Here’s this week’s Digital Discovery. Everything you need to know in the world of digital marketing.
This week includes the latest online advertising updates as we explore new ‘Shopping Ads’ from TikTok and take a look at Facebook’s new B2B audience targeting. We also cover Google’s latest algorithm update on helpful content.
Short-form video continues to grow as YouTube and Meta release updates to Shorts and Reels. Plus, many more stories of interest in the world of marketing that you should know about.
Finally, we showcase some of the best ads discovered this week and look ahead at key content dates coming up next week.
Don’t forget to subscribe to this newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.
Ok, let’s dive into this week’s update…
TikTok unveils new shopping ads
TikTok introduced us to ‘Shopping Ads’ this week, which includes three new advert formats:
1. Video shopping ads
Place hyper-relevant, shoppable videos across the For You page for people to check out your products.
Available globally for testing
2. Catalog listing ads
Easily promote your product catalogue at scale with new placements across TikTok. No video assets needed!
Testing available for US targeting only
3. Live shopping ads
Drive engagement from the For You page to your LIVE moments and show your products to shoppers who are more likely to buy.
Testing where TikTok Shop is available in the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and invited accounts in the US.
Marketers and businesses can download TikTok’s Shopping Ads Checklist here: https://www.tiktok.com/business/library/ShoppingAdsChecklist.pdf
Facebook adds new B2B targeting for advertisers
A little over a week ago, Facebook added four new targeting options for B2B advertisers.
Here’s the new targeting options and their audience sizes as of 18 August:
IT decision makers
Demographics > Work > Industries > IT decision makers
Size: 814,685 – 958,070
UK audience size: 13,600 – 16,000
Description: IT decision makers is a B2B audience segment that target ads to people who are IT decision makers based on their job titles.
Business decision maker titles and interests
Demographics > Work > Industries > Business decision maker titles and interests
Size: 1,181,616 – 1,389,581
UK audience size: 32,000 – 37,600
Description: Business decision maker titles and interests is a B2B audience segment that targets ads to people who are business decision makers based on their job titles and interests.
Business decision makers
Demographics > Work > Industries > Business decision makers
Size: 1,181,618 – 1,389,583
UK audience size: 32,000 – 37,600
Description: Business decision is a B2B audience segment that targets ads to people who are business decision makers in engineering/IT, operations, HR, strategy or marketing, based on their job titles.
(Note: With the audience sizes being the same, are these groups essentially the same??)
New active business
Behaviours > Digital activities > New active business (< 24 months)
Size: 24,641,242 – 28,978,101
UK audience size: 285,900 – 336,300
Description: Admins of engaged businesses that were created in the last 24 months.
Behaviours > Digital activities > New active business (< 12 months)
Size: 14,829,397 – 17,439,371
UK Audience size: 145,500 – 171,100
Description: Admins of engaged businesses that were created in the last 12 months.
Behaviours > Digital activities > New active business (< 6 months)
Size: 9,523,391 – 11,199,508
UK audience size: 84,100 – 98,900
Description: Admins of engaged businesses that were created in the last 6 months.
LinkedIn advertising is still the king of B2B advertising, but the new targeting options released by Facebook are worth experimenting with.
What you need to know about Google’s helpful content update
Next week, Google will start rolling out a new ‘helpful content’ update that aims to better connect people to helpful information.
Google urges creators to focus on people-first content instead of creating content for search engines. There’s a strong emphasis on creating satisfying content that answers yes to the following questions:
- Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
- Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
- Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
- After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
- Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
- Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?
Google states that sites deemed to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well. Creators are recommended to remove unhelpful content from their sites.
Read about the update in full here: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update
Google Search Console update and bug fix
It’s been a busy week for Google Search Console as it rolls out an update and fixes a bug.
If you see a drop in the number of indexed pages from Google Search Console, this may be due to a reporting error that has now been fixed.
This doesn’t mean that you have lost pages on Google, it means they were never indexed in the first place.
The new update includes simplified classifications for the following reports:
- Coverage (Page indexing)
- Core Web Vitals (Poor/Need improvement/Good categories retained, but pages grouped into good and not-good tables)
- Mobile Usability
- AMP report
- Rich result reports (Events, Fact checks, Logos, and so on)
- URL Inspection
- Search Console API. The report now shows just invalid or valid information. Instead of showing errors, valid with warnings and valid
Items are no longer grouped at the top level by three or more status categories (for example: Valid, Warning, and Error), but are instead grouped into two broad statuses reflecting whether they are invalid or not.
Meta introduces new features for Instagram and Facebook Reels. Meanwhile, YouTube Shorts will start adding watermarks to discourage sharing
Google and Meta continue to invest heavily in short-form video to compete with TikTok
Three new features have been announced for Instagram Reels. These are:
- ‘Add Yours’ Sticker
- Crossposting to Facebook
- Reels Insights for Facebook
Check out the video announcement here: https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1559589130304118784
Meta also introduced a new way to schedule Facebook Reels with Meta Creator Studio. The feature is expected to available for Instagram in the future. Watch the announcement here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=387871223471067
Finally, YouTube Shorts is rolling out a watermark for content created on YouTube. This means creators who share their video to other platforms will be forced to share it with a YouTube watermark.
The move is similar to the way TikTok already functions.
However, this is frustrating for creators as Meta has already announced that the Instagram will suppress content that has a watermark from another app.
In the future, professional creators will need to edit videos on dedicated video editing software before uploading it separately to each platform to avoid watermarks.
60% of young people considering a career in marketing despite mounting economic uncertainty
Great news from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) this week.
Three in five young people consider marketing a career choice, with good salary and career progression the top incentives to enter the industry.
Ads of the week
IPA – Don’t cut marketing budgets
The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) releases a campaign in The Financial Times encouraging brands not to cut their marketing budgets, claiming 40 years of evidence against short term reactions.
Tiger Beer – Boldness Finds A Way
Tiger Beer showcases the success of Son Heung-Min in becoming the first Asian player to ever win the Golden Boot.
KFC – Fuel your Fringe
KFC forces Edinburgh Fringe Festival goers to walk through their advertising message
Times Square 3D Billboard | House of the Dragon (HBO)
Another cool 3D billboard. This time from HBO to promote Game of Thrones spin-off ‘House of the Dragon’.
Personally, I’m still a little scarred from the last season of Game of Thrones…
Ladbrokes – Rocky
Ladbrokes reimagines Hollywood classic, promoting the strapline “We play together”
Other stories of interest this week
Apple Search Ads can now be edited in bulk
Carlsberg to step up marketing investment behind ‘strategic growth priorities
Five interesting facts shared by Marketing Week
- 85% of families think cost of living crisis will have a long-term negative impact on their future
- Shoppers will absorb 75% of price increases rather than cutting purchases
- Almost nine in 10 consumers have taken action after seeing a product on Instagram
- 85% of UK consumers think brands should cut marketing spend to combat cost of living crisis
- UK economy shrunk by 0.1% between April and June
Cineworld enters rescue talks as audience numbers remain low
Stranger Things season four generates over £22m in brand placement value
Iceland to offer customers loans as UK inflation hits new high
Gü invests £4.5m in brand
Key content dates for your social media next week
25 August – National Burger Day
26 August – International Dog Day, Reading Festival Begins
27 August – Notting Hill Carnival Begins
Thanks for reading!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter and found it useful.
Please follow me and subscribe to my Digital Discovery newsletter. I’ll be posting each week about the digital marketing stories that matter.
See you next week.
Sources:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/tiktok-introduces-3-types-of-shopping-ads/461788/
https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/ecommerce-ad-formats-convert-viewers-shoppers/
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/business-to-business-targeting
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/meta-introduces-new-way-to-schedule-facebook-reels/461525/
https://ipa.co.uk/initiatives/effworks/effworks-ft-reports/cutting-marketing-budget/
https://www.cim.co.uk/newsroom/release-60-of-young-people-considering-a-career-in-marketing/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkedins-20-most-popular-courses-are-free-for-now/460813/
