Today in Digital Marketing - He's a 10, But He Hacked My Facebook Business Account

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

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Today, scammers are hijacking Facebook business accounts, Alphabet misses Q2 earnings and revenue, YouTube helps creators stay safe, and forget brand creative, just focus on what will get you on TikTok's For You page. It's Wednesday, July 27th. I'm Steph Gunn filling in for Todd Maffin. Here is what you missed today in digital marketing. Yesterday, researchers revealed a newly discovered malware dubbed DuckTale that is targeting digital marketers and organizations that operate on Facebook's business and ads platform. The IT company, WithSecure, said that it has determined that the operation is conducted by a Vietnamese organization. According to the company, the threat actors scout LinkedIn first, selecting employees likely to have high-level access to Facebook business accounts,

including those in managerial, digital marketing, digital media, and human resources roles. Then they use social engineering to convince the target to download a file hosted on a legitimate cloud service, such as Dropbox or iCloud. Once installed, the malware is designed to steal browser cookies and take advantage of authenticated Facebook sessions to steal data from the victim's account, including account info, location data, and two-factor authentication codes. After gaining new privileges, they replace the account's financial details so they can direct payments to their accounts or run Facebook ad campaigns using money from the victimized firms. In a statement, Meta told TechCrunch,

We are aware of these particular scammers, regularly enforce against them, and continue to update our systems to detect these attempts. Because this malware is typically downloaded off-platform, we encourage people to be cautious about what software they install on their devices. Alphabet has announced its second quarter earnings with revenue up 13% from the same period last year, but that fell below expectations and marked the slowest quarterly growth in two years. YouTube ad revenue increased by just 5% year-over-year, also falling short of analyst expectations. Google search and other advertising revenues were up 14%, which executives attributed to searches for travel and retail. Total ad revenue was $56 billion. Several factors, including lower engagement levels,

contributed to a slowdown in buyer demand, according to the company. Meanwhile, cloud revenue increased by 35%. Cloud services and artificial intelligence were mentioned as potential growth areas by company execs. In Q3, the company anticipates continuing headwinds due to widespread supply chain and inventory issues, resulting in companies spending less on advertising. People are making businesses solely based on being on TikTok's For You page. There's a great story in Marketing Brew today about how small businesses are succeeding organically on TikTok. Back in 2020, two creators posted a TikTok about their business concept. Here it is. My friend showed me this website called Nice Sh their business concepts. Here it is. My friend showed me this website called Nice Shirt Thanks. So what it is, is you can give

your own description of what you want on a shirt or upload your own image that you want incorporated into the shirt. And then there's these guys that will have to interpret what you just typed and put it onto a shirt for you. So customers write an idea for a shirt design and pay to have it made and sent to them sight unseen. That video got more than 1.5 million views. Today, Nice Shirt Thanks has more than 440,000 TikTok followers. The company says revenue generated by the brand has a pretty direct correlation to views on TikTok. It's not the only brand seeing returns. Six out of 10 established small

and medium businesses surveyed said TikTok has helped them grow revenue, according to a report from Hello Alice. The platform's global head of small business solutions told Marketing Brew that brands have succeeded on TikTok because of the low barrier to entry, the ability to reach non-followers via the For You page and the growing popularity of the app. To put it simply, if you want your brand to succeed, get it on the FYP. YouTube launched a creator safety center yesterday to help brands and creators manage unwanted attention in the app. A recent survey by YouTube found that 95% of creators encounter unwanted behavior

across multiple social networks, and only half said that they have access to the resources and support they need to deal with it. The new platform includes tips for managing such problems in alignment with channel growth, as well as how to combat bullying, trolling, account hijacking, and more. 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. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N.C-A.

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. As the world is experiencing record-level heatwaves in the marketing world, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yesterday, Pinterest released its latest data looking at emerging holiday trends ahead of the shopping season.

According to the platform, 80% of consumers plan to have more mini-moments throughout the holiday season. The general trend is people are looking to celebrate and connect every chance they get. Pinterest says we might see a range of celebrations and events this year, from Halloween parties and Thanksgiving potlucks to smaller gatherings such as gift wrapping parties, which could provide more marketing opportunities. The platform found that last year its advertisers who targeted multiple holiday moments saw a four times increase in conversion rates over those who targeted only Christmas. When possible, Pinterest suggests brands take note of these new celebrations and consider different marketing strategies. Yesterday, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Collective, a new community for business-to-business marketers.

According to the company's VP of Marketing, LinkedIn Collective is about amplifying the voices of B2B marketers and a destination of the best thought leadership on how B2B marketing should be done. He also noted that the professional network is working with its product team to develop a unique content marketing experience for its members. LinkedIn also shared some highlights from parent company Microsoft's fourth quarter and fiscal 2022 results. During the period, LinkedIn saw record engagement among its 850 million-plus members, with revenue up 25% year-over-year and LinkedIn marketing solutions reaching $5 billion in revenue. I recently went down the rabbit hole of the TikTok pink sauce, which really is just another example of someone creating a business based on being on TikTok's For You page. So Chef Pie is already selling this pink sauce for 20 bucks a bottle. It's literally just pink sauce in what looks like a ketchup bottle.

The TikToker then just drenches it on food. That's what all of the content is. If you haven't seen the videos, consider this your warning. The thing that disturbs me probably the most, I think, is that most of the videos that you watch, the shades of pink in the sauce actually change color. And now that people have got their hands on the bottles, it's a mess. You know, there's misspelled ingredients on the bottles. The bottle claims there's 444 servings per container. The ingredients don't even really make sense. Some people say it tastes like ranch. Some people say they can't even describe the taste.

There's also videos of people getting this sauce in the mail and it's just exploded everywhere. So then I found the website, which might actually be the worst part. It's terribly put together, but do I want to try the pink sauce? Yes. Yes, I do. But to my disappointment, it's sold out. And a big shout out to our newest Slack community members, AJ, Millie, Helen, and Chris. Thanks for joining us. And if you haven't joined our Slack community, what are you waiting for? We have over 900 members now. It's a great place to collaborate, share advice, get help. You can also get an inside peek at what's coming up in each day's episode. And there's even a spot for you to promote yourself in. It's completely free to join.

Just tap the link in the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash slack. Thanks for listening. And I'll talk to you tomorrow. Thank you.