The Top 20 most important updates for paid marketers (Week 46)

Hey paid marketers! There is a lot to take in last week (W46), and I don't want you guys lost. Here are 20 updates that we thought would be good for y'all

Black Friday is around the corner, and one of the most talked-about topics is how we avoid having our campaigns paused by “removing back-ordered, low-inventory, and high sell-through products from feeds can help maximize investment,” (Marion Gendron) using custom labels and data feed optimisation.

Amazon Ads

1. The Ads console has just gotten a whole lot more useful with the addition of new lookback windows. Now, you can purchase and visitor Retargeting for up to 365 days (60-90-180 day options are also available).

2. Recently, Amazon has started giving us more data for their keyword suggestions. Now you can either sort the suggested keywords by "number of conversions they're likely to generate" or clicks. Additionally, you'll see your own products' impression share and impression rank for each of those keywords, though it's unclear in which timeframe.

Google Ads

3. It was announced that Customer Match will be available to nearly all advertisers! It's now done. All policy-compliant accounts can use customer match and similar audiences for performance monitoring, while still needing a minimum investment of $50k (lifetime) for targeting or manual bid adjustments. (source)

4. Google has added an upload preview tool that will allow you to preview any formatting issues, fix these errors and apply them before uploading your list.

5. Now you'll be able to see explanations for your Performance insights, and you’ll find out why things changed, and how that affects what kind of campaign strategy is best suited for the future. (source)

6. There are four new features on Google Ads Insights Page

• Demand Forecasts provide the most up-to-date information for predicting six months of search trends with past seasonal data.
• Consumer Interest Insights provide top-performing query themes and the number of people who searched for each one, as well as its performance and growth rate.
• Audience Insights (interests and affinities of your customers, such as what creative resonates the most with them)
• Change History Insights & Auction Insight: Did something happen that might have been a change to your campaign? Check out the insights from our Change Log and Auctions pages for an accurate read on what changed. (source)

7. Google has just made it easier to create Search campaigns "on the go", directly in the Google Ads mobile app with just a few taps!

8. Google has officially changed the name of their ‘?YouTube Video discovery ads’ to ‘In-feed video ads’, which can appear in the YouTube Home feed, Watch feed, and Search feed! This change does not affect your campaigns. (source)

9. New Google Merchant Center policy now allows you to list your at-home results or lab results and over-the-counter test kits in both free and paid Google Shopping. (source)

10. Google Maps is now able to help you find your way around the grocery store. "Pickup with Google" includes stores like Kroger, Fry's and Ralphs as well! With over 2,000 store locations in the US, the new service provides a pick-up solution in less than 5 minutes. (source)

Meta Ads (previously Facebook)

11. Facebook announced It will start testing topic exclusion controls soon (expected January 2021), and it aims to build back trust in advertisers about brand safety by allowing them an easy way of excluding ad delivery for users who have engaged with any of these topics: “News & Politics," "Social Issues" or even tragedies like crime and tragedy. (source)

12. Facebook ads have launched a new Call-outs feature in some accounts - hopefully to roll out to all soon. The ad level now highlights things like "free shipping," which can be seen by anyone who views your campaign's advertising on Facebook. They state that these callout features will automatically adjust their phrasing for better results based off what users are searching at present time." (source)

Microsoft Ads

13. With this upcoming Windows 11 update, you'll only be able to access the Edge browser and Bing search engine from your Start menu. The new feature blocks third-party apps that enable users to select which browsers they want opening links in on start up--whether it's Chrome or Firefox for instance! (source)

Snap Chat

14. Snap has seen a resurgent this year as it finds its niche between Instagram and TikTok, with revenues sky-rocketing up 116% in Q2 of 2021.

To keep the momentum going, the social network is bundling various creative formats to better meet advertiser’s performance-based objectives, which will include all of Snap’s video ad formats including Snap Ads, Story Ads, Collection Ads and Commercials and will feature Snap’s camera offerings (augmented reality) by Q2 of 2022. (source)

Spotify

15. Did you know that Spotify added Podcast Ads to its self-serve platform? That’s beyond reasonable for most clients with a minimum commitment of $500, and it can help boost your podcast in a big way! (source)

Teads

16. Teads announced groundbreaking updates to Teads Ad Manager (TAM), creating the first open web platform that can activate cookieless campaigns throughout the marketing cycle. TAM now has a dedicated 'cookies-free mode' for planning, targeting and delivering tailored ads without worrying about how they will affect your browsing experience or data footprint in an increasingly Cookie World? society! (source)

Tiktok

17. A new survey by Forrester found that 63% of Americans between the ages 12-17 used TikTok on a weekly basis this year, compared with 57% for Instagram. (source)

Twitter

18. Twitter has announced that they are dropping support for AMP, which will be fully retired by the end of this year.?Google made a number of changes?that suggest it’s dropping support for AMP — though not completely.

19. Twitter’s rolling out an?updated tweet analytics display, available on each tweet, which will provide more specific performance insight, with extra engagement elements listed in the data. (source)

Yelp Ads

20. Yelp announced Tuesday that it is launching two new ad units for iOS app users, the "Sponsored Collection" for local business and "Seasonal Spotlight Ads." for multi-location?(source)

This update is only the beginning of many exciting things to come! If you enjoyed this, please let me know what else I should include in future updates by giving feedback and subscribing.

-----------------

Do you want to have more fun?

---------------

Law & Equity

1. A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers introduced the “Filter Bubble Transparency Act,” which could force social media platforms to allow users the option of viewing content without algorithms that filter or prioritize what they see. (source)
2. A $92 million class-action lawsuit against TikTok has now been extended to include US users. It’s not a scam, it's actually linked to this legal filing in the Northern District of Illinois through which they are facing charges for violating user privacy and data collection practices (source)
3. Apple and Google were questioned by the U.K.'s data protection watchdog over app age ratings after the digital safety charity 5Rights Foundation raised concerns about non-compliance with Age Appropriate Design Code, which they say leads to numerous breaches such as insufficient age checks or dark patterns nudges in mobile games targeted at children under 13 years old. (source)