Today in Digital Marketing - Your Marketing Job is Safer Than It's Ever Been

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, you made the right career choice. The need for marketers is skyrocketing. Be protected. Be Zen. answered with Facebook's newest post type. It's Thursday, June 3rd, 2021. Welcome to episode 400. I'm Todd Maffin from Engage2Digital. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Never thought I'd see these two companies in the same sentence, Snapchat and Salesforce. But they are indeed together in the form of a new first-party data solution. Salesforce has launched an audience match feature for Snapchat that will let you use the contact data you have in Salesforce to target users on Snapchat. And yes, you will also be able to use that data set as a source for lookalikes.

Starting point is 00:01:19 That was one of the notable announcements from Salesforce yesterday. They also talked about an integration with WhatsApp that will let marketers more easily facilitate direct communications with consumers. And there were some vague mentions about a deeper partnership with Google to develop more first-party solutions.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Let's not forget it was Google that kind of forced everyone's hand on this renewed first-party focus. They announced that their Chrome browser would stop supporting third-party cookies by next year. Chrome currently has about 65% of the global browser market. Side note, if you like the way that Chrome works but don't like that it's sending everything you do back to Google, check out the Brave browser. It's based on the open-sourced Chrome code but without all of the dirty Google

Starting point is 00:02:03 trickery. And this was not an ad, by the way. I just really like the browser. This past year has been a nonstop chain of uncertainty, a global pandemic, iOS 14.5, Facebook temper tantrums over 14.5, and on and on. But some good news from LinkedIn, which says data from its platform shows that digital marketers are needed now more than ever.

Starting point is 00:02:29 They've seen a 63% increase in marketing jobs over the past six months. Also in the same period, a 25% increase in intern positions and a 15% increase for digital marketers in a contractor role. LinkedIn's taxonomy, as you may know, includes skills. So what are the top skills in demand for marketers?

Starting point is 00:02:51 In first place, and this one kind of surprised me actually, Instagram. That was up 72% year over year. Then content marketing, up 63%. Creative problem solving, up 45%. and brand awareness, up 41%. And of all of the marketing positions available, from CMO to media buyer to creative director and so on, the most sought-after position? Digital marketing specialist. Among the other in-demand roles, they noted digital account executives, social media managers, copywriters, and digital strategists.

Starting point is 00:03:29 Before we leave LinkedIn, one small note. Looks like they're testing a new dark mode option for their desktop users. As of today, Twitter users in Canada and Australia are able to subscribe to the company's new upgrade package called Twitter Blue. The price will be $3.49 Canadian or $4.49 Australian. It includes a handful of upgrades like an undo button, better bookmarking, pretty app icons, and so on. But we learned of another feature nobody had picked up on before now, one that could prove very valuable indeed for digital marketers and social media managers, access to a higher tier of support.

Starting point is 00:04:11 Twitter told The Verge, this means that Twitter Blue users could expect an expedited timeframe for resolving issues. Any issue, including support tickets on removed tweets, blocked accounts, and so on. And honestly, as much as it pains me to say this, because I think good support should just be free, I would pay Facebook, I don't know, a few hundred bucks a month

Starting point is 00:04:33 to get a phone number with senior reps who could answer basic questions like what exactly in this ad makes you think that it violates policy? As I mentioned, Twitter Blue is only available in Canada and Australia and only on iOS devices. The company would not say when it would come to other countries. I'm in Canada, by the way, and have updated to the latest version of the app. I still don't see any link or button or screen or anything that lets me buy it. So perhaps they haven't officially thrown the switch. Someone on Twitter also suggested that blue checkmark people haven't yet been given the option.

Starting point is 00:05:12 Facebook is planning to develop monetization tools for WhatsApp, and has some updates for the WhatsApp Business API. First, they're adding new messaging response options into the API, essentially loosening some previous restrictions. Here's how they described it. Quote, for example, businesses were often limited to sending timely notifications, which made it difficult to follow up with customers outside of a 24-hour window. So now we'll support more types of messages to let people know when an item is back in stock, for example. We've also seen how periodic updates from health authorities about responding to the pandemic have been helpful,

Starting point is 00:05:48 and we want to make this kind of service available for more types of conversations, unquote. Also, they'll let you create quick response messages so your users can pick from one of 10 options rather than typing out a response. This is basically bringing WhatsApp into parity with the Messenger functionality. And they've tightened up onboarding a bit, saying they'll process approvals on business accounts faster.

Starting point is 00:06:11 WhatsApp isn't used a ton in North America, but it is the most used messaging app in the world with 2 billion users. 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. 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

Starting point is 00:06:52 app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. 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 disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Two years ago, in advance of the American elections, TikTok said it would ban all political advertising from its platform. If you were a politician, you wanted to advertise your campaign, well, take your money somewhere else.

Starting point is 00:07:35 But new research from Mozilla has found that many political campaigns found a loophole. That loophole? Influencers. Quoting TechCrunch. Mozilla says it found a dozen instances of TikTok influencers across the political spectrum who were being paid or otherwise compensated by a variety of political organizations to promote partisan messages without disclosing that these posts were sponsored. Several right-wing TikTok influencers appear to be funded by conservative organizations like Turning Point USA, a tax-exempt non-profit which has a dedicated influencer program

Starting point is 00:08:14 specifically targeted at funding young conservative content creators on social media. It similarly found evidence of left-leaning sponsored political messaging being spread without proper disclosures, unquote. Of course, one of TikTok's rules is that content creators must disclose if they've been paid to post anything. Some countries, like the U.S., have federal law that demands the same thing. to rumors that TikTok is testing features that will allow influencers to pay to further promote specific posts, which could dial up the dark money political disinformation problem further. It is unclear how TikTok is monitoring this content to ensure that it complies with their

Starting point is 00:08:57 political ad policy, unquote. The report also noted that TikTok doesn't have any kind of ad transparency library like Facebook does and Instagram and Snapchat and YouTube. For its part, TikTok said they, quote, appreciate the feedback. While we're on TikTok for a moment, they, like all the other major social platforms, have a bunch of new things for Pride Month. There are nine new effects, including rainbow hair, pride lighting, pride rainbow cheeks, and pride 3D lashes. So get ready to get used to a lot of rainbows in your 4U feed. The company also announced its second group of creators in their LGBTQ plus trailblazers initiative and say that they will donate half a million dollars to organizations that support that community. In the standoff between Google's ads policy and the cryptocurrency industry,

Starting point is 00:09:55 Google has blinked first. Starting August 3rd, advertisers will be allowed to use Google ads to promote their cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets. There are a bunch of hoops to jump through, of course. First, you need to be in the U.S. You also need to be a registered financial company. And you'll have to get pre-approval for those ads through an application form they say will become public on July 8th. Also, it's not all crypto. There are two categories they'll still deny. One, ads for ICOs, that's not all crypto. There are two categories they'll still deny.

Starting point is 00:10:26 One, ads for ICOs, that's initial coin offerings, or ads that promote the purchase, sale, or trade of cryptocurrency. For example, ICO presales or public offerings, cryptocurrency loans, initial DEX offerings, token liquidity pools. I don't understand what any of these things are. Celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements. That one I know. Unhosted wallets and unregulated dApps. And, also being denied, ad destinations that aggregate or compare issuers of cryptocurrencies or related products. For example, cryptocurrency trading signals, cryptocurrency investment advice, aggregators or affiliate sites containing related content, or broker reviews. Facebook has introduced a new type of post.

Starting point is 00:11:16 You know, like image or carousel or marketplace item. This new type? Prayers. Yes, apparently they're rolling out prayer posts to groups. A screenshot on Twitter shows a dialogue box at the top of a group that reads, you may enable group members to ask for and respond to prayers in a post. You can manage prayer request posts and who can create them in group settings. My favorite comment on Twitter, if I get an NFT of a prayer post, does the pointlessness cancel each other out?

Starting point is 00:11:49 In all seriousness, though, let's look at it from our perspective. Will people who pray become a new targeting option in Ads Manager? Microsoft Audience Ads, their native advertising solution, is now fully available to all customers in Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany. Last summer, Audience Ads became available there as an extension to search campaigns.

Starting point is 00:12:17 Now you can run them with separate audience campaigns. Those countries join the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, all of which already had that. By the way, today is Bing's 12th birthday. And two small items to wrap up. First, Hootsuite reports it's experiencing issues with its media upload services. You might see the error client closed request when editing drafts or composing new messages with media attachments. They say they're working on it.

Starting point is 00:12:47 And yesterday we reported on the addition of Instagram DMs to the API and where the various social media tools were in terms of implementing it. One platform, Buffer, had not gotten back to us by deadline, but they did eventually. They say they do not have Instagram DMs on their shortlist to implement. Still a busy week at the agency, so no rambling about dandelions or new cars here. Talk to you tomorrow. I do the twist and they always want to take a flick. Oh yeah, it's hot in here, I think I'm in a mist. When it's lit, everybody want to take a sip.

Starting point is 00:13:30 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. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, 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. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A.

Today in Digital Marketing - Your Marketing Job is Safer Than It's Ever Been

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