stock near their location. Users will be taken to the website or to a Microsoft hosted storefront where they can purchase the product.
To get started you need to import your store location data from Google My Business into Microsoft Advertising. If you don’t already run Microsoft Shopping campaigns, you’ll need to upload your product feed, just as you do with Google Merchant Center. Then simply upload that feed and check the box for local inventory ads.
Local search queries are growing, particularly on mobile. This new ad format can provide local stock information, which will drive users into stores and hopefully improve your overall turnover of revenue and products.
Martin: Google Announced June 2019 Core Search Algorithm Update
Google announced that on the 3rd of June there was going to be an update to the core search algorithm. The Google Search liason, stated that there is nothing specifically big about the update, compared to previous updates.
This took 5 days to fully roll out. Publications such as daily mail and CCN, are publicly saying how badly this update has hit them. With CCN claiming that Google have essentially shut them down, noting a reduction of 90% in daily revenue.
Google regularly does these updates to ensure that sites are ranking fairly. They state that there’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded. So it’s not pushing people away, it’s helping people that are doing the right thing, apparently.
Lucy: Instagram advertisers can now convert organic influencer posts into ads
Instagram are rolling out branded content ads to all advertisers. It was confirmed in March that this ad format was being tested with a select group of brands. Over the coming months this will also become available for stories.
Before brands can use influencer posts, the content creator must grant permission to the brand. Once this is done through the advanced settings page, brands will be able to see the influencers posts in Ads Manager under existing posts. They can then run this content as an ad. It appears as paid partnership with “brand name”.
Influencer marketing is growing significantly. Making it easy for advertisers to create ads from influencer posts, saving time and effort. Brands who have been testing this format, have stated that they have seen a higher engagement rate as the content is promoted with the influencers handle rather than a business handle. This gives posts more authenticity.
Katy: Google and Bing talk web spam and penalties
Search engines remove spam from their search indexes to protect users and stop the delivery of irrelevant sites. They do this to promote those who play fair, such as websites that aren’t delivering spam, while demoting those that do.
Bing are demoting and penalizing sites currently, whereas Google uses a manual actions to educate publishers and site owners on the guidelines. So a bit of a difference there. They came together to talk a bit about what they’re each doing, there’s some differences but overall they’re just doing their best to protect the users.
Algorithmic changes are not penalties. They are not aimed at demoting sites, but rather showing the best results for the search query that the user might type in. Bing use training sets, to see if real-life searchers are satisfied with the search results. They continue this when they do algorithmic updates. With Google and Bing, you can submit reconsideration if you think your site has been demoted when it’s probably not what you think it should be, just to ensure you’re happy and in agreement with them.
Emily: Facebook Video Creation Kit gets new editing, resizing options and ‘save’ feature.
Facebook are rolling out a tool that automatically turns one video into multiple videos, with different aspect ratios to optimise ad placement. Advertisers will also have access to new templates, more font options, seasonal stickers and a new feature to save works in progress.
To use this feature, setup a campaign that supports video format. In the media section of your ad, select video/slideshow and then use templates. This will open the Video Creation Kit. It can also be done from a Facebook Page. This is under publishing tools, video library and use video templates.
This tool gives advertisers with limited resources, easy-to-use tools for creating good video ads. These additional features build on what Facebook was already offering advertisers, helping them create more customized ads that can be optimized for ad placement, a boon especially for SMB advertisers that may not have the technical know-how to resize video ads.
Lucy: Google brings the Assistant to Waze
Part of Google’s Assistant everywhere strategy, Waze users will be able to avoid tolls and report police without touching the screen of their phone. The Assistant is being integrated currently into the U.S. android version of the app and will be rolled out to other devices and other countries in the future.
Voice commands were actually already available in Waze for navigation. But Google Assistant will now enable users to do a number of other things while driving, such as make calls, play music and initiate Waze commands hands free. Wazers will also be able to do reporting and requests without touching the screen including: report traffic, avoid tolls, report police or access alternative routing.
Waze works on user content. Users report traffic, speed cameras and accidents. Up until now, you had to touch your phone to create the marker on the map. With the Google Assistant, you will now be able to use most of the reporting features without having to physically interact with your phone. With over 30 million active users in the U.S. this is an important feature for road safety.
Emily: YouTube now plays two ads on some videos longer than 5 minutes
Last year, YouTube tested running two ads back to back on longer videos, now it looks as though this is the case for videos over 5 minutes.
Through research, YouTube found that fewer interruptions is correlated with better user metrics, including lower abandonment. By putting two ads at the beginning, they’re less likely to be interrupted by ads later. These users will experience up to 40% fewer interruptions by ads in the session.
Martin: Thank you very much for watching, that’s everything for this month. Just a quick note to remember to subscribe if you want to automatically see next months addition. But if you want to be kept up to date for the news articles, as and when they drop, don’t forget to follow us on our social channels and we’ll be releasing news articles as and when we find them.