Today in Digital Marketing - Blocking the Blocklists

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Friday, April 21st. Today, rethinking keyword block lists. The problem with multi-channel marketing. LinkedIn lifts the veil on its algorithm. And it's come to this. Now you have to pay Twitter to pay Twitter. I'm Todd Mathen. That's ahead. Today, digital marketing. Last month, I stumbled upon a marketing goldmine. It was a bunch of programming code from a video game I play called Slay the Spire. It's sort of a card game. Anyway, the code I found was for its leaderboard. You remember these, don't you? You play Pac-Man, you get a high score, you put your initials in. I'm aware I'm dating myself with that reference. Thank you. With Slay the Spire, though, you can put your whole name in if you want, or your username, or really any words you want. And that's the problem. You know the saying,

Starting point is 00:00:51 give the internet an inch and it'll take it vile. The code was a list of bad words that the game would block from usage in the leaderboard. Profanity, racial slurs, sexual references, even common words like camgirl, OMG, and my favorite, Santorum, spelled like the American politician, though you might want to run that word through Google if you don't have a weak stomach. The list was a goldmine for me because I run a social media engagement and moderation agency, and it provided more words that we could add to our existing list of full service and client-specific block words. In the media buying world, block lists are used as well. Terms and topics that the advertiser doesn't want to appear next to. And an interesting piece up today on digiday.com suggests that keyword block lists may be doing more harm than good. Experts say these lists

Starting point is 00:01:43 often reward soft content while penalizing socially relevant and controversial topics like hard news. And that leads to missed opportunities for brands and sometimes derives publishers of revenue from premium audiences. It can also create roadblocks for diverse advertising featuring underrepresented groups. The piece is definitely worth reading. It says advertisers must challenge themselves, their media buying partners, and their brand safety vendors to create ways to avoid punishing news coverage.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Quoting the piece, consumers are smart. They know what they're getting into when they visit hard news sites. If they see a story about a violent protest on a reputable news site, they will not think that a brand advertising on that site is violent.

Starting point is 00:02:31 Blocking all news stories covering violence is too crude an approach to brand safety. The full piece, as I mentioned, is up on Digiday.com. Look for their blog post called Why Advertisers Are Reconsidering Keyword Block List as Brand Safety Approaches to hard news. Navigating the ever-expanding world of e-commerce channels is no easy feat for retailers, with half now saying there are too many channels for them to effectively manage. A new survey from Wunderman Thompson published this week found that while almost all organizations have a multi-channel strategy in place, they face the following challenges. Two-thirds said they could be using digital channels more efficiently. Nearly half indicated that they struggle to maintain a consistent brand experience across every channel, and half the organizations polled have difficulty benchmarking their own

Starting point is 00:03:20 omni-channel initiatives. The report also found that the majority of brands have tailored strategies for individual e-commerce platform, but one in 10 believe there's no differentiation between them. Marketplaces, social commerce, and direct-to-consumer sites were viewed as the easiest channel to facilitate sales, with two-thirds of survey respondents considering them vital to a company's future. In terms of budget allocation for 2023, each channel is expected to receive a relatively even spread, with marketplaces, social commerce, and D2C sites

Starting point is 00:03:53 expected to receive a fifth of all retail budgets. And finally, more than half said it's hard to find agency partners with the right expertise for making retail media investments. If you're looking to boost your content on LinkedIn, the company yesterday shared some insights into how its feed algorithm works. Unlike other social platforms, LinkedIn highlights community building and niche relevance rather than solely maximizing reach for popular posts. But posts that generate high engagement will still be widely shared.

Starting point is 00:04:28 So how can B2B marketers go viral? LinkedIn measures a post's performance based on several factors, including the post author, the influence and popularity of members posting and engaging with a post are measured, along with followers and connection counts, diversity and industry location, and the level of network of these members. Number two, user engagement signals.

Starting point is 00:04:49 So that's likes, reactions, shares, comments, views, and so on. And temporal signals. This includes the velocity of those engagement points. LinkedIn says these act as the strongest signal for the cascading effect happening in the network. While velocity is important, social media today points out that the main factors in gaining maximum traction on the platform are likely as you would expect. The number of followers you have, the number of connections you have, your location, and the seniority of users in your network.

Starting point is 00:05:21 Though LinkedIn doesn't say that likes, comments, or shares hold more weight in its ranking system, it's likely that is another factor taken into consideration. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Twitter has found a new solution to its ad spend problem. Stick it to the smaller advertisers. Earlier this morning, the company sent an email to some advertisers. Earlier this morning, the company

Starting point is 00:06:05 sent an email to some advertisers explaining that starting today, those that don't meet a certain spend threshold will have to pay for verification to run ads on Twitter. Businesses that spend at least $1,000 a month already receive gold checks or soon will and will continue to advertise without interruption. But if your brand isn't spending at least $1,000 per month, you will need to pay for the blue check to continue running ads or find another platform. I mean, this shouldn't backfire at all, right? It is the end of an era. BuzzFeed, a pioneer in digital media, is shutting down its news division. The New York Times reporting this morning, the division ultimately struggled to adapt

Starting point is 00:06:57 to the challenging economics of digital publishing, which affected many of its peers as well. It's a sad conclusion for a publication that was once seen as a serious challenger to traditional media outlets that were slow to embrace the internet. But despite its successes, the news division failed to generate revenue. In an email to employees yesterday, BuzzFeed's chief executive said the news division closure is part of a wider round of job cuts. It will affect about 60 of the company's employees. It will also cut 120 across its business, content, tech, and administrative teams.

Starting point is 00:07:36 I've been teasing this special thing the last week or so. Special thing announcement is next week. Early next week. In fact, I think you'll like it. We've been working really hard on it. But if you really, really, really want to know early, sign up for the premium podcast feed because those people are being told about it right now. Tap the link in the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash premium. Also, if you have news that you think our listeners should know about, something maybe your company has launched or whatever, please let us know on our news page today in digital.com slash tips, or look for pitch us a story in the show notes. That will do it for the week today in digital marketing is produced by engage Q digital on the traditional territories of this dynamic first nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is Steph Gunn. Production coordinator, Sarah Guild. Features producer, Sarah Brooke

Starting point is 00:08:25 Christian. Music licensing by Source Audio. Ad coordination by Red Circle. And you know, not many people know this, but our theme composer, Mark Blevis, is one of the few people left with a blue checkmark that he didn't pay for. Nobody's quite

Starting point is 00:08:42 sure why he still has it. Maybe Elon's paying for it. Who knows? But Mark's kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. This morning he told me, it's a curious thing. Makes one man weep, makes another man sing. I'm Todd Mappin. Thanks for listening.

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Today in Digital Marketing - Blocking the Blocklists

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