AI’s guessing games, Google's Ad Grant giveaway and TikTok’s sliding DMs...
Anything is Possible
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Google’s making guesses about ad effectiveness and living up to its founding motto. Meanwhile TikTok wants you in its DMs...
This week's Digital edition of The Possiblist gazes into tomorrow to break down what’s new, what’s useful, and what’s just interesting. Let’s get into it.
? Google's PMax usefulness indicator
? Ads sliding into your TikTok DMs
? Quality Score gets new crystal ball
? Meta targets sales campaigns
? What's possible?
Google introduces Performance Max ‘usefulness indicator’
Google just unveiled a new feature: the Performance Max (PMax) Usefulness Indicator. It assesses the incremental impact of advertisers' targeting themes and delivers insight into which are having an effect outside of the signals being taken from assets and landing pages. This allows for richer reporting and the ability to optimise campaigns more effectively.
Possiblist Take
Advertisers have a complicated relationship with PMax. It has the potential to deliver fantastic results when deployed correctly But the black box nature of its reporting and limited availability of detailed insights can be frustrating when you’re used to being elbow-deep in data to assess performance. (Skip to the end to see how PMax is about to make a big move in the charity sector.)
There are two schools of thought here - as an AI-driven campaign type, do practitioners need access to the raw data as long as performance is where it should be? Alternatively, with transparency as a core principle, there are questions regarding how and why budget is being spent by the channel to generate that performance, so the more insights that are available, the better.
We're fine with AIs learning from us... - but how are we going to learn from them if transparency doesn't flow back the other way?
Users sliding into your DMs from TikTok ads
Following the intro of direct messaging campaigns on TikTok in December last year, the channel has expanded its functionality by allowing advertisers to direct users to external messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, rather than just TikTok.
Possiblist Take
Both users and advertisers benefit from this move, and TikTok gains some ground as well. Since TikTok isn’t typically seen as a chat-based platform, allowing users to connect with businesses on more familiar ground like WhatsApp or Messenger reduces friction and boosts engagement.
For brands already using these messaging tools, you now have a new integration to plug into your current setup, increasing reach within a userbase that could have high lifetime value. In recent years, TikTok has been shifting towards being seen as not just a brand discovery platform, but also a conversion driver, and this expansion strengthens that transition.
Just remember to read up on the latest slang so that your interactions aren’t too cheugy.
Quality Score gets crystal ball with new prediction model
Google has updated its Search Ads quality system with a new prediction model aimed at enhancing UX and cutting the all-too-familiar frustration of landing on an irrelevant page after clicking an ad. Google claims the new model has an improved ability to understand and predict if an ad leads to an unexpected destination and also focuses on the efficiency of page navigation.?
Possiblist Take
Landing page experience is already a factor in ad quality score, which has a direct impact on the cost-per-click in a campaign. Landing page relevance is currently what has the biggest effect here but this new update focuses more on UX and the ease of navigation on-site - two factors which can have a massive impact on conversion rates.
Dedicating time to optimising the route-to-conversion can be the making of a successful campaign and improving navigation can also increase engagement on site. Today might be a good time to drop a few likes on your favourite front-end dev's recent posts.
The VERY good news here is that this update should also reduce competition for branded search terms, as competitors bidding on your brand should automatically be marked down for a low UX. If you're the real deal, you should be getting that first click more often.
Meta targeting updates for sales campaigns
Sales Campaign targeting on Meta currently offers a variety of set targeting options for both prospecting and retargeting users, including those who had viewed products or added to cart. This feature has now been updated, with the set ‘audience types’ being removed and replaced with the use of Custom Audiences.
Possiblist Take
This update has been a while in the making. Targeting for catalog ads has felt a bit rigid and out-dated for a while, so the addition of custom audiences is a breath of fresh air. This should give brands running catalog ads a lot more control over their audience targeting, as well as the ability to create more dynamic strategies.
If your setup currently utilises catalog ads then start creating new custom audiences ASAP. This change isn’t currently live across all accounts but you’ll want that data in place to pull from when it is.
Great news for charities and non-profits from Google. Following the announcement at a Google Impact Summit last year, PMax campaigns are now available in most (if not all) Ad Grants accounts. This massively ad management and creates new opportunities for non-profits to connect with their audiences at scale.
Possiblist Take
We love Ad Grants and know first hand what a game-changer they can be for non-profits in the right hands. Maximising budget efficiency is crucial for non-profits and PMax should make things easier by leaning on AI signals to optimise towards higher performance than smart bidding alone. Currently PMax in Ad Grants will serve across Search and Maps but Google have hinted at more channels becoming available in the future.
It has been a while since such a significant change in the Grants world, so it’s good to see this valuable tool get a bit of love...