🚨Google Makes Critical Update to LSAs, TikTok Introduces Ad Automation Tools, YouTube Adds New Shorts Options and Meta's Latest Advertising Updates

Hello and welcome back to The Digital Dispatch!

I hope you had a pleasant weekend and are feeling well rested, you'll need it for this week's digital news round up 😅

Wow, there's been a lot of updates recently and there are quite a few important ones for business owners and marketers alike.

So please bear with me with this slightly longer Dispatch edition. I've tried to keep it as short and sweet as possible.

Before we dive into the news, please take a moment to check out our latest Did You Know episode.

The video explores Coors Light's Lights Out campaign, which transformed a sign broken by baseball star Shohei Ohtani into a viral marketing success.

Want to know how they did it and what YOU can learn from the campaign?

Find out here or watch it on LinkedIn here!

Let's take a look at these week's top stories 👇

Google Requires Verified Business Profiles for Local Service Ads 🚨: Businesses must verify their Google Business Profile by Nov. 21st to run Local Service Ads.

Google's Frightgeist Reveals 2024 Halloween Trends 🎃: Discover trending costumes and themes for Halloween marketing! This year features popular characters like Beetlejuice and "Dogpool," offering inspiration for engaging campaigns.

TikTok Introduces Ad Automation Tools for the Holidays 🎉: TikTok rolls out Smart+ Campaigns and GMV Max, simplifying ad creation and boosting sales.

YouTube Updates Shorts with New Features 🎥: YouTube enhances Shorts with new templates for remixing content and adds a toggle for viewers to control Shorts frequency. Studio Mobile now supports landscape view for easier performance analysis.

Meta's Advertising Updates for Enhanced Engagement 🚀: Meta encourages entertaining Reels ads, introduces the AI Advantage Suite for improved ROI, and enhances brand safety controls. New tools like AI Image Animation and enhanced Collections Ads support effective marketing strategies.

Google Makes Major Change to Local Service Ads 📍

Businesses now need a verified Google Business Profile (GBP) to continue running Local Service Ads (LSAs).

Without matching or verified information, ads will be paused.

Google is tightening the integration between LSAs and GBPs, making the Business Profile the main point of reference for ad details and customer reviews.

This change affects how businesses manage their local search presence, with a key deadline approaching.

Why does this matter?

For local businesses relying on LSAs to capture traffic, having an accurate and verified GBP is now essential.

This change ensures that ads display correct business information and reviews, maintaining both visibility and credibility in search results.

Any disruptions in profile accuracy could lead to paused ads, affecting lead generation and customer acquisition.

Key Details:

• Deadline: By November 21st, businesses must have a verified GBP to run LSAs.
• Matching info: The name and address on the GBP must match the LSA to avoid ad pauses.
• Reviews: Starting in early 2025, all LSA reviews will be managed through the GBP, consolidating feedback.

What to do next:

Ensure your Google Business Profile is verified, accurate, and linked to your LSA before the November deadline to avoid ad disruptions and stay visible to potential customers.

Google’s Frightgeist Reveals Top Halloween Trends for 2024 👻🎃

Looking for some inspiration for your Halloween marketing campaigns or costumes this year?

Google has just launched the latest edition of its popular “Frightgeist” mini-site, giving an up-to-date look at what’s trending for Halloween based on Google Search activity.

The Frightgeist site highlights the most popular costume trends, with data drawn from U.S. searches.

This year’s lineup includes some familiar faces from pop culture, such as Beetlejuice, Inside Out, Deadpool, and even Australian breakdancer Raygun, who have made their way to the top of costume choices for 2024.

In addition to adult costume trends, Frightgeist also includes categories for children’s costumes, makeup looks, food trends, Halloween décor, party themes, and even dog costumes. (Yes, “Dogpool” is currently the top pet costume!)

These trends can be especially helpful for businesses planning Halloween promotions.

Tapping into the right theme could spark more interest in your offerings, giving you an edge over competitors during this popular season.

Understanding what customers are looking for helps ensure your products and content are in line with the latest trends.

Why This is Important to UK Business Owners:

While Frightgeist’s data is based on U.S. search activity, globalised pop culture means that many of these trends often cross over to the UK.

UK businesses can benefit from keeping an eye on what’s trending in the U.S., especially as it relates to globally popular characters like Deadpool or Beetlejuice.

By aligning your products or services with these themes, you can create more engaging marketing campaigns that resonate with customers during the Halloween season.

Check out the site here!

TikTok Announces New Ad Automation Options for Holiday Season 🎃🎄

TikTok has introduced a range of ad automation tools to help advertisers maximize performance as the holidays approach.

Key Highlights:

1. Smart+ Campaigns: A fully automated ad solution that manages ad creation, targeting, bidding, and placement. Advertisers simply input assets, budget, and goals, and TikTok handles the rest.
2. GMV Max: This feature automates TikTok Shop campaign creation to optimize traffic across organic content, ads, and affiliate posts. It aims to increase gross merchandise value by simplifying operations and enhancing exposure across the platform.

3. Privacy-Enhancing Technology (PETs): New integrations allow advertisers to access consumer insights without directly uploading audience data to TikTok.

4. Conversion Lift Studies: TikTok is also rolling out tools to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and track actual conversions from TikTok ads.

These automation tools are part of TikTok's strategy to enhance performance, making it easier for advertisers to target the right consumers and improve sales across the app’s ecosystem.

YouTube Adds New Shorts Options and Landscape View for Studio Mobile 📺 📱

YouTube is rolling out a series of updates for its Shorts feature, aiming to enhance user engagement and encourage more creators to join the platform.

First up, YouTube has introduced updated Shorts templates, allowing users to remix and repurpose a wider range of elements from existing Shorts videos.

This change enables users to build upon audio segments, text, and other attributes from videos they’ve watched, enhancing the creative process and promoting trends within the community.

The aim is to inspire content creation and facilitate collaboration among users.

YouTube has also implemented a new toggle that allows viewers to decrease the frequency of Shorts in their Home feed.

YouTube anticipates that this feature won’t significantly impact overall Shorts views, as it’s likely to be used by those who don’t frequently engage with Shorts content. 

If this works well, it could direct a more engaged audience to your content leading to more conversions.

On a non-Shorts note, YouTube Studio Mobile now supports landscape view for both Android and iOS, making it easier for creators to analyse performance data in a more spacious format.

Meta's Latest Advertising Updates Round-Up

This week, Meta has rolled out several significant updates that are essential for businesses leveraging its platforms for advertising.

Here’s a concise summary of the key changes:

1. Reels Ad Tips for Holiday Season 🎄

Meta has shared valuable insights to help businesses optimize Instagram Reels ads, especially with the holiday season approaching. Key highlights include:

• Popularity: 50% of all time on Instagram is now spent on Reels, with 3.5 billion Reels shared daily.
• Ad Strategy: Make your Reels entertaining, digestible, and relatable. Ads that incorporate "creative essentials" can reduce Cost Per Result (CPR) by up to 34%.
• Practical Advice: Use Reels as the default vertical video format and adapt for Stories and Feeds.

2. AI-Powered Advantage Ad Suite 🤖

Meta has provided an overview of its AI-based Advantage ad suite, which aims to enhance campaign efficiency.

Notable insights include:

• Performance Boost: Users of Advantage+ shopping campaigns reported a 17% decrease in cost per action and a 32% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS).
• Audience Expansion: The AI system helps brands reach potential customers that traditional targeting may overlook.
• Automation Options: Businesses can opt for fully or semi-automated ad management, simplifying creative and budgeting processes.

3. Brand Safety Controls Updates 🔒

Meta has introduced new brand safety and placement tools, providing greater control for businesses over their ad placements:

• Comment Management: Brands can deactivate comments on ads before they go live, crucial for sensitive campaigns.
• Placement Controls: Businesses can now block ads from appearing on specific profiles using a "publisher block list."
• Third-Party Block Lists: Brands can collaborate with Meta partners to create lists of placements they wish to avoid.
• Enhanced Control Center: Updates to the Brand Safety and Suitability Center allow better management of ad placements across Meta’s platforms.

4. Advertising Week Innovations 🚀

During Advertising Week, Meta introduced:

• AI Image Animation: A tool for animating static images to create engaging videos for Reels.

• Video Expansion: New features that allow advertisers to convert video assets into various formats.

• Enhanced Collections Ads: Integration of creator content into Collections ads, improving engagement through influencer partnerships.

• Partnership Ads Hub: A consolidated tool for managing influencer collaborations.
• Video Tab Opportunities: An upcoming feature designed to boost video ad reach through a dedicated tab for video content.

Summary

These updates underscore Meta's commitment to helping businesses effectively engage their audiences through innovative ad solutions.

With increased focus on Reels, AI-driven automation, and enhanced brand safety measures, advertisers can leverage these tools to optimize their marketing strategies.

That's All Folks!

We hope you have found these insights useful!

Stay tuned for more tips, trends, and tools to keep you ahead.

See you next week! 👋

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