Today in Digital Marketing - The Latest Brand Safety Challenge: Deepfake Audio

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Your ads beside fake content — how generative audio AI is raising big brand safety questions... TikTok reveals its top-performing ad copy... The top 3 creative tests to run on your campaign... Reddit is killing its Clubhouse clone... and oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to tap the heart on Instagram photos.🔘 Follow the podcast on social media🙋🏻‍♂️ Follow Tod on social media. --------------------------------If you like Today in Digital Marketing, you'll love Ariyh:Marketing tactics based on science: 3-min marketing recommendations based on the latest scientific research from top business schools.✅ Subscribe for $0 here--------------------------------. ✨ 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.🤝 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.------------------------------------.🎒UPGRADE YOUR SKILLS• Inside Google Ads with Jyll Saskin Gales• Google Ads for Beginners with Jyll Saskin Gales• Foxwell Slack Group and Courses .Today 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.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

It is Thursday, March 9th. Today, your ads beside fake content. How generative audio AI is raising big brand safety questions. TikTok reveals its top performing ad copy. The top three creative tests to run on your campaign. Reddit is killing its clubhouse clone. And oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to tap the heart on Instagram photos.

I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing. For video gamers like me, it's all everybody's been talking about. The leaked audio of U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Trump in a game of Overwatch on voice chat. Ah, Dorado. I love this map. Takes me back. Is that you again, Joe, on my team? Oh, great. It's this guy. Oh, GG.

We lost. This is my rank-up game, too. We are not even out of spawn doors, and this guy is already complaining. Someone dodge, please. It's not real, of course. It's a deepfake. But in the battle of brand safety issues, deepfaked audio is the next frontier. Adweek has a great piece up today talking about how these voice-based memes fueled by content created through generative AI are the latest hits on the social media platforms, especially TikTok and YouTube.

Many of these AI-generated videos portray politicians like Trump and Biden playing video games, but many videos have their voices spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, according to brand safety ad tech firm Zephyr. One recent example shows the pair trash-talking while gaming, in which the AI-generated Biden asks for help selling his cocaine business, and Trump claims America is tyranny and fascism. And your brand's ads may be running alongside this content. Data indicates that so far this year, AI-generated videos portraying politicians across platforms have already exceeded the total volume of 2022 videos

by more than 130%. Zephyr reports that these videos have received more than 11 million views and more than 2 million likes. And more than 90% of them are currently monetizable, meaning advertisers are running ads adjacent to them, whether they know it or not. The report found that misinformation videos were scripted using, guess what, chat GPT. The company couldn't disclose how much money was being spent on ads that appeared next to AI-generated audio misinformation. Adweek notes that advertisers

can still use keyword block lists or AI-driven contextual tools from third-party verification companies like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science to filter ads that are brand safe and brand suitable outside of TikTok and YouTube, where these videos are currently on the rise. Even so, a spokesperson for Zephyr said that tools,

including keyword block lists and static inclusion lists, can be ineffective on social platforms that require content analysis and for Zephyr said that tools, including keyword block lists and static inclusion lists, can be ineffective on social platforms that require content analysis beyond website domains. And then there's this. Sexual deepfakes of Emma Watson and Scarlett Johansson are running rampant across Facebook and Instagram ads, according to NBC News. And it's all part of a campaign this week for an AI deepfake app. NBC News reported that 230 videos were run across Meta's platforms. According to the report, the campaign was an ad for the app FaceMega, which lets users swap out faces and videos with pictures uploaded to the app for eight bucks a week.

Want to know what makes a TikTok ad successful? TikTok has added a new Keyword Insights research tool to its creative center, which can help marketers find the top performing keywords, hooks, and phrases in TikTok ad copy. The tool lets you search through a list of the most commonly used terms in TikTok ads, see the popularity and ranking of keywords, and identify which keywords generate the best ad click-through rate.

You can also tap on the details option at the right of each example to learn more about how each keyword has been used in each ad, whether it's the most commonly used as text or voiceover in content, and so on. You can also view examples of specific brand videos that include those terms. And the listings can be filtered by the past three, 30, or 120 days. TikTok gives us one tool and then takes another. A company confirming this week

that it has started blocking links to app stores in creators' bios. Now that said, creators can still link to websites. TikTok business accounts will be the only ones allowed to link to app store pages going forward. The company says businesses will not be required to pay to add the link or agree to advertise on the platform in order to take advantage of this functionality. TikTok also said a new download app button is coming to business accounts. This is also not an ad product. With this change, the company believes it will improve clarity between business and personal accounts. But as TechCrunch points out today, it's also a move to shift ad dollars currently

flowing to creators through campaigns to TikTok's coffers. Now, businesses looking to direct consumers to their app's app store listing will likely want to promote the account with a functional link by way of an ad. We 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. 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.C-A. So what can you do to improve your creative strategy in your ad account right now? Foxwell Digital has a great piece up on its blog about the three best creative tests ad buyers should be running in 2023 to take your accounts to the next level. First, test number one, video length iterations of the same base video. They suggest identifying a best performing video, then iterating on it. If it's longer, shorten it.

If it's shorter, lengthen it. Test number two, hook and hold scene iterations with best performing body video. So this time you're iterating on the actual content of the video. Analyze video metrics like thumb stop, hold rate, and so on to see how the video watch time drops off. Then test changing the hook and leaving the rest of the body video the same.

And test leaving the hook the same and changing the hold scene to see exactly which part of the video is the winning part. Finally, test number three, graphics with text overlay. You should be testing your image ad creative with different text overlays like a short testimonial or a quote from a press article or a hook or a call to action and so on. One advertiser mentioned in the piece who tested an ad overlay that included a direct quote from a testimonial reported they improved cost per lead by 40%. The piece is up on Foxwell Digital's website, which is foxwelldigital.com. Another Clubhouse clone bites the dust.

Reddit is shutting down its social audio chat feature, Reddit Talk, this month. According to the company, it needs to do significant work before integrating audio into its platform. And the third-party audio vendor it used for Talk is shutting down its service. Reddit Talk will be available until March 21st, and users can download Talks until June 1st, but only if they were hosted after September 22nd. Also shuttering with this sunset is the Happening Now page, which let users check out active real-time conversations. Short-form video is coming to Spotify. The streaming giant launched a redesign of its app yesterday

that includes a new TikTok-style mobile home feed. Now, instead of a static carousel of playlists and recommendations, users will see a swipeable vertical video-based feed that will automatically play previews of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The update also includes new features like a new smart shuffle mode, a new podcast autoplay feature, and a handful of other small details. As Tuck Crunch points out today, the move to a new video-centric feed opens the door for the company to introduce ads like Instagram has done with Reels. And finally, here's yet another reminder that what you do on social media is probably public. who introduced laws banning gender-affirming health care for minors and restricting drag shows in public,

left a series of positive comments on a young gay man's erotic Instagram posts. And no, he didn't write anything negative about how the guy was going to hell. He left flame and heart emojis and comments like, Super look, Finn! That last comment on a photo of the barely-clothed 20-year-old man whom he's apparently followed for years, the politician in question, is 79 years old. A spokesperson for him said something about how he was old and didn't know how to use emojis right, but added he has, quote, no intention of stopping. Our LinkedIn newsletter, it's called The Top Story. It'll send you our top digital marketing story every day directly to your inbox and your LinkedIn feed.

You can sign up for that at todayindigital.com slash top story. It's completely free. There's also a link in the show notes. I'm Todd Maffin. See you tomorrow. I'm so good, my feet. Got that old Sunday beat. Sunshine on the street.

And I'm in the down, down, down the road. You know, I was having a really good day today. Don't care. Went golfing, hit a few holes in one. Don't care. Wanted to solo cue some Overwatch to end the day. Don't care. And I see fucking Bidenator in my lobby just to ruin my day. Can't wait until Blizzard.