Find out all the details in this month’s digital marketing round-up.
—
Instagram launches IGTV app for creators, 1-hour video uploads
Instagram is ready to compete head-on with YouTube. Today at a flashy event in San Francisco, the company announced it will begin allowing users to upload videos up to one hour in length, up from the previous one-minute limit. And to house the new longer-form videos from content creators and the general public, Instagram is launching IGTV. Accessible from a button inside the Instagram homescreen, as well as a standalone app, IGTV will spotlight popular videos from Instagram celebrities.
Instagram lets users re-share posts in stories
Instagram recently rolled out the ability for users to re-share posts from other accounts in their Instagram Stories. This feature was spotted in testing earlier this year, and it is now available to everyone.
Instagram Stories get shopping tag links for in-app purchases
Instagram users will no longer have to exhaustingly search the web for the products featured on their favorite brands’ Stories. As of June, retailers can tag and link directly to products showcased in their Instagram Stories. So far, the brands utilizing the new tagging service include Adidas, Aritzia, The Kooples, and Louis Vuitton.
Instagram rolls out Video Chat, new camera effects and Topic Channels
Instagram has rolled out video chat, new camera effects and topic channels on Explore for its Android and iOS apps. These features were originally announced at Facebook’s F8 conference last month.
Mobile viewing to overtake TV viewing by next year
Its been a long time coming, but its almost here: by 2019, people will spend more time online than they will watching TV, according to a new report from Zenith The ROI Agency. The company estimates that next year people will spend an average of 170.6 minutes each day on online activities, while they’ll spend slightly less time (170.3 minutes) watching TV.
YouTube announces Creative Suite for Brands
YouTube just announced its new Creative Suite, which targets brands looking to tell better stories on the platform. Announced at the Cannes Lions Festival and through Google’s AdWords blog, the new tools aim to measure advertisements’ effectiveness and let brands create controlled experiments to see how their videos perform with different variables. We discuss this further in a recent blog post.
YouTube Like & Dislike counts are now more accurate
YouTube has improved the system it has in place that validates likes and dislikes. As a result, the total numbers are now more accurate. This information was announced by a representative from YouTube on the YouTube Help Forum. “YT Lukas” says the platform’s validation system will ensure that likes and dislikes are coming from real people, rather than bots or computer programs.
Twitter is putting more live news events in your timeline and notifications
Twitter’s quest to create a definition for itself that everybody can understand is turning another corner. At the top of your timeline — or perhaps even in your notifications — it will alert you to live events and present a curated list of tweets about them. These new screens may include live video, and they are designed to help users find the best and most relevant tweets for ongoing live events, like a big baseball game or breaking news about an earthquake.
Twitter expands in-stream video ads to all advertisers in 12 global markets
Twitter launched its in-stream video ads just over a year ago in April 2017, but they were only available to a select few advertisers who had been whitelisted to use them. Now, advertisers in 12 countries – Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the UK, and the US – will be able to take start in-stream video ad campaigns directly through Twitter‘s self-serve ad tool – without the need for community management.
Google Search Console now shows data about Web Light search results
Google Search Console has begun showing site owners how often Web Light search results are served to users. This data can be found in the “search appearance” report in Google Search Console, where users will now see a filter for Web Light results.
Google My Business adds “Good for Watching Sports” attribute
Google My Business has introduced a new attribute that establishments can add to listings, allowing them to indicate whether they’re “good for watching sports.” The timing is just right for Google to introduce this attribute. With the World Cup underway there will certainly be many sports fans looking for a place to watch the games with friends.
Bing Ads integrates with LiveRamp to improve Custom Audiences targeting
Bing Ads has integrated with LiveRamp, a provider of identity resolution services, to deliver “people-based search capabilities” in Bing Ads Custom Audiences. This integration will allow Bing Ads Custom Audiences to target or retarget search ads at the individual level.
Google AdWords will soon become Google Ads
Starting July 24, 2018, you will begin to see the new Google Ads brand—including the new name and logo—reflected in the product interface, Help Center, billing documents, and more. The URL you use to access your account will be changing from adwords.google.com to ads.google.com, and the Help Center will change from support.google.com/adwords to support.google.com/google-ads.
Changes to the Google Ads branding will not impact your campaign performance, navigation, or reporting.
Google killing off DoubleClick, AdWords names in rebranding of ad products
Google is retiring its two most-recognized advertising brand names — DoubleClick and AdWords — as part of a broad rebranding of its ad products.
The new Google ad lineup will comprise three main pillars, with the rebranded suite to begin rolling out in July: Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform and Google Ad Manager.
Google to better communicate why certain ads shown
Google is expanding two initiatives that aim to provide users with greater control and transparency over their ad experiences. In addition to launching a new version of ‘Ad Settings’, Google will also be improving its communication around why people are being served the ads they see around the web.
Marketers struggle to track audiences after Facebook and Google scale back data for GDPR
Google’s and Facebook’s preparations for the General Data Protection Regulation have caused a headache for marketers that relied on the platforms for ad targeting.
Marketers said they now struggle to comprehensively measure their targeting across the platforms within their own data management platforms, forcing some to turn to third-party measurement partners and others to be complacent with piecing together the data they do have strictly within Google and Facebook. Say a marketer ran a campaign across Google and Facebook. Now, they can no longer see if an ad reached the same person on Google as well as on Facebook.
California just passed one of the toughest data privacy laws in the country
California lawmakers passed one of the toughest data privacy laws in the United States today, as they faced pressure from an even stronger ballot measure in the state.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is set to dramatically change how businesses handle data in the most populous state. Companies that store large amounts of personal information — including major players like Google and Facebook — will be required to disclose the types of data they collect, as well as allow consumers to opt out of having their data sold.
