Today in Digital Marketing - He's Nervous, But On the Surface He Looks Calm and Ready
Episode Date: July 25, 2023Branding Blunder: The reviews are in, and nobody thinks Twitter’s new name is going to help the beleaguered company. Also: Threads moves fast to capitalize on Elon’s latest fumble. TikTok finally ...gets ready to launch its e-commerce platform.And on the ad-free Premium Podcast, which you can learn more about by tapping Go Premium in the Show Notes… how to close the deal when your Meta shopping campaigns only tickle the bottom end of the funnel..Thanks to our sponsors!- Go to HelloFresh.com/digital16 and use code digital16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping✨ 𝗚𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗨𝗠! ✨Get these exclusive benefits when you upgrade:✅ Listen ad-free✅ Weekly Meta Ad platform updates with Andrew Foxwell✅ Weekly Google Ad platform updates with Jyll Saskin Gales✅ Earlier episodes each day✅ Story links in show notes✅ “Skip to story” audio chapters✅ Member-exclusive Slack channels✅ Marketing headlines each morning in Slack✅ 30% off our Newsletter✅ Back catalog of 30+ marketing science interviews✅ Discounts on marketing tools✅...and a lot more! Check it out: todayindigital.com/premium.🔘 Follow us on social media🎙️ Subscribe free to our other podcast "Behind the Ad"🆘 Need help with your social media? Check us out: engageQ digital.AI Tool ReportLearn AI in 5 Minutes a Day We'll teach you how to save time and earn more with AI. Join 70,000+ free daily readers for trending tools, productivity-boosting prompts, the latest news, and more.Check it out!If you like Today in Digital Marketing, you’ll love Morning Brew.Get smarter in 5 minutes (and it's free!)There's a reason more than 4 million marketers and business people start their day with Morning Brew - the daily email that delivers the latest news from marketing to the ad business to social media. Business and marketing news doesn't have to be boring...make your mornings more enjoyable, for free.Check it out!.💵 Send us a tip🤝 Join our Slack: todayindigital.com/slack📰 Get the Newsletter: Click Here (daily or weekly)📰 Get The Top Story each day on LinkedIn. ✉️ Contact Us: Email or Send Voicemail⚾ Pitch Us a Story: Fill in this form🎙️ Be a Guest on Our Show: Fill in this form📈 Reach Marketers: Book Ad🗞️ Classified Ads: Book Now🙂 Share: Tweet About Us • Rate and Review.ABOUT THIS PODCASTToday in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin and produced by engageQ digital on the traditional territories of the Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada. Associate Producer: Steph Gunn. Ad Coordination: RedCircle. Production Coordinator: Sarah Guild. Theme Composer: Mark Blevis. Music rights: Source Audio.🎒UPGRADE YOUR SKILLS• Inside Google Ads with Jyll Saskin Gales• Google Ads for Beginners with Jyll Saskin Gales• Foxwell Slack Group and Courses .Some links in these show notes may provide affiliate revenue to us.Our Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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It is Tuesday, July 25th. Today, branding blunder. Will Elon's latest gamble help the
beleaguered company? Also, Threads moves fast to capitalize on Elon's latest fumble. TikTok
finally gets ready to launch its e-commerce platform. And on the ad-free premium podcast,
which you can learn more about by tapping Go Premium in the show notes, how to close
the deal when your meta
shopping campaigns only tickle the bottom end of the funnel. I'm Todd Maffin. That's Ahead,
Today Digital Marketing. Elon Musk's sudden rebranding of Twitter to X has erased 15 years
of brand recognition, leaving the platform in a challenging position as it starts again from
scratch while its competitors forge ahead. So what's next? Research firm Forrester foresees a grim fate for X, releasing
a paper last night predicting X will be shut down or acquired within the next 12 months.
Quote, nine days ago, Musk tweeted that the company has a negative cash flow because of a
50% drop in ad revenue plus heavy debt load.
This is far from a position of strength from which to attempt what is essentially an app relaunch, a move that will only alienate more users and more advertisers.
While Musk's vision is to turn X into an everything app, this takes time, money, and people, three things that the company no longer has
disenfranchised twitter users will increasingly turn to threads while musk's company continues
to lose money simply put x's runway is coming to an end unquote doug zarkin is a retail brand
marketing executive most recently cmo for a major eyewear retailer and was vice president of
marketing at victoria's secret i spoke with him earlier today. The challenge becomes how the users of the
platform are going to react. There seems to be more negative reaction than positive reaction.
The work that needs to be done with that platform has absolutely nothing to do with the visual
language. The challenges that marketers have faced
since the change in leadership
is the change in behavior and values
that the platform has put out into the market.
Limiting what you see as a user of the platform
inevitably changes the value proposition
because you are now really looking at a finite audience
for exposure for your message, for your product or service.
Doug Zarkin has a book called Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone.
It will be out later in the year.
A couple of random items overnight that I thought were sort of funny.
It doesn't appear that the platform controls the username X.
It is on a locked account, which claims to be in San Francisco.
As of this afternoon, it had about 27,000 followers.
Of course, if it's not owned by the platform, they'll probably just bump whoever has it out.
They also didn't get the trademark for X.
In fact, and this is kind of hilarious,
its arch rival Meta appears to hold that trademark for, quote,
online social networking services and social networking services
in the field of entertainment, gaming and application
development, unquote. The Meta X looks a little different. It's the former logo for Mixer,
which I know this is complicated, was a Twitch competitor owned by Microsoft before they shut
that streaming service down and came to some kind of agreement with Meta. Also, for a while last
night, a screenshot of Twitter's help page was circulating saying that the right way to refer to a post is no longer a tweet, but a zeet spelled X-E-E-T.
It turns out that was fake.
And finally, yesterday, Twitter workers started taking that name off their building in San Francisco, only to have the police shut them down because they didn't have a permit for the crane.
For the last few months, Twitter's logo actually read Titter, because Elon is a 12-year-old
edgelord.
Now, it just reads Err.
Meta's rival app, Threads, on the other hand, is gaining momentum by rolling out one of
its most requested features today, a following tab.
For those of you with the update, tapping the threads icon at the top of the app screen
let users toggle between for you and following.
Like the former Bird app, these feeds appear at the top of the page.
The update also includes new categories to sort the activity feed,
letting you filter by follows, quotes, and reposts.
A new follow button can also be found on the followers list to make following other accounts
easier.
And users with private accounts can approve all follow requests in one go with a new approve
all function.
The company plans to offer a like posts section in settings and include translation features
soon.
Do you have business insurance? section in Settings and include translation features soon. 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.
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There have been rumors about TikTok's online marketplace launching for some time,
and now it seems the wait may be over. The Wall Street Journal reporting today that the company is planning to launch its e-commerce business in the U.S. in August. TikTok's online marketplace will be called, somewhat awkwardly, TikTok Shop Shopping
Center. It will store and ship products from China-based sellers, including clothes, kitchen
gadgets, and electronics. The marketplace will offer different channels for consumers to browse
and buy products. According to the report, TikTok will handle the marketing, transactions, logistics,
and after-sale services,
while users will be able to leave reviews for products shipped by TikTok and external sellers.
The report noted that TikTok will only pay Chinese suppliers once they find buyers in the U.S.
and return unpopular items to avoid being stuck with inventory.
The company also reportedly plans to expand its program to merchants outside of China
at a later date. While reports initially anticipated the launch of its marketplace
this month, the Wall Street Journal says TikTok delayed its release. Chinese retailers have grown
concerned about the app's future in the U.S. due to recent legal actions, including a law in Montana
banning the app starting next year and lawmakers pushing for a federal ban.
So while it plans to give consumers more products, TikTok's also planning to give its ad partners more data on customer acquisition
through new partnerships with post-purchase survey providers, no commerce and fairing. The new offering will let brands gather direct input from TikTok users
through in-app surveys that prompt previous customers for responses.
These surveys can provide advertisers with insights like where customers are coming from,
how long it took them to convert and which channels are most effective.
This kind of surveying has gotten a lot more attention lately
as traditional pixel-based approaches to attribution and reporting have gotten weaker.
TikTok says marketers will be able to integrate data from both providers into most CRM systems.
Boy, I feel dumb and old.
Last night, I was in the hot tub.
I decided to throw on the TikTok live.
I haven't done a TikTok live on our podcast account in, I don't know, half a year, more.
Our podcast account, by the way, is Today in Digital.
Anyway, so I was on and we had, I don't know, 40, 50 people show up. and some of them had this little blue icon with a number like three or 12 beside it. And I started asking, why do your usernames have
this icon? And it turns out, this is so embarrassing. It turns out that's the indicator
of how many months they've been supporting you financially. Subscribe to your channel.
Okay, A, didn't know I'd turn that on.
B, I asked everyone to please unsubscribe because I'm not providing any value there at all.
I haven't done lives in months and months and months.
But I did go in and check,
and I had about $9 in there waiting to cash out.
So, lesson learned.
I'm Todd Mappin.
Thanks for listening.
See you tomorrow.
Spend my money, money, money.
Spend my money, money, money. 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 dot C-A.