Today in Digital Marketing - Zuckerberg's Villain Origin Story

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Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. Today, Facebook has been funding a smear campaign against one of its top competitors. Why is Amazon being asked to drop the letter Z from its logo? YouTube drops a brand awareness ad targeting tool, and one of the world's biggest retailers is on a journey to become a top advertising platform. And on the premium podcast with no ads, more stories, and deep dive weekend episodes, tap the link in the show notes for more, consumer trust in reviews is declining, yet usage is increasing. What does this mean for your brand? It's Wednesday, March 30th. I'm Steph Gunn filling in for Todd Maffin. Here is what you missed today

Starting point is 00:01:03 in digital marketing. How far would you go to take down your brand's competition? Well, you gotta hand it to Zuckerberg, who continues to find new and innovative ways to be the villain. Meta has been paying Targeted Victory, one of the biggest Republican consulting firms, to quietly run a nationwide campaign to turn the public against TikTok, the Washington Post reports. The firm allegedly pushed stories and letters to the editor in major local and regional newspapers across the country regarding TikTok's potential harm to teens. The Post obtained emails showing that a director at the firm told staff that it needs to get the message out that while meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat, especially as a foreign-owned app that is

Starting point is 00:01:50 number one in sharing data that young teens are using. Targeted Victory's pieces, often linked to negative news coverage about TikTok, were bylined by influential community figures and politicians, including Democrats. None of the columns disclosed their connection to the Facebook-funded firm, according to the Post. A Meta spokesperson defended the campaign by saying, We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success. Does your brand feature the letter Z? Brands are being urged not to use the letter in their branding or logos by a Ukrainian marketing agency. Here's why. The letter Z has become a symbol of

Starting point is 00:02:35 support for Putin and the invasion of Ukraine. In response, the agency has launched a marketing campaign and is asking big brands to remove the letter from their logos and replace it with the number three in Ukraine's colors until the war is over. On the campaign site, you can see examples of retail giants, including Amazon, Zara, and Jay-Z with the new graphic. YouTube is phasing out a brand awareness targeting tool. Google confirmed that it will be ending support for Maximize Lift bidding on the video platform. Maximize Lift is a bid optimization that allows you to optimize your true view in stream campaigns for consideration lift. The tool helps marketers target users who are not already aware of their brand

Starting point is 00:03:21 and uses survey research and machine learning to serve ads to people who are likely to consider your brand or product. The company said it is shutting it down to focus on other, more effective tools. If you use Maximize Lift Beringa, you'll need to look for another solution, as ads that use the tool will only be supported until tomorrow, March 31st. How valuable would the ability to collaborate with an influencer on a tweet be for your brand? Twitter is testing a new feature that would enable more brand influencer partnerships on the platform. The company is experimenting with a new collaborative tweet option that adds a collaboration icon in the composer, which would allow you to include up to two authors in your post. Here's how it works.

Starting point is 00:04:08 First, users will create a tweet and send a request to invite other creators to collaborate. Then, users must wait for the collaborator to agree to share ownership of the tweet, and once the collaborator accepts the partnership proposal, the tweet will be published, which could provide a new way to promote commercial partnerships for your brand. If you're Canadian and hate TikTok, then this might be the perfect career opportunity for you. Meta is investing in Canadian talent to help build the metaverse. The company announced a new engineering hub in Toronto with plans to

Starting point is 00:04:45 create up to 2,500 new jobs over the next several years, and it's already recruiting candidates. The majority of the roles are engineering-related and will involve building extended reality experiences and meta-technologies. The company also launched a new $500,000 grant program for Canadian labs working on research that will advance innovations needed to build the virtual world. And according to a new study, the metaverse isn't just expanding into Canada's job market. The study found that metaverse job openings are skyrocketing and have quadrupled since last fall. Starting a marketing agency is a rewarding experience, but it can also be a challenging one. Thank you. What was meant to be a fulfilling venture is suddenly eating away your freedom and your profits, and you're probably not being paid enough for it either.

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Starting point is 00:06:26 retailers. Walmart has announced its plans to grow Walmart Connect to become a top advertising platform, including through a focus on premium ad experiences. First, it plans to improve ways for suppliers and sellers to connect with customers throughout the shopper journey. This includes new ad formats such as connected TV and video, along with omni experiences including self-checkout screens, TV walls, in-store events, and sampling. By the end of this year, it plans to move toward new premium advertising experiences on Walmart.com, including testing new on-site ad units and video. And finally, the chain will also be enhancing its targeting,

Starting point is 00:07:06 search, and measurement capabilities, and will switch to a second price auction model that is common in programmatic bidding. I lost my first wordle this week, and I'm still a little upset about it. It's a bit of a sensitive subject. It was the other day when the answer was found. I think I guessed round,

Starting point is 00:07:25 sound, bound, you know, pretty much everything but found. And I saw that today's answer, there's a glitch. So there's actually two correct answers today. I was kind of hoping that I could play twice to make up for my failure, but not the case. Remember that you can get this podcast as a daily newsletter to complete with images, related videos, links to dive deeper and even newsletter exclusive content. And there's even a free tier as well. You'll get the issue every Friday. Just go to todayindigital.com slash newsletter to sign up or tap the link in this episode's notes.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Today in Digital Marketing - Zuckerberg's Villain Origin Story

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