What you need to know from Google Marketing Live
Here's a recap of the marketing news from Google's annual event, including Automation, Performance Max, YouTube Shorts and more.
Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides world-class social media and search marketing services and web & application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 10+ years and specializes in Digital Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.
Google is giving users greater control over what ads they see
My Ad Center will let users block any ad and get info on why they were chosen to see it.
What marketers need to know about Facebook’s updated Business Tools Terms
The updates are largely guided by GDPR and go into effect May 25, 2018.
Instagram makes Stories advertising easier with automatic full-screen support
No full-screen vertical content? No problem! Instagram will automatically make full-screen creative for Stories on the fly.
Facebook’s local news prioritization in News Feed now rolling out globally
Users across all locations and languages may now be seeing more localized news in their Facebook News Feed.
Report shows Snapchat’s newer features falling flat but messaging more popular than ever
Data points to challenges in getting users to engage beyond Snapping.
Twitter announces what’s ‘Happening Now’ for sporting events, and plans for a bookmarking feature
Twitter is giving users the ability to find tweets on real-time topics, while also planning a bookmarking to let users save content for later.
Snapchat launches Advanced Mode for its self-serve Ads Manager
Similar to Facebook's Power Editor, Snapchat has added powerful new advertising capability to Ad Manager.
Facebook brings value metrics to campaigns to help advertisers target the best customers
New Facebook targeting options are becoming more robust, stepping outside of traditional impressions/clicks/conversions and delving into value.
Facebook pixels get upgrade to track actions & page data
A change to the Facebook pixel will now pass a page's click data and metadata back to Facebook.
In-stream video ads have arrived on Twitter
Advertisers now have the ability to target in-stream (pre- and mid-roll) ads across Amplify partner video content.
Facebook adds new Estimated Daily Results report, upgrades Delivery Insights
New enhancements make it easier to estimate Facebook Ad results and find more data on how you are reaching specific audiences.
Businesses can now request customer locations within Twitter Direct Messages
Brands on Twitter can now address issues more quickly and help local customers by requesting their location in a Direct Message.
Twitter drops usernames from replies, giving full 140 characters to respond
A new change will give you more room to respond and, according to Twitter, make conversations easier to follow.
Pinterest launches Propel, a hands-on support program for new advertisers
A new 30-day program launched by Pinterest will give advertisers training, access to creative resources and support for their ad campaigns.
Amazon launches Digital Day, a new sales holiday for digital products
Can Amazon create yet another successful sales day? We'll find out this Friday.
Periscope launches live 360 video broadcasting
Get a 360° experience alongside Periscope broadcasters with new 360 Live video streaming.
Fueled by the Audience Network, Facebook advertisers saw higher Q3 spends & returns
A new study from Nanigans shows that Facebook continues to bulk up ad offerings and advertisers continue to pay up and see results.
Workplace by Facebook opens to organizations across the globe
Facebook aims to take on Yammer and Chatter head-on with the official global launch of Workplace.
NRF’s 2016 holiday retail season forecast: 3.6% increase & strong chance of non-store growth
The National Retail Federation has announced a moderate forecast for retailers across the board and a favorable forecast for those non-store sellers.
Facebook acknowledges discrepancy that had overstated a video view metric
A miscalculation in the "average duration of video viewed" has overstated the overall video performance (within this metric only).
Pinterest streamlines Promoted Pin process with new Promote button
Clocking in at under 9 seconds, a new feature makes it easier than ever for brands to promote Pins on Pinterest.
Instagram adds the ability to hide offensive & inappropriate comments
Dislike vulgarity & inappropriate speech? Instagram can help block the hate in comments with a new feature.
Facebook Lookalikes go global with new update
You'll now be able to target people that look similar to lists of customers/leads in an entirely different country.
Facebook video metrics get granular with demographic, share & live engagement data
A slew of new metrics will give marketers more intel on demographic viewing, live engagement (by reaction) and page-owned vs. share/cross-posted views.
Confirmed: New AdWords interface rolling out to more users
Google has confirmed the rollout of the new user interface to more AdWords users.
Much-needed filters & custom metrics make their way to Twitter Ads Manager reporting
A new set of tools will allow Twitter Ads Manager users to pick and choose the campaigns & metrics that they'd like to report on.
Tumblr is releasing ads across blogs & giving users a cut
Ads will be making their way across Tumblr blogs, and user will be getting a piece of the action (if they allow the ads to run).
Yahoo delivers stocks, news, weather & adoptable monkey bots to Facebook Messenger
Thanks to a slew of new Yahoo bots for Facebook Messenger, you'll be able to get the latest information on stocks, trending stories, weather, and also play with a digital monkey.
New ‘Dashboard’ tool from Twitter gives businesses a simple, all-in-one management suite
A streamlined solution make it easier for novice social marketers to successfully navigate the Twitter platform.
API limitations & fluctuations lead to the end of social insights tool ThinkUp
The changing permission (& API) tides have sunk ThinkUp, the social insights tool started by Anil Dash & Gina Trapani.
Paying for fake product reviews? Amazon may sue you
Since 2015, Amazon has sued more than 1,000 defendants over posting false reviews. Now it's suing three sellers over buying them.
Study: Facebook users are sharing posts more frequently but liking and commenting less
A new study from Rival IQ shows that the only post engagement metric that saw Y0Y growth in 2015 was the share.
Sales rank & fulfillment play a major role in Amazon search visibility
Much like Newton's First Law, a new study from Ripen eCommerce shows that products that sell better, tend to have better visibility in Amazon's search results.
Instagram welcomes minute-long videos for all accounts
Soon all users & brands will have the ability to share longer 60-second videos on Instagram.
Smart Goals Roll Out To More AdWords Advertisers As Google Cuts The Eligibility Requirements In Half
The conversions, driven by machine learning, will be rolling out to even more AdWords advertisers over the coming weeks.
AdWords Drafts Now Gives Advertisers The Ability To Review Campaign Changes Before Pushing Live
With the addition of "Drafts," advertisers will no longer have to make massive changes to your AdWords accounts in real time.
Facebook Strengthens Video Metrics Interface & Adds New Data Points
New video metrics will help brands gain more data on how long videos were watched and whether they were consumed with the sound on or off.
View Counts Are Coming For Instagram Video
Soon, brands will be able to see not only "like" and comment data, but also total view counts for Instagram videos.
Finally! Brands Can Edit Their Knowledge Graph Cards In Google
A lon-awaited change to Google's Knowledge Graph data will put some power back in the hands of the brands.