Today in Digital Marketing - Amazon's Solution to Fake Reviews: Shoot the Messenger.

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, Amazon strong-arms Apple to take down an app at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. and YouTube's changes seem, well, a little defensive. It's Monday, July 19th, 2021. Happy day of Arafa. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in digital marketing. We don't need to be a brain surgeon to realize that some of the reviews on Amazon are,

Starting point is 00:00:58 well, let's say a little suspect. Amazon says it's fixing the problems, but nobody really believes that. Luckily, there's a great mobile app called FakeSpot that uses machine learning to figure out how much of a product's reviews are fake. But late last week, Apple removed the app from its app store at the request of Amazon. The e-commerce giant claimed the app's analyses of reviews were incorrect 80% of the time and besides, they say, you're giving it access to data about products you're interested in. The e-commerce giant claimed the app's analyses of reviews were incorrect 80% of the time, and besides, they say, you're giving it access to data about products you're interested in.

Starting point is 00:01:36 Honestly, it's a little rich for Amazon to be slapping the privacy sheriff badge on, but whatever. For its part, the app's CEO says they don't sell any of the data they collect, and Apple didn't give them enough time to address Amazon's concerns before the app was pulled. Let's also not forget that just late last month, Amazon pushed all the social media platforms under the bus, saying they needed to do more to combat fake reviews that showed up on Amazon product pages. On Apple devices, the app still works if you had it installed before all this, and you can still use FakeSpot on the web, Android devices are unaffected for now. TikTok ads are more memorable than those on other platforms, including TV. That's the finding from a new study from TikTok, by the way,

Starting point is 00:02:21 which says the emotional lift TikTok ads get are more likely to drive purchase response. TikTok hired neuroanalytics firm NeuroInsight and measured the brain patterns of 57 people aged 18 to 35. But if you're willing to accept the small sample size and obvious potential bias here, the results showed, quoting socialmediatoday.com, that TikTok clips trigger various significant responses to brand content. First off, the researchers looked at emotional valence, which indicates the likability of what was seen in a video ad, and how that then relates to the in-the-moment action, for example, paving the way for unplanned purchases. TikTok promotions drove higher response intent than regular social

Starting point is 00:03:05 platform campaigns, unquote. For its part, TikTok said, quote, our algorithm and shorter video formats create continuous cycles of engagement, making TikTok the leading platform for information density. This further suggests that the TikTok audience is fully leaned in and immersed compared to other platforms, unquote. What this really says, of course, is that to get whatever emotional advantage the TikTok format might offer, you've got to use that format, that culture. You can't just repurpose your latest YouTube or TV campaign. Perhaps more than any other platform, TikTok really does have a unique way of speaking. There is a link to TikTok's full audience engagement study in today's premium newsletter.

Starting point is 00:03:51 So if you're convinced and finally want to try dipping your toes into the TikTok, they have announced an event to help marketers make the most of their ad platform. This will be the third event they call the For You Summit. It will be on Wednesday of this week. They say they'll present more research, have feature appearances by some CEOs that they're calling culturally innovative, and there'll be some training on the platform's usage overall.

Starting point is 00:04:14 Breakout sessions will include building AR effects, e-commerce opportunities, trust and safety insights, and so on. You can RSVP at this URL, announcingculturedriver.splashthat.com. Still with TikTok for one last piece, I promise the company today announcing an integration with Vimeo. Vimeo is mostly known as the high-end video platform, like YouTube, but for filmmakers, or for people who need better control

Starting point is 00:04:45 of their video distribution. The integration specifically is with the Vimeo Create feature. It's now going to be in TikTok's Ads Manager. This is the first in the company's Creative Partners program that seeks to bolt existing tools onto the TikTok platform. Two small platform updates to let you know about. Snapchat today said it's introducing a way to pose your Bitmoji avatar in 3D. In case you care, you'll be able to pick from more than 1,200 combinations of body poses, facial expressions, and backgrounds. And YouTube has added three new features to live streams. Polls,, subscribers only chat, and an expansion of their clips feature.

Starting point is 00:05:27 This is obviously a shot across the bow at Twitch. This Friday at one o'clock Pacific, another listener Zoom session. This week, Jill Saskin-Gales joins us. Jill spent six years at Google working in their ads department. Today, she is an in-demand consultant on everything Google PPC. She and I will chat for, I don't know, 10 or 15 minutes, and then I will throw the floor open to questions from you. But you've got to be in the Zoom to ask those questions. That's this Friday, one o'clock Pacific, four o'clock Eastern, 8pm London time.

Starting point is 00:06:00 The Zoom link is b.link slash listenerzoom, and that link is in the episode description as well. Premium newsletter subscribers will get a link to the replay if they miss it. So it is going to be a strange run of episodes this week. My wife and I are going down island for a midweek mini vacation. Here's the plan so far. Tomorrow's episode we will likely produce and record first thing in the morning. So it'll be out earlier than usual. Wednesday will be a special episode.

Starting point is 00:06:32 The interview I did with the anonymous Facebook ad support rep a couple of months back. Premium newsletter subscribers got it exclusively first, and now everyone will get it on the feed. And we will most likely be skipping Thursday's episode, but don't worry. We'll catch up on all the digital marketing news on Friday. Also, I changed the user account of my TikTok. It's now in line with the rest of the brand. So you can find it at the username today in digital.

Starting point is 00:06:56 I'm Todd Maffin. Talk to you early tomorrow. Take it one step at a time. One step at a time. That's all we can do. Take it one step at a time. It's all we can do.

Today in Digital Marketing - Amazon's Solution to Fake Reviews: Shoot the Messenger.

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