New Season, New Platform Features

bCode?Buzzer - August 31, 2022

It's somehow already Labor Day this weekend, but we're loving that Fall transition. Is it just us, or does Back To School season still inspire you to get started on projects or moving on something that has been sitting stagnant?

This Fall, we're continuing to test different strategies within Performance Max campaigns for clients to see if we can find overall trends (it's been a bit all over the place so far).

What are you testing to round out Q3/begin Q4?

Meta

Reels:

-?How to schedule Reels through Facebook on Desktop. Not quite the most convenient way to be doing this, but it's better than nothing...

-?More new features?- not surprising that they're adding more features here as TikTok has truly become such a big competitor for engagement.

• New features include: "Add Yours" stickers (you're probably familiar with this in stories, but now in reels), easy cross-posting from IG to FB, and auto-created Reels that pull from your stories content.

Ads:

- Tis the season for political ads.?Meta has updated some of its ad policies ahead of this upcoming midterm election season.?They will no longer allow edits to these ads in the last week before the election. And you will not be able to create any new ads during this week as well. They also claim they will be stepping up precautions around misinformation in ads. We're not so sure limiting changes in the last week will do much to prevent the rampant misinformation that's already been out there and used in ads, but time will tell.

-?Meta has released new tips to make the most of your ads in the post-iOS 14 world:

• Use Conversions API - instructions for this will vary based on your website platform, so Google "install Conversions API on [website platform]" and you should be able to find more specific instructions for your instance. This is server-lever data rather than pixel-level data. And don't worry, it gets de-duped between the 2 so you won't be double counting.
• Use at least 6 placements in your ad sets - including testing new placements such as Reels (FYI - Reels placements are still pretty cheap CPM-wise, so if you have content that can fit the format, we definitely suggest testing it in ads).
• Check for recommendations in Ads Manager. We're surprised it took them so long to do something like this (it's been around on Google for quite a while). This can help you determine if there's a lot of audience overlap between campaigns/ad sets, if you're creative is getting fatigued, or if you should be combining ad sets to improve results.

Google

Shopping:

-?4 New Features?- it's nice to see some new features coming to Shopping with so much focus on Performance Max lately!

• Conversion Value Rules for Store Sales and Store Visits
• Product-Specific Insights
• Deals Content API
• Shipping & Returns Annotations

YouTube:

-?New Promotions Tab Being Tested

• They are making it easier for Creators to promote their video content without having to head over to Google Ads. Quite honestly surprised that this wasn't an option sooner!
• If you want greater control and more granular ads type data, you are probably better off still running through Google Ads, but this is a great option for a quick push. We would think of it similar to when you might Boost a post on FB rather than going through Ads Manager. They do serve a purpose, but just be mindful that you'll have less options when promoting outside of Ads.

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Other Hives

• Apple's yearly iPhone launch is coming up next week.?Learn more about what's expected at the event.
• In other Apple news,?they plan to put ads in more of their native apps on the iPhone. This should not be surprising to anyone in the marketing world - we all knew those iOS 14 updates had to have an ulterior motive (outside of finding any way to annoy Zuck).
• TikTok is also jumping into the political misinformation precautions this year. They will continue to not allow any political ads on the platform, which even applies to branded content posted by Creators.