Today in Digital Marketing - I Saw Fauci Kissing Santa Claus 🎅
Episode Date: June 8, 2023LinkedIn has some new ad placements, Salesforce and Twilio roll out their AI tools, new research finds consumers expect more from you than you think, and the dangerous age of generative AI in politica...l ads has arrived..Thanks to our sponsors!- Riverside.fm: Use the code TODAY to get 15% off any individual plan. - Get started with Brevo for free by going to brevo.com and use the promo code DIGITAL to save 50% on your first three months of the Starter & Business plan.✨ 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✅ Occasional deep-dive weekend episodes✅ 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"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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Today, LinkedIn has some new ad placements, Salesforce and Twilio roll out their AI tools,
new research finds consumers expect more from you than you think, and the dangerous age
of generative AI in political ads has arrived.
It's Thursday, June 8th.
I'm Todd Matheny.
That's ahead today in digital marketing.
LinkedIn introduced several new ad options for B2B marketers this week,
including pre-roll and mid-roll video ads in audience network videos.
These videos will appear on mobile or desktop apps and sites playing during long form video content
on trusted sites within the LinkedIn audience network.
The company already offers in-feed video ads,
but now it gives marketers a new option to expand their reach via longer content as it
plays on partner sites. Starting next month, LinkedIn will also make thought leader ads
and conversation ads more widely available. Thought leader ads let businesses promote
content from verified employees showcasing their expertise, while conversation ads prompt users to initiate a chat directly from an ad.
And on that front, LinkedIn also launched a new messaging option yesterday, which lets company pages send and receive direct messages.
It's called Pages Messaging. Members can now reach out to brands through DMs about topics like products and
services, business opportunities, you know, that kind of stuff. Previously, this messaging feature
was limited to member-to-member interactions. Company page messaging is being rolled out right
now. And following in Meta's footsteps, LinkedIn is also launching its own generative AI tool to
write ad copy. Their tool is called AI Copy Suggestions.
It lets users generate introductory text and headlines for ads.
It uses data from a marketer's LinkedIn page and campaign manager settings
to suggest different text for the ad.
To use the feature, marketers can input their copy into the introductory text box
within campaign manager.
By enabling the Generate Copy Suggestions toggle, they can
receive alternate suggestions for that text. The tool is currently in testing and available to
select customers in North America with plans for expansion in the coming months.
Tough times call for exceptional experiences. New research from Adobe reveals that consumers expect brands to level up customer experiences when the economy slumps.
Half of the consumers surveyed said they expect even better experiences from brands when economic conditions become more challenging.
Only 15% said their expectations decline in such situations. Gen Z and millennial consumers were found to be
even more demanding, with two-thirds reporting higher customer expectations during tough economic
times. But consumers don't just want lower prices. When asked about maintaining their loyalty,
consumers ranked a balanced approach that considers profitability, customer experience, and corporate responsibility
as the most favorable approach. The second-ranked strategy focused on prioritizing customer
experience above all else, while the third involved offering absolutely the lowest possible price.
When asked about their views regarding the use of AI to enhance customer experience,
one-third said brands should prioritize
implementing safeguards.
WhatsApp introduced a new feature today called Channels, signaling yet another move toward a
more social media-like experience rather than just being a messaging app. Unlike traditional
messaging conversations, though, Channels are designed for one-to-many
broadcasts. The tool also lets users share text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls with an
audience. Users will be able to find channels through search or by browsing a dedicated directory
and view the latest updates in the status section of the app. WhatsApp also plans to build payment
and other monetization services into the feature.
Channel admin information will be kept private, and the company says the app
only stores 30 days' worth of a channel's history. Admins also have control over features like
blocking screenshots and forwarding to make sure that content stays within the channel.
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More software platforms are bringing AI tools to marketers.
Salesforce, the customer relationship management platform, unveiled Marketing GPT and Commerce GPT yesterday,
two new products that combine its
first-party data with generative AI. MarketingGPT lets you automate personalized emails, create
audience segments, and so on. With CommerceGPT, the company says you'll be able to generate
personalized shopping experiences and offers customized to the customers. These tools are
not available right away, though. They will be rolling out gradually between this year and next.
Meanwhile, Twilio introduced Customer AI yesterday
that combines large language models with customer data.
Twilio says their new tech can infer traits about a customer in real time
based on conversations like messages,
and then automatically update customer profiles with these learned attributes.
Some of the insights they say they'll be able to predict include propensity to purchase,
estimated lifetime value, and even churn risk.
This kind of AI could offer marketers guidance on the most effective journey for each customer.
For example, whether they prefer to see a paid ad or a custom email.
It can also optimize the optimal send time, though, to be fair, that is something
we've all had for a while now. And finally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running for
the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, and his campaign seems to have used AI-generated
deepfakes in an attack ad targeting rival Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, the DeSantis War Room Twitter account shared a video highlighting Trump's
support for Anthony Fauci, who, of course, has become a hated figure in right-wing politics,
particularly the U.S. anti-vax movement.
The video includes real clips of Trump talking with Fauci, and then a collage of six pictures of them together.
But three of them are fake.
One shows Trump hugging Fauci.
Another shows Trump giving Fauci a kiss on the cheek.
One hint that they're AI.
They're not showing up in reverse image searches.
The poses look really awkward. Not to mention the White House sign behind the press room podium in these pictures has nonsense letters that don't actually spell any words.
In case you're curious, no, there was no disclaimer, no notice that the images were fake.
In April, the Republican National Committee used deep fakes for an ad depicting a dystopian future if President Joe Biden is reelected.
Boy, I love WKRP in Cincinnati. What a great sitcom that was. I was, I think, I don't know,
maybe I was 11 or something. And I very much identified with Les Nesman, winner of the
Buckeye News Hawk Award. This kind of weirdo news reporter guy which I aspire desperately to be.
Anyway, this was the closing theme song.
I'm going to play it here.
See if you can guess the lyrics.
It's tough.
We'll have the answer tomorrow.
Thanks for listening.
See you then. I'm out.