We’re living through one of the most disruptive periods to business in our lifetimes, in particular in the marketing world where – aside from pandemic-related issues – there are significant new challenges to get to grips with, including cookies crumbling, privacy taking centre stage, and the online world being more crowded and competitive than ever.
Consent Mode: Recover 70% of Conversion Data Lost to Consent
We all know about the ongoing privacy changes in the marketing and advertising sector. A big issue for marketers at the moment is the fact that they’re losing data due to consent ‘opt-ins’.
It’s simple – if visitors to a site don’t consent to cookies, they’re often not tracked. Could Google’s consent mode help? This new feature promises to make up a chunk of that missing data.
Early tests have shown that conversion modelling through consent mode could help marketers recover 70% or more of lost ad-click to conversion journeys where cookie opt-ins have thrown a spanner in the works. Read more here.
All Change for Google Ads Keywords
There have been changes in how keywords are matched in Google Ads this year – and we’re not just talking about a few tweaks here. Think dynamic change that’s shaking the very foundations of keyword match types.
This means a complete rethink for marketers, and coming to terms with the fact that targeting is no longer based on keywords. We dive into this in detail in our recent article.
Instagram Apologise over Technical Search Issues
Instagram had a pretty problematic issue with the rollout of their new search functionality, which included suggested topics. However, it turned out they’d taken things a step too far.
The algorithm error caused incredibly insensitive recommendations to be made to platform users, including the promotion of weight loss content to people struggling with eating disorders. It’s a warning for all those in tech that sophisticated doesn’t always mean better in the world of algorithms…
Instagram has confirmed that all harmful content has now been removed, with the solution being a limit on recommendations to general results, excluding weight loss as a category. More on the story here.
B2B Marketing Campaigns that Break the Mould
If B2B campaigns make you shrug your shoulders, then prepare to be surprised. B2B doesn’t have to be bland and boring.
LinkedIn recently flipped the idea of ‘boring’ B2B marketing on its head by releasing this overview of B2B campaigns which it says ‘break the mold and enhance brand connection’. From virtual walkthroughs to explainer videos and video ads, these are definitely worth a look.
Display and YouTube to be Added to Attribution Modelling
Google Display and YouTube Ad data will now be included in attribution models, meaning that the days of these being measured from search campaign to search campaign and search keyword to search keyword are over.
It also means a clearer view of how YouTube and display ads work together to increase conversions, and more accurate measurements via attribution reports including Top Paths, Assisted Conversions, Path Metrics and Model Comparison. Find out more here.
The Transition from Facebook Audience Insights to Facebook Business Suite Insights
Facebook Audience insights helps marketers and advertisers get a clear view of the people in their audiences – age and gender split, education level, pages engaged with, devices used, and so much more. It’s an invaluable tool to use when planning a campaign, and critical for gaining insights on who you’re reaching out to.
But as of July 1 2021, Facebook Audience Insights will no longer be available. And the big question is, what will we do when it’s gone?!
Facebook Business Suite Insights, its replacement, (aka Page Insights) provides some similar insights – but only into audiences you’ve already reached. Could there be further developments in the pipeline?
Facebook Analytics is Being Retired
If you’re still reeling from the last newsflash, then steel yourself – after June 30, 2021 Facebook Analytics will be no more.
Facebook say this is part of ‘an initiative to consolidate business tools’, recommending use of Business Suite, Ads Manager and Events Manager instead. But will it be enough?
Be sure to export any data you’re going to need from Facebook Analytics before then. Find out how here.
Supermetrics now supports CallRail
CallRail is one of our preferred call analytics softwares for campaigns. We were happy to discover that they’re now compatible with Supermetrics, a program we use to call in ads data to Google Data Studio automatically.
This means you can shift CallRail data to Google Sheets, Google Data Studio, Excel, data visualisation tools, and data warehouses quickly and easily. More info here.
Amping up your Outreach
If, despite all your best efforts, your audience just isn’t showing up, maybe it’s time to flip your thinking, asking “what kind of people would share this“? And more importantly, why should they?
If you feel like you’ve nailed your content, ads, outreach, visuals, but your traffic and inbound leads have stalled, then this deep dive by Rand Fishkin for Sparktoro is well worth a read – asking you to consider the good, the bad, and the ugly in your content…
Landing Page not Converting?
Are you looking for some landing page inspo? Check out some of these eye-popping and mind bending conversion boosters!
Even if you’re not looking to give your landing pages a revamp at the moment, it’s still a pretty fascinating read, with a lot of food for thought. And the optical illusion examples are pretty striking too…
To FLoC or not to FLoC…
If you want the lowdown on Google’s upcoming tracking tech, Federated Learning of Cohorts (or FLoC) then this overview by The Verge is a good place to start.
The algorithm analyses your browser history, placing you in a ‘bucket’ with a group of people with similar browsing histories for ad targeting purposes. But it only works for advertisers running Google Ads.
Although FLoC is being touted as a cookie replacement, there are still privacy and ‘walled garden’ concerns – causing some leading browsers to adopt an attitude of ‘FLoC off’ towards the tech.
