[Ep53/19Apr21] - 5 Must Know Updates from Microsoft Advertising Partner Summit and other Digital Marketing updates

#TWIMshow - This Week in Marketing

1. Facebook and Reddit Are Launching a Clone of Clubhouse - Although these news have been covered in a previous episode of the #TWIMshow, there are some updates worth sharing. For example, Facebook is not only creating its Clubhouse version, they are also creating it in a new and improved way, using speech-to-text and sound morphing technologies. At the same time, Reddit Talks will be available for Android and iOS users, which is automatically a jump ahead of Clubhouse.

2. Facebook’s Advice on Minimizing Disruptions After iOS 14.5 - Apple’s update of the iOS 14 were confirmed on April 20, 2021, and advertisers need to be fully prepared by now. If you’ve missed this update from one of our previous #TWIMshow episodes, it is about users giving permission to be “tracked” across apps and websites owned by third parties for advertising and measurement purposes. As part of the release of iOS 14.5, Facebook will implement new advertiser experiences and measurement protocols, including Apple’s SKAdNetwork API and Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement. Details can be found here https://www.facebook.com/business/news/how-to-prepare-for-changes-to-facebook-ads-from-ios-14-update

3. Pinterest is Expanding its Partnership with Shopify - As outlined by Pinterest: "The Shopify Pinterest channel is now live in a range of new countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. Now, more than 1.7 million Shopify merchants around the world have an easy way to bring their products to Pinterest and turn them into shoppable Product Pins that are discoverable across the platform." Additionally, Pinterest continually improves advertising and promotions within the app, and they’ve adding a range of new shopping tools and display options on user profiles.

4. Pinterest Launches Content Claiming Portal - It’s called a “Content Claiming Portal” and it enables creators to claim their content and decided if and how it can appear on Pinterest. Creators will need to submit an application to join the Portal, and if they are approved, they can upload original content and select one of the enforcement options:

• “Mine only: Remove existing and future versions of the images from Pinterest, except Pins originally saved by me.
• Website only: Remove existing and future versions of the images from Pinterest, except Pins that link to my claimed website(s). (This option will only be available if you have a claimed website.)
• Block all: Remove all existing and future versions of these images from Pinterest.”

5. Google Launches YouTube Select Sponsorships for Big Brands - They will be offering a rolling set of seasonal sponsorships available on a quarterly basis, and focusing on what’s prominent in culture during the given time of the year - for example, Mother’s Day, Summer Wellness or Women in Music during Women’s History Month. What this means for advertisers is that they will have a wider opportunity to celebrate diverse communities and topics, and more ways to promote their brands through the specific moments and themes.

6. Target ROAS Bidding Now Available to Attract High-Value App Users - If you’re using Firebase SDK conversion reporting and have an Android app, you can use Target Return on Ad Spend (“tROAS”) bidding within App campaigns for installs. Detailed steps can be found here https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10617884

7. Google Shares When and Why They Remove Content From the Search Results - The reasons for removing content include: being compliant with legal regulations, such as copywriting, and voluntary removal requested by users. And although they can remove the content from Google Search, it is the website’s owner to remove that content from the web. Google’s responsibility is to fight against harmful effects of sensitive personal information appearing in their results page, and they implement strict practices to ensure they’re complying with legal regulations.

8. How Accurate is the Average Position Metric on Google Search Console? - Google’s John Mueller answers some questions regarding this metric. He confirmed that average position is calculated using data from actual search results and it is not theoretical. He adds that ““The average position is based on the average top position of a URL from your site. If there are multiple URLs from your website which are shown in the search results page we’ll use the topmost one for this average.” And lastly, he shares that site owners’ URLS might be ranking in Google Images with the normal search results, and that those ranking positions are considered when calculating average position.

9. 5 Must Know Updates from Microsoft Advertising Partner Summit - With over $5 billion spent on video ads in 2020, Microsoft announced that advertisers will be able to run video ads within Microsoft Audience Network campaigns for the first time. Much like the Google Ads import feature, advertisers will soon be able to import campaigns from Facebook Ads into Microsoft Advertising - this feature is in beta version. A new pilot is also launching in the U.S. on desktop of price comparisons and coupons native to the browser. For small businesses that don’t have a website yet but want to run ads on Bing, Microsoft is launching a pilot in the US called Smart Pages. Lastly, Bing is also announcing the launch of Private Search for Bing - it will allow partners like DuckDuckGo to serve ads and search results to their use without the searcher’s data being transferred.