Today in Digital Marketing - 117: Uh, wrong button there, Reverend...

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Tuesday, March 24th, 2020. I'm Todd Mathen. Today, Pinterest pushes up launch of a new Discover feature, Twitter's busy but financially unstable, Reddit launches a new tool that could get more engagement for your brand, and Priest plus Livestream equals hilarity. Here's what you missed today in Digital Marketing, brought to you today by testra.com. Let's start with a bit of good news, at least good if you're a digital marketer, which I assume you are or you wouldn't be here.

Starting point is 00:00:31 With many brands suspending their ad campaigns, that's made a significant change to the auctions that all the social ad platforms run on. Specifically, with considerably less demand, the prices have fallen. This morning, Facebook DTC marketer David Herman tweeted a screenshot of the CPM rates he was getting. 96 cents. 96 cents to reach 1,000 people. He says normally it's about $8 to $12 for him. Other people on that thread reported CPMs as low as 50 cents. This is not your signal to start jamming your campaign down people's throats. If it would be inappropriate for your brand to advertise during this pandemic,

Starting point is 00:01:12 it would still be inappropriate to advertise even if it's cheap to do so. In our experience here at the agency, while most of our clients have suspended their campaigns and organic posts, we have a few DTC clients and they too are seeing some very low CPM and CPC rates, but also quite low conversions. If you don't like volatility in your marketing budget, don't change anything for now. Some brands are turning the stay-at-home directive

Starting point is 00:01:39 in a lot of the world into an asset, and it may be something you want to consider as well. One good example, famous chef Massimo Battura has launched an Instagram live stream show called Kitchen Quarantine. Battura is a Michelin-starred chef, and his new show features him cooking and his charming family hanging out as they are all self-isolating at home. Obviously, this won't work for all brands, perhaps won't even work for most brands, but for those where there might be a fit, not a bad thing to consider. Pinterest today moved up release of a new feature they'd been working on. It's called the Today tab. They call it a source of daily inspiration with curated topics and trending pins that make it

Starting point is 00:02:20 easy to explore popular and timely ideas. Pinterest says they had been working on it for a later launch, but pushed it out early so they could use it to distribute expert information from the World Health Organization on topics like hand-washing during the pandemic. But it's not restricted to that use. Pins from brands and people are popping in there now, showing topics that are popular currently. And what is popular right now on Pinterest? They say kid-friendly baking ideas, self-care tips, family favorite movies, and comfort food recipes.

Starting point is 00:02:50 Pinterest also said they will now start prohibiting ads that claim to offer cures or treatments that are looking to exploit the COVID-19 crisis. I want to talk to you about one of our sponsors, Tresta. Tresta is a mobile app for iPhone and Android that lets you do business calling and texting from anywhere. With Tresta, you can set up your business phone number, download the app, and start calling and texting unlimited right away. Tresta is the best business phone app on the market. Whether you're just starting your business or you're already established, Tresta offers the call management features that empower you to communicate smarter and more efficiently. One of the best things about Tresta is it's so flexible. If you just need a business phone number, you can set up a local or toll-free number

Starting point is 00:03:39 instantly. If you're looking for a complete business phone system, all their powerful call management features are included. Everything from auto attendance to call recording to user groups and so much more. It's just $15 per user per month with no contract. And you don't need any special equipment, just the smartphone you're already using. Start your free 30-day trial today at testra.com slash today. So the Olympics are postponed. Probably a good idea. The decision came after both Canada and Australia announced they would not be sending their athletes if the IOC planned to go through with it this year. So while that's good for public health, it's causing more than a few headaches for brand managers

Starting point is 00:04:25 who had planned and pre-purchased ad campaigns to run through the summer games. This is, of course, a massive disruption for the advertising part of this. NBCUniversal had already sold 90% of its inventory for the games. They had already hit a record $1.25 billion in national ad sales. Also, sponsorship contracts that had been drawn up to expire at the end of this calendar year, and probably a whole whack of other trickle-down effects.

Starting point is 00:04:52 So far, nobody is quite sure whether NBC will refund the brands who bought and paid for the campaigns, or whether they'll just roll it over to 2021. NBC probably doesn't even know today. Just one of the many disruptions to come, I'm sure. Google Ads has added some nice new updates. Clearer guidance on performance ratings for one. They're now rating creative assets with low, good, and best asset ratings, so you can understand what messaging is resonating with users.

Starting point is 00:05:20 And there are new columns for reporting at the ad group level, one for asset source, and one that lets you quickly see the orientation of the asset. In other words, landscape, portrait, or square. And one really fantastic addition, performance charts. So you'll be able to chart performance changes for your creative assets over time. There are some smaller tweaks too. You should start to see them as they roll out in the coming weeks. Yes, Twitter is busy. Maybe busier than it's ever been with all this pandemic news, but that doesn't mean it's going to be making more money. In fact, Twitter this week withdrew its previous estimates for revenues and expenses. They say they expect Q1 revenue to be down slightly on a year-over-year basis. But they are saving money through all this, mostly from fewer human moderators,

Starting point is 00:06:02 because many of those people have been sent home, and Twitter has moved a lot of its moderation to artificial intelligence. No word on how any layoff compensation packages will affect the numbers. Quoting social media today, the impact is likely coming from smaller advertisers and businesses that have either been shut down or restricted, and which are now switching their focus onto how they can simply stay in operation, as opposed to spending on ads. The rolling closures will also mean a significant reduction in ad spend from restaurants, cinemas, events, etc. While Twitter is seeing more usage, it makes sense it would also be seeing less ad demand, at least in this initial stage of the

Starting point is 00:06:41 lockdown period. Just as I was putting together the last of today's script, Reddit announced it had launched a new engagement feature, Polls. This lets Reddit users pose questions in their subreddit community. If you'd like to try it out, just visit a subreddit, click the Create Post button, and select the new Poll option from the tabs. Polls can last up to one week and have up to six answer options. Brands, of course, can use it if your brand has a Reddit account, maybe as a customer satisfaction measure

Starting point is 00:07:09 or customer research. Try it out. And finally, three cheers to the Italian Catholic priest who live-streamed himself leading prayers at an altar. The stream went fine. Actually, the stream turned out to be unintentionally quite entertaining. Why? Because he apparently accidentally turned on the AR filters. And so there he is with a space helmet on. And then suddenly it switches to him lifting animated weights. And then suddenly he's wearing sunglasses with an old school gangster hat on. Honestly, it might be the laugh that you need right now. I retweeted it, so check my Twitter for that.

Starting point is 00:07:51 Link in description. All right, that's it for today. My wife and I have a new rule. We are not constantly checking the news these days, lest we get overwhelmed with everything. So here's our new routine. We get up early, watch our prime minister's now daily address to the nation, get as much work done as we can, and lose ourselves in Xbox and pizza. I want to leave you with the audio from a short one-minute YouTube video that I caught yesterday. It's from the account called YoungCripTV. That's Y-U-N-G-C-R-I-P-P-T-V. He is a quadriplegic. Here are his thoughts.

Starting point is 00:08:30 And in case you're listening with kids, there is profanity in it. Talk to you tomorrow. You are all a confusing group of people. And I don't think I can ever begin to understand your point of view. Because you're also, more than likely, amongst the same group of people that say dumb shit like, I wish life had a pause button and the world could just slow down and we could take a break from it all. What do you think this is? Here comes China giving you exactly what you want and you're acting like a bunch of ungrateful little bastards that just got socks for Christmas from your grandmother. Stop.

Starting point is 00:09:08 Fucking be thankful. Okay? Because you know what's going to happen. Some self-centered dumbass that works at a nursing home is planning on going out right now. And he's going to get drunk with a bunch of fucking losers out in public and he's going to go to work the next day

Starting point is 00:09:24 and he's going to be coughing all the next day and he's going to be coughing all over your grandma's tapioca pudding and weird little strawberry candies that don't, I don't know where they come from, but they're always there with old people and he's going to get her sick and she's going to die. And you know what that means?

Starting point is 00:09:38 No more Christmas socks. So go fuck yourself. Stay inside, you dumb bitch. It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy.

Starting point is 00:10:03 And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A.

Today in Digital Marketing - 117: Uh, wrong button there, Reverend...

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