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.
