Today in Digital Marketing - Snap Back to Reality?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Friday, May 5th. Today, creator comeback. Will influencers lead Snapchat back to the promised land? Amazon's TikTok-like shopping feed is ready. The video game that is scooping up ad dollars. And is this YouTube's best channel makeover yet? I'm Todd Mathen. That's ahead today in digital marketing. Could Snapchat be making a comeback for creators? In an effort to attract brands, the company has redesigned its ad revenue sharing platform to focus on creators offering new monetization opportunities

Starting point is 00:00:35 like Spotlight Snaps, Shopify integrations, and mid-roll ads in Snap Star Stories. And influencers are taking notice. Several famous YouTubers have recently praised the app and its monetization opportunities but can this shift toward creators help snapchat compete with other platforms like tiktok instagram facebook and youtube in a new report from performance marketing world snapchat's head of talent julie bogart explains what snapchat has to offer creators and brands that other platforms don't, a low-pressure environment for uncurated, authentic content. Unlike other platforms,

Starting point is 00:01:13 Bogart said Snapchat lacks comments and a news feed, leading to a more intimate, one-to-one relationship which keeps users watching longer, and creators who post content that resonates with their audience can expect to grow their following quickly. But according to one agency executive quoted in the piece, despite the company's efforts to attract creators and brands with new monetization options, influencers still prioritize other platforms over Snapchat. So while Snapchat might not be quite ready to play with YouTube, TikTok, and meta yet, as more brands follow creators to the platform, it might only be a matter of time before Snapchat can compete with the big dogs. Amazon has released its new TikTok-like shopping feed to all customers in the US.

Starting point is 00:01:59 This new feed, they call it Inspire, lets consumers explore products and shop from content created by influencers, brands, and other customers. To access Inspire, users need to sign into their Amazon account, open the shopping app, and tap on the new Inspire icon on the bottom navigation bar. They can then personalize their feed from choosing from more than 20 interests like makeup, pets, and gaming. And just like TikTok, viewers can like the content by double-tapping anywhere on the screen and swiping up from the bottom to see the next video. Consumers can also scroll horizontally through the small buttons that display the products in the video at the bottom of the feed, click on a product to view it in an overlay window, and then make a purchase or add the item to a list.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Brands can post to Inspire, including vendors and sellers enrolled in Brand Registry with an active brand store, while Amazon Influencer Program creators can post to the platform and earn a commission when customers shop from their content. Customers, though, cannot post to Inspire, but they can submit a product review. The shopping feed is currently available to all U.S. customers, but only via the mobile app on iOS and Android. Sorry, desktop marketers. No Inspire for you. Amazon isn't just being inspired by TikTok.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Business Insider reported yesterday that Amazon Ads has poached a longtime Meta executive to lead its ad tech division. Kelly McLean, who spent more than a decade of VP of business products at Meta, has been appointed as Amazon Ads VP of its demand side platform. The Amazon DSP is a platform that uses automation to let advertisers purchase ads on Amazon across various sites such as Twitch, IMDb, and, of course, Amazon. The report notes that as Amazon's ad business expands, the DSP plays a critical role in its operations, competing with major players like Google and the Microsoft-owned Zander. The DSP recently underwent an 18-month-long overhaul to enhance its machine learning and predictive algorithms.

Starting point is 00:04:03 The company says that further improvements are in progress. Meanwhile, Meta is taking a page out of Snapchat's book. Yesterday, the company announced that augmented reality is coming to Reels ads and Facebook stories. Previously, Meta offered AR ads in the Facebook feed, Instagram feed, and Instagram Stories. But now, these ads can run on other prominent areas across Meta's platform, including Facebook and Instagram Reels and Facebook Stories. Meta also introduced new interactive Reels ads options, including product carousels that let brands feature multiple items in one click, more prominent CTA buttons on screen. That button includes an ad

Starting point is 00:04:46 thumbnail, a headline, and other business details like the site URL. Facebook users will also be able to pause a video ad and preview a link before tapping it. And finally, Meta says marketers can now work with select third-party measurement partners on Reels ads campaigns, including DoubleVerify, IAS, and Moat. These firms are helping Meta test and launch a Reels ads campaigns, including DoubleVerify, IAS, and Moat. These firms are helping Meta test and launch a Reels viewability reporting option that will be rolled out to advertisers in the future. 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 00:05:24 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. As the video game platform Roblox continues to develop its ad products, one product in particular is catching the attention of brand partners, Portals. Internal data from the platform's in-game Portals ad product, which lets users

Starting point is 00:05:55 jump between experiences, shows a substantial organic lift for brands. This data coming from Digiday today. The test showed that one-tenth of users either returned to the branded experience they discovered through a portal or saw some friends portaled into a branded experience and then joined them organically. Roblox says brands can expect generally about a 10% increase in traffic and engagement through the ad format. Roblox also found that a fifth of gamers redeemed digital items and experiences they joined via portals. Quoting Digiday, Roblox's organic lift numbers demonstrate one of the platform's core strengths as it moves toward the full rollout of its ad offerings, that ads in Roblox, and particularly formats such as portals, are couched inside engaging gaming experiences in which users actually want to spend meaningful time, unquote. And finally, YouTube has made some changes to its channel interface. First, the platform is adding

Starting point is 00:06:55 a new personalized for you recommendation section for each channel visitor based on their viewing history, topic affinity, and a couple of other factors. If you do run your brand's YouTube channel, you'll also have the option to exclude certain types of content and set parameters around what gets displayed. YouTube is also bringing back the sort by oldest channel filter, which for some reason they took off last year. The platform is also planning to add some new display options like a courses tab for channels that have courses enabled, a releases tab for musicians, and the capacity to include links in your header overview. YouTube also recently added a podcasts tab for channels with podcast content.

Starting point is 00:07:44 Well, if you haven't had a chance to check out our new podcast, this weekend is a great time. It's called Behind the Ad with Todd Maffin. You should be able to find it anywhere you get your podcasts or just go to our website, behindthead.page. And remember, you can get this podcast as a daily email newsletter as well, complete with images, charts, related videos, links to dive deepers. There is a free tier in there as well. Those people get an issue every Friday. The newsletter comes out about an hour before the podcast drops.

Starting point is 00:08:14 So just go to todayindigital.com slash newsletter to sign up or tap the link in the show notes. Today in Digital Marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Stunamic First Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is the intrepid Steph Gunn. Production coordinator Sarah Guild. Features producer Sarah Brooke Christian. Music licensing by Source Audio.

Starting point is 00:08:38 Ad coordination by Red Circle. And you know, not many people know this, but our theme composer Mark Blevis was one of the first ten people invited into Blue Sky, one of the many upstart Twitter competitors. And that kind of made him a little famous.

Starting point is 00:08:53 His notifications are swamped now. The way he described it to me was like trying to catch the deluge in a paper cup. I'm Todd Mappin. Thanks for listening. Have a restful weekend, friends. I'm Todd Mappin. Thanks for listening. Have a restful weekend, friends. I will see you on Monday. I got that. Let's talk hard, homie. Take a pic, take a sniff. Chefs in the kitchen and I'm baking grits. Getting to the moon.

Starting point is 00:09:29 The district hit the jubilant. Okay, the best, they talking money. Okay, don't listen to the ruin. Bank account overseas. I got that. Nigga, damn it, Rob.

Today in Digital Marketing - Snap Back to Reality?

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