Today in Digital Marketing - Collaborate or Complicate: Is Instagram’s Latest Idea Just “Digital Graffiti”?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Thursday, August 10th. Today, Instagram wants to let regular users post on your brand's content. YouTube will soon ban web links on shorts videos. The nuclear approach to SEO. Amazon's product descriptions are about to get even worse. And one Canadian woman's plight. Amazon keeps sending her shoeboxes and won't stop. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Reverse Software Engineering has found that Instagram is working on a new option that would let regular users add their own images and videos to your brand's existing posts. It's sold as a new collaboration tool that will boost engagement. The feature would let viewers submit their own content to the post. Luckily, account holders will be able to review the content and submissions would remain hidden until approved. But even so, for busy brands, that could add up to a lot of busy work, reviewing submissions and probably declining most. It's also not likely to make it to the API at first,

Starting point is 00:01:05 or even at all, meaning this work would be done on a phone, not via a third-party social media management tool. The trend is, of course, inspired by TikTok, where remixes and duets have become key engagement tools. Of course, it could be a net positive for brands. Rather than prompting consumers to add specific hashtags and search for user-generated content,

Starting point is 00:01:27 account managers could ask them to add their own content to the original post. But Social Media Today notes there may be an issue with whether these posts will be re-eligible for feed distribution after editing. For instance, if a retailer posts an update and asks customers to add their own product images and approves them a few days later, will the updated content get any reach? Or would it be better to share each update as a separate new post to maximize distribution? This could determine whether the feature is a viable promotion tool or if it's better suited for creating shared group photo albums among friends. For now, things are as they are. No official word on testing or rollout yet.

Starting point is 00:02:17 YouTube's link spam problems are so bad that links on Shorts videos will soon be banned. This means that any of your brand's content that includes links in Shorts descriptions, comments, or vertical live feeds will no longer be clickable as of the end of this month. Earlier today, the company said it will have a new approach in place for creators to link their shorts viewers to other YouTube content by the end of September. YouTube is also taking away clickable social media icons from channel banners on desktop, saying they are a source of misleading links. This change, of course, presents a challenge for brands and creators who rely on these links to websites, social profiles, merch sites, and other links that comply with the platform's community guidelines. The feature will start rolling out on August 23rd and will be found near the subscribe button.

Starting point is 00:03:22 How does old content on your brand's website affect that site's Google search ranking? Gizmodo reports this week that the tech news site CNET has deleted a signal to Google that says CNET is fresh, relevant, and worthy of being placed higher than its competitors in search results, unquote. CNET says it will weigh the historical value and other editorial aspects before removing an article. Stories slated for deletion are archived using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, and article authors are alerted at least 10 days ahead of time. So, does this work? What does Google say?

Starting point is 00:04:11 Google does not recommend deleting articles just because they are considered old. The tech giant's search liaison posted a PSA on Mastodon today, saying, quote, Are you deleting content from your site because you somehow believe Google doesn't like old content? That's not a thing. Our guidance doesn't discourage this.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Older content can still be helpful, too. Unquote. Lyft is riding Uber's tail. The ride-sharing app launched in-app advertising today, which places an ad on the screen that riders see when they are waiting for a driver and during their trip. The company says campaigns can be tailored based on the rider's location. For instance, a consumer might see an ad for a new movie if their destination is near a movie theater, or they could receive an ad with a discount code while heading to a nearby

Starting point is 00:05:02 store. Lyft is partnered with ad tech company Rocked to sell ads through its marketplace. The company also partnered with measurement firm Kantar, which will let marketers track their ad buys effects on factors like brand awareness and purchase intent. 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. generate possible titles, descriptions, and even bullet points for the listing. But the AI tool doesn't entirely replace copywriters. Amazon has strict rules about what words and phrases can be used in product descriptions, and the tool warns sellers to double-check the AI-generated content

Starting point is 00:06:16 to make sure that it complies with the company's listing guidelines, which prohibit things like obscenities, customer testimonials, and false information. And speaking of false information from our robot overlords, if you're using ChatGPT to answer any questions about computer code, a new study has found that the chatbot produces wrong answers to software programming questions more than half of the time. And that will bring us to the lightning round. More than half of the time. in the video's caption or use a sticker. A report back in June claimed that 75% of ads bought via Google's TrueView video campaign offering didn't meet its own placement standards.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Google denied this, but it's now renamed its in-stream ads to skippable ads without changing the campaign processes, possibly to address this issue. Adobe recently released more than 30 patches to fix vulnerabilities in Acrobat, Reader, and other software. Of these, 16 bugs are rated as critical, potentially letting attackers gain admin rights. Oh my god, finally, Google is adding support for e-signatures for Google Docs and Drive. To make it easier for users to request signatures and sign documents, the feature is now available in Open Beta for some workspace plans. And Meta now lets you verify your thread's profile on Mastodon. It's not a free blue checkmark, but rather uses Mastodon's self-verification system, where you put a bio link to a site that you own, and that site has some code to confirm that. And finally, a Canadian woman says she is being bombarded by a relentless Amazon shoe

Starting point is 00:08:11 delivery spree of more than 50 packages containing women's shoes. The problem? She didn't order any of them. Each box includes a return slip and shoes from a North American Amazon buyer who shipped their rejected footwear to her address. She believes that Amazon sellers stole her information from a dormant account and are exploiting her personal details to offload unwanted return items. told media that it sounded like a vendor return scheme common in the U.S., where foreign sellers dodge fees associated with storing and shipping return items by sending them anywhere but their own business. She said couriers dump packages on her porch so she can't even refuse them.

Starting point is 00:08:57 So far, her predicament has cost her more than $300 in collect-on-delivery customs charges from UPS. A thousand marketers like you in our Slack community, but there's still room. Come on, join us. Tap the link in the show notes for your invite directly in. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Because no one, no one does it better than you. No one, no one. No one, no one does it better than you. No one, no one.

Starting point is 00:09:34 No one, no one does it better than you. No one, no one. No one, no one does it better than you.

Today in Digital Marketing - Collaborate or Complicate: Is Instagram’s Latest Idea Just “Digital Graffiti”?

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