TechShu Marketing Digest: November 2020

This curated list includes important digital marketing updates and insights from the month of November. To stay updated on the latest updates from the digital landscape, read our Digital Marketing Apple Page.

Digital Advertisement

To help you tailor your media and creative approach to the different ways consumers are engaging with YouTube, we're introducing audio ads, our first ad format designed to connect your brand with audiences in engaged and ambient listening on YouTube. Audio ads, currently in beta, help you efficiently expand reach and grow brand awareness with audio-based creative and the same measurement, audience and brand safety features as your video campaigns.

In addition to audio ads, we’re also launching dynamic music lineups, dedicated groups of music-focused channels across popular genres such as Latin music, K-pop, hip-hop and Top 100, as well as moods or interests like fitness, so you can easily reach music fans globally and drive results for your business.

  • Google to start showing new Recommendations for switching to broad match in Google Ads. In a blog post, Google said:

We want to make it easier for you to benefit from this strategy in your own accounts. If you’re using Smart Bidding2, we’ll identify existing keywords that are likely to improve performance if you switch them to broad match. We’ll automatically surface these opportunities to you on the Recommendations page in your account. On average, advertisers that switch their phrase match and broad match modified keywords to broad match can see more conversions3 and a higher conversion value.

  • LinkedIn discovered two measurement errors. The announcement read

In August, our engineering team discovered and then subsequently fixed two measurement issues in our ads products that may have overreported some Sponsored Content campaign metrics for impression and video views. Together these issues potentially impacted more than 418,000 customers over a two plus year period

  • Facebook shares new ad copy tips for creating strong brand awareness. Read more here
  • YouTube updates its terms of service; ads can now appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Read more here
  • Facebook gives more creators the ability to collect ad earnings from matched Rights Manager content and offering in-stream ads in more countries. Read more here
  • Twitter launches Carousel ads. Read more here
  • Instagram is launching a new workflow where advertisers can create Branded Content ads without the need for creators to post organically on Instagram first. The announcement also mentioned other updates:
  • Branded Content ads in Stories can now include tappable elements, such as @mentions, location and hashtags.
  • We’re introducing the ability for businesses to promote branded content posts with product tags.

Social Media

  • Instagram rolls out a Reels tab and a Shop tab. The announcement read

The Reels tab makes it easier for you to discover short, fun videos from creators all over the world and people just like you. The Shop tab gives you a better way to connect with brands and creators and discover products you love.

  • Facebook partners with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on the “Shop Safe, Shop Smart” campaign. Read more here
  • Snapchat introduces Spotlight, a Tik-Tok like feed. Read more here
  • WhatsApp rolls out disappearing messages. Read more here
  • Facebook shares video best practices. Read more here
  • Facebook is launching a website of resources and tools to help businesses advance their social impact. Read more here
  • Instagram is testing a Messenger-like FAQ section where people can start conversations with businesses or creators’ accounts by tapping on a commonly asked question within a chat. Read more here
  • Facebook launches experimental new app E.gg. The announcement read

With E.gg, you can curate images, gifs, shapes and text onto freeform canvases to express who you are and what you love. In our limited beta, we’ve seen people create fan pages, guides, tributes, profiles, collages, recipes and more. We’ve been continually inspired and can’t wait to see what else y’all do with E.gg.

  • WhatsApp gets a new shopping button.
  • Twitter announces the expansion of its Stories-like 'Fleets' option to all users.
  • Instagram brings the Branded Content tag to Reels and will begin testing in Live in the coming weeks. Read more here
  • Instagram expands Guides features to all users. Read more here
  • Facebook announces a new 'Vanish Mode' for Messenger. Read more here
  • YouTube is experimenting with automatically adding video chapters and is testing an easier way to add timestamps to videos. Read more here
  • YouTube Music brings personalization to your everyday moods and moments. Read more here

Search

  • Google announces that the page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The announcement read

The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

The change for non-AMP content to become eligible to appear in the mobile Top Stories feature in Search will also roll out in May 2021. Any page that meets the Google News content policies will be eligible and we will prioritize pages with great page experience, whether implemented using AMP or any other web technology, as we rank the results.

In addition to the timing updates described above, we plan to test a visual indicator that highlights pages in search results that have great page experience.

  • Hijacked Google My Business listings appear to be a growing problem. Read more here
  • Google launches a brand new version of the Crawl stats report in Search Console. The update read

The new Crawl Stats report brings the following exciting new features:

Total number of requests grouped by response code, crawled file type, crawl purpose, and Googlebot type.
Detailed information on host status
URL examples to show where in your site requests occurred
Comprehensive summary for properties with multiple hosts and support for domain properties

  • Google tests multiple contextual links in featured snippets. Read more here
  • Google shares details of the new conversational Search experience. Read more here
Category
Digital Marketing