Today in Digital Marketing - Pincreasing Pressure: The Battle for Ad Dollars Heats Up

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Thursday, March 16th. Today, Pinterest gains momentum as it positions itself as a safe haven for ad dollars. Piracy streaming sites are costing advertisers millions. A new app connects brands with influencers for paid experiences. Meta's social audio push is on its last legs. And how to grow your audience with Cheez Toast. I'm Steph Gunn, sitting in for Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Pinterest's push to position itself as a safe place for your ad dollars may be starting to pay off. Brands are starting to show increased investment in the platform. Although ad spend on Pinterest still lags behind that on larger social networks, some early signs of momentum are starting to show amid the wider ad slowdown. Last year, the company's revenue increased by 12%, while Meta's decreased by 1%. Digiday reported today that advertisers are spending more on the platform, according to several media buyers, and one agency exec noted that the majority of their clients are now on Pinterest. In order to boost

Starting point is 00:01:05 its appeal to advertisers, Pinterest recently partnered with Dentsu to offer clients educational programs for marketers and tailored growth plans. The deal also grants clients access to Dentsu's effective attention tool, which measures how aware a consumer is of content by the time they make a purchase. That said, there are still barriers to overcome, primarily around measurement. According to Digiday, if the company can solve the problem of helping advertisers more accurately tie performance to their campaigns, it could increase their willingness to put their ad dollars in Pinterest. But so far, it's not quite there yet. Piracy streaming sites are taking millions of dollars from ad budgets that could have gone to legitimate publishers, and the advertisers in question may not even know their ads are running there. According to new data from ad tech consultancy Jounce, $50 million was spent

Starting point is 00:02:01 on ad sites categorized as ad-supported piracy domains last year. Marketing Brew notes that while this is only a fraction of the $150 billion digital display market, it highlights gaps in ad tech transparency. Jounce says the problem is that many of the sites involved stream content illegally, a situation that could violate contractual agreements between advertisers and their ad tech vendors, as well as U.S. copyright law. Ads for Mint Mobile, Fender, and Tampax were just a few of the brands whose ads appeared on the sites. Who's to blame?

Starting point is 00:02:33 Some say ad networks may not be doing enough to audit the website publishers they work with. The report also cited incomplete block lists and potentially evasive maneuvers by the sites, such as changing or cloaking domains. As a way to avoid fraudsters, Jounce recommends advertisers buy inventory directly from reputable publishers. Maven, a new female-founded startup, launched an app today that connects content creators with brands and businesses to offer a variety of experiences, including PR packages, paid posts, photo shoots, and events. With the app, creators can browse categories such

Starting point is 00:03:10 as dining, paid, mailers, non-profit, etc., and then apply for opportunities listed. Brands then review applications and can either accept, decline, or put them on a waitlist. Brands also have access to an in-app dashboard, which includes vetting tools, insights, and a calendar. The app is free to use, but users must complete a questionnaire to be considered. The company says its acceptance process is not based solely on follower count, but on factors such as diversity, engagement, and creativity, among others. Maven offers two plans for creators once accepted, the base plan and Maven Plus. The basic plan requires an Instagram account to sign up and lets creators apply only for non-paid experiences, while Maven Plus is where the paid gigs are and requires users to sign up with their Facebook account.

Starting point is 00:03:58 The upgraded plan also lets brands see all the users' insights via meta to confirm if they are the right influencer to partner with. Now for the bad news. The company takes 0% commission from creators, which means its marketers are on the hook here. Brands pay a fee to be featured. That fee ranges from between $2,000 and $7,000 per month, depending on the job. The app is currently only available for Miami-based experiences, with plans to expand in the U.S. and to international markets in the job. The app is currently only available for Miami-based experiences, with plans to expand in the U.S. and to international markets in the future. Meta has officially been defeated in its push to social audio, with audio channels and Facebook groups being removed at the end of the month, its last remaining social audio feature. The platform

Starting point is 00:04:44 is now alerting group users that audio channels are going away on April 1st, with members no longer able to create new audio channels as of today. In its push to audio, the company launched a range of features, including audio-only rooms, support features for podcasts, and soundbites. Social Media Today points out it was only a matter of time before audio channels and groups were cancelled, as most of these audio tools were retired last year in May. It is also part of the company's cost-cutting efforts, which have resulted in the abandonment of several initiatives. 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 00:05:26 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:05:51 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

Starting point is 00:06:12 app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. Bankruptcy is looming for e-commerce retailer Boxed. In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was seeking proposals to sell its assets. The move comes just two months after the company announced it was considering selling. Despite expanding its service to include bulk-sized boxes of groceries and launching a suite of software solutions for corporate customers over the years, the company's stock value has plummeted by 95% since it went public in 2021. TikTok is rolling out a new refresh option today for users who feel like the algorithm

Starting point is 00:06:57 is doing them wrong. By using the new feature, consumers can retrain the For You algorithm by restoring its original settings. When the refresh feature is enabled can retrain the For You algorithm by restoring its original settings. When the refresh feature is enabled, TikTok will display content on the For You page as if you had just signed up. The app's recommendation system will then serve as content based on new interactions, which could mean your brand's content is reaching a new audience, but it could also mean that your content isn't being seen by your usual audience. That said, if you enable the reset button, your following feed, profile, and inbox won't be affected, meaning you will only see a fresh start in your For You feed, but the rest of the app experience will not change. You can access the new feature in your settings by clicking on your content preferences and

Starting point is 00:07:40 choosing refresh your For You feed. TikTok warns, however, that this action cannot be undone. A couple of updates from YouTube. First, the platform is adding new insights for creators using its new multi-language tool. Now, the new data points break down viewership by language and geography. There's also data on watch time and average view duration. Next, YouTube now lets you share links to audio pivot pages within Shorts. Audio pivot pages are the highlight pages that show other Shorts clips that have used the same audio. Creators will now be able to link directly to these pages within their videos. And finally, having trouble getting people to join your facebook group maybe it needs more of a niche

Starting point is 00:08:29 angle like cheese toast content a copywriter retiree created a facebook group called cheese toast love to perfect his cheese toast making skills the group started small but after his daughter secretly posted about it in a popular Facebook meme group, it suddenly gained thousands of new members. Today, the group has become the largest cheese toast group on the platform with more than 16,000 members who share their cheesy creations from around the world. I guess you could say his group is a great success. I started the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses this week, so I started it on Monday and I finished book one last night. I ended up making my husband go out while he was on his lunch today to get me book number two so that I can start reading it tonight. If you like fantasy fiction and borderline fairy smut i highly recommend it on another note we only

Starting point is 00:09:26 need five more people to join our slack channel to take us to a thousand so here's your sign to join it's free it's a great spot to get advice ask for help there's even a spot where you can promote yourself just tap the link in the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash slack thanks for listening i'm'm Steph Gunn. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Thank you.

Today in Digital Marketing - Pincreasing Pressure: The Battle for Ad Dollars Heats Up

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