Google’s highly-anticipated “gallery ads”, which were first announced back in May at the Google Marketing Live conference, are rolling out to advertisers in beta.
The ads are stylish, image-heavy carousels with up to 8 images which appear at the very top of search results.
Each individual image can have its own unique caption and brands can include a call-to-action button at the end of the gallery.
In the announcement, Senthil Hariramasamy, Group Product Manager at Google Ads, says advertisers “can showcase your brand with lifestyle imagery and bring visual content forward to the results page, helping you connect with consumers before they visit your site.”
With such a visible design and placement within search engines, these ad units will likely be highly competitive. They may be worth it, though, if they lead to similarly high results.
The ads are available to all advertisers in 11 languages, including English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Swedish, and Polish.
Importantly, you don’t have to create specific campaigns for your gallery ads. Instead, you can simply use the new format to create new ads within your existing campaigns.
App ads on Google’s ad network will soon be eligible to appear in some very high-profile places as the ad platform is expanding app ads to both Google’s Discover feed and within YouTube apps.
Currently, app ads are shown across a wide variety of apps in Google’s display network, as well as the Play Store, Google search results, and in select areas of YouTube.
With the latest announcement, however, these ads will soon be appearing in a few more areas which could be highly rewarding to advertisers.
Google Discover
Starting this week, app campaigns running in the US will automatically be eligible to appear within users’ Discover feeds when they are identified as being potentially interested in your app.
Currently, Google says the Discover feed (formerly known as just the Google Feed) connects more than 800 million people with targeted content every month.
Over the next few months, similar ads within the Discover feed will also be available to those in Malaysia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Canada, Japan, and Indonesia. The company also said it hopes to make the app ads available to all markets before the end of the year.
YouTube
In the same announcement, Google revealed that app ads are now eligible to appear at the top of search results from YouTube’s mobile app. Within the next month, app ads will also start appearing as in-stream video ads while viewing other YouTube videos
Along with these announcements, Google says it is exploring the possibility of allowing ads to also display ads while loading content for users:
“Our new app open ad format allows you to show ads to your users as they wait for your app to load. Designed to seamlessly integrate with your app’s branding, this format gives you new ways to earn revenue while creating a good user experience. Reach out to your account manager to get started with this format in alpha.”
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/blur-close-up-connection-218717-1.jpg427640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2019-08-06 14:57:192019-08-06 14:57:19Google Brings App Ads To Google Discover and YouTube Apps
Snapchat is launching a new advertising tool, called Instant Create, which promises to do all the heavy lifting of creating a Snapchat-optimized ad for you.
With the tool, you can create ads that can be published across the platform in just three steps:
Select an objective, such as web visits, app installs, or app visits
Enter your business website
Target your audience
From there all you have to do is review and publish your ad!
At the same time, Spachat has introduced an “Advanced Create” option which is intended to help generate multiple ad sets at a time.
What Do The Ads Look Like?
As most of the process is automated, you may have some concerns about how your ad can be unique for your brand.
With Instant Create, you can choose to upload your own images for your ad and work with the platform’s most popular ad template. Or, you can simply input your company’s website URL and the tool can pull photos directly from your website to fill your ad with.
While the tool makes it easier than ever for brands with limited means to explore the idea of Snapchat advertising, brands with more experience advertising on social media will likely prefer the less restricted traditional ad creation tools.
Facebook is changing how videos and photos appear on mobile devices, with new aspect ratios for visual posts and less accompanying text in the mobile news feed.
This means you’ll have to make some changes when optimizing for Facebook’s mobile news feed if you want everything to appear properly in your posts.
What’s Changing
In the past, images on Facebook were optimized for a taller 2:3 aspect ratio to a more square 4:5 aspect ratio.
Anything taller than that will be cropped out in preview images within the news feed, only actually viewable to those who tap to see the full image.
At the same time, the platform is reducing the lines of text accompanying these posts – going from 7 lines of text to just 3 lines.
Anything longer than that will be hidden behind a prompt to show additional text.
Both of these changes will be put into effect starting on August 19th, giving you a few weeks to make adjustments to your upcoming posts.
In turn, the company says the new post format will increase the impact of mobile ads and make it easier to use the same content across both Facebook and Instagram.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/facebook-76536_640.png359640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2019-07-23 17:53:332019-07-23 17:54:09Facebook Changes Image Sizes and Text Lengths in Mobile News Feeds
Pinterest has launched several new features aimed at making it easier for businesses to share and manage their videos on the platform.
Businesses now have access to a new video upload tool which simplifies the upload process, a new tab within their profile solely dedicated to videos, and a new analytics tool which gives a long-term view of how your videos are performing.
On top of all of this, Pinterest has also expanded its Pin Scheduler tool to allow businesses to schedule posting video content in advance.
The Big Picture
While these new tools signal Pinterest’s devotion to improving its video offerings, it also signals a larger shift for the company.
Pinterest has typically lagged behind other social networks when it comes to tools or features aimed at businesses. Over the last year, however, the company has paid significantly more attention to these areas by expanding its advertising tools, launching new e-commerce features, and, now, making video content more feasible.
In the announcement of the new features, CEO and founder of Tastemade, Larry Fitzgibbon echoed this sentiment and expressed just how effective sharing videos on the platform can be:
“As early adopters to video on Pinterest, Tastemade has successfully driven over one billion video views and 200 million engagements year-to-date, while growing our following 100% year-over-year,” said Tastemade CEO and Founder Larry Fitzgibbon, “It’s clear that Pinterest users are hungry for videos that are both entertaining and actionable.”
Pinterest also says that videos on the site outperform videos on other social networks because their platform is more likely to resurface content over time.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PinterestLogo.jpg360640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2019-07-11 15:22:462019-07-11 15:22:46Pinterest Launches New Video Tools For Businesses
A recent Wall Street Journal investigation has landed Google once again in the hot seat as the report claims Google Maps is filled with millions of fake business listings.
Over the course of the article, reporters say they found some Maps search result pages where more than half of the local results included fraudulent or misleading information characteristic of a fake listing.
For example:
“A search for plumbers in a swath of New York City found 13 false addresses out of the top 20 Google search results. Only two of the 20 are located where they say and accept customers at their listed addresses, requirements for pushpin listings on Google Maps.”
In some cases, the fake listings are simply phantom businesses with no real purpose or to misdirect customers. However, the Journal believes others are designed to scam potential customers out of large amounts of money.
As you would expect, all of these practices are expressly forbidden by Google, but the Wall Street Journal says the policy is poorly enforced.
In fact, the report says hundreds of thousands of fake listings are appearing monthly:
“Hundreds of thousands of false listings sprout on Google Maps each month, according to experts. Google says it catches many others before they appear.”
How This Hurts Businesses
The fake listings do more than cause consumers unnecessary frustration or potentially scamming customers. They also hurt businesses who are pushed out of the top search results by fraudulent businesses.
Getting your business into the organic local results without paying for ads is already a gamble that can involve hours of hard work optimizing your website and listing. Adding fake competition just makes the arena even more competitive and encourages more businesses to spend money on local ads instead.
How Google Fights Fake Listings
Google openly acknowledges that it has an issue with fake business listings, though the company says it is already taking extensive steps to fight back.
“It’s a constant balancing act and we’re continually working on new and better ways to fight these scams using a variety of ever-evolving manual and automated systems. But we can’t share too many details about these efforts without running the risk of actually helping scammers find new ways to beat our systems—which defeats the purpose of all the work we do.”
Specifically, the search engine says it has removed more than 3 million fake business profiles over the past year – 90% of which were removed before they could ever be seen by users.
Approximately 85% of these profiles were removed by Google’s automated internal systems, while around 250,000 fake business listings were reported by users and then removed.
Google may be making significant efforts to fight the problem of fake business listings, but The Wall Street Journal makes it clear there is still much to be done.
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LinkedIn will begin showing all the sponsored content an advertiser has run within the past six months in an “Ads” tab on the associated LinkedIn pages.
The company announced the change this week as part of an effort to bring more transparency to advertising across the platform:
“At LinkedIn, we are committed to providing a safe, trusted, and professional environment where members can connect with each other, engage with relevant content, and grow their careers. Increased transparency to both our customers and members is critical to creating this trusted environment.”
When viewing an advertiser’s page, users will be able to click the “Ads” tab to view every ad that company has run in the past six months.
Users can also click on the ads as they typically would, but the advertiser will not be charged, nor will it impact campaign reporting.
Obviously, the tab won’t include any of the information behind the ads, like who they targeted or the budget for that campaign.
In my eyes, this seems like a reason to ensure your LinkedIn advertising is consistently high-quality, with the upside that high-performing ads have a chance to lead to sales without having to pay for those ad clicks.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/LinkedInLogo.png399640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2019-05-22 19:03:482019-05-22 19:03:48LinkedIn begins showing all your ads from the last 6 months in one place
A new study focusing on small businesses in the US reveals that a huge number of small brands are working without any sort of plan for their marketing.
The survey from Outbound Engine asked 350 small and medium business (SMB) owners about a number of areas, including revenue growth, stress, their biggest hurdles, their marketing strategies, and more.
Of the business owners surveyed, approximately half of all SMB owners do not have a marketing plan for 2019 and are unlikely to create one.
Small Business Marketing Struggles
The lack of marketing plans in the survey is largely attributed to an increase in small businesses being overwhelmed or working with limited budgets.
According to the report, 62% of SMB owners say they are as or more stressed about their business this year compared to last.
Further, the study finds that:
25% of SMB owners surveyed are unsure of how they plan to grow their business in 2019.
More than half (55%) of SMB owners spend less than 5% of annual revenue on marketing.
More than 58% of SMB owners spend five or fewer hours on marketing each week.
86% of respondents say they prefer to spend their time on other business activities rather than marketing.
Small Changes Lead to Big Rewards
While the study shows that many businesses feel lost or unable to focus on their marketing, it also reveals that investing just a little more time or money can pay dividends and reduce business stress.
According to responses about last year performance, small increases in marketing investment led to more revenue growth for SMBs in 2018. Additionally, spending just 5% more time on marketing was tied to increased revenue growth.
This is reflected in the finding that 81% of respondents who invested between 5% and 10% of annual revenue into their marketing reported revenue growth in 2018. Meanwhile, only 50% of respondents who invested less than 5% of revenue into marketing saw growth.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ConfusedGirl.jpg360640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2019-05-21 17:40:542019-05-21 17:40:54Half of Small Businesses Have No Marketing Plan
This week Google held its annual Marketing Live event to reveal the latest innovations in online advertising, and the latest ad units aim to provide a more consistent experience across all of Google’s advertising platforms while also introducing new ways to advertise across the web.
The new ad units, including Discovery ads, Gallery ads, and Showcase Shopping ads, are all highly visual and highly automated, relying on the same automation model as Universal App Campaigns.
Here’s what you need to know about all the newest ways to advertise with Google:
Discovery Ads
Google has used the “Discovery” section of its platform to highlight content and sites it feels may be relevant to your interests. Now, brands and websites can also target this section with ads in the Discovery area, visible under the search box in the Google mobile app, in Gmail under the social promotions tabs, and in the YouTube home feed.
As Google VP of Product Management Brad Bender explained during the Marketing Live event, Discovery ads are intended to be “visually rich, mobile first, and use the ‘power of intent’”, meaning the ad service relies strongly on signals from users like past site visits, app downloads, or video views.
The company says the Discovery feed now reaches more than 800 million users around the world, making this a highly attractive area to target with ads.
Gallery Ads
Another new format introduced at the Marketing Live event is Gallery ads, which present a carousel of swipeable images at the top of mobile search results. The carousel includes between four to eight images, with up to 70 characters of copy possible for each image.
Notably, this changes the way Google charges for ads. Gallery ads are paid for on a CPC basis, which means you are charged if someone clicks on the ad. However, Google also tracks how far a person swipes through the carousel. When they wipe past the third image in the sequence, that also counts as a “click” or form of engagement. This means that you may be paying for ad interactions that do not include an actual click or landing page visit.
In testing, the search engine says Gallery ads saw “25% more interactions” compared to other search ad formats. Though, it is unclear how the actual CTR of these ads stacks up.
Increased Visibility for Showcase Shopping Ads
Showcase Shopping ads have been around since 2016 as a way for retailers to highlight a curated list of products in non-branded searches (which Google says accounts for 40% of queries).
Now Google is expanding these ads to a variety of new areas of the platform, including Google Images, the Discover feed, and the YouTube feed.
The ads include a large main image, as well as smaller images. When clicked these ads expand to showcase a variety of relevant products from the retailer, and may include other information such as store locations or in-store availability.
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Major changes are coming to Facebook as the company tries to balance a more privacy-focused approach with several new features aimed at encouraging people to interact with their Facebook accounts more.
At the company’s F8 developer conference this week, Facebook announced a wide range of features, changes, and redesigns which will roll out over the next year.
At the same time, representatives from Facebook hammered home the importance of privacy and protecting data with more advanced encryption and a huge redesign to shift how people use the platform.
The Redesign
Leading the pack of changes is Facebook’s most significant visual overhaul since its launch. While the most noticeable difference is the removal of blue on the page to create a more vibrant space for you to explore, it also holds many deeper revisions which intend to change how we use the platform.
For example, the interface will now highlight more Groups and private messages to make the platform feel more cohesive.
The redesign is already rolling out on Android and iOS mobile devices, though the company says it will take a few months for the full update to go live. Meanwhile, Facebook says it will begin testing the desktop redesign in the “next few months” before bringing it to the public.
Facebook Dating?
Image Source: Facebook
One of the most bizarre introductions during this year’s conference was the launch of a new feature called “Secret Crush” which allows users to pick nine of their friends which they have a crush on. Then, if any of those nine friends also select that user as a crush, they will be notified. If the attraction is not returned, however, the other person will never know.
Meet New Friends
In a similar (but less creepy) vein is Facebook’s coming “Meet New Friends” feature. As you might expect from the name, the opt-in feature aims to help connect people who share schools or jobs, or those who live in the same city.
Messenger Comes To Desktop
Image Source: Facebook
As part of an effort to make Facebook’s Messenger a more widely accessible platform, the company is launching a standalone version of the service for desktop computers. While Messenger has always been available on the desktop version of Facebook, it has been limited in several ways. For example, features like Group calling have been exclusive to the mobile app. With the launch of the desktop app, users will now be able to take advantage of all of Messenger’s features from any type of device.
Instagram Create Mode
Image Source: Facebook
Facebook isn’t the only platform getting an overhaul. Instagram also has several changes on the way, including a considerable reworking of the camera in Instagram Stories. With the new Create Mode, users can now create images for Stories that don’t come directly from their phone without extensive workarounds. Now, you can easily edit your Stories to create the images you want to share without leaving the app.
Instagram Likes Go Secret
Image Source: Facebook
One of the more surprising tests Facebook announced is that it will begin hiding the like count on photos and videos on Instagram in an effort to encourage people to pay more attention to the content and focus less on popularity contests.
In the test, followers will not be able to see a photo’s total likes or a video’s view count while viewing the content in their feed or visiting another user’s profile. However, the person sharing the content will still be able to look at their post’s metrics by tapping through a post. The test is expected to begin this week for users in Canada, though it is unclear when this might appear in the US.
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