Today in Digital Marketing - Searching for Ads in All the Right Places
Episode Date: May 25, 2023Instagram’s API just got a big upgrade. YouTube kills Stories. New intent signals for LinkedIn. TikTok is testing an AI chatbot. Google’s AI now writes video descriptions..🔘 Follow us on social... media🎙️ Subscribe free to our other podcast "Behind the Ad".Increase Your Amazon Sales with Micro-InfluencersHow sending free products to Micro-Influencers has helped brands 5X revenue in 2 months. Get started with Stack Influence and join companies like Unilever, Magic Spoon, Momofuku. and more.✅ MORE INFO and JOIN FREE NOW.Use GPT4 to Comment with 1 Click on LinkedIn ProspectsJoin 15,000+ LinkedIn power users and supercharge your social selling with Engage AI! Imagine effortlessly writing insightful comments that break the ice and build relationships with prospects. With Engage AI as your comment writing assistant, you'll save precious time while achieving conversions with every added touchpoint. Transform your LinkedIn conversations into powerful conversion tools today.✅ GET STARTED FREE NOW.✨ GO PREMIUM! ✨ ✓ Ad-free episodes ✓ Story links in show notes ✓ Deep-dive weekend editions ✓ Better audio quality ✓ Live event replays ✓ Audio chapters ✓ Earlier release time ✓ Exclusive marketing discounts ✓ and more! Check it out: todayindigital.com/premiumfeed.💵 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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It is Thursday, May 25th. Today, Instagram's API just got a big upgrade, YouTube kills
Stories, new intent signals for LinkedIn, TikTok is testing an AI chatbot, and Google's
AI now writes your video descriptions. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital
Marketing.
We reported yesterday on further delays in TikTok search ads for marketers,
but that's not the case for Instagram. Meta updated its marketing API yesterday,
and now brands can place ads in search results based on keywords through their third-party tool
of choice. Instagram started testing the feature in March to target customers actively searching
for businesses, products, and content. This represents a wider rollout. With this change, users will see ads related to their searches. So,
for instance, if a consumer searches Instagram for skincare, they will see relevant ads within
the search results feed. These ads will, of course, be distinguished from regular posts by a
sponsored label under the account name. The marketing API now supports three capabilities,
ads creation, ads insights, and ads preview.
Short form video has taken another casualty. YouTube is killing stories. The company confirming
today that stories will end on June 26th. Starting tomorrow, though, nobody will be
able to post stories, and any existing posts will expire after seven days. YouTube plans to notify
creators about the shutdown through various channels like forum posts, reminders in YouTube
Studio, and so on. Like Instagram, YouTube stories disappeared after a set period of time, which let
brands and creators post updates or behind-the-scenes
content to promote their channel. As it sends stories packing, YouTube is pushing brands to
post content to community posts and, of course, shorts. LinkedIn recently added some new updates
to its Sales Navigator business dashboard. First, it has introduced a new Account Hub feature, which prioritizes buyer listings based on various data points.
Account Hub will sort your existing buyer info to highlight potential opportunities.
LinkedIn is also integrating product category intent into its Sales Navigator,
which shows which products a potential buyer has shown interest in
based on their LinkedIn activity. It's also adding similar buying intent signals into its search
filters and integrating more purchase intent into sales navigator alerts. New activities visible in
this buyer activity section include website visits, new connections to colleagues, and a few other factors.
And finally, LinkedIn is adding more capacity to its autosave functionality,
so you can edit your CRM listings a little easier.
I guess it was only a matter of time. TikTok confirmed today that it too has succumbed to the rise of AI chatbots with Taco. Their new chatbot that can recommend videos,
but not your next investment.
The chatbot is currently in limited testing.
It appears on the right-hand side of the TikTok interface.
When tapped, users can ask questions about a video
or request content recommendations
using regular natural language.
The company though has not disclosed
which third-party AI provider is powering the tech.
The bot is not publicly available in the US, though.
It is being tested in other markets,
including the Philippines.
One app intelligence firm, though,
reported finding the AI chatbot tests
in iOS devices in the US, so, you know, who knows?
Upon launch, TikTok cautions that its feedback
may not be entirely accurate, a common disclaimer for AI chatbots.
And more importantly, the extent to which the chatbot logs user data or maintains privacy remains unclear.
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Be protected. Be Zen. Google has developed a visual language model
which auto-generates meta descriptions for YouTube shorts videos. It comes from merging
its DeepMind and Google Brain products. Google says since shorts are often created in a few
minutes without descriptions or helpful titles, it makes them harder to find via search. This new
tech, which they're calling Flamingo, analyzes the initial frames of a video and generates text descriptions that explain the content.
Luckily, no need to check what Google's AI may have written for your brand's videos.
These descriptions are not public facing.
They're stored as metadata to improve video categorization and match search results. A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge
that because shorts are typically consumed
through swiping on a feed rather than active browsing,
adding metadata has been less incentivized.
Flamingo has already started applying
auto-generated descriptions to new shorts uploads
and a substantial number of existing
and highly viewed videos.
Well, they talked about it a lot, but now Google's AI-powered search is rolling out
starting today. They're opening up access to Search Labs, a new program that lets people
sign up for the experiments, including the search generative experience, and test them out before
wider release. Those who signed up will receive an email
notification that they have been accepted to start testing the tools. Google says there are three ways
search can be improved with the new generative AI features. First, AI-powered snapshot. This lets
users get up to speed on a new or complicated topic. Then the search generative experience
will offer tips for specific questions. You'll find pointers for key information, a range of options available, and so on.
And the new search experience includes shopping integration.
Consumers can search for a product to learn about important factors and get a buying list of options like price, customer rating, and more.
And finally, a Formula One team has found a new way to use digital advertising tech,
and it could transform sports advertising.
The brand logos, of course, are already seen on cars,
but McLaren has come up with a new way to get sponsors more airtime with prime placement.
Teams will now be able to show even more ads since they're displayed on side panels,
mounted in the cockpit, and are visible to home viewers because the TV camera
is installed behind the driver.
People in the stands, of course, won't be able to
see those ads. Throughout a Grand
Prix weekend, the display will change,
presenting a range of ads.
The company behind the technology hopes to expand
by adding the panels to
golf bags, for instance, and even
digital helmet ads.
But if you've got a marketing position you're trying to fill, or maybe you're looking for that next great gig, consider a classified ad right here. It's just 20 bucks. You can book it online.
Link in the show notes. I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.