Today in Digital Marketing - Sleigh the Competition

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Tuesday, September 17th. Today, Meta gets updates, affiliate marketing gets challenges, Blue Sky gets 10 million, and deep inside the YouTube trend that's making weather reports trendy. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing. As the holiday marketing season approaches, Meta is looking for you to unwrap those ad budgets. The tech giant announcing several new ad options this week for the end of year push. First, Meta is updating its discount code promo options featuring more visible code notifications that auto apply at checkout. With the update, advertisers will be able to highlight their discount code on an overlay of an ad,

Starting point is 00:00:48 making it easier for consumers to use the code. The platform is also testing first purchase offers and personalized discounts and bringing these features to Instagram Reels as well. Reminder ads are also getting a facelift with overlay prompts on feed posts. Meta says it's also increasing the frequency of reminder notifications to maximize awareness. The company is also updating its site links option, which lets brands add multiple landing pages to a single image or video ad in the Facebook feed.

Starting point is 00:01:19 And they've got a new promotion type that targets users more likely to shop in-store based on their engagement history and location tracking. And finally, Meta is introducing a new way to target tourists planning holiday trips to your area. For example, if users are searching for local holiday activities or engaging with relevant social content, they might start receiving ads from nearby businesses looking to boost seasonal sales. Affiliate marketers are facing a growing challenge, catering to picky consumers who demand more value from their online deals. This shift is creating a tough environment for advertisers and publishers, according to a new report from eMarketer. Sophisticated shoppers have been key to the affiliate marketing game for years, but the report notes that as the industry gains visibility, these shoppers are getting choosier. With the growth of affiliate marketing, many consumers are now more selective,

Starting point is 00:02:19 comparing deals rather than sticking to one retailer. eMarketer's research found that affiliate marketing ranks among the top forms of online advertising. To put that in perspective, over the past year, 55% of respondents recalled seeing affiliate ads on websites. That's about 10% higher than those who noticed ads on search engines. According to the report, this increased visibility has led consumers to shop around rather than buying something based on recommendations from trusted creators or publishers. In response, most brands are enhancing their offers. For example, in the first half of this year, one third of influencer affiliate conversions included coupons. That's up from just 9% the previous year. We have eMarketer's full

Starting point is 00:03:06 report on affiliate marketing for 2024 in today's email newsletter. Just tap the link at the top of the show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. The Twitter competitor Blue Sky just hit the 10 million user mark. A little help from Elon Musk's ex getting banned in Brazil apparently did the trick. Last month, Brazil's top cord shut down ex and slapped fines on regular VPN users trying to dodge the ban. In the wake of this, Blue Sky and Meta's threads shot up the charts in Brazil, landing in the top 10 of both App Store and Play Store ratings. Blue Sky snatched up 3 million users within days post-ban, soaring past 9 million overall earlier this month. The company said more than 85% of new users were from Brazil. So that's 10 million members now on Blue Sky. Threads, its meta-owned competitor,

Starting point is 00:04:04 now has more than 200 million. Snapchat's users' selfies aren't just for clout, but also a potential ad campaign. Snapchat's revised Terms of Service now let the company use its users' faces in ads. The Terms of Service are for its My Selfie tool, which lets users and their friends create AI-generated images based on photos they share with the app. When using the feature for the first time, Snapchat asks users to agree to these terms. users can opt out of the option by toggling off the See My Selfie in Ads feature, but 404 Media reports today that this feature is on by default. can opt out of the option by toggling off the See My Selfie in Ads feature, but 404 Media reports today that this feature is on by default. While Snap may use your face in personalized ads,

Starting point is 00:05:16 the company says it doesn't share your data with third-party advertisers. According to a spokesperson from the company, advertisers don't have access to Snapchatter's AI-generated images or private data, and that it isn't currently using my selfies in advertising. Another piece of advice to not trust Google's AI, especially if you're using it to search for images for your ad campaigns or social media posts. Google's top result for one of the most famous paintings in history features a fake AI-generated version of the artwork. 404 Media reported yesterday that when users searched for Heronius Botch on Google,

Starting point is 00:05:54 the top image they saw was an AI-generated version of his iconic Garden of Earthly Delights. Google Search often displays a carousel of images above the usual links based on user queries. One user on X discovered that when people searched for Bosch on Google, the search results included a couple of images from the actual painting, but the first and largest image displayed was an AI-generated version of it. Quoting 404 Media, quote, the search results for Heronius Bosch is now just another example of a well-established problem on the Internet and for Google Search specifically. As AI tools become more common and easy to access, the Internet is being flooded with AI-generated content that Google's automated systems are processing and then presenting to millions of users as if it was real. Google has since removed that AI atrocity

Starting point is 00:06:46 from its search results. Should your brand's next viral marketing campaign be a weather video? YouTube, it seems, is buzzing with hours-long loops of 80s and 90s weather channel broadcasts set to dreamy vaporware beats. Help you plan your trip to business or pleasure. But if your pleasure's at the ocean, the river, or the lake,

Starting point is 00:07:13 stay tuned for the Boat and Beach Report at 20 after. This vaporware trend, which pairs vintage weather clips with lo-fi music, has become a cozy yet kind of eerie way to remember a time before the climate crisis. Some of the most popular weather wave clips use a VHS recording of a weather channel broadcast on a random cold 90s night in the winter. One 41 long mega mood with nearly 650,000 views. So next time you think you need a break from the hustle, just hit play and travel to a more nostalgic era. No DeLorean required. I had a really weird experience today. I was out getting some art supplies and pencil crayons. That's like these art pencil crayons. Anyway, it's irrelevant what I was getting. But I realized that I'm now asking

Starting point is 00:08:12 people questions as if they are AI and I need to form my question in the form of a prompt. For instance, these pencil crayons, they're very fancy, they're very nice, and they require, I assumed, a special kind of pencil sharpener. And so rather than saying what pencil sharpener should I used, I said something like, what are the best two pencil sharpeners to use for this purpose? And are there any brands that I should avoid based on what previous people have said? Or something like that. And the woman. Kind of smiled and said.

Starting point is 00:08:48 Well that's a very specific question. Isn't it? And I realized yes it's very specific. In fact it's the way that I would phrase something. If I were asking an AI bot. So I don't know is that good or bad. I did get a great answer back from her. So maybe the secret.

Starting point is 00:09:02 Is to just treat people like AI. Maybe we've been doing this all backwards we've been trying to treat our AI like people maybe everything should just be AI I don't know, has the world gone that backwards? probably alright, thanks for listening, see you tomorrow

Today in Digital Marketing - Sleigh the Competition

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