Today in Digital Marketing - YOU Get a Sponge! 🧽 YOU Get a Sponge! 🧽

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Thursday, February 8th. Today, Shopify is shutting down its reviews app. We learn what makes up Thread's discovery algorithm. HubSpot has some nice updates. Google's Bard is no more. And why can't TikTok tell the difference between a shoe and a sponge? I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing. We start today with a short but important story for those of you who use Shopify's product reviews app.

Starting point is 00:00:29 The company announcing today it will be shutting it down in three months. They didn't say why, though it's likely because the whole reviews ecosystem has moved well beyond their own in-house app. Platforms like Yachtpo, which we use for our agency's clients, have advanced light years ahead of Shopify's own app. So May 6th is the shutdown. It might behoove you to start checking out Shopify's App Store now to look for and start onboarding a replacement app if you use that functionality. And that will bring us to a trivia question. What was Shopify's original name before it became Shopify? Was it Snowdevil, Quick Cart, Trademaster, or eMarketplace? The answer at the end of today's episode.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Threads, Meta's answer to Twitter, has released some details about its discovery algorithm. And while there aren't any huge surprises on what makes things rank higher, it's still good to review. Like most of these algos, engagement points like replies and likes and follows all give a bit of a boost. But there are also some other factors we haven't really seen a lot of, like how many posts you've seen so far in your session, how long it's been since you were active on Threads? And how many times any given post's account profile has been visited? Quoting social media today, quote, As Threads continues to gain momentum, with the platform now up to 130 million active users,

Starting point is 00:01:59 more brands are testing the waters and seeing what sort of engagement they can drive in the new app. Which, honestly, is probably not a lot for most businesses as yet. The Threads community still feels pretty sparse, while the algorithms driving the discovery in the app seem inconsistent, with some posts gaining a heap of traction, while others are essentially DOA, and there's no obvious logic as to why one post goes big and another flops." Also interesting to note, since Meta's Threads was built on top of email newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. A great piece in The Verge today

Starting point is 00:02:56 about TikTok's latest change to its experience. The app tries to detect products in a video, then provide links to buy those products in the catalogs of its various advertisers. In theory, it sounds great. If you see Taylor Swift wearing a sparkly dress, you can quickly go buy it. Or at least TikTok will show you one like it. Or it might show you a sponge. Yes, it seems TikTok's product detecting AI is a little off its rocker. Quoting The Verge,

Starting point is 00:03:37 As the video was ending, a button popped up, prompting me to view items in the TikTok shop related to the shoes. The blue and orange embellished heels retail for over $2,000. What could TikTok possibly have for sale that comes close to them? Apparently, nothing. The shoes TikTok pushed me toward looked nothing like what was in the video. Many of the items were not even shoes. After a pair of black patent leather slip-ons and yellow and brown platforms, the shopping feed took several left turns. I was served a 10 pack of socks, a chair that I'd been looking at on Amazon a week prior, cooking sauces, a scrub daddy sponge, and nylon

Starting point is 00:04:14 handbags, unquote. Interesting that it sounds like there's a connection with Amazon retargeting in there. To be clear, we are not talking about the system where influencers directly link to specific products. No, this is basically TikTok's educated guess as to what an object is, and its guesses are apparently terrible. So too, from what I understand is the overall TikTok experience in the US right now. That's where they've gone hog wild on TikTok shop with many people complaining. It's really just a glorified AliExpress store now. I'm in Canada. So far, it doesn't seem like they've rolled that out here because at least my TikTok has been blissfully devoid of product pitches. But this product identification system raises many questions

Starting point is 00:04:55 that so far there are no answers to. Again, quoting The Verge, quote, will creators have a say in it? Will they get a cut of whatever sales happen as a result of their video? TikTok's identification system is bad now, but what if it eventually could identify the brand of soap or a keyboard in a video and give viewers a direct link to buy it? What's in it for the person who piqued shoppers' interest in the first place? TikTok didn't respond to our request for comment.

Starting point is 00:05:23 Unquote. updated email headers for a one-click unsubscribe feature and bolstered SPF DMARC authentication to help users meet those standards easily. Other highlights include increased limits for custom objects and properties. It's also refined its lead management features, allowing for more detailed tracking and management of leads. For those focusing on inbound marketing, HubSpot now offers conditional form confirmation pages, giving you a more tailored approach to lead routing. And HubSpot's introduction of a currencies API will help keep exchange rates up to date automatically. Definitely a nice touch for brands that operate on a global scale. Rounding it out, integration updates with Dynamics 365 and NetSuite now permit direct

Starting point is 00:06:21 enrollment in sequences and booking of meetings from within those systems. Google has killed its AI tool named BARD. But don't worry, it only killed the name. Its AI capabilities will live on under the new brand, Gemini. The company also releasing a dedicated mobile app, a premium version, and most notably, they've integrated Gemini into their Google Assistant. This is definitely a shot over the bow at Apple, whose Siri assistant has fallen well behind in this space. The mobile app is now available on Android.

Starting point is 00:06:57 Google has integrated Gemini into the iOS Google app. The upgraded version, which they call Gemini Ultra, is available at about $20 a month. Previously named BARD, it was only accessible through a website and was labeled everywhere as being in beta. Back to threads for a moment. They have started testing letting people save posts in the app. This has been one of the most requested features. We can also assume that, too, will be an engagement signal to be factored into the app. This has been one of the most requested features. We can also assume that too will be an engagement signal to be factored into the algorithm. In fact, the save function

Starting point is 00:07:30 tends to be a pretty strong signal on most platforms, often given more waiting than likes. You probably don't have it right now, unless you're in the test group. If you are, you will find it under the three dots menu on any post in your feed, which I learned the other day, I think is called the meatball menu. You can find your saved posts in the profile menu. Oh, and as for the trivia question. What was Shopify's original name before it became Shopify? Your choices were Snowdevil, Quick Cart, Trademaster, or eMarketplace. The answer?

Starting point is 00:08:09 Snowdevil. Yeah, in 2004, they just built an online store that sold snowboards. They never really meant to build an eCommerce platform. When they eventually transitioned it into an eCommerce platform, it still wasn't called Shopify. It was briefly called Jaded Pixel before they

Starting point is 00:08:24 came up with their current name. So I'm kind of at a stalemate with my video gaming. There's really only two games that I've played in the last I don't know, three years or so. Overwatch 2, which I had to quit because I was just getting too ragey. And then I've been playing Rainbow Succeed, which I've got a little squad. They're fun. I don't know why they let me play with

Starting point is 00:08:55 them because I'm just terrible at the game. I bring their rank down, but whatever. But even that one I'm kind of kind of, I don't know, souring on. So lately I've just been watching YouTube videos. But my wife is a big crafter, and I'm kind of, I don't know, souring on. So lately I've just been watching YouTube videos. But my wife is a big crafter. And I always kind of wanted to do some sort of crafting with her. I tried painting miniatures that didn't work.

Starting point is 00:09:15 Tried a couple of other things. But I found one on YouTube that looks really cool. And they're like, they're those miniature, I don't want to say diorama, but they're like little miniature scenes. So it'll be like half of a bookstore or like an inside of a gardening shop or something. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on it. I thought that basically all they did was they shipped you all of these little objects

Starting point is 00:09:37 fully assembled. And your job was to just, you know, over the course of half an hour, just kind of put them there. But no, you build all of them, apparently. Like the kits come, like the rows is paper you've got to cut out individually and then craft and then glue and fold in a certain way. It actually looks kind of fun.

Starting point is 00:09:55 So I will report back next week, I guess, on whether or not I actually stuck to this one. I'm Todd Mappin. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Hey

Today in Digital Marketing - YOU Get a Sponge! 🧽 YOU Get a Sponge! 🧽

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