Today in Digital Marketing - "Is This Still Available?"

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, Instagram adds a feature exactly nobody asked for. Be protected. Be Zen. to create video ads. It's Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021. Happy Statehood Day, Moldova. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. And parents, there is one moderately bad word near the end of today's show. We could have removed it from the script, but it's about Instagram, so the profanity stays.

Starting point is 00:01:01 You know it's going to be bad news when the social media platform starts referring to what you're using now as legacy. Digital marketers around the world this morning got an email from YouTube saying their unlisted videos are now considered legacy and may disappear. Here's what's happening. As you probably know, there are three main types of videos you can upload. Public, which means anyone can see it. Public, which means anyone can see it. Private, which means nobody can see it, except for the channel admins. And unlisted, which means it doesn't show up on your brand's YouTube channel per se, but it's still watchable if people have the video's specific URL

Starting point is 00:01:40 or it's embedded on a webpage, like on your brand's website. There are lots of reasons why a marketer might want to use an unlisted video. For instance, let's say you've got a little thank you video at the end of a purchase flow. You want that on your site, but not on your YouTube channel. Now, YouTube says it will automatically switch some of those unlisted videos to private in a month. That means they'll basically disappear, at least to the public. So back to that example of the thank you video redirect, people will see a no such video error.

Starting point is 00:02:15 There is some good news. First, this will only apply to videos uploaded before January 1st, 2017. And two, you can actually opt out of this. They have a web form with a horrendous URL, so I've made a shortened URL for you. That form is at b.link slash unlisted videos. So why are they doing this? Back in 2017, they changed the system that generates new unlisted links so that they were more secure and harder to guess. But of course, those old links are still out there. So they're basically trying to tidy this up.

Starting point is 00:02:48 So if you've got unlisted videos that you uploaded any time in 2016 or earlier and your organization still relies on them, you should either re-upload them as unlisted and change the URLs and lose the original video's engagement, of course, or opt out of this. Again, the URL for that opt-out form is b.link slash unlisted videos. You have until July 23rd. That's exactly one month from today. That seems to be National Break Links Day over at Google.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Today, they announced they are updating the security on shared Google Drive links. Here's how they describe the upcoming change. Quote, the update will add a resource key to sharing links. Once the update has been applied to a file, users who haven't viewed the file before will have to use a URL containing the resource key to gain access. Those who have viewed the file before

Starting point is 00:03:43 or who have direct access will not need the resource key to access the file, unquote. Google says that they will email end users about this on Saturday, and you actually have until September 13th before this happens. This should not be as disruptive as the YouTube change mentioned earlier, though you may get a handful of emails from clients or colleagues asking you to reshare a document. Facebook has announced some new e-commerce updates. Three big ones, actually.

Starting point is 00:04:13 First, they're expanding their Shops product to WhatsApp and Marketplace. There are Shops ads coming. And we've got some details on a visual search tool they're working on. First, soon you'll be able to add your existing shop to your WhatsApp profile. This is, of course, rolling out slowly, country by country. Also, and this seems a little odd to me, but you'll be able to port products from your catalog into Marketplace. Marketplace, of course, is that person-to-person section of Facebook,

Starting point is 00:04:41 which is sort of like classified ads. You know the place. You put up a listing, get 400 Facebook messages from people who say, is this still available? And then never reply back to you. It's a little weird to me that they're letting us filthy digital marketers cram our own stuff into this classified ad section. I mean, good news, of course, more than a billion people go into marketplace a year. Just weird. We won't have to do anything in particular to put them there. They'll just start showing up. Facebook also says they'll be expanding ratings and reviews to products in shops on Instagram.

Starting point is 00:05:13 Second, the announcement around shops ads was a little vague. Something about sending shoppers where they're most likely to make a purchase based on their shopping behavior. I think this means first displaying a collection their algorithm thinks people will be most interested in. If that assumption comes from past purchases, that could also be quite strong for us. And finally, they showed off some augmented reality tools. The example they had was a card at the end of a makeup carousel that read, try it on,

Starting point is 00:05:42 see it with your camera, prompting people to see their face with the lipstick on. Something, of course, that Snapchat and other platforms have been doing for, well, years now. And they also demoed a kind of visual search coming where people could tap on a product, let's say a blouse, and get presented with other blouses in the same style and color. Though it wasn't clear if those other blouses would come from your own catalog or those of your competitors. Pinterest has released a new research study that has identified five new market personas in this post-COVID world. They are, one, the routine ritualist.

Starting point is 00:06:22 These are people seeking ways to maintain their newly established routines as real life picks up again. Two, the prioritized parents. These are parents looking to maintain the stronger bonds they've developed with family during COVID lockdowns. Three, the new nomad. Many people headed outdoors in the last year, either working on their garden or camping to get away. So these trends look set to hold beyond the pandemic. The eco evangelist is the fourth persona. These are people seeking more sustainable practices

Starting point is 00:06:51 as a result of increased global awareness and concern. And five, the emerging entrepreneur. Many people also took time to reassess their career progression in alignment with their values and have since adopted new approaches to professional fulfillment, unquote. A link to the full study is in today's premium newsletter. In its last quarterly update, Pinterest said it was closing in on 500 monthly active users. YouTube has made it easier to create ads on their platform

Starting point is 00:07:24 and the new workflow works in their Google Ads mobile app as well. Quoting SearchEngineLand.com, until now, advertisers had to access the full functionality of Google Ads to launch a video ad campaign on YouTube, which may have been an intimidating prospect for some small and medium-sized businesses. This new workflow makes it easier for advertisers to get their campaigns up and running with a user interface that may be more appropriate for their needs and experience level.

Starting point is 00:07:51 Along with the new ad creation workflow, Google is launching a simplified campaign metrics dashboard. And don't forget, tomorrow is YouTube's first small business day. They've got a series of online workshops and panels. 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. Instagram says it's going to test something that nobody wants. The intermingling of posts from people you do not follow in your feed of people you do follow.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Honestly, Instagram, do you even use your own app? For a couple of years now, those suggested posts have appeared at the bottom of the You're All Caught Up message, and now they're trying out jamming those all throughout our feed. Apparently there will be a Snooze this for 30 days button, but no stop doing this stuff you piece of shit app button. Which brings us to the lightning round. A small search algorithm update is rumbling through

Starting point is 00:09:21 Google today. This one aimed at targeting spam. The second round will come out next week. You should not notice any difference in your own site's ranking. There is a bug today with Facebook's ads manager. It's the usual bug, not being able to edit campaigns and so on. They're aware of it. They are working on it. If you are the admin of a Google workspace for your organization, they have moved the community for workspace admins.

Starting point is 00:09:43 It used to be called the Cloud Connect Community. Now it's the Google Cloud Community, and you can find it at googlecloudcommunity.com. Also, they're updating some of the workflow in editing users and domain management. And an update of a story we ran earlier in the month about ads coming to virtual reality games on Facebook's Oculus platform. As you can imagine, the gamer community was not thrilled about this. And now one developer, Resolution Games, says it is pulling their game out of the test run. They say the decision was based on player feedback. And finally, one of my most popular TikToks is a skit that I did called The Life of a Facebook Advertiser.

Starting point is 00:10:27 The premise is simple. Me, playing both parts, walks up to a Facebook rep. I'd like to submit this ad. Yeah, sure. Let's have a look. Sorry, I have to deny it. It's actually suggestive. It's a hat. I sell hats. Yeah, sexually suggestive hats. I'm sorry. Can you check again? It's a hat I'm selling. Oh, I'm sorry. You you check again? It's a hat I'm selling. Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. But you can't run it. It's about cryptocurrency. It's not about, it's a, it's literally a hat. I sell hats. Well, joke's on me. Turns out Facebook is apparently making a hat. An augmented reality hat, to be precise.

Starting point is 00:11:10 A patent filing shows a ball cap with what looks like sort of thin ski goggles attached to the brim. Quoting FoundersLegal.com, which uncovered the patent application, quote, The display will be incorporated into the brim of the hat to minimize contact with the user. Additionally, heat generating components required to run the artificial reality display can be given similar treatment and be incorporated into areas of the hat that do not have direct contact with the user, such as the brim. The positioning of the brim also enables more sensors to be incorporated than would be available in the frame of glasses. Face tracking sensors, microphones, and environment sensors can all be embedded within the frame of glasses. Face tracking sensors, microphones, and environment sensors

Starting point is 00:11:46 can all be embedded within the hat to collect. With all of the additional systems integrated into the hat, the extra weight added by the artificial reality system can be equally distributed throughout the band of the hat rather than on a few pressure points like the top of the user's ears and the bridge of their nose, resulting in a much more user-friendly and comfortable experience, unquote. In related news, the famous Tamagotchi virtual reality pet turns 25 this year.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Today, the company announced it will soon make its first wearable device. It's basically a watch, and you can stroke, tickle, and call your pet with voice controls. It also tells the time and tracks how far you walk. But don't forget you can get this podcast as a daily email newsletter too, with images, related videos, links to dive deeper, and even newsletter exclusive content. And there's a free tier as well. You'll get an issue every Friday.

Starting point is 00:12:44 The newsletter comes out about an hour before the podcast drops. Take off your head. Take off your shoes And plan to stay a while I want to get to know ya I've been waiting and waiting and waiting

Today in Digital Marketing - "Is This Still Available?"

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