Mad Digest Weekly Update 26th June-30th June
Your weekly insider into the digital world!
(26/06/2023 - 30/06/2023)
Good afternoon, folks! With your weekly news update, we're back!
We'll start with the latest issue of Mad Digest, where you can discover more about the digital marketing industry. This newsletter is all you need to keep up with important news and trends. We hope you enjoy it, and we would appreciate any feedback.
Future with Funding
The Digital Interest
Meta Publishes New Guide on How to Create Standout Reels Content
Looking to incorporate Reels into your Facebook and/or Instagram approach?
This will help – Meta has published a new, 7-page ‘Reels Creative Mini-Manual’, which outlines a range of tips on how to improve your Reels creative, and tap into key usage trends and behaviors. The main focus of the guide is helping creators speak the ‘language of Reels’, which Meta describes as ’a style that’s entertaining, digestible and relatable all at once’. The guide provides more in-depth analysis of this approach, including breakdowns of the key technical considerations. There are also specific notes on how to maximize your Reels engagement, through the incorporation of music and visual effects. Finally, Meta’s also included specific breakdowns for each of the ‘language of Reels’ elements to assist in your strategic planning. This is a critical trend of note – social apps are becoming less about social interaction and more about content discovery, with people then sharing what they find with friends via messaging apps instead. As a result, Reels are getting more and more attention, and as such, they should, at the least, be on the radar of all marketers as a potential avenue for promotion to maximize brand awareness and response. And in that respect, this guide could be very useful indeed.
Buy on Google program to shut down Sept. 26
Buy on Google for Search and Shopping will shut down Sept. 26, the company announced today via an email sent to participating U.S. retailers. While Buy on Google is ending, Buy on Google for YouTube will remain available for eligible U.S. merchants.
Google says it is dropping Buy on Google to create a new “streamlined buying journey for shoppers” that makes it easier for retailers to sell on Google and YouTube. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land: “Our goal is to support an open ecosystem by connecting shoppers directly with merchants, and this is a big priority for us. We developed a new streamlined checkout process that allows shoppers to go directly from Google to the checkout flow on a merchant’s website when they’re ready to buy. We’ve received great feedback from merchants and users. Buy on Google was a small feature that a very limited number of merchants used, so we’re investing in this new buying experience instead.”
Twitter Tests New DM Control Options to Combat Message Spam
Twitter’s moving to the next stage of testing for its new DM restriction tools, which will give users more control over who exactly is able to message them in the app, in a bid to combat DM spam. Twitter’s currently working on a new DM options screen, which would enable users to choose who can send them a message in the app. These controls, presumably, would only be made available to Twitter Blue subscribers, which would align with another element of the same experiment, in broader restrictions on who can send DMs to non-followers in the app. Twitter’s also looking to implement a new restriction that would stop non-paying users from sending messages to people who don’t follow them, which could have implications for customer service and outreach, if you’re not paying for a verified account.
YouTube Test & Compare helps you pick the best video thumbnail
YouTube is piloting a new feature to help marketers pick the perfect thumbnail for their videos. The Test & Compare tool, also known as A/B thumbnail testing, will provide performance data, revealing which designs drive the highest click through rates (CTRs). This new feature will help advertisers better understand the behaviour of their audience, so that they can create a winning thumbnail, potentially resulting in a higher CTR and improved engagement. Marketers will be able to upload a maximum of three thumbnails per video using the Test & Compare tool. YouTube bots will then run experiments on these images to identify which one is the strongest performer, allowing advertisers to make an informed decision when selecting which thumbnail they’d like to accompany their video. Currently, the pilot is only being tested on a few hundred creators, however, YouTube is planning to launch a beta version in the coming months to expand the scheme to thousands more. Next year, the video platform is planning to the feature more broadly available next year.
Sip the Tea
Bing adds new AI-powered shopping tools
Microsoft has announced new AI-powered shopping tools powered by Bing and Bing Chat. These include new price match monitors, AI-generated buying guides, and review summaries, all aimed to “help you shop and save with confidence,” Microsoft said.
Price match monitors: These new price match monitors show you a product’s price after you purchase that product. This is so you can request a pricing match from the store you bought it from if that price changes after you ordered it. Microsoft said they have “partnered with top US retailers with existing price match policies and will be adding more over time.” This is launching in the US search results soon, Microsoft said.
Buying guides: Bing now uses AI to generate buying guides based on the product or category of products that you are researching. The AI-generated buying guides will also provide you with product suggestions, show you the specifications of those items side-by-side and potentially offer other smarter comparison interfaces to help you along your buying journey.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Review summaries: Bing will also give you review summaries if you ask for them in Bing Chat or the Edge sidebar. The review summaries will summarize what customers are saying online about the product you are researching. It will also use AI to generate top insights and popular opinions about the products.
It is fascinating to watch how Bing Chat and other AI-based search features are expanding, getting more useful and being more human-like. Clearly, if you are a retailer, getting your products into Bing Shopping is important here.
TikTok Launches ‘Creative Challenge’ to Provide More Income Opportunities for Creators
TikTok’s adding another way to bring creators and brands together, with a new Creative Challenge initiative, which will enable creators to essentially pitch brands with their clips, in the hopes of earning money via ad partnerships. As outlined by creator Dayneo, the new program will enable creators to join a brand posted challenge, for which they’ll then post content that the brand will be able to review for potential paid collaboration. As explained by TikTok:
“TikTok Creative Challenge is a new in-app feature that allows creators to submit video ads to brand challenges and receive rewards based on video performance. Creators can browse through the list of challenges, read the challenge’s brief which displays the reward pool and details rules and requirements, and submit their video ad. The Creative Challenge gives creators full creative freedom over their ads, unlocking more opportunities for creators to collaborate with brands in a way that’s most authentic to them.”
TikTok says that once creators join the program, they’ll also have access to various assistive resources, including a dedicated Creator Community group and a Mentor Program that’ll connect you with other creators to share knowledge. “To be eligible to join the Creative Challenge, creators must be at least 18 years old and have a US-based account with a minimum of 50,000 followers. Keeping the safety of our community in mind, all videos for the Creative Challenge must abide by our Community Guidelines.” Brands will be able to choose up to 30 ad creatives from each challenge, with revenue from the campaigns then shared with the chosen creators, providing another avenue for monetization within the app. Creators will also be able to qualify for various performance-based bonuses to build on their money-making potential through the scheme.
IYKYK
Piracy - Search engines aim to reduce the organic search rankings of content that infringes on copyright. Google introduced a filter in 2012 that reduces the visibility of sites reported for numerous DMCA-related takedown requests.
Reinclusion - A way search engines measure how closely connected the content of a webpage is aligned to match the context of a search query.
Social Signal - Any factors that demonstrate authority and influence on popular social networking websites. For example, the social authority of a user on Twitter. Although many correlation studies have indicated that socials signals impact rankings (e.g., number of Likes/shares a piece of content receives), Google has publicly stated that social signals are not a direct ranking factor. Popular sites that have a lot of social media engagement tend to rank well for other reasons.
Mad Corner
Mastering the New Era of Web Analytics: A Guide to GA4
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a game-changer in the world of analytics, providing invaluable insights into audience behavior. With advanced tracking capabilities and the power of machine learning, GA4 captures the complete customer journey across platforms, enabling a deeper understanding of user interactions. Say goodbye to guesswork and embrace data-driven decision-making as you unlock the full potential of GA4 to drive your digital strategy forward.
Google Analytics 4, is a free property type that opens up a world of insights. What sets Google Analytics 4 apart from the old GA is its versatility in tracking. With GA4, you can effortlessly monitor analytics for both websites and applications.
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Realtor Associate @ Next Trend Realty LLC | HAR REALTOR, IRS Tax Preparer
1yI'll keep this in mind.
Ravi Kumar Thanks for Sharing! ⚡