The Influencers That Never Have a Scandal

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[00:00:50] Visit kinsta.com to get this limited-time offer for new customers on select plans. Don't miss out. Get started for free today. It is Friday, April 11th. I'm Todd Maffin. Here is your Friday wrap-up of the week in digital marketing. We start, as always, with the advertising news that broke this week. Meta is now adding automatic UTM parameters to all ads, even if you don't manually provide them.

[00:01:18] This is useful because it's often difficult to track website results back to specific campaigns and ads if those UTM parameters are forgotten. These parameters will let you track results in external analytics tools like Google Analytics. Snapchat launched Sponsored AI Lenses this week, a new generative AI ad format that lets users integrate themselves into branded AI-generated visuals using the front-facing camera on their phone.

[00:01:45] Brands collaborate with Snap's production team to create prompts, themes, and poses with up to 10 different transformations per lens. Be Real, once an anti-ad platform, has now launched its ad business in the U.S. under former TikTok executive Ben Moore. With more than 200 international advertisers already on board, Be Real is entering the ad space at a time when TikTok's future in the U.S. is still uncertain.

[00:02:13] And Google announced some new Performance Max updates this week. First, new customer lifecycle goals and reporting. Retention goals are now available. This lets you bid more for lapsed customers. Plus, customer acquisition cost reporting can now be found in a new column in Campaign Reporting. You can automatically source images from landing pages for more variety, and some new image enhancements can create additional versions of your images. And the campaign-level negative keyword limit has been increased from 100 to 10,000.

[00:02:46] The American President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on all the reciprocal tariffs, with the exception of China, which will see tariffs increase to 125%. As potential tariffs on Chinese imports approach, online sellers are quickly adjusting. Many are hiking prices on Amazon and DTC sites, with some even adding cheeky Trump liberation tariff fees at checkout. Others are pausing inventory orders and planning more price increases in the coming weeks as trade policy uncertainty grows.

[00:03:15] The $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry is bracing for wider disruption across digital ads, logistics, and more. The European Union could impose new taxes on American tech companies like Google and Meta if U.S. and Europe cannot get their trade talks sorted. The EU Commission President said that retaliatory measures, including a potential levy on digital ad revenues, are being considered.

[00:03:41] Amazon has reportedly cancelled orders for various products made in China, including beach chairs, scooters, and air conditioners as the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. escalates. And consumer sentiment fell for the fourth straight month, dropping 11% from March, down more than 30% since December of last year. The decline was broad across all demographics and political affiliations,

[00:04:08] reflecting growing concerns over trade tensions and inflation. All right, some Google updates for you. And for the first time since 2015, Google's global search market share fell below 90%. It happened in Q4 of last year, with the trend continuing into this year, except for a brief spike in February where it went to 90.15%.

[00:04:35] The shift signaling growing competition and changing user behavior. The dip suggests it's not just a blip, but a sign of increasing pressure on Google's once untouchable position. Other search engines, of course, are gaining ground. Yahoo is holding at 1.33%, Yandex at about 2.5%, and the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo, which actually uses Bing's results, capturing just about four-fifths of 1% of the market. The rest? Probably AI.

[00:05:03] Google has updated its Shopping Tab listings report, now called the Merchant Opportunities Report. It has added some new details about payment methods and store ratings. The report offers recommendations for improving how your online store appears on Google, specifically for eligible sites selling physical goods. If you've connected your Merchant Center account to Search Console, you will see suggestions such as shipping info, setting up store ratings, updating payment methods, and so on.

[00:05:29] And Google has made several updates to its Merchant Center product data specifications, with changes effective as of April 8th and more coming on July 1st. These include new rules for down payment price attributes, energy efficiency class attributes, and they've added shopping attributes, some guidance for member pricing, and a bunch more. All right, to the world of social media now, and news today that TikTok has laid off employees

[00:05:58] from its U.S.-based e-commerce global governance and experience team. This is its second round of cuts this year, following February layoffs to the trust and safety team. This new team oversees production listings, seller compliance, and IP protection within TikTok Shop. The number of layoffs has not been confirmed, but the move obviously signaling mounting pressure on the unit. Reports suggest that some employees have received low performance review scores

[00:06:24] and were placed on improvement plans, while others were just fired outright. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube all show view counts, but what they view as a view varies widely. Some count a few seconds of watch time, while others include autoplays. Experts warn that these numbers mislead audiences and advertisers, making it hard to compare real performance across platforms. The Verge this week had a great piece about this, if you're interested.

[00:06:53] LinkedIn is testing a video trends feature in the U.S. to highlight popular videos across topics. It is trying to help users discover relevant content and keep creators informed about what's resonating. And a new report has found that LinkedIn is driving more engagement for brands, with video impressions up nearly 75%, and poll posts driving a 200% boost in reach. Across the board, the company says its company pages, both large and small, are seeing a rise in overall impression counts.

[00:07:23] And YouTube is expanding its AI music creation tool within Creator Music, letting brands and users generate custom songs in stream. For those with access, creators can describe the type of music they want, and the AI tool will generate a track based on that description. YouTube then says the music can be downloaded and used in videos without copyright concerns. CapCut, which is owned by TikTok's parent company, has had this for a few months now.

[00:07:55] Staying with AI for a moment, and this isn't creepy at all. Shopify's CEO is requiring teams to prove that work can't be carried out by AI tools in order for those teams to receive more budget or headcount. This is according to the Information website. In a company-wide memo, which he also posted publicly on X for some reason, he told staff that worker performance will be assessed in part on how well they can use AI tools.

[00:08:21] And virtual influencers, those are AI-created characters with social media followings, are gaining popularity. Studies show people can feel real emotional connections with them, even if they know they're fake. These influencers cost less, of course. They stay on message. They don't have scandals. Making them attractive to brands seeking reliable, engaging spokespeople. Some marketing science news now.

[00:08:49] And a new study has found that when brands apologize, their sales go up. Researchers showed that sincere, timely apologies can rebuild trust and drive conversions. Customers respond positively to accountability, especially when paired with action or compensation. The findings suggest honesty may boost both image and revenue. And a new study in the Journal of Marketing has found that bold, saturated colors,

[00:09:16] like vivid reds and deep blues, can make consumers believe a product is more effective, even when it's not. Consumers tend to associate bright colors with potency, often resulting in overuse or waste. This perception extends to product packaging and advertising. According to the researchers, to promote product efficacy, consider using highly saturated colors.

[00:09:41] But if sustainability is more your goal, reserve those colors for products prone to overuse. And finally, marketers are bringing mascots back, hoping nostalgia and personality can boost brand recall. Characters like Tony the Tiger and the Kool-Aid Man are making returns as companies seek emotional appeal and easy recognition.

[00:10:09] Experts say mascots offer timeless familiarity that the new digital tactics often lack. Well, those were the top digital marketing stories over the last five days. You would have gotten all of this news earlier if you were signed up to our email newsletter, which comes out every weekday at 5 o'clock Eastern Time and is completely free. You can sign up at todayindigital.com slash newsletter. I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. Have a restful weekend. I'll see you again next week.

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