On Our Radar | October 2024

The TwoSix team is back and ready to share what’s On Our Radar for October so that you can stay ahead of the always-evolving digital marketing landscape. This month the TwoSix team discusses 3-minute YouTube Shorts, Apple Intelligence Mail Updates, AI-Generated Itineraries, and more! Keep reading to find out what we’re keeping On Our Radar for October 2024.

TikTok Begins Keyword-Based Search Ads

Dave Serino | Founder & Chief Strategist

Around 40% of Millennial TikTok users use the app to find new experiences, including restaurants, travel destinations, and events.? TikTok is now making it easier for businesses to connect with users searching for products and services they offer by allowing them to target their ads based on keywords.

This new feature allows brands to place ads directly within TikTok’s search results, targeting users actively seeking specific products or content. By leveraging keyword-based ad targeting, advertisers can engage high-intent audiences at key decision-making moments, much like Google Ads but with TikTok’s unique video-first approach. This approach is particularly effective for driving higher engagement and conversions, as users are more likely to interact with ads that align with their search queries.

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YouTube Shorts Aren’t So Short Anymore

Brian Matson | Senior Director of Strategy and Education

We knew it was just a matter of time! YouTube Shorts are now extending their duration to 3 minutes to compete with longer-form videos on TikTok and Instagram. Starting on October 15th your ability to upload 3-minute Shorts will become a reality to all YouTube Channels. This still puts YouTube firmly as a middle contender when it comes to video length. TikTok’s current limit is a whopping 10 minutes. In some cases, some users can upload up to 60 minutes! Instagram Reels max out at 90 seconds. What does that mean for your optimal video length? It looks like 90 seconds is the new sweet spot. Remember, no matter what you do, your goal is to get the magical 73% view rate. That’s regardless of length. Making engaging videos is still the best strategy!

In addition to the extended timeframe, Shorts will now feature TikTok-like templates and AI-powered editing tools to help make content creation easier and more immersive. These will be great additions to the current “Remix” option available on most videos. Be on the lookout for those!

One this is for sure. When platforms launch new options, you should use them! There does appear to be an algorithmic favorability when you use newly rolled-out features. So, if you’ve been on the fence when it comes to jumpstarting your YouTube Shorts effort, October 15th may be a great time for you to get active! It doesn’t have to take that much effort! Just consistency! Strive to get a new Short up each week to start. I’m still heavily all-in on YouTube when it comes to the vertical video platforms due to the evergreen and searchable nature of the YouTube network. It just makes sense for DMOs to lean in on this rather than short-term splashes on TikTok and Reels.

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Artificial Intelligence Use in Travel & Tourism: Generating Itineraries

Nick Danowski | Lead Content Strategist

AI is really getting into the trip planning game. In October 2023, a survey found 63% of travelers reported using AI via either a phone or tablet for travel planning reasons. Google is all about it, too. The company’s #1 summer travel tip for 2024 was getting trips ideas with generative AI — a whole new feature.

It makes sense. Planning a trip is daunting. Figuring out what to do, where to eat, what’s nearby — this has literally put me off committing to traveling countless times. That’s why AI is so useful. You can ask it to generate an itinerary for your exact situation, such as “generate a 3-day itinerary for a couple with 2 dogs”.

But where is it getting that information? How can destinations and businesses in the tourism and hospitality space stay relevant?

I tried out the Google feature myself, searching for “3-day trip itinerary to indiana for a couple with 2 dogs”. Luckily, Google has a “Show All” feature, showing us what links it used as sources. Scrolling through, I see restaurant websites, Bring Fido, TikTok, TripAdvisor, and more. One of the top ones, of course, is Visit Indiana’s “Pet-Friendly Attractions”.

And that’s really the point. We’re seeing signs here: if you want to be relevant in the age of AI, you’re going to have to get specific sometimes. That doesn’t mean you need to make a hundred different blogs for each topic. Instead, if you’re known as a romantic getaway — write an itinerary about that. Employ language such as “top” and “best” to get into the mix. Think about some “must-do” articles.

Most importantly, when you do write content, make sure you keep it updated. That’s where AI falls short, with almost too much information to pull from. Make sure your visitors have positive experiences by keeping your content accurate. Get those creative juices flowing!

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Did you know that Instagram had an AI celebrity video chat feature?

Scout Delicato | Digital Advertising Strategist

Me neither.? Meta scrapped the mostly-unused feature earlier this year, which made the recent announcement that it was adding celebrity AI voices to it’s chat bot features on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp seem strangely familiar and a little confusing. It’s no surprise that Meta is introducing new AI features – they can’t seem to stop. They’re also not alone.

Pinterest recently announced new AI targeting similar to Meta’s Advantage+ on that platform. YouTube came out with new generative AI features and insights for creators this week. Snapchat announced it was working with Google to integrate Gemini into the app. And all of this just happened during the last week of September. It’s almost impossible to keep up with all of the applications of AI in the tools we use all the time, which can lead to frustration and confusion with users and advertisers alike.

If you pay attention, notes of dissent are popping up around the tech industry. People are calling out how strange it is for social platforms to be leaning into language learning models when using them is a decidedly un-social activity. We at TwoSix can also attest to how new, unannounced AI features in ads manager can create problems in maintaining brand voice and image if not applied to ads with significant care.

As AI keeps pushing into every corner of social media and advertising, brands need to be cautious, making sure the rush to innovate doesn’t end up sacrificing authenticity or losing the trust of their audience.

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Pinterest: Can I Get an AI?

Ashley Maddix | Digital Advertising Strategist

If you’ve been in any ad platforms the last few months, I’m sure you’ve noticed the AI elements they’ve been sprinkling or rather dumping in lately. Pinterest is now adding in their own version, similar to Meta’s Advantage+ called Performance+. This tool will be available for consideration, conversion and sales campaigns. This new ad process is available at every level from targeting, budgets, bidding and ad creation. Similar to meta, they are promising better results with the help of their new system, even up to a 10% improvement in conversion campaigns.

I urge you to proceed with caution as this rolls out. As tempting as it is to trust the AI and save some time, I encourage you to A/B test the new system against a campaign that you’ve set up and just compare how they do. We’ve been seeing a lot of mixed results when using Advantage+ on Meta, especially in the creative sense. Using the Advantage+ optimizations on photos or videos seems to manipulate the image and text to a degree where it just doesn’t look great and since the image is arguably the biggest factor on Pinterest, be careful how many of the Performance+ options you use.

Since Pinterest is rolling Performance+ out a little later than other platforms, it may be a little more fleshed out or we could be seeing a new element with some bugs that still need to be worked out in order to be helpful. Try it out in your next campaign and see!

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How to Prepare for Apple’s New Changes to Email

Makenna Schmitz | Digital & Social Media Director

Apple is rolling out some changes to email management on iOS and macOS as a part of its new Apple Intelligence initiative. We aren’t entirely sure how much this will affect your messages, but it is something to keep an eye out for! Here are the two key changes to email from “Apple Intelligence” and how to prepare for these updates:

AI-Generated Summaries of Emails:

Say goodbye to pre-headers and hello to Apple Mail’s AI-powered summaries! Instead of your carefully crafted pre-header text, Apple users will soon see AI-generated summaries of your email in its place. While this means less control over what your subscribers may see, looking on the bright side, it also provides some added personalization to your messages! These summaries will be pulled from content in your email along with the users’ preferences and past interactions, providing email recipients with a personalized gist of your message.

How to Prepare:

If you have already worked with me on an Email Marketing Strategy, you will be familiar with these best practices, for those who have not- to avoid inaccurate information on your email’s AI-generated summary, I would recommend:

• Make every part of your email important and engaging. In all parts of email strategies, I always stress quality over quantity. You would be better off sending an email highlighting two key events than ten niche things to do. Ensure that no matter what part of your email the Apple AI decides to pull from, your subscribers will still see something of importance in that summary.
• Pay attention to your email hierarchy. The layout of your email is just as important as the content within it. Make sure to put your most substantial and seasonally relevant events or activities at the top of your email! In addition, be sure your emails are easily skimmable by bots. Just like SEO best practices, make sure your emails are organized with headers, brief descriptions, and clear calls to action. Need help with your email layout? Contact us!
• Introductory paragraphs. Into paragraphs are one of the most important parts of your emails. Most people will only view your email for 5-10 seconds, so make sure that all your main topics are covered (with links) in the first section of your message. Even if the AI only pulls from the first content block of your message, you have all your bases covered!

New Inbox Sorting Algorithm:

Apple Intelligence will now sort emails using AI to show the user emails that appear to be most important, first. Similar to Gmail, emails will now be categorized into folders like primary, promotions, or spam. Messages like newsletters and promotional content may be filtered into secondary folders.

How to Prepare:

• ?Clean that list! Keeping a healthy email list full of active subscribers is essential to your sender reputation. Again, this shows the importance of quality over quantity! Regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive subscribers who don’t engage with your content will help to avoid abuse or spam complaints that could cause Apple’s AI to demote your messages.
• Try out personalization features. While we don’t know the full extent of what content will be filtered out of the primary inbox, a great way to increase your message’s chance of making the cut is by using the recipient’s name! A lot of email platforms are implementing personalization features, try them out! Check out these examples from our client, Visit Lake Tahoe:

• List segmentation! Relevancy is going to be incredibly important as AI filters out emails based on a user’s engagement. If a user is constantly interacting with emails featuring ski content, the AI bot will likely recommend your email containing your destination’s best places to ski. Use your email platform’s email segmentation tools to find out more information about what your subscribers are interested in, then send them messages about those interests.

I will continue to update you all as we learn more about Apple’s new mail features! Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns about email marketing. Happy sending!

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Check out These Influencer Marketing Platforms

Emma Herrle | Digital Marketing Strategist

?A couple of conversations I had at the MACVB Conference in Midland, Michigan earlier this month revealed that many DMO’s and CVB’s are still unsure of how to approach influencer marketing campaigns and relationships.

As a DMO or CVB, it can be difficult to connect with the right influencers that know your destination, will create content that aligns with your brand, and distribute this content to followers that are the right audience for you. The amount of time that goes into managing influencer relationships and challenges related to measuring the success of their campaigns are also significant hurdles to those who want to embrace influencer programs as a part of their marketing strategy.

Influencer marketing platforms have been emerging to help alleviate some of these challenges. The earliest conceptions of influencer marketing platforms showed up in the late 2000’s and quickly took off in the late 2010’s as short-form and vertical video found its place on popular social media channels. According to a new report by MarketsandMarkets, The global Influencer Marketing Platform Market is estimated to continue to grow exponentially over the next few years.

People love finding inspiration for trips, hotels and experiences on social media, particularly on Instagram and TikTok. And the travel and hospitality industry translates especially well on social media because it’s so visually-appealing.

If you have yet to incorporate influencer marketing into your digital strategy and are unsure of where to start, here are a few influencer marketing platforms currently being used in the travel & tourism space that can connect you with the right influencers, manage your influencer relationships, and assist in reporting on your campaigns:

1. Tagger by Sprout SocialExplore their Case Studies
2. Crowdriff CreatorsCampaign with Travel Marquette
3. HummingbirdsCampaign with Destination MadisonCampaign with Experience Grand Rapids

With the ever-changing digital marketing world, we are here to keep you informed of new digital trends and what we are keeping on our radar for October 2024. Have any questions? Contact us! We’re here to help.?

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