Today in Digital Marketing - Facebook: The Land of the Make-Believe ROAS

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, don't break out the gin just yet. Be protected. Be Zen. the best form of marketing. It's Friday, August 27th, 2021. Happy Independence Day, Moldova. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in Digital Marketing, episode 456. Every so often, you'll hear about a big change to Google's search algorithm, updating to combat link spam, or making the search engine smarter. They call these core updates, and they're usually one or two a year. Google also makes lots of little changes throughout the year,

Starting point is 00:01:11 from user interface changes to ranking changes, most of which they don't announce or confirm. But how many, exactly? The Friday Quiz. How many changes did Google make to its search engine last calendar year? Was it 30, 365, 1200, or 4500? The answer, later in the episode. So you started work today, you popped open your Facebook ad manager to check on that campaign, and whoa, good news! Purchase conversion value is up. ROAS is up.

Starting point is 00:01:46 This is great. Or it would be if any of it were real. This morning, Facebook cranked up the dial even further on its conversion modeling. Here's a statement they put out. Quote, as part of our continuous efforts to improve our conversion modeling solutions, starting August 27th, we will be expanding modeled reporting

Starting point is 00:02:07 for website purchases conversion value. With this update, statistical modeling will be used to estimate associated values of additional modeled conversions where events cannot be observed directly. For example, where conversion data may be partial or missing due to data transmission limitations.

Starting point is 00:02:25 As a result, you may see an increase in reported conversion values and other associated metrics like ROAS, unquote. To be clear, this update only applies to the purchase standard event for non-value optimization campaigns. But honestly, I wish Facebook would take a page from Microsoft's ads manager, which splits out the conversions it guarantees from the ones it estimates and puts them in two separate columns.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Facebook's approach so far has been to lump all conversions, real and estimated, into the same bucket, meaning that column can't really be trusted at all. Snapchat is doubling down on its moves in the augmented reality space, announcing they'll be making the scan function more prominent right on the main camera screen of the app. This lets people take a photo of things like food, plants, clothing, and so on. And Snapchat will offer a variety of experiences, like showing a list of similar fashion items available for purchase.

Starting point is 00:03:29 Quoting socialmediatoday.com, like most social platforms, Snapchat has been slowly moving into e-commerce and facilitating more direct buying options in the app. Snap has made AR a focus in this respect with advanced try-on tools and digital sizing options, while it's also looking to integrate more digital clothing options like products for your Bitmoji characters. The new scan shopping elements are being rolled out in stages across both iOS and Android from today, with shopping from memories planned for the coming months. Twitter announced today that some accounts will now be able to sell access

Starting point is 00:04:08 to one of their hosted live audio events, which they call Spaces. The monetized version is called Ticketed Spaces. Applications opened a couple of months ago and they've now approved a handful. As for attending one of these paid events, anyone on iOS can now pay for a ticket and attend. Twitter says it will only take a 3% cut of the price, which sounds great at first, until

Starting point is 00:04:32 you also subtract Apple's ridiculous 30% cut, meaning a creator will only see 67% of each ticket sale. And if you do well, the minute you exceed $50,000 in revenue, Twitter's cut jumps to 20%. 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. If you've ever watched an Apple news conference, you might remember the over-the-top, breathless description of their product, usually narrated by their then

Starting point is 00:05:25 head of design, Johnny Ive. Here's a sample. Navigating with the digital crown, already one of the most intricate mechanisms we've ever created, has been entirely re-engineered, with haptic feedback delivering a precise, mechanical feel as you scroll. Well, yesterday Google released its new Pixel 5a smartphone, notable mostly because it has a headphone jack, something Apple dropped from its phones a while ago, much to the chagrin of, I mean, pretty much everyone who isn't an Apple executive.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Which might be why Google hired a Johnny Ivey sound like voice actor to make this absolutely brilliant ad. The circle. Perfect. Simple. Some might say simply perfect. A complete set of points all equidistant from a single point on one plane. Geometry. No beginning. No end. No end to the beginning. A glorious achievement that draws from our past as it propels us into the future. It's a headphone jack.

Starting point is 00:06:41 Yes, it's a headphone jack. With the Google Pixel 5a with 5G, the circle has finally come full circle. If it takes shaming Apple to get a headphone jack back, I am all for it. Oh, and as for the quiz, how many changes did Google make to its search engine last calendar year? The answer, 4,500. When you do the math, that's more than 12 updates every single day, which is about 30% more than in 2019.

Starting point is 00:07:23 Sponsor the Friday quiz for a whole month for less than $100. Visit todayindigital.com slash ads or tap the link in today's episode notes. Should have a short episode today and lots of weekend errands to get started on, so I will leave you for now. Today in Digital Marketing is produced on beautiful Vancouver Island by EngageQ Digital. Production support and fact-checking by Sarah Guild. Theme composer Mark Blevins is that third

Starting point is 00:07:52 cup of coffee you really need sometimes. Podcast music licensing by Source Audio. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend, and I'll talk to you on Monday. This is so, so fine. I'm losing my mind. Talk to you on Monday. I like it. It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten and it's not just clothing and shoes.

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Today in Digital Marketing - Facebook: The Land of the Make-Believe ROAS

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