Today in Digital Marketing - Is This the Real ROAS? Is This Just Fantasy?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, Facebook ROAS is up, in some cases way up, but as Queen said, is this the real life, or is this just fantasy? Also, American regulators are coming after the social algorithms, Amazon reverses a long-standing policy that affected third-party sellers, the newest audio ad format is really long, and Nerf bats it out of the park with their TikTok promotion. It's Tuesday, April 27th, 2021. Happy Freedom Day, South Africa. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital,

Starting point is 00:00:31 and here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Algorithms impact what literally billions of people read and watch and impact what they think every day. With those words, American legislators this morning kicked off a hearing specifically on the topic of social media algorithmic amplification. The Senate Judiciary Committee will look at how user behavior is shaped on social platforms. Originally, they tried to get the CEOs of all the major platforms, but looks like they've all had enough with the committee hearings. So instead, these lawmakers will hear from the various site's policy leads. And as TechCrunch reported, one channel in particular is under the microscope, and no,

Starting point is 00:01:10 it's not Facebook. Quote, the hearing might provide a unique opportunity to hold YouTube's feet to the fire. In spite of being one of the biggest social networks in the world, one without much transparency about its regular failures to control extremism and misinformation, YouTube seldom winds up under the microscope with Congress. In past big tech hearings, Google's CEO has generally appeared on behalf of YouTube's parent company,

Starting point is 00:01:36 while YouTube's chief executive inexplicably escapes scrutiny. Honestly, who knows if these hearings will do much to affect our day-to-day work as digital marketers. There is some legislation already being considered. The Section 230 reform bill in the House would strip protection from social platforms when their algorithms amplify extremism or violate civil rights. TechCrunch says Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has hinted that they might let users soon pick their preferred algorithm, maybe even from some kind of third-party algorithm marketplace. A huge change at Amazon might open up some very strong marketing options for sellers there.

Starting point is 00:02:19 For the first time ever, the company is testing letting third-party sellers contact shoppers directly by email to promote their products. The new feature is intended to let sellers encourage repeat purchases and to generally build their brands, but that doesn't mean you'll actually get the contact information. Amazon will still keep that data for itself. All you'll be able to do is send and get aggregated reports, like how many emails were sent out and how many got responses. Still, timing here is great when you consider we're at a moment when digital marketers are trying to level up their one-to-one targeting game. Thanks for nothing, Tim Cook.

Starting point is 00:02:55 So far, this test is limited to sellers in its brand registry program, which it introduced in 2015 to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods. More than 350,000 brands are in that registry. One of the interesting things about ad campaigns inside podcasts has been to watch that format evolve over time. From host-read baked-in reads to programmatic ads to full branded podcast series. Even the podcast format itself has evolved

Starting point is 00:03:24 and is taking on a decidedly public radio tone. Longer form stories, deeper and more richer narrative structures, and so on. Which is probably why it's not that surprising to see the ad format begin to evolve as well toward that longer form offering. This week, podcast hosting platform Acast announced it is offering a new kind of ad product, sponsored stories. These are longer spots, like up to four minutes long, with high production values. The idea is to provide more space for storytelling.

Starting point is 00:03:57 And podcasts may indeed be uniquely positioned for this kind of advertisement. Acast claims they're the first to do this. They're not, of course. One of my favorite podcasts is called 20,000 Hertz. It's a podcast for audio nerds. They'll often run long form sponsored stories about things like the technology of headphones and frequency response. And yes, of course, I know it's an ad for Bozy or whatever, but it's compelling and I don't tend to skip through those. Acast version will be dynamically inserted in ad breaks across the show's entire back catalog. They have about 25,000 podcasts in that catalog. Meet Sophie Jamison.

Starting point is 00:04:36 I've actually wanted to work at Nerf since I was 12 years old, and I'm still unbelievably excited for this position. Sophie is a junior at the University of Southern Maine and is a huge Nerf fan. She started a TikTok account called Nerfers 101, and it already has nearly 2 million followers. So no surprise that Sophie landed that job we told you about a while back, Nerf's chief TikTok officer. And what probably started as a fun way to, you know, get a little press and engagement on a contest may actually turn into a real job. It pays $10,000 a month.

Starting point is 00:05:08 Plus, she's getting mentored by TikTok's head of global marketing. More than a thousand people applied for the job. Turns out the hashtag Nerf application was viewed more than 84 million times. And the Nerf TikTok account grew from 22,000 followers to more than 100,000. Heads up, parents, this next story contains profanity, and not directly related to digital marketing per se, but interesting nonetheless. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take on a case involving a teenage cheerleader's Snapchat post to determine if children have a right to free speech in the U.S. This girl was in grade 9 in Pennsylvania, learned that she had not been picked to be on the varsity cheer squad, and posted on Snapchat, quote, fuck school, fuck softball, fuck cheer, fuck everything, Fuck everything. Unquote. Dude, I feel ya.

Starting point is 00:06:06 Anyway, some narc kid screenshotted it and leaked the post to one of the cheer coaches, and the girl was suspended from all cheer-related activities for the rest of the year. Her parents went to court, saying she shouldn't be punished for comments made outside of school on a social media platform. The school district countered by claiming the shift to remote learning amidst COVID has blurred the lines between what's considered in school and what's off school. U.S. President Joe Biden, by the way, is in the district's camp. Here's the NextWeb.com's take on it. Quote, as a previous Supreme Court ruling stated, students don't forfeit their right to free speech in exchange for a public education. Where speech isn't threatening, violent, or directing hate at a group or class of people, it shouldn't concern educators unless it occurs on campus. The government,

Starting point is 00:06:55 through this interference, appears to be attempting to socially engineer obedience. So how are your metrics now that iOS 14.5 is out there? From what I'm seeing on Twitter, ROAS and revenue numbers are actually up. Like, in some cases, way up. TTC marketer David Herman says blended revenue numbers for his clients are up 247% today. We are actually seeing some strong numbers for our clients as well. As Jill David said on Twitter, it's like the whole world is rebelling against Apple in one glorious orgy of ROAS, unquote. Remember, though, this could be anything. Attribution window changes, a lag in

Starting point is 00:07:37 reporting, Facebook's new conversion modeling could be out of whack. Yes, they've started modeling conversions now in the absence of iOS data. That's a fancy word for educated guesses. Also notable, perhaps related, Facebook is reporting today it's having problems with ad reporting and creation, by the way. Apparently delivery is okay. For now. Well, my thanks to Kat Ferrari, who reviewed our podcast, calling it, quote, ego-free digital marketing cliff notes, informative, highly relevant and well executed. Ten out of ten. Thank you very much, Kat. If you, too, are getting value from this free daily news podcast, please consider rating and reviewing us.

Starting point is 00:08:17 You can go to RateThisPodcast.com slash today or click the link in this episode's description that will take you right to your podcast platform's review page. And don't forget, your chance to ask an actual Facebook ad rep any question you want is coming right here on this very podcast. So if you've ever wondered if reps really do read the appeal forms or if it's true that they can't see what led to your ad account's suspension, I will have an anonymous but real Facebook ad rep here to answer all your questions. Go to b.link slash askarep to submit your question. That URL is not linked anywhere publicly. So again, here it is, b.link slash askarep. All right, that's it for today. Talk to you tomorrow.

Today in Digital Marketing - Is This the Real ROAS? Is This Just Fantasy?

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