Enjoy the Silence

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_02]: It is Thursday, August 15th. Today, Meta makes a big change to conversions but you probably didn't hear about it. Why does Meta keep these changes such a secret?

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Also LinkedIn wants you to stop trying to be funny. The informal pulse of the economy says things are actually looking up and when CEOs say the quiet things out loud.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm Tod Maffin. That's ahead, Today in Digital Marketing. Meta is updating it at algorithm which may make the platform seem less effective for some advertisers and could lead to higher ad prices.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_02]: At issue, our conversion campaigns and the change will be to give more weight to conversions that occur one day from when a user first clicks.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Until now, the algorithm driving conversion campaigns wasn't distinguishing quality or waiting of those conversions based on the conversion window length.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: This was first reported by Adweek which said it learned of it from a note that doubly promote agency sent to its clients.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Quoting Adweek, quote, with more conversions only counted by Meta if they happened within one day of seeing the ad, advertisers might see fewer conversions reported for a given campaign than they did previously.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Ad prices might also be higher because the change will cause Meta to target a smaller pool of users looking for those who are more likely to convert in one day.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Advertisers who hadn't already been optimizing for one day conversion windows or who sell luxury products with longer purchase windows are likely to see ad performance decline unquote.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Changing how conversion windows are weighted in the ads algorithm is a big deal, which is why it's especially peculiar though not unexpected that Meta chose to not announce this change on its website.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, on the same day this news was leaked, Meta put out a detailed blog post sharing three smaller changes to its ads platform, which will have shortly, but did not mention this conversion window change.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Instead, Meta seems to dole out news about algorithmic changes and other major shifts randomly.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes to its biggest agency partners, sometimes seemingly accidentally from a support rep see mail, sometimes not at all.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Marketers have tried to get Meta to consider an industry liaison role like Google has for its search and ads businesses, but so far their quest is falling on deaf ears.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_02]: It was only after significant industry pressure that the company put up a status page for its ads platform though many times outages are widespread and that page reports all as well.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_02]: That means, of course, that those in the know can benefit from the news while those outside Meta's chosen circle the vast majority of advertisers are running campaign strategies that might be outdated.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_02]: All that might not legally be a form of insider trading, which sure has held us and feel good if you are not in the circle.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_02]: So to those updates, Meta did announce let's walk through the changes, paraphrasing liberally from Meta's announcement text.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_02]: First, conversion value rules, Meta says businesses can use this feature to express which audiences or conversions they value more or less.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_02]: For example, you might have certain customer segments that have a proven 30% higher lifetime value.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_02]: In that case, you're probably willing to pay more to reach those customers.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_02]: In the past, you'd have had to broken those customers out into a separate campaign with this new feature though you can define a higher bid for just these customers without having to create a separate campaign.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Second, new incremental conversion settings.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Starting later in the year, Meta says it plans to launch a new opt-in attribution setting that optimizes for and reports on incremental conversions.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_02]: These are conversions that its system believes would not have occurred without the ad being shown.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_02]: This is in contrast to optimizing for volume, which focuses on driving as many total attributed conversions as possible.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_02]: This new setting is designed to shift add delivery to specifically focus on driving more of those incremental conversions.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Meta says when it tested this in an experiment earlier in the year, advertisers saw an average improvement of more than 20% in incremental conversions.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And finally, cross platform measurement has always been a challenge for marketers.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Someone might see an ad on YouTube research off a Pinterest pane and then eventually make the purchase off a meta ad.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Of course, those platforms themselves can't see into the walled gardens of their competitors.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_02]: So marketers have used third party tools to try to cobble a better view of it altogether.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Now, Meta says they're going to make it simpler by letting businesses connect their analytics tools to its ad system directly through an API.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Meta plans to start with Google Analytics and North Beam with Tripowale and Adobe on the list afterwards.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: If you want to get the best bang for your bucks on LinkedIn, use a video ad.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the key finding from a study LinkedIn commission from Magnum Media trials.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_02]: The study looked at content for more than 1700 users on the platform here are the key findings.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_02]: For ad formats, video drives the higher response in all of the main metrics, though the company did also say display ads do fairly well.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Second, we found that of all the perceptions it measured about B to B ads running there emotional appeal, strong storytelling being memorable and so on.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_02]: That being funny or trying to be funny was the least helpful for LinkedIn ads.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Most helpful having a clear message.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_02]: That doesn't mean don't be creative.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, when pulled, almost half of those users said creative ads would make them more likely to look into the advertisers other products and services.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And 38% said it would make them feel a closer connection to the advertising brand.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02]: So lots of B to B brands are being creative, right?

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Not quite.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Only about a quarter of people said the ads they saw on LinkedIn, they would consider creative.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_02]: We have a link to the full study in today's email newsletter, which you can subscribe to by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going to today in digital.com slash newsletter.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_02]: There are lots of indicators economists used to try to forecast what the short term future holds, inflation rates, interest rates and so on.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_02]: But one informal measure analysts use is how Walmart is doing.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, is often used as a rough gauge for how American consumers are fairing.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_02]: After all, 90% of the US population lives within 16 kilometers of a Walmart store.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_02]: The company saying today sales at its stores in the US rose just over 4% to 115.3 billion dollars that beat analyst estimates.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_02]: It's US e-commerce business jumped 22%.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_02]: That seems to fly in the face of some recent media speculation that the American economy is entering another downturn.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Another science economists, about a third of customers were willing to pay extra for delivery time under three hours.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: John Rainy, Walmart, CFO told the New York Times, quote, if they consumer was so stressed, I don't think we'd see that behavior unquote.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Quoting that New York Times beast, quote, another snapshot on the state of the consumer came today with data on nationwide retail sales from the commerce department.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Sales in July were stronger than economists had expected rising 1% from the previous month.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_02]: The increase outpaste inflation over that period, reinforcing the notion that consumers remain resilient if more selective about what they're buying.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_02]: One tool that social media managers like to keep close to their chest is a free service by Google that can let brands get a jumpstart on trending topics.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_02]: That tool is Google Trends, which is a very high level look at what people are searching for on the web.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_02]: This week trends got a nice update on that international users will especially like.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Now users can drill a little deeper into the trending topics to see a few headlines and links that explain why something is trending.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_02]: There's also more data on how long it's been trending, total search volume and the small line charts showing interest over time.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_02]: But perhaps more importantly, you can now filter it by country and even regions within a country like a state or province.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And there are time filters to let you see only the most recently trending topics down to a window of four hours.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Google says it now detects 10 times as many emerging trends as before.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you leave the tab open, it will refresh every 10 minutes.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I should know you will find this under the trending now tab at Google Trends.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_02]: You can get to that tab directly by going to trends dot google dot com slash trending.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, it's Sean Nelson founder and CEO of LoveSack and host of the Let me Save You 25 Years podcast.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to skip the trial and error so you can head straight to success.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Join me and incredible guests like Olympic legend Sean White and NFL superstar Rob Gronkowski as we share the lessons and mistakes that shaped our journeys.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Ready to save yourself 25 years?

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Tuning on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. That's let me save you 25 years with Sean Nelson.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_04]: Listen now.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_04]: Do you understand who you are?

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Do you understand who you are?

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_04]: And with you the beautiful evening of your life.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_04]: The commurs platform Shopify revolutionised millions of people worldwide.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_04]: With Shopify you are in a online shop.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_04]: A lot of programmers or designers.

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks to the efficient, efficient and intuitive social media and online marketplace integration,

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_04]: you can use Instagram, eBay and Co. and Google and buy new companies to create a new niche.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Shopify is on a single secure platform all tools to build your online business.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Customers test and business of the world present.

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_04]: Shopify.de is very good at trading.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_04]: Anfach Shopify.de is registered to try and give unplossed links.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_04]: Made for Germany.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_04]: Powered by Shopify.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, somebody just said the quiet thing out loud in the video that just recently surfaced former

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Google CEO Eric Schmidt speaking to Stanford University students made this somewhat startling admission.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Google decided that work life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And the start-ups, the reason startups work is because the people work like hell.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sorry to be so blunt.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But the fact that matter is if you all leave the university and go found a company,

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: you're not going to let people work from home and only come in one day a week.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Then he told students that startups can steal all the IP they want.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_02]: They just need to hire smart lawyers to make the resulting lawsuits go away.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_02]: All sparing tech and war, I guess.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_02]: The opinions weren't startling of course.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_02]: It was the fact he said it at all.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Those sorts of thoughts that usually kept in the boardroom table.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Indeed, at one somewhat hilarious point in the video,

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_02]: he asked students to keep what he told them confidential.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Then when the moderator pointed out that several students were already recording the lecture on their phones,

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Schmidt seemed surprised.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe even a little bit embarrassed.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_02]: You can probably guess what happened next.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Media reported on his comments and Schmidt tried to backpedal,

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_02]: telling TechCrunch yesterday he'd just misspoke in Stanford University,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_02]: which had its own cameras running has removed the video from their site.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_02]: And a brief classified ad before we close out the show,

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_02]: save time and money by ditching multiple social media tools,

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Fedica schedules posts to 11 platforms like PixelFed and Blue Sky while

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: unifying analytics and analysis for Macedon X and more.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Fedica gives you insights you can't get anywhere else,

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: get free cross platforms scheduling at Fedica.com that's FEDICA.com.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Tomorrow on the show a special treat,

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_02]: the story of the brand that got 34 times return on ad spend for their Google ad campaign,

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and why that campaign was still a failure.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Our Google ads correspondent Jill Saskin Gales has her own podcast called Inside Google ads.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Tomorrow we will be bringing you a full sample episode from her podcast,

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Jill is you might remember worked at Google ads for six years.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_02]: On the show tomorrow,

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_02]: she'll be answering the most common questions about the platform like,

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_02]: what is a good row ass in Google ads?

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_02]: What is a decent impression share?

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And what dashboard data is the most important for marketers to pay attention to?

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Best tomorrow right here in the feed or if you want to get it earlier,

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_02]: by all means just search for Inside Google ads in your podcast app.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm Todd Maffen, thanks for listening.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_02]: See you tomorrow.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_04]: And a business for you.

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Copy-5.de is really great.

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_04]: So, Copy-5.de is really great.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Mayt for Germany.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_04]: Paard by Copy-5.