Today in Digital Marketing - Meet The Google Reviews That Won't Die

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. Today, the Google reviews that won't die, Be protected. Be Zen. for one of the biggest SEO tools now that it just got bought out. It's Friday, June 4th, 2021. Happy Flag Day, Estonia! I'm Todd Matfin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Imagine you run a business and you've pissed off a customer. Then, the next day, that customer shows up

Starting point is 00:00:59 and pickets outside your business. And the next day. And every day for two years. That's essentially what's happening to one contractor right now on Google My Business, and Google says it won't do anything about it. The company does repairs on foundations, and one past customer posted this two years ago. Quote, The commercial is a lie. They do not honor what they say.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Their actions do not line up with their mission. They do not follow through on commitments. They do not respect your property. They lie to your face. They're not accountable. Months of frustration, left with no resolve, messed up floors, cracked walls, no vapor barrier, no insulation. That's not world-class service.

Starting point is 00:01:41 The business owner replied with a fairly good response. But then, this angry customer came back to his review and edited it. By making an edit in the review, it popped that review back up to the top of the business's review section on their profile. And what was that edit? Actually, it was completely non-consequential. He added a period. But that was enough to move his negative review back on top. Then he did it again.

Starting point is 00:02:07 And again. And has done this every few days for two years now. Always editing one tiny thing, like removing a space or adding a letter. Always forcing his review to be the first. So, you'd think this would be something that Google would just remove? Joy Hawkins, who runs the Sterling Sky SEO agency, checked into it for this fellow, the business owner that is. Turns out, nope, Google won't do anything. They told her this kind of manipulation doesn't violate their guidelines.

Starting point is 00:02:39 So, as always, beware the angry customer. 14% who said the same thing of TV ads. Part of this, the researchers say, was because of COVID. Most people reporting screen fatigue, 42%, said that's why they're listening to more digital audio content. And also, let's not forget, this was a Spotify-funded study, so, you know, it's not like they don't have a dog in this race. In terms of content consumption, both mediums were about on par. 60% of podcast listeners listened to a new episode of their favorite podcast within a day of it being released. It's about the same as TV. 57% of viewers watch a new episode of their favorite TV show in the same time span. And 75% frequently re-listen to podcast episodes.

Starting point is 00:03:38 That's higher than I thought, actually, 75%. And that actually mirrors the 74% who rewatched their favorite TV shows. The study polled 3,000 Americans who had listened to digital audio or watched digital video in the past 24 hours. Some nice additions on Instagram for brands that work with influencers. They've updated the branded content tools. First, influencers can now tag up to two brands in a single piece of branded content. So if you've got a second brand or you're partnering with a charity or something like that, and each of the two brands will be able to see the other before approving the content.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Creators can now post branded content prior to brand approval. Although if they do that, the brand's name won't appear in the paid partnership label on the ad. And finally, brands can now see more insights. Reels and Lives data will be available as of Monday. They recently added this for the base accounts. This is just opening it up to the brand partners who are tagged in the influencers' posts. Those changes are not there now. They will be coming in the next few weeks.

Starting point is 00:04:43 And briefly speaking of more data, YouTube is adding more insights on how users engage with content over there. The updates are more data on channel memberships, more data on mobile specifically, clearer information about video performance, insight into revenue changes, and engagement metrics for YouTube posts. All right. Who amongst us here hasn't thought at least once, how do I get our audience to agree to let us text marketing messages to their phone every day? Come on.

Starting point is 00:05:16 You in the back. Yes, you too. But one brand has found a way to do that. HBO Max has partnered with a text messaging platform to promote its reboot of Gossip Girl. If you text anything to a phone number I'm about to give you, you will get a message back. All right, here comes the phone number. 917-809-4277.

Starting point is 00:05:37 And you will get this message. Hello there, follower. I'm guessing you want to get blasts on the scandalous lives of New York's elite. Well, who am I to keep you out of the loop? Yes, they have a typo in it. When you tap the link, it takes you to a form which asks for the user's full name, gender identity, birthday, city, email address. Wow. Three cheers for first-party data. Anyway, apparently people will do that. Anyway, apparently people who do that will get exclusive Gossip Girl content up until the show's launch in July.

Starting point is 00:06:14 You can also call that number to hear the voice of a show character. I will not spoil it for you. The company they partnered with to make this all happen is called Community, quoting MarketingDive.com. TV producers often promote shows via in-person events, such as through experiential marketing and conventions like Comic-Con. But given that the pandemic made these efforts impossible, networks and streaming services have had to go virtual to reach customers in their homes. Originally a platform for celebrities to chat with fans, Community has recently started using its SMS at scale capabilities to engage with fans of TV shows. The platform in February teamed with Showtime to promote the final season of Shameless by letting audiences join a group chat with the show's main characters, unquote.

Starting point is 00:06:59 HBO Max, by the way, will soon have a new owner. AT&T is selling off WarnerMedia to Discovery for $43 billion. 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. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit?

Starting point is 00:07:54 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. So this is a tiny bit creepy. Earlier this week, TikTok quietly made a change to its U.S. privacy policy. They added a section which gives them permission to, quote, collect biometric identifiers and biometric information, unquote, from its users' content. This includes things like face prints and voice prints. Well, the website TechCrunch reached out to them to ask, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:32 what product developments has made the addition of voice and face data necessary? But TikTok wouldn't say. Now, this could all be legal language to permit training on their augmented reality filters, or maybe they needed this text to let the app auto-caption things, but it seems like an odd phrasing if it's those. Quoting TechCrunch, the biometric disclosure comes at a time when TikTok has been working to regain the trust of some US users. It said it has never shared TikTok data with the Chinese government, nor censored content, despite being owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, and it said it never would do so if asked.

Starting point is 00:09:06 In the grand scheme of things, TikTok still has plenty of data on its users, their content, and their devices, even without biometric data. For example, TikTok policy already stated it automatically collects information about users' devices, including location data based on your SIM card and IP addresses and GPS, the app and file names on your device, I just actually checked location settings in my iPhone,

Starting point is 00:09:42 and there isn't even an option to turn off location detection for the app. It literally doesn't even list it. A couple of years ago, Google My Business let businesses create short links for their profiles. So, you know, like g.page slash today in digital or something like that. Today, Google announced it will no longer allow businesses to create or edit their existing short names. Your existing one will work. It'll just be locked that way until eternity

Starting point is 00:10:15 or a new policy change, whichever comes first. And finally, the popular SEO tool Moz.com has been acquired by iContact. iContact, in turn, owned by the publicly traded company J2 Global. iContact started 18 years ago. It has about 300 employees now. You may know it through its front-facing brands like Campaigner and Kickbox. The price wasn't disclosed. This comes after competing tool SEMrush went public just a couple of months ago.

Starting point is 00:10:47 You thought I'd just stop breathing. Well, if you found this podcast through one of those recommended for you listings, that happened because people rated and reviewed the show. If you get value from this daily news podcast, please consider paying it forward. You'll find a link in this episode's description that makes that a simple one-click process.

Starting point is 00:11:06 Today in Digital Marketing is produced on beautiful Vancouver Island by EngageQ Digital. Our theme is by Mark Plevis. Music licensing by Source Audio. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend, friends. I'll talk to you on Monday. So maybe I know

Starting point is 00:11:22 Don't keep calling Cause I'm standing on my feet Maybe I know, don't keep calling, cause I'm standing on my feet. Maybe I know, don't be asking for another piece of bait. Maybe I know, don't keep calling, looking for another chance to blow my mind. 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

Today in Digital Marketing - Meet The Google Reviews That Won't Die

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