Month: February 2022

Welcome to our weekly review of major happenings in the digital space. Here are a few significant updates that might interest you;

• Google Ads API v10 Now Available

On the 9th Wednesday 2022, Google released v10 of its Google Ads API to improve functionality. The Google Ads API enables advertisers to funnel their account data into other applications that they use. It also helps advertisers manage larger accounts and campaigns. The update comes with new essential features, and to use them advertisers must upgrade their client libraries and client code. The new features include: 

• Smart Campaigns are now out of beta and generally available.
• Performance Max campaigns now support asset group signals.
• Support for Local Services Ads campaigns as an open beta.
• Addition of the Audience resource, which can be used as a criterion type.
• Addition of a new ExperimentService, which replaces the deprecated campaign experiments.
• Addition of a new meta parameter, omit_unselected_resource_names, which can be used to make GoogleAdsService return only resource name fields that you explicitly request in the SELECT cause of your query.

The legacy AdWords API is set for deprecation on April 27 and developers must migrate over to the Google Ads API before this time to continue using it. For more information, click here. 

• Google Adds Journeys to Chrome: You Can Now Search Your History by Topic

Google Chrome has added a new feature called Journeys to their desktop feature. It is a search history feature that groups pages from a users’ search history by topic or intent, providing a more helpful user experience than just showing a chronological list of pages. Journeys was introduced to make it easier for users to revisit topics they searched for days or weeks ago.

The Journeys feature is optional and users can turn it off if they don’t want to use it. Google explained that the history is limited by device, though it may later be possible to access Journeys on multiple devices. This seems to be a very helpful update because search can sometimes become very exhausting. Journeys have rolled out to Chrome in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Turkish. For more information, click here.

• Google Tests Bulleted Lists in Ads

Google has confirmed it is testing ad descriptions with bulleted lists. With this feature, up to three bullet points can be added to one ad. The bullet points can be a mixture of descriptions and CTAs. This is great news for advertisers because within ads, a bulleted list can be used to showcase unique selling points, product features or additional CTAs. The more relevant information available in an ad, the more likely it is that the ad will drive engagement. The bullet lists can also help keep that information scannable for potential customers. Google has not given any news on when this feature will eventually roll out. For more information, click here. 

• LinkedIn Tests New Option to Switch Off Political Posts in Feed

LinkedIn is testing a new feature that enables users to switch off all politics-related posts and updates. This new update utilizes keywords and signals from users, as well as input from LinkedIn’s editorial team, to identify political posts, and eliminate them from a user feed. Now, LinkedIn users will be able to block posts on certain topics from appearing in their stream. This is quite an interesting feature that could help LinkedIn boost its engagement among its 800 million members but could also impact platform reach and performance for some users and brands. LinkedIn has launched the new feature with some users in the United States. To view the option to turn off political posts, go to ‘Account preferences’, then ‘Feed preferences’ under settings. For more information, click here. 

• Twitter Tests Variable Playback Speeds for Audio and Video Content in the App

Twitter has launched a new test, on Android and the web, which will enable users to control the playback speed of video and voice tweets in the app. The new playback speed options will provide users with a range of different settings to choose from. So it is possible to customize their viewing experience. This is Twitter trying to provide more ways for its users to consume content faster, or slower based on their preferences. This update has been in the works for the last few months, with reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong first spotting them in testing back in September. Now, it is officially in testing for the first time, and while it isn’t available on iOS, for now, Twitter might expand the functionality soon. 

Over the years, a lot of Twitter users have been calling for variable speed options on the app. With attention spans shrinking, and short video increasingly becoming the preferred means of communication, more people are looking to get through longer videos faster. For more information, click here.

Thank you for reading. See you next Friday for more news and interesting reads in the digital space. 

 

Welcome to our weekly review of major happenings in the digital space. Here are a few significant updates that might interest you;

• Google Finally Launches New Partners Program

Google has finally launched the new Google Partners program this Wednesday.  Google initially announced requirement changes to the partners program in February 2020, but the launch was delayed due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. All Google partners will be notified of their current status and those who have met the new requirements will receive their Partners badge immediately. For the new Partner requirements, Google kept the 90-day threshold at $10,000 and enabled advertisers to accept or dismiss recommendations to improve their optimization score. To be eligible for the new Google Partners program, advertisers must:

• Achieve an optimization score of 70%.
• Spend $10,000 across all of a partner’s managed accounts within a 90-day period.
• Have at least 50% of designated account strategists certified in Google Ads, with at least one certification in each product area (Search, Display, Video, etc.) with campaign spend of $500 (or more) in 90 days.

Agencies that meet Partners requirements and are within the top 3% of participating agencies in their country are eligible to become Premier Partners. The top 3% is evaluated due to certain factors. With the new change comes added benefits for partners. In addition to existing benefits, all Partners that meet the new requirements will be eligible for “High-value offers,” which are $500 Google Ads credits (previously $100) for new clients. New clients will have 60 days (previously 30 days) to spend $500 to qualify for the $500 credit. Now, high-value offers will only be available to Google Partners and Premier Partners. Starting February,  all Partners will be listed in Google’s new Partners directory, which will be available globally to all advertisers. For more information, click here.

• Google Ads Introduces New Recommendations For Discovery Campaigns

Google Ads has just launched a new set of recommendations for Discovery and Video campaigns. Until 1st of February, the Optimization Score in Google Ads only scanned across Search, Display, Shopping, and Video campaigns but now includes Discovery campaigns. Now, Discovery campaigns will show a score of 0-100%, with an actual number of how a campaign is performing.  The major updates that Discovery recommendations will notify users of include: Fixing disapproved assets, how to show ads to more customers and using optimized targeting to get more conversions

In addition to the Discovery Optimization Score, updates to auto-applied recommendations and YouTube campaign optimizations were also introduced. Users can now auto-apply Google’s campaign recommendations at the manager account-level. This means it is no longer possible to go into individual accounts and apply recommendations manually. As of now, there are 22 recommendations in auto-apply.  For video campaign optimizations, The new recommendations include setting up product feeds, setting up Google Analytics 4 and upgrading conversion tracking. With all these updates, advertisers now have the ability to focus less on manual optimizing and spend more time strategically analyzing their accounts. For more information, click here.

• Messenger Launches New Features to Celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year

Messenger has introduced a new range of tools to help users celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, including themed stickers and AR effects. This adds a new way for users to share red letter envelopes in the app via its recently updated 3D avatar tools. There is a new sticker pack which features a range of tiger images, aligning with the Year of the Tiger theme. Messenger’s also added new chat themes and Word Effects, including tiger images that fill the screen. Meta will also enable people to use their 3D Avatars to send red letter envelopes in the app, tying into its recent update of its avatar creation tools. Starting today, people in the United States, Canada and Mexico can use the 3D avatar stickers to send red envelopes, a traditional Lunar New Year gift, to friends on Facebook and Messenger. For more information, click here.

• Instagram Adds Scheduled Live Streams on User Profiles to Improve Discovery of Upcoming Streams

Instagram has outlined its new display of scheduled live streams on creator profiles, providing a new way to raise awareness of upcoming live broadcasts in the app. The new display option enables users to list their upcoming IG live streams on their profile, which, when tapped, will provide additional information in a pop-up prompt. People can also sign-up for a reminder for when the stream will begin. Users can create as many scheduled lives as they like, with a side-scrolling list added to their profile display.

This update can become a handy addition for Instagram users who broadcast via IG Live, to raise more awareness about their broadcasts. Until now, the only way to notify users about an upcoming stream in the app has been through posts and Stories. Now, users will be able to see when a live broadcast is coming up. For more information about this update, click here. 

• Twitter Tests New ‘Articles’ Option, Potentially Enabling Long-Form Posts in the App

Twitter is testing a new article option on the app to promote long form content. For a while now, the social network has been trying to work out the best way to enable people share more expansive comments and thoughts in the app. Twitter contained these ideas by adding ‘Threads’ as an alternative, while it also purchased newsletter platform Revue, which now prompts users to try out if they are looking to post longer text updates.

Now, Twitter is currently working on a new option called ‘Articles’, which appears to provide a means to create blog posts within the app, which could be shareable, in some form, via tweet. There is no major news on how this will work, but Twitter assured that it is coming. For more information, click here. 

Thank you for reading. See you next Friday for more news and interesting reads in the digital space.