Today in Digital Marketing - Crumbling Chrome

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Thursday, November 21st. Today, Google's crown jewel. Will it soon be for sale? LinkedIn spills the tea on data-driven ads. Threads gets a facelift for the followers' first crowd. And big changes ahead for this very podcast. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:24 Chrome's future in the Google stack may be running out of bandwidth. Following its loss in the recent landmark monopoly case, Google received word that the U.S. Justice Department and several states now have a proposed remedy, forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser. The move follows the August court ruling that found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search. And beyond Chrome, the government has asked the judge to give Google a choice, sell its Android operating system or stop making its services mandatory on Android

Starting point is 00:00:59 devices. If Google fails to comply, or these changes don't improve competition, the government could eventually force the sale of Android as well. The Justice Department in the U.S. also wants to block Google from making paid deals with Apple and others to let rival search engines display its results and access its data for the next 10 years. It's high stakes for Google. Chrome holds nearly 70% of the global browser market, while Android powers about 70% of mobile devices. Losing either could upend the company's $2 trillion empire. Google's counterproposal is due in December. A ruling is expected by the end of the summer. So while that plays out in Google's legal department,

Starting point is 00:01:56 its commerce department is working on something else. The company is giving consumers the gift of price matching this holiday season, which may prove to be a challenge for brick and mortar marketers. The company announced some new Google shopping features this week, including updated listings of an item, and Google will show nearby stores with comparative prices, similar products, and availability details. Google is also enhancing product searches within Google Maps. By searching for items like a festive sweater, shoppers can find nearby stores that stock the item and view its inventory. The feature supports a wide range of products from home goods to clothing, even grocery items. Finally, Google expanded payment options via

Starting point is 00:02:51 its Google Pay system. Soon, shoppers will be able to pay with buy now, pay later options like Afterpay and Klarna. What ads perform best for B2B advertisers? LinkedIn has shared some new tips for effective ad strategies based on its top-performing campaigns from the past year. First, the professional network suggests tapping into niche communities. Nearly half of LinkedIn users follow sports, while about 4 out of 10 are into fashion or automobiles. LinkedIn's data also suggests that ads tapping into users' emotional triggers like nostalgia, hope, and FOMO tend to drive higher engagement. And the company says its data has found that humor plays an

Starting point is 00:03:37 increasing role in ad success. LinkedIn found that funny content now receives 65% more engagement than non-humorous ads. As for ad design, LinkedIn says vertical aligned ads performed best. They say the key is to grab users' attention in a fast-scrolling environment by using strong visuals, contrasting colors, and dynamic movement. Quoting their study, quote, The most effective LinkedIn ads pair striking visuals with an emotional hook or intellectual surprise, a counterintuitive statistic, an unexpected perspective, or a compelling human story can stop even the busiest member mid-scroll.

Starting point is 00:04:20 We have a link to the complete report in today's email newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. Pinterest is rolling out new ad options for the holiday season, along with a festive season hub to help businesses with its ad tools. Advertisers now have access to its new special offers feature for pin ads, which lets you add specific promotions like discounts, free delivery, or other offers by choosing from various templates. These promotions will automatically display as a new visual element on standard video and shopping ads. Pinterest also recently updated its automated ad tools with the launch of its Performance Plus automated ad suite, which is another part of its holiday campaign push. These updates are included in Pinterest's 2024 Festive Season Hub, which is a new resource center providing ad tips, insights, and guidance

Starting point is 00:05:17 for brands using its ad tools during the festive season. Back to LinkedIn for a moment, the company has added a new feature to its sales navigator platform that will do the lurking for you. This was announced yesterday afternoon. It's a new tool called Lead IQ, and it provides a snapshot of a lead's professional background, interests, and common connections. It compiles LinkedIn data into an overview of a lead's experience, achievements, and activities. LinkedIn says this is particularly useful for preparing last-minute meetings or prepping for interviews.

Starting point is 00:05:52 Alongside Lead IQ, the platform also enhanced its Account IQ tool in Sales Navigator with more detailed insights that will help users identify how their products or services align with an organization's needs. One small step for Threads, one giant leap for mankind. Threads boss Adam Massari announced that starting today, the platform is making a major change to its algorithm to prioritize content

Starting point is 00:06:21 from people and brands that users actually follow, which means less recommended content from accounts they don't follow. His post reads, quote, We are rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people you follow, which means less recommended content from accounts you don't and more posts from the accounts you do starting today. For you creators out there, you should see unconnected reach go down and connected reach go up.

Starting point is 00:06:49 This is definitely a work in progress. Balancing the ability to reach followers and overall engagement is tricky. Thanks for your patience and keep the feedback coming, unquote. This change follows other recent updates to threads, including its new customizable feeds. Some analysts believe this is a reaction to users flocking to Threads competitor, BlueSky.

Starting point is 00:07:16 So, yeah, we are planning a big change to the podcast and newsletter. The biggest change since we launched this more than four years ago. It is a change we think will bring you up to speed on even more developments in the digital marketing industry and start to give you some deeper background and context on why these changes matter to your day-to-day work, all while actually taking less time in your week to consume the show than it does now. And don't worry, this is not coded language for it's all going to a paid-only model. None of that.

Starting point is 00:07:51 There'll still be a free feed. There will still be an ad-free premium feed. A lot of the direction of where this is going has come from you. Over the last couple of weeks, we've been asking, if you could make any one change to the podcast, what would it be? We've received dozens of suggestions. A lot of them we are taking and implementing. Today is your last day to have that say. If you could change anything about the podcast, what would it be? Tap the link at the top of the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash question. Tomorrow will be a special episode with all the details of what's next

Starting point is 00:08:28 for this podcast and its companion newsletter. I'm Todd Maffin. Thank you for listening. See you tomorrow for that special episode.

Today in Digital Marketing - Crumbling Chrome

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