Today in Digital Marketing - The Problem With 5-Star Reviews
Episode Date: July 25, 2022Go Premium! No ads, story links in show notes, deep-dive weekend editions, better quality, live event replays, audio chapters, earlier release time, exclusive marketing discounts, and more! Check out ...https://todayindigital.com/premiumfeedFor information on advertising, our social media, contact info, and everything else, please go to https://todayindigital.com/shownotes➡ Join our Slack at todayindigital.com/slackOur Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Today, Google Local Service Ads fake review problem.
Has inflation killed the buy now, pay later industry?
Meta gets hit with a piracy lawsuit for allegedly stealing hundreds of songs.
And creates a new revenue stream for video creators that use licensed music.
It's Monday, July 25th. I'm Steph Gunn, filling in for Todd Muffin.
Here is what you missed today in digital marketing.
Is Google sleeping on its screening processes for local service ads?
According to the tech giant, local service ads are supposed to be screened, guaranteed,
and reviewed by someone contracted by Google. However, Search Engine Roundtable reported today
that many reviews in local service ads appear to be fake. On Twitter, an SEO enthusiast observed that Google now shows three local service ads on mobile instead of two,
and also noted that all of these listings are spam, and Google has refused to take action on
the reports for over five months. As an example, a search for injury lawyers found that all 100
SLA results had a rating of 5.0.
And the SEO professional added,
Considering that, the business names, multiple listings for the same business,
and lack of verifying if the locations are real,
I don't see how anyone at Google could feel okay about these results.
Someone else questioned whether fake reviews constitute consumer deception,
because they are accompanied by the Google Screened label, which implies the reviews are legitimate.
We'll keep you updated if Google responds.
With inflation and a possible recession looming, buy now pay later services are facing roadblocks.
Klarna's valuation was recently slashed to $6.7 billion, around a seventh of what it was worth a year ago,
and other companies in the space have laid off workers.
However, in spite of these challenges, data from the research firm Morning Consult
found that the share of consumers who reported using Buy Now Pay Later
to make a purchase in the past month has never fallen below 15%.
As a result, an analyst there believes that Buy Now Pay Later services
have been firmly
ingrained in consumers' wallets.
The analyst suggested that as higher interest rates might lower consumer spending overall,
they could also drive people away from credit cards in favor of interest-free alternatives
like buy-now-pay-later providers.
Trustpilot's recent survey found that the prospect of more debt without credit reporting
benefits is the main reason the majority of consumers don't use Buy Now, Pay Later.
According to a Trustpilot executive, new regulations might not be a roadblock.
In order to become a real alternative to credit cards,
the Buy Now, Pay Later industry must address these consumer trust concerns,
and credit reporting regulations and rules for these companies could help change that.
Epidemic Sound, which provides royalty-free music to YouTubers and other creators,
claims Meta stole hundreds of songs, resulting in billions of illegal views on Facebook and Instagram. The company alleges that Meta's platforms are using its content as if it was
their own and making it available to users without any license.
According to the recent filing, roughly 95% of content using Epidemic's music on Meta's platforms is unlicensed. The complaint states that it knows of over 950 of its music tracks
that have been reproduced, stored, made available to, and distributed to its users by Meta through
its music library or through its other
content sharing tools without a license. The complaint also said that Meta's violation has
grown even more rampant recently, in part due to Meta's creation of tools that lets users infringe
on Epidemic's rights. The lawsuit claims Meta is aware that it is actively storing, offering,
curating, reproducing, performing, and distributing Epidemics
music through its music library and Reels remix and original audio features without a license.
As a result, the complaint seeks up to $142 million in statutory damages for willful infringement,
as well as a permanent injunction.
Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber
attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without
insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural
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Be protected. Be Zen. As Meta faces a lawsuit for allegedly stealing hundreds of songs,
apparently there's no better day than today for the company to announce a new way for creators
to earn money through Facebook videos that use licensed music. Music revenue sharing lets
creators include licensed music in their videos
on Facebook and earn revenue from in-stream ads. Creators will receive 20% of the revenue from
videos, with Meta and Music Rights holders also receiving separate shares. It is required for
creators to be eligible for in-stream ads and meet Facebook's monetization eligibility standards.
All eligible songs for music revenue sharing must also be in the licensed music library.
Finally, Meta noted that the licensed music cannot be the primary purpose of the video
and that it must also contain a visual component.
The music revenue sharing program will be rolling out to video creators worldwide today.
Meta said eligible videos will monetize with in-stream ads delivered
in the U.S. to start and will expand in the future. Is it time for your brand to enter the
in-real-life catalog game? A recent report from the Harvard Business Review found that traditional
catalogs are highly effective marketing vehicles for retailers. But before shifting your budget to paper,
consider these findings to determine whether catalogs are right for your brand.
The study found that catalogs plus email boosted purchases by a quarter over email only.
Catalogs were more effective with customers who did more than half of their shopping in stores.
Catalogs with images and short narratives were 40%
more effective than those
with just photos and product names. And finally, catalogs with higher priced and hedonic products
had a 120% higher return on investment than those featuring utilitarian products.
This study also suggests another benefit of printed catalogs
is that they can provide a real-world presence for online-only brands.
So we have this beautiful plum tree in our backyard that was filled with fruit this year,
which I've been really excited about because it's the first year that it's actually produced any
fruit. So I've been checking it every single day to see if the plums are ready and they were almost there.
So I checked it yesterday and I was thinking, you know what, they'll probably be perfect by the end
of this week. Went out this morning, there isn't a single plum left on the tree. The squirrels have
taken every single one of them. I just thought since they haven't bothered with the tree at all
this year that they weren't going to, but it turns out I'm the fool because they were also just waiting for
the plums to ripen. Don't forget the premium version of this podcast is just like this one,
but with no ads, access to deep dive weekend episodes, replays of upcoming live events,
better audio quality, story links in the show notes, and lots more. You can get 50% off of
your first month by going to todayindigital.com slash premium feed or tap the link in the show
notes. Thanks for listening and I'll be back to talk to you tomorrow. Thank you.