Today in Digital Marketing - 160: The End of Instagram Influencers?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Google launches very Facebook-ish ads. How to eliminate people unlikely to buy from you from your Facebook audience set. Are Instagram influencers on their way out? And is there such a thing as an SEO-friendly font? It's Wednesday, May 27th. Happy Mother's Day, Bolivia. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here is what you missed today in digital marketing. Google has launched a new ad product, one that is based more on Facebook-style demographic targeting than traditional Google-style search keyword targeting. They're called Discover ads, and they run in the YouTube home feed and the Watch Next feeds.

Starting point is 00:00:47 There's also a so-called Discover feed on the Google Search app, And they'll also show up in Gmail under the Promotion and Social tabs. Quoting SearchEngineLand.com, Discovery campaigns aren't just another effort by Google to move beyond search intent and deliver audience connections throughout the funnel. They give Google an avenue into working with social budgets and teams. Which team is ultimately responsible for discovery campaigns will vary, but in many cases, agencies and companies will have search, display, and now social teams with a hand in Google Ads campaigns. Unquote.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Right now, there are two formats, an image carousel or a single image. You can split test your headlines and descriptions, and Google will show you a weekly impression update based on your targeting when you set up your campaign. When it comes to people who visit your brand's website, some are good quality and some are not. I don't mean their character, of course. I mean their likelihood to convert. Your website can roughly tell the difference between a high-quality visitor and a low-quality visitor by measuring how much time they spend on your site. And that makes sense, right? Someone spending some time poking around and reading your content is probably more interested in what you sell than someone who shows up and then bounces after a

Starting point is 00:01:54 couple of seconds. But when you create an audience in Facebook's ad platform, the only way you can build an audience based on people who spent a lot of time on your site is by percentage. In other words, you can create an audience of people who are in the top 25% of time spent on your site, but you can't just eliminate people who show up for 10 seconds and then bounce. Or can you? John Loomer has posted a great walkthrough of how he does this. His system uses Google Tag Manager, and you can create separate audiences of people who've spent at least 30 seconds or 90 seconds or whatever, or for that matter, simply eliminate people who have spent less than, say, 15 seconds on your site.

Starting point is 00:02:35 It's a great read, a little technical, but there is a link to his walkthrough in this episode's notes. A new study of 1,000 American consumers has found that most would rather sit through your 30-second video ad to get some content from you instead of giving you their email address. And not by a little, three quarters of them. But when asked, which would you rather give up to a company's form, your email address or your phone number? 95% said they'd rather tell you their email.

Starting point is 00:03:09 There's a link to the coverage of the study in the notes, but one thing I found surprising, a majority of people said that they would rather see generic ads rather than ads personalized to their interests. It was a small majority, just 52%, but that's still way higher than I would have expected. I actually like seeing ads that are relevant to my interests. I mean, then again, I do advertising for a living, so, you know, there's that. But most people in the survey said that they have shared something on social media or followed

Starting point is 00:03:35 a brand's account in order to enter a contest, and most have also coughed up their email address to get some kind of content. Are Instagram influencers on their way out? A really fascinating piece today in Adweek talks about how the traditional Instagram influencer, showcasing their high living lifestyle, are being edged out by more authentic TikTok influencers. Quoting from the piece, noxiously tone-deaf to reality. How dare they use this moment for shameless self-promotion? Don't even get me started on David Geffen's yacht. On the other hand, influencers and celebrities on TikTok are connecting us more deeply than ever before

Starting point is 00:04:34 because they seem to understand our current headspace. The platform provides an equally playful and entertaining diversion while offering a more realistic view into our quarantined lives. From Charlie D'Amalio, the 16-year-old who has amassed over 55 million followers by sharing silly videos of her dancing in sweats in her bedroom, to the McFarlands, a family of five that shares videos of them goofing off while they're stuck at home, unquote. So, some food for thought there if your digital marketing campaigns include some kind of social influencers. Google is adding some new attributes to Google My Business profiles.

Starting point is 00:05:12 You've seen these attributes before. They're usually checkboxes to things like Wi-Fi or outdoor seating. Now they've added three more. Curbside pickup, no contact delivery, and dine-in. These appear in your My Business profile, which show up both in search and in maps. So if you are marketing a food service business, it might be worth updating your profile.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Also, side note, and I have no proof this is happening this time, but most social platforms will give an algorithmic boost to accounts that use whatever their latest technology is. I have no way of knowing if Google is doing this for brands that keep their My Business profile updated, but, you know, better safe than sorry. A bit more Google news. They have announced that their next web developer conference

Starting point is 00:05:56 will take place online. No surprise these days. But it will also be completely free to attend. It'll happen June 30th to July 2nd, and each programming day will only be three hours long so that they can repeat it for different time zones. Kind of a nice touch. Also, these sessions will be short, between 10 and 20 minutes. They are pretty nerdy though. The session that I am personally excited to watch is called 10 Modern Layouts in One Line of CSS. I mean, one line?

Starting point is 00:06:26 All right, I'm game. So if you're looking to pick up the latest in SEO or some other website technology, it might be worth setting some time aside to show up. You can go to web.dev to sign up. Which brings us to the Pulitzer Prize winning lightning round. Sprout Social has added reporting on LinkedIn videos. You can see those metrics in their various reports. Also, a small UI tweak there that will let you see your

Starting point is 00:06:49 content or inbox lineup in a smaller font. Google search engineer John Mueller confirmed there is no such thing as an SEO friendly font. Use whatever font you like. They all get indexed the same. Honestly, I didn't even know people thought there was an SEO-friendly font, but whatever. Google Today is rolling out its program that gives $340 million in Google Ads credits to eligible small and medium-sized businesses. New Zealand businesses are first up. Other countries will follow. And hey, here's a fun game. I'm going to read out three Twitter features, only one of which they launched today. Which do you think it was? The ability to edit tweets? Reasonable pricing for their Firehose API?

Starting point is 00:07:29 Or a cover image for your Twitter lists? Here's some time to think about... Time's up! Yeah. Cover images for your Twitter lists. Because, you know, that's what we all need. Special thanks to Hal X from Italy who reviewed this podcast on iTunes saying, This is one of my favorite podcasts. That's what we all need. choice. Also, thanks to Margaret, who tweeted me last night that this podcast's music and logo probably need a refresh. And she's right, of course. The good news is I have commissioned

Starting point is 00:08:11 a designer to come up with a better logo, something that looks like I didn't totally slap it together in Canva, which, you know, I totally didn't. The music is a little harder. It's pretty hard to find good license-free music. The music you hear in this show, I commissioned from a musician, but yeah, I'll admit it has kind of a corny, old-school newscast feel to it. I'd love to know your thoughts on music. Does it suck? Should I change it?

Starting point is 00:08:36 Or more to the point, should I spend $500 to change it? Tweet me, at Todd Maffin. That's at T-O-D-M-A-F-F-I- campaigns. Go to medianegotiator.us. 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. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first.

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Today in Digital Marketing - 160: The End of Instagram Influencers?

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