Today in Digital Marketing - Today in Meta Marketing?

Episode Date: March 1, 2022

The weekend hack that sent content managers scrambling... A big acquisition for LinkedIn... Are mid-rolls finally coming to TikTok videos?... Amazon gets some big competition... More ad platforms crack down on Russia... everyone wants to be Meta.Go Premium! No ads, more stories, audio chapters, and extended weekend episodes — https://todayindigital.com/premiumADVERTISING as low as $20: https://todayindigital.com/ads JOIN OUR SLACK! https://todayindigital.com/slackFOLLOW US: https://todayindigital.com/socialmedia (TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit) ENJOYING THE SHOW?- Please tweet about us! https://b.link/pod-tweet- Rate and review us: https://todayindigital.com/rateus- Leave a voicemail: https://b.link/pod-voicemail FOLLOW TOD:- TikTok: https://b.link/pod-tiktok- Twitter: https://b.link/pod-twitter- LinkedIn: https://b.link/pod-linkedin- Twitch: https://twitch.tv/todmaffin  Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin (https://b.link/pod-todsite) and produced by engageQ digital (https://b.link/pod-engageq). Subscribe at https://TodayInDigital.com or wherever you get your podcasts. (Theme music by Mark Blevis. All other music licensed by Source Audio.)Does your brand need a podcast? Let us help: https://engageQ.com/podcastsOur Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. Today, the weekend hack that sent content managers scrambling, Be protected. Be Zen. Everyone wants to be meta. And on the Premium Podcast with no ads, more stories, and extended weekend episodes, tap the link in the show notes for more, how one digital agency took an entire month off, and how you can do it too. It's Monday, February 28th. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing.

Here's a reminder to update the passwords of the accounts you manage and enable two-factor authentication. Over the weekend, the social media management tool Buffer confirmed that more than a thousand accounts had been hacked and used to spread support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company says that more than 1,500 accounts were affected, none of which had been protected by two-factor authentication. Of those accounts, more than 600 posted unauthorized content. The company said that access was gained through individual accounts, not through Buffer, most likely through reused passwords. Buffer has successfully removed unauthorized posts on Twitter and Facebook, but is still working on removing them from LinkedIn.

Users whose accounts were affected have been contacted with recommended steps to take. Buffer says it is continuing to investigate the origin of the unauthorized pro-Russia posts. I've got my money on Russia. Better analytics from LinkedIn is on the way. The professional network has announced its acquisition of Oribi, an Israel-based web analytics startup that specializes in marketing attribution tech. With this acquisition, ads on LinkedIn will have a similar system to Google Analytics. Quoting the company, Through the integration of Oribi's technology into our marketing solutions platform,

our customers will benefit from enhanced campaign attribution to optimize the ROI of their advertising strategies. Marketers will be able to track conversions using automated tags and code-free technology, as well as build more effective audiences with its privacy-first design. In addition to the agreement, LinkedIn says it will be opening up an office

in Tel Aviv, of course. What we don't know is if LinkedIn will strip out the app's current support for Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube campaigns and only offer LinkedIn stats. Full disclosure, Aribi has been a sponsor of our podcast. Well, as YouTube focuses on its TikTok clone called Shorts, TikTok itself is expanding its video scope and, once again, extending their length. TikTok users will soon be able to upload videos up to 10 minutes long. The company confirmed this to TechCrunch today. The new extended video length more than triples the current three-minute limit. Previously, creators got around the limit by encouraging viewers to watch part two

or sometimes directing them to their YouTube channel. TikTok said it hopes the move will, quote, unleash even more creative possibilities for creators around the world, unquote. Here's what they didn't say that I think is probably

obvious to most of us. Mid-rolls in TikTok videos coming soon. The option will be rolled out globally in the next few weeks and users will be notified when it's available. Does Amazon finally have a worthy competitor in the e-commerce fulfillment space? Walmart reports that the gross merchandise volume for its third-party fulfillment arm grew 500% last year. The company says it expects its robust growth to continue. Also, the retail giant released some impressive stats to entice your brand into selling on its marketplace. Sellers using Walmart Fulfillment Services, that's WFS, experienced 50% sales growth for items.

The WFS program had a 90% retention rate, which the company attributes in part to Walmart's preferred carrier program, which helps sellers save on inbound transportation costs. According to a management call, the expansion of WFS was a key to bringing in more sellers to Walmart's marketplace. In addition to generating a new revenue source from sellers, Walmart aims to increase its online selection. Executives expect to have more than 200 million items in its e-commerce assortment by the end of this year.

The retailer is offering new sellers incentives, including free storage and a 10% discount on fulfillment for the first 90 days for those who sign up before May. The tech platforms continue to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. First, Twitter has paused ads in Ukraine and Russia to ensure the visibility of public safety information and to make sure that, quote, ads don't detract from it. The platform posted a thread on Twitter that outlines measures it's taking to protect its users. This includes suspension of some tweet recommendations from people users aren't following, as well as search and home timeline prompts linking to a Twitter moment,

which includes digital security information. Reviewing tweets to detect platform manipulation, as well as monitoring the accounts of journalists, government officials, and other high-profile accounts. Second, Google has posted a new legal requirement policy that blocks search ads related to the invasion. It states that entities and individuals who are restricted cannot use ads for or on behalf of those who are located in or reside in so-called Donetsk People's Republic

and the Luhansk People's Republic. In addition, Google Merchant Center is blocking shopping ads from state-funded Russian media. New data indicates that a growing number of apps are entering the metaverse, at least in name. According to research, Facebook's rebranding as Meta spurred a lot of mobile apps to change their names to be part of the metaverse. In November, the month following the rebrand, nearly 30 apps added Metaverse to their name

or description, more than double the amount compared to October. In the three months since meta emerged, more than 80 apps have included the keyword in names or descriptions. The data comes from insider intelligence. Well, my thanks to our associate producer, the intrepid Step Gun, for doing a yeoman's job filling in for me. Yeoman? Yeoperson? Yeoperson. What a word that would be. Anyway, she did a great job.

She is going to be filling in for me Fridays this month in March. So every Friday in March, she will be with you as I play video games. Actually, no, really, that's basically what's going to happen. My wife is taking Fridays off as well, so I thought I would video games. Actually, no, really. That's basically what's going to happen. My wife is taking Fridays off as well, so I thought I would join her. And yes, no, it's not Overwatch, but I found another video game, Cyberpunk 2077, which came out a while ago.

But when it came out, it was horrible. Like, it would just, apparently there were crashes everywhere. There were, I have a marketing point, by the way, coming in just a second. And it was just, everyone hated it. And I decided I'm probably going to wait, I don't coming in just a second. And it was just everyone hated it. And I decided I'm probably going to wait, I don't know, a couple of years for it to get good. Well, last week they put out a patch that they claimed to fix everything.

And here's where the marketing thing comes in. Microsoft, because we're on Xbox, put out a five-hour free trial. So you could download the entire game and play it for five hours, which I thought was brilliant because if you were worried about the game crashing a lot or not looking good or having sort of weird NPC effects, you could try it. And five hours is a long time for free. So I tried it. And in those five hours, I noticed nothing unusual. I mean, video games are buggy. I mean, we only have to look at a Bethesda game to see that. And I got right into the story too. And then they had it for half off during that trial as well, which I thought was brilliant. So, anyway,

that will be every Friday, only in the month of March, this March, coming up. Talk to you tomorrow. You're faxed up, so I'm taking somebody. First date, so she all about the stats. From high point, so I'm all about the cat. Let's carry a lot of AQA with the lingo. I make it rain in the club like... It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten.

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