Today in Digital Marketing - Bullet Dodged: Monthly “Facebook+” Subscription Fees

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, the Facebook that could have been a monthly fee that would have given your ad campaigns fewer impressions. Plus, e-commerce is down, so why is shipping going up? Teens tell us why they're turning to TikTok for search. The peculiar matchup between meta and a delivery service and Google's latest algorithm update could mean more accurate snippets. It's Friday, August 12th. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Once upon a time, before iOS 14.5 ravaged Meta's ad business, Facebook and Apple actually discussed working together. The Wall Street Journal spilled the tea today, giving us an inside look at the two tech giants' war on privacy. Long story short, Apple

Starting point is 00:00:46 wanted to take a bite of Facebook's ad revenue. Facebook said no. Apple changed its iOS privacy setting. But there is more to the story. Before the change, Apple suggested a series of possible arrangements that would give its company a slice of Facebook's revenue. According to the Wall Street Journal, an ad-free subscription-based version of Facebook's revenue. According to the Wall Street Journal, an ad-free subscription-based version of Facebook was discussed. Considering Apple collects a cut from subscriptions for apps in its app store, Tim Cook could have made significant revenue from that. Meta allegedly revisited the idea of a subscription-based version of Facebook after iOS 14.5 to recoup revenue lost, but the company ultimately decided against the

Starting point is 00:01:26 idea in order to protect its ad business. The companies also argued over whether Apple should get a piece of Facebook's boosted post sales. Apple, which doesn't take a cut of advertising from developers, allegedly argued that Facebook boosts should be considered in-app purchases. Apple's standard terms would entitle it then to take a 30% share of those sales. As we now know, despite their efforts to work together, Apple and Facebook were unable to reach an agreement. But according to an Apple spokesperson, the company's later change to ad tracking had nothing at all to do with the failed partnership discussions. Now, for a story that almost feels like it could be a news headline from The Onion,

Starting point is 00:02:13 consumers can now have items delivered to them by DoorDash from Facebook marketplace deals. And why? Analysts say the deal is Facebook's attempt to attract more users, especially younger ones, while DoorDash, of course, wants to expand its delivery options to more than just food. Meta and DoorDash have confirmed that they've recently tested the service in several U.S. cities, this according to the Wall Street Journal. The service delivers items that fit in a car trunk, are up to 15 miles away, and are made within 48 hours. Sources say the two companies are enticing customers to try their services by offering free delivery. It is not clear how the service will charge for deliveries in the future. Well, it looks like you won't be getting a break on shipping costs this holiday season,

Starting point is 00:03:01 at least if you're in the U.S. The American Postal Service recently announced proposed temporary rate adjustments for the 2022 peak season. This rate adjustment is similar to those in previous years. The company said it would help cover extra handling costs during peak seasons. That said, the agency is facing a significantly different operating environment this year, as package delivery demand has dropped since its 2021 peak. This year's planned peak season pricing would affect prices on commercial and retail parcels, including Priority Mail Express, First Class Package Service, Parcel Select, and USPS Retail Ground. The U.S. Postal Service said international products would be unaffected. Pending review, the temporary rates would go into effect on October 2nd, and they would continue until the new year on January 22nd, 2023.

Starting point is 00:03:56 The days when you had to find your information in an encyclopedia might long be gone, but could the days of Google search be over soon too? According to recent data, two out of five Gen Z-ers use TikTok for search. Social media strategist Adrienne Scheer has hosted a mini focus group with Gen Z-ers to find out why they aren't using the biggest search engine on the planet. So why are they using TikTok for search of all things? Here's what the youth of the nation had to say. I think it's like the short form video content that we're so used to now. And it's like, you don't want to read. You just want to see what you search for.

Starting point is 00:04:35 And it pops up immediately on TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest. You don't really have to scroll too far. And it's there. Unlike Google, where you have to like read throughout the whole title. Is this really what I'm looking for? Then keep on reading. too far and it's there unlike Google where you have to like read throughout the whole title see is this really what I'm looking for then keep on reading like no I can find a video right there and it shows me all I need in like 20 seconds for those of you who do use TikTok for searching what type of information are you looking for on TikTok I'm always like searching like oh

Starting point is 00:05:02 x store like a discount code like how to style this and rooftops wherever I go I'm always like searching like, oh, X store, like a discount code, like how to style this and rooftops wherever I go. I'm like, oh, like where are the rooftops? Basically, I think travel and lifestyle is definitely what my For You page is. Adrienne noted that when it comes to lifestyle content, TikTok is the search engine of choice. It's the platform Gen Z consumers are using to find where to eat, where to shop and where to go on vacation. She has a great Twitter thread up on it. I'd encourage you to follow her Twitter channel. It is A-D-R-I-S-H-E-A-R-E-S. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack,

Starting point is 00:05:42 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. Well, teams might not be relying on Google search, but the company still announced updates to snippet results yesterday.

Starting point is 00:06:11 First, the tech giant has changed its algorithms for generating search snippets, which are the direct response results it displays at the top of queries. They will be using MUM, or commonly known as MUM More. MUM is Multitask Unified Model. According to the company, by using our latest MUM model, our systems can now understand the notion of consensus, which is when multiple high quality sources on the web all agree on the same fact. Our systems can check snippet callouts,

Starting point is 00:06:36 the word or words called out above the featured snippet in a larger font, against other high quality sources on the web to see if there's a general consensus for that call-out, even if the sources use different words or concepts to describe the same thing, unquote. So basically, the system now double-checks facts and claims in snippets. Google also said that its AI models are getting better at recognizing when a featured snippet doesn't provide relevant context. According to the company, it has reduced the appearance of featured snippets

Starting point is 00:07:05 in such cases by 40%. Google is also adding more information to about this result to sow searchers more context about why results are displayed, such as information on how widely a source has been circulated, online reviews about the source or company, and information on site ownership. Finally, the platform is expanding content advisory warnings on search results where its system has low confidence in the overall quality of the results. According to Google, this does not indicate that no helpful information is available, nor that a particular result is low quality. Instead, it just adds more context to the whole set of results on the page.

Starting point is 00:07:46 A couple of LinkedIn updates to share with you. First, the Professional Network announced a new template feature yesterday for creating posts. Here's how it works. When you create a post, you can select Use a Template Now. There you can choose from different custom backgrounds and fonts, add your text, and hit Share.

Starting point is 00:08:02 You can add clickable links to your template, a new feature that we actually reported on earlier this week. On another note, LinkedIn is the latest social giant to lay off employees. The company confirmed today that its entire global events marketing team is being restructured. LinkedIn did not provide information about the number of employees that were laid off, but a spokesperson indicated affected staff are being encouraged to apply for jobs on a new team focused on creating hybrid in-person and virtual experiences. I am really thrilled with how our newsletter has changed this week. If you haven't subscribed to it, it comes out every day. You can get a free version if you don't want to pay anything for it.

Starting point is 00:08:44 That's the one that comes out every Friday. It is, of course, everything that we cover in the podcast, but we've made some big changes to it where it's punchier, it's easier to read. I think you'll really like it. So it's todayindigital.com slash newsletter. You can also tap the link in the show notes. That is it for the week. Today in Digital Marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Tsunamic First Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is Steph Gunn. Production coordination by Sarah Guild. Podcast music licensing by Source Audio. Ad coordination by Red Circle. And our theme composer Mark Glovis keeps trying to run ad campaigns with low budgets. I have told him over and over again, it's going to take money,

Starting point is 00:09:23 a whole lot of spending money. It's going to take money, a whole lot of spending money. It's going to take plenty of money to do it right, child. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend. See you on Monday. Outro Music

Today in Digital Marketing - Bullet Dodged: Monthly “Facebook+” Subscription Fees

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