This month marked the end of the first quarter of the year in a particularly exciting way for digital marketing enthusiasts.

The digital marketing news and updates during March were exciting, especially in the search and AI industry.

An AI clone named Dolly – yes, like the cloned sheep – has appeared to democratise large language models. On the other hand, ChatGPT-4 has launched, positioning itself as a threat to Google with its multimodal model, and Google has announced a new core algorithm update to spice things up in the search field. 

The marketing technology field has seen its share of updates with the introduction of new features for two of the most relevant tools for marketers and managers: HubSpot and Salesforce.

These updates are exciting, and to stay ahead of the game, you’ll want to read the full article.

Digital Marketing News & Updates from March 2023

CONTENT

Search Marketing Updates

• Google Rolls Out March 2023 Core Algorithm Update

• OpenAI GPT-4 becomes multimodal and positions as a threat for Google

• Introducing Dolly: A New Open-Source ChatGPT Clone

Tech Marketing Updates

• SalesForce Spring 2023 release

• Hubspot rolls-out new functionalities relevant for managers

Social Media Updates

• TikTok might get banned in the US due to data and security concerns

• LinkedIn adds new features for B2B marketers

• Meta Launches New Reels Ad Options as it Embraces Evolving Consumption Shifts

Updates from Frizbit

• New Product Update: new segmentation features

• Frizbit attends the e-Show Barcelona 2023

 

Search Marketing Updates

1. Google Rolls Out March 2023 Core Algorithm Update

Source: Pexels – PhotoMIX Company

Google has announced the start of its March 2023 core algorithm update rollout, and naturally marks the beginning of search marketing this year. We understand that these updates can have a major effect on search rankings, which is why staying informed is essential. 

Please keep in mind that core updates may take several weeks to fully implement, and search rankings could change over that period. It will be impossible to determine the full impact of the March 2023 core update until the rollout is closer to its end. So we can predict this will be an ongoing topic.

What do we suggest having in mind with this update?

Google is well-known for its algorithm updates, which it introduces regularly to improve its understanding and ranking of content.

These updates aim to provide increasingly relevant and high-quality search results. However, they also bring changes to how Google evaluates and ranks websites. As a result, SEO professionals and website owners must stay informed and adapt their strategies accordingly.

As we await more information on Google’s March 2023 core algorithm update, there are a few key takeaways to keep in mind:

• Allow time to work its magic: it can take days or even weeks for Google’s crawlers to fully assess the web.
• Measure organic traffic: Make sure to monitor your site’s organic search traffic and keyword rankings. These metrics can help you determine the impact of the update and identify potential areas for improvement.
• Don’t write for the rankings: Delivering quality content that is tailored to your target audience’s needs is essential. The goal of these updates is to provide the best search results for your users.
• Optimise your site for rankings: Technical aspects such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and proper indexing have a significant role in determining your overall ranking, so pay attention to the fine details.

 2. OpenAI GPT-4 becomes multimodal and positions as a threat for Google

Source: OpenAI

On March 14th, the new multimodal version of OpenAI GPT was launched. It’s safe to say that if Google wasn’t already wary of this popular AI tool, they have even more reason to be now.

What does it mean to OpenAI CPT-4 to integrate a multimodal model? 

Multimodal AI refers to the ability to process various types of input, such as video, images, and sound. In machine learning, the term “modality” refers to the different forms of input, including text and senses like sound, vision, and smell.

As GPT-4 states:

“We’ve created GPT-4, the latest milestone in OpenAI’s effort in scaling up deep learning. GPT-4 is a large multimodal model (accepting image and text inputs, emitting text outputs) that, while less capable than humans in many real-world scenarios, exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks”

What are some of the improved capabilities of GPT-4?

• GPT-4 is more reliable and creative than GPT-3.5
• GPT-4 is able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5
• The distinction between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 is subtle in casual conversation, but becomes apparent when the complexity of the task reaches a sufficient threshold
• GPT-4 can handle text and image inputs, which means users can assign any language or vision task they want, not just text-only tasks.
• GPT-4 appears to work across all languages.

Below, you can find an example of what adding this visual inputs to OpenAI GPT-4 can bring to the table:

Source: OpenAI

Undoubtedly, this is where GPT-4 steps stronger, thanks to its exceptional ability to incorporate inputs in a more natural language through the integration of this multimodal model. Over the last year, we saw Google striving to implement a more human-like Search in 2022, using different tools such as Google Lens, etc.

3. Introducing Dolly: A New Open-Source ChatGPT Clone

Source: Databricks

Dolly and clones are two words that historically have pared well together, and in this case is no different.

Databricks, an enterprise software company, recently released a new ChatGPT clone called Dolly. The clone is named after the famous sheep that was the first mammal to be cloned. The Dolly Large Language Model (DLL) is another step forward for the open-source GPT Chat.

Open Source Large Language Models in AI Development

Source: Databricks

 

The Dolly Large Language Model (DLL) is the latest addition to the open source AI movement, which aims to provide greater access to technology so that it is not monopolized and controlled by large corporations. 

One of the driving concerns behind this movement is that businesses may be hesitant to hand over sensitive data to a third party that controls the AI technology.

The Open Source Model

Dolly was created from an open-source model developed by the non-profit EleutherAI research institute and Stanford University’s Alpaca model, which was in turn created from the 65 billion parameter open-source LLaMA model developed by Meta.

LLaMA, which stands for Large Language Model Meta AI, is a language model trained on publicly available data. According to a report by Weights & Biases, LLaMA can outperform many top language models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-3, Gopher by DeepMind, and Chinchilla by DeepMind, despite being smaller.

What happens with an Open Source model for AI?

Open source in AI offers several advantages, including cost-effectiveness and the ability to customize to fit a company’s specific needs. Collaboration between developers is encouraged, leading to better AI solutions. Innovation and experimentation are promoted, resulting in better AI algorithms and solutions. Transparency is also provided, allowing for better scrutiny of algorithms and code.

However, open source AI also has its disadvantages. Security vulnerabilities and malicious attacks can occur, and the quality of code and algorithms may be lower than that of commercial AI developers. Ongoing maintenance is necessary, and fragmentation can occur if different teams and developers are working on different versions of the same project. Inaccuracies may also arise with open source AI.

Comparing ChatGPT and Dolly, databricks mentioned:

“We evaluated Dolly on the instruction-following capabilities described in the InstructGPT paper that ChatGPT is based on and found that it exhibits many of the same qualitative capabilities, including text generation, brainstorming and open Q&A. Of particular note in these examples is not the quality of the generated text, but rather the vast improvement in instruction-following capability that results from fine-tuning a years-old open source model on a small, high quality dataset.”

Marketing Tech Updates

 1. SalesForce Spring 2023 release

Source: Deposit Photos

Salesforce, the leading cloud-based CRM platform, has been helping businesses grow and succeed for many years by organizing and managing customer data. With over 100 new features and updates released, Salesforce continues to be the top choice for businesses of all sizes.

Recently, Salesforce rolled out its spring update, which included a number of exciting new features. In particular, we were impressed by the following:

• Use Lightning Web Runtime (LWR) to build faster and cheaper websites:
  The B2B LWR template enables easier customization of storefronts. Additionally, the improved functionality and performance of the framework results in faster run times and more personalized experiences for customers.
  

• Salesforce Payments now works more seamlessly:
  Quick payment processing is essential for ecommerce businesses. Salesforce’s new payment framework makes the process smoother and requires less backend coding. It is more user-friendly and allows for third-party payment providers to be integrated into the checkout process. A new click-and-go function streamlines the checkout process for customers.
  

• Salesforce CMS now supports approvals, viewing, and restoring including: the ability for consultants and contributors to create, edit, and view content in their workspace, and for other users to approve or request changes. Additionally, users can now view and restore previous versions of content, track changes, and revert to older versions if needed.
• Metrics and analytics:
  Sales Analytics now has better filters and quicker access to data. This lets you find what you require without going through unnecessary data. Sales managers and reps can see which sales strategies work best, which products are doing well, and find things to improve.
• The Account Engagement Optimizer can assist you in:

1. Identify ways to improve your marketing automation system, such as optimizing sales processes and email campaigns, to increase ROI.
2. Identify risks to your marketing automation system to improve overall marketing. For example, the Account Engagement Optimizer may flag campaigns where click-through rates are below industry averages and prompt changes.
3. Prioritize recommended changes based on what’s most important. These suggestions will help your team focus on changes with the biggest impact.

2. HubSpot rolls-out new functionalities relevant for managers

Source: Deposit Photos

If you are a business manager, it is likely that you are a HubSpot user. The tool has been publishing more comprehensive monthly updates outside individual portals, such as the “What’s New in HubSpot’s Software” page. We are here to tell you about the 5 latest updates that might come in handy.

1. Marketing Campaign custom properties (beta):
   Organise your campaign information and assets more efficiently by creating custom properties for Marketing Campaigns. The once-limited Marketing Campaigns feature now behaves like other standard CRM objects (i.e., contacts and deals), eliminating the need for complex naming conventions to store campaign information in the name.
2. Check bot filtering status to track campaign engagement more accurately:
   Check if your email engagement metrics are accurate by verifying if bots are being filtered out. Look for the new Bot Filtering setting on the email post-send page. If your email engagement metrics are different after migrating to HubSpot, toggle this switch on and off to see if bots were the reason for the higher engagement numbers in your previous system.
3. List releases: Create a random sample, clone and restore static lists, and filter releases based on ‘has/has not completed’:
   If you conduct A/B testing, personalise actions for specific lists, or randomly select contest winners, the new beta release enables you to create a random sample of any list. This feature eliminates the need for previous workarounds and potential errors from exporting and importing spreadsheets, and allows you to choose a percentage or count of list members to add to a new static list.
4. Coloured deal tags (beta):
   Use the new beta feature for coloured deal tags to prioritize your constantly changing deal pipeline boards.
5. Easier social media publishing and email replies on mobile (beta):
   The new HubSpot mobile app features help your team create and edit social media posts on the go. Additionally, the new beta release lets you send and reply to emails within the app. This ensures timely, tracked emails and enables all team members to see the latest conversation and context for the record, regardless of the device used.

 Social Media Marketing

 1. TikTok might get banned in the US due to data and security concerns

Source: Deposit Photos

We can say that 2023 has been an eventful year for TikTok. In January, due to data security & privacy, the company was already facing legal consequences in the EU. 

The focus is currently centred on the US, where nearly two and a half years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the country unless it divested from its Chinese owners, the Biden administration is now doing the same.

What are the concerns around TikTok?

Explained in two words: data privacy/security.

Recently, there has been growing concern regarding the use of TikTok and its potential impact on data security. Many are worried that the app is collecting sensitive user information and sharing it with the Chinese government. Some worry that the Chinese government could use the app to spread propaganda to a US audience. 

The fundamental concern behind both is that any company doing business in China may ultimately be subject to Chinese Communist Party laws, with all its implications.

Lawmakers have renewed their scrutiny of TikTok due to its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance. This comes after a report last year suggested that US user data had been accessed multiple times by China-based employees. TikTok, however, has disputed this claim, and why wouldn’t they?

What has TikTok said about the accusation?

At a Harvard Business Review conference earlier this month, TikTok CEO Shou Chew reiterated the company’s commitment to address lawmakers’ concerns:

“The Chinese government has actually never asked us for US user data,” Chew said, “and we’ve said this on the record, that even if we where asked for that, we will not provide that.” Chew added that “all US user data is stored, by default, in the Oracle Cloud infrastructure” and “access to that data is completely controlled by US personnel.”

The real question here is, is TikTok truly a threat to national security in the US?

One of the biggest fears is not being able to have full control over the matter. 

China’s national security laws compel companies under its jurisdiction to cooperate with various security activities. However, it is difficult for the public to verify the extent of this cooperation. 

And although TikTok doesn’t operate in China directly, its parent company, ByteDance does. There’s a potential leverage the Chinese government may have over them. 

Overall, privacy and security researchers have found that TikTok’s app is not inherently malicious or spyware, but there are concerns about the relationship between TikTok and ByteDance with the Chinese government.

 2. LinkedIn adds new features for B2B marketers

Source: Deposit Photos

Some exciting updates are coming to the platform for marketers and B2B owners that are regular users of the platform. Aside from the long-awaited native scheduling feature, LinkedIn has released some interesting updates regarding the company pages.

1. Native scheduling: You will be able to choose what day and time you want your post to go live when you compose it on the web. With LinkedIn’s native post scheduling option, you can plan your posts up to three months in advance.
2. Get the most reach for job listings: Company pages can now share an automated post when they add an open job listing, which helps maximize exposure and reach.
3. Audio Events: LinkedIn is introducing audio events for Company Pages, providing another way to engage with your on-platform audience. With this new feature, you can make professional connections via audio events or listen to industry-specific discussions with leaders in your field. This addition could be valuable given the platform’s user base, even if broader interest in audio options has decreased.
4. Connecting businesses together: As of now, Company Pages will have the ability to follow other pages in the app, giving you another way to stay informed on relevant industry trends in real-time.
   

 3. Meta Launches New Reels Ad Options as it Embraces Evolving Consumption Shifts

Source: Social Media Today

Meta is advancing its advertising options to help businesses grow even further by leveraging Reels’ growing popularity on Facebook and Instagram. Recently, Meta introduced some new ad video options, allowing advertisers to take advantage of short-form video clips to maximize their promotional opportunities.

Firstly, Meta is introducing Click-to-Messenger ads within Facebook Reels. This will enable businesses to drive traffic directly to DMs via Reels clips. Click-to-Messenger ads in Reels will include a large CTA button to drive contact via private chat. This feature capitalizes on the increasing popularity of short-form video and private message interaction.

Secondly, Meta is making WhatsApp Conversion optimisation available for Facebook Reels Ads. This addition further enhances the capabilities of Reels Ads for businesses.

As mentioned by Meta:

“Typically, we show Click to Messenger ads to people who are most likely to initiate a conversation with a business on WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram. With this update, advertisers who use the Sales, Engagement or Traffic objectives to add a “Send Message” button to their Facebook Reels ads will now give people an option to start a conversation in WhatsApp right from the ad.”

What’s the possible impact for businesses from these updates?

More social media users are now sharing content in DMs instead of public news feeds, causing a major shift in online interaction. A recent survey by Meta showed that almost 50% of Reels viewers contacted a brand through DMs after seeing its short-form video content.

Meta’s broader vision to maximise its business messaging opportunities is also reflected in adding WhatsApp to the mix. This is an area where Meta still holds a significant lead over its competitors.

Meta is also making the Ads on Facebook Reels post engagement objective more widely available, which will provide another means to measure reactions, comments, and likes, and compare them to engagement from other ads or campaigns.

As a result, the Meta In-Stream Reserve video ad product is being retired from its in-Stream video options due to the growth of short-form video options.

Updates from Frizbit

1. New Product Update: new segmentation feature

Source: Pexels | Luis Gomes

We strive to continuously enhance our customer experience, and one way we do so is by constantly improving our marketing automation platform.

Our technical team have recently deployed a new version of database, which enables to segment users also “excluding” them based on any behaviour. This capability has been present for a long time on our triggered campaigns, however we needed to wait this update to have it on any type of campaign.

This not only creates the ability to create specific and impactful campaigns, but also allows our clients to target users who have not yet completed desired actions.This new product update also permits “user merge”, which allows our customers to track users on cross devices.

User merge is particularly useful when considering the increasing number of devices individuals now own, making it more difficult to track users and consolidate data. By merging user data, we can better understand user behaviour on cross-device and provide more personalised experiences.

Additionally, this update allows us to enhance our data analysis capabilities, giving us greater insights into the effectiveness of our campaigns and how to improve them moving forward.

 

2. Frizbit attends the e-Show Barcelona 2023

As Frizbit team, we attended the e-Show Barcelona 2023, the largest event for eCommerce and Digital Marketing in Barcelona. 

During the conference, we participated in a variety of workshops and seminars, gaining valuable insights into topics such as cookieless strategies for 2023, mobile commerce, hyperpersonalisation, social media marketing, and customer experience optimization

We also had the opportunity to network with other industry professionals, establishing new connections and paving the way for future collaborations.

Overall, our attendance at e-Show Barcelona 2023 was an enriching experience that has provided us with a wealth of knowledge and inspiration!

 

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) vs Universal Analytics (UA)

Last Wednesday, 26th October we hosted our latest event “Google Analytics 4: Migration, differences, metrics, and the future”. This workshop was led by Michele Sforza, SEM Account Manager at Jevnet and co-organised by Frizbit. Overall, the event was full of good energy and a lot of learning curiosity about this new tool.

If you were not able to attend the event, do not hesitate to stay and read through as we will summarise the most important ideas, conclusions, and key learnings of the event. Our main takeaway is that it’s not about unlearning a tool, but about getting to know a new platform almost from the ground up. 

Without any further ado, we hope you find it as useful as we have!

Watch the replay of the session in Spanish

What is Google Analytics 4?

Source: Adobe Stock

The first thing our guest speaker emphasised was to recall that GA4 is not an accounting tool, but an analytics tool, so the data it provides is quantitative. 

Another key factor, before moving on, is to understand that although the name GA4 suggests that it is an update, in reality, it is an almost completely revamped tool.

So what’s going on with Google Analytics?

The irrevocable implementation of Google Analytics 4, which will make the traditional Universal Analytics obsolete, as well as its historical data, is getting closer and closer. In other words, the countdown to migration has begun.

The most important dates to keep in mind are:

• July 1st 2023: Data collection by Universal Analytics stops.

• October 1st 2023: Data within the tool will be deleted, and access to the platform will be restricted.

“But if I have until July 2023, why should I start now with the migration?” While we’ll get into this in more depth later, we can tell you that the longer you take to start the migration, the less historical data you’ll have on hand to readjust your digital strategy next year.

Other considerations as to why the change needs to happen now:

• Not only will Universal Analytics stop working, but all data you collect via Data Studio or from any Universal Analytics source is also going to stop working.

• GA4 rejects third-party cookies. We’ve been saying it a lot, and the cookieless future is coming. That said, if you have remarketing listings, no data will be collected either, as they will stop receiving cookies.
  
• You can’t compare apples and oranges, as they say colloquially. In this case, you can’t compare UA users with GA4 users.

Why Google Analytics 4?

Source: Adobe Stock

This is perhaps one of the biggest questions surrounding this matter: Why, if UA was working well, does there have to be a new update? 

The change is nothing more than a prelude to what lies ahead for the future of Google and the privacy of its users. As we know, Universal Analytics is almost entirely based on the use of third-party cookies, something that is totally incompatible with the ‘cookieless’ future of web analytics that Google has been supporting. In other words, Universal Analytics is incompatible with the new interests and privacy policies of the users. 

Google Analytics 4 features

The cornerstones on which it is based are privacy, omni-channeling, and comprehensive data analytics.

In terms of privacy, GA4 is getting closer and closer to the ‘cookieless’ future and personal data protection. One of the most important new features is that it identifies users without the use of cookies, while relying more on machine learning. 

Regarding the omnichannel pillar, we can finally measure real customer journeys, i.e. multi-platform and multi-device, measuring each user touchpoint. In this way, we will finally be able to unify and measure more real interactions, adjusted to the lifestyle of our users, which allows us to act with even greater precision at the right time, whether it is through the web or through apps. 

Finally, the third major pillar is comprehensive data analytics. While UA allowed us to evaluate the sessions of each user, their navigation and the overall traffic very accurately that a website received, the analysis of interactions was lagging behind. With GA4, measuring events (actions and conversions) is possible in a more insightful way.

Having said that, the most visible changes within the platform are:

• The ‘Views’ column has completely disappeared, and with it, the possibility to create filtered reports in a visual and intuitive way. We now have the new term ‘Data-Stream’, which is a flow of data from which we take the information and varies depending on whether it is from the web or an app.  

• User measurement is much more accurate and multi-channel. GA4 is able to recognise the same user, even if they are using different devices, which is very different to how it worked with UA. This is why, when comparing users between UA and GA4, the measurement would be incorrect. It is very likely that you will experience a decrease in users in GA4 compared to UA. It is not that GA4 is not registering users; it just does it in a more accurate way.

Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics

One of the key differences to grasp is the change of approach of the tool. It moves from being session-centric to user-centric, i.e. focused on interactions and events while respecting privacy.

Universal Analytics:

• Session-based
• Unlimited data retention
• Complex user experience
• Automatic page views and user data
• Data taken from a sample (not accurate) – more inaccurate sessions
• Structure: Category – Action – Tag
• Bounce due to lack of engagement
• Users: Cookies

Google Analytics 4:

• User-centric and event-driven
• Limited data retention 
• Intuitive navigation
• Automatic event tracking
• More accurate data without sampling – less accurate sessions
• Structure: Event name – Parameters
• Bounce if a session is not of value*: does not stay at least 10 seconds, does not make two visits to two pages or does not make a conversion
• Users: generate valuable sessions*.

What information should I keep?

One of the most important points is that you can’t compare UA data with GA4 data, because their measurement system is different. So if you want to collect historical data by 2023, the time to start migrating from UA to GA4 is now.

What’s new in GA4

Source: Adobe Stock

n addition to the features mentioned earlier, one of the new developments that we are most excited about is the almost automatic direct integrations available. 

Among them, we can highlight the following:

Firebase: This platform is directly linked to the development and analytics of mobile applications. It is one of the most relevant integrations for GA4, as in fact, its structure and interface served as the basis for the development of Google Analytics 4.
It is relevant because: It creates an automatic data analytics flow to GA4, being able to track users entering both through the app and the web. 

Google Tag Manager: This tool is designed to make implementations and updates to our website easier.
It is relevant because: The integration with GA4 will reduce the time to measure results on the web, possible errors will be minimised by timely reporting them, and finally, it will be easier to update new implementations.

Search Console: This tool is totally oriented towards SEO, analysing what position each page occupies within the search engines, and how well the pages can be navigated, among others. Although it was already in Universal Analytics, some new features include the introduction of a new series of exclusive reports for Search Console within GA4.
This is relevant because: It will be possible to combine metrics and dimensions from GA4 and Search Console to make a joint analysis and create new reports based on this. 

Advertising platforms: GA4 is very well-prepared for the integration of Google Ads, Ad Manager, Display & Video 360 + Search Ads 360 (for its paid version).
It is relevant because: We will be able to visualise all the data of all the campaigns automatically and in a more complete way. We will be able to know which campaigns have had better conversions and results. On the other hand, we will be able to create audiences based on the campaign reports and export them to other ad platforms to maximise conversion and conscious retargeting. 

Why should I prepare for the future with GA4? 

The most straightforward answer is that the shift is inevitable, and the main reason is the advent of the ‘cookieless’ future. 

As a study by Pewreserach shows, 72% of people who use the internet report feeling watched and their privacy threatened after their online behaviour is tracked. This is why for several years now, the digital environment has been preparing for this with the elimination of third-party cookies and the validation of own cookies in browsers such as Firefox, Safari and soon Google Chrome. 

E-commerce and Google Analytics 4

Source: Negative Space/Pexels

Perhaps one of the most important changes is for the e-commerce industry. While in UA, every step the user made was registered, in GA4 this code has changed radically, becoming incompatible with the previous version.

There is also a relevant change in the events. Previously in Universal Analytics, the events were named by each user as they saw fit. Now, in GA4, these events already have a recommended nomenclature, which will impact the reports and make their results more accurate. Again, this is one of the ways in which GA4 continues to demonstrate its accuracy.

Migration from Universal Analytics to GA4

Source: Stock Adobe

This is a phase from which we cannot simply run away. There may be many doubts; however, we have identified a number of key steps in the process. To do this:

1. Audit the current Universal Analytics account: write down all events, goals, audiences, segments, and roles within the last year.
2. Develop an implementation plan: migrate goals to conversion events, migrate custom dimensions, migrate custom reports to Explorer or Data Studio as well as permissions and roles, among others.
3. Create and configure GA4: Configure data streams, integrate GA4 with tools (GAds, Search Console etc., activate Google Signal, leverage the new data-driven attribution model, internal IPs, cross-domain and exclude referral list. 

How can I export the data?

There are several options within it via the paid version of Google Cloud or manually by downloading report after report. 

Final recommendations:

In addition to migrating as soon as possible, the advice is oriented in four directions:

• UTM: Monitor all UTMs, as they will change. 
• Audiences: Start creating audiences as soon as possible.
• Download reports: Download reports via Google Sheet and its Google Analytics extension.
• Attention to details: This tool comes with default settings, so it is important to adjust your settings. We recommend:

1. Change the value of Data retention 2 months to 14 months.
2. Configure the domains if you have more than one to build a solid customer journey. 
3. Define internal traffic for better metrics.
4. Configure referrals that you don’t want to measure, such as third-party payment platforms.
5. Adjust the time of engaged sessions to really measure if the sessions are of value or not. 

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably noticed that this specific workshop was loaded with valuable information about this great GA4 tool. 

On behalf of the Frizbit team, we would like to thank our great speaker Michele Sforza for delivering such an interesting and engaging workshop. Thanks also to all those who, either remotely or online, were able to join us during the event.

If you don’t want to miss our next events, we invite you to follow us on our Eventbrite profile, where we update information about upcoming workshops and meetings.

See you next time!

 

We welcome September after a slower summer season with our monthly newsletter. During August, while most professionals enjoyed a well-deserved break or had a slower-business season (at least in Spain), the rapidly changing marketing landscape kept its usual pace.

Let’s start this back-to-school and back-to-business season with the most recent and relevant digital marketing news and updates.

Keep reading to find out the latest insights from the digital marketing world.

Digital Marketing News and Updates from August 2022

 

CONTENT

Search Marketing Updates

• Meet the new Helpful Content algorithm by Google

• Google sets the race for Local and Smart Shopping campaigns to shift into Performance Max campaigns

• Do you have an international SEO strategy in place? Google Search Console will remove its International Targeting report

   

Tech Marketing Updates

• Introducing Shopify Collabs: the new digital solution to connecting creators with Shopify businesses

• Canva gets one step closer to becoming the one-stop-shop for visual needs with Whiteboards

Social Media Updates

• LinkedIn introduces the ability to pin comments under posts

• Podcasts steps firmly into the YouTube platform

• Twitter is testing professional account options, which include shopping & link features

   

About Frizbit

• Save the date, a new workshop is coming up on September 22nd [Event held in Spanish]

   

Search Marketing Updates

• Meet the new Helpful Content algorithm by Google

 

As announced in the blog of the company, Google is rolling out a new algorithm for its search engines. While many eCommerce stores are still struggling with the recent Product Review Update, Google is determined to provide a more human approach to online navigation. And clearly, this update demonstrates so.

So far, there are many reactive opinions about this new update going around in the SEO industry. Most of them are implying that with this new update, the SEO era will come to an end. Some experts are arguing that the new algorithm will devalue the content written for SEO purposes. However, all that this update aims for is to favour the content written for people by people.

So, what can you expect from the new roll-out? Contrasting with the previous update, which only affected certain pages of a website, the new Helpful Content algorithm has the potential to impact all pages within a site. 

As Google describes it, this update aims to:

“Tackle content that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people.”

What else do you need to know about the algorithm?

• A new signal ranking is coming out for both new and existing websites.
• It will start rolling out in September
• Google is prioritising expertise and added-value rather than simply summarising content from other posts.
• Undefined niche categories in publications might classify a site as unhelpful.
• If Google detects that users aren’t finding what they truly need, it might affect the ranking of the site.
• Writing about trends outside your niche or industry might get classified as an effort to classify higher in the rankings, rather than providing value.
• Removing unhelpful content will increase the possibility of ranking in a higher position

 

So what can we learn from this update?

First things first, the SEO era will not come to an end. It is definitely taking a new direction towards a more streamlined practice, connecting humans with humans. 

This new update isn’t either devaluing the SEO practices, but rather is an open invitation to content creators to incorporate conscious practices into creating content with people in mind.

 

Google sets the race for Local and Smart Shopping campaigns to shift into Performance Max campaigns

Earlier this year, Google announced that its Local and Smart Shopping campaigns would embrace changes and turn into Performance Max campaigns. In their announcement, Google provided clear deadlines for this placement, with it being September 2022. 

To understand the relevance of this update, let’s get back to the basics: what exactly are the benefits of the Performance Max campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns use Artificial Intelligence combined with automatisation to maximise the performance based on a specific conversion goal. 

So conversion, performance, AI, and automatisation are in one place? Yes! And the benefits don’t just stop right there. These campaigns encompass all Google properties such as YouTube, Gmail, maps, search discovery, and display. Ultimately, you are able to track the customer journey a client does when searching for a product or purchasing online.

Now that we’ve covered the basics and we are well aware of the tight deadlines Google is giving, let’s break down the official news.

In August, Google released a tool to self-upgrade both Local and Smart Shopping campaigns with just one click. The trick with this update is that although you can do it with a simple configuration setting, it won’t be available for all the merchants yet. 

So, how can you know if you’re eligible for the self-upgrade?

If your campaigns were compatible with the upgrade, it is likely you have received a notification with a link or that you are able to find the option through the Google Ads Dashboard. If, on the contrary, that wasn’t your case, your Local campaigns won’t update to Max Performance until 2023.

Now, the next big question is: What happens with the old campaigns?

We do recommend that you use the self-upgrade option as soon as you are eligible. The reason is that all the old self-upgraded campaigns will keep all the historical performance data and your chosen settings.  

Although having this option is great for analysis and reporting purposes, all old campaigns will be automatically set to “Removed” status. This means that no edits, nor reactivation, will be allowed.

 

• Do you have an international SEO strategy in place? Google Search Console will remove its International Targeting report

 

The International Targeting report has been deprecated, and will be removed from Search Console soon. We continue to support hreflang and our recommendations for managing multilingual and multiregional sites still stand. https://t.co/yz4lsHhXhO

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) August 24, 2022

If you own a multilingual or multi-regional website, stay tuned because Google has officially announced that its International Targeting report will be removed from Search Console by September 22nd.

Many are the questions that have arisen with this announcement, such as:

• Where will the hreflang-tags errors be found?
• Can you target a specific country manually with a .com domain?
• Will hreflang continue to be supported?

While Google hasn’t announced what will happen with the hreflang errors found in websites through the report, they have stated that hreflang tags will continue to be supported by Google Search Console. In fact, as they quoted in their tweet, Google will continue to support multilingual and multi-regional sites with their standard recommendations still. 

So, how can you help Google understand your site if you support different languages or locations?

1. If you are managing a multilingual or multi-regional site, you can optimise Google Search results directly from your website
   
2. If you manage multiple sites for different languages, make sure you are reporting and telling Google about each of these variations. By doing this, Google will appoint the corresponding variation to the right user.
3. If your website shows certain content based on the location or language of the user, Google might not be able to crawl, index or rank all the content for the specific locale.

With this update, certainly, manually targeting countries or the preference of the language from users might become a harder practice. We believe that by doing this, Google continues to strive in its fight against SEO-done content and keeps moving towards a more human navigation experience.

 

Marketing Tech

• Introducing Shopify Collabs: the new digital solution to connecting creators with Shopify businesses.

With creators and brand experiences in mind, Shopify has rolled out its Collabs. It’s a win-win for both creators that can sustain their activities with brands they love, and for brands that can reach new audiences.

Influential marketing has played a big part in the development of brands. In most cases, it helps to boost the awareness of a brand or increase the sales of a product or service. We can agree that nowadays, it is a crucial part of any digital marketing strategy.

This is a free initiative in which brands can:

• Communicate that they are open to collabs
• Detail the brief and description of the brand to match with the perfect creator
• Build stronger and real partnerships with creators
• Announce specific products to be promoted by collabs 
• Send gifts to creators
• Track reports and analytics by the performance of the influencer

Collabs will work on an application basis to ensure that brands connect with the right audience. 

As stated by Kabbara, its Director of Product, in the article of the company:

“For Shopify merchants, Collabs is a new way to find potential customers at a time when it’s never been more difficult or expensive,” Kabbara continued. “By giving merchants the ability to discover and partner with creators that align with their brand, they can tap into the power of community-driven commerce to reach consumers in new and meaningful ways.” 

For the time being, Shopify Collabs will be available only in the US and Canada.

 

 Canva gets one step closer to becoming the one-stop-shop for visual needs with Whiteboard

Canva is living up to its name with its newest product release. The online visual and creative platform surprised everyone with the brand-new feature Whiteboards.

This feature includes pre-made templates to brainstorm and express ideas visually by non-designers. It’s bringing creativity to the fingertips of the day-to-day user. 

One of the most loved features is the possibility of collaborating online with others. This property comes in handy nowadays that remote working is more common. 

From Kanban templates to all types of diagrams and mapping options, Canva is building limitless spaces to bring your ideas to life.

What are some of the best usages you can have with the new rollout?

• Create dynamic presentations that expand in a limitless space.

• Conduct workshops with experience and timing in mind.

• Create Customer Journey and general mind-maps while collaborating online with others.

As Canva states in their blog:

“Great things happen when people come together to bring their ideas to life. There’s truly no limit to what you can do with Canva Whiteboards, which is free for our global community and available on the web, desktop and mobile.”

 

 Social Media Marketing

• LinkedIn introduces the ability to pin comments under posts

LinkedIn has rolled out a new feature that enables all users, both company pages and personal profiles, to pin comments under a thread. To pin a response, simply access the three dots menu, and become ready to place the best responses on the top.

How can this update be useful to you?

With LinkedIn being a social media platform in which getting awareness and visibility tends to be easier than other channels, this new functionality has the potential to elevate the engagement of your publications and get seen by many others.

We firmly believe that this new update will boost interactions and can become a great tool to build personal branding in this social network.

 

Podcasts steps firmly into the YouTube platform

 

The long-format video platform is slowly introducing a dedicated section for podcasts. YouTube is updating itself to provide podcasts with its own dedicated section. 

YouTube has decided to make the best out of a common malpractice of users publishing static content on a dynamic and video-based platform (A.KA. Podcast videos on YouTube). Truth be told, most podcast producers would update their episodes despite sometimes displaying only a picture with the audio behind it. 

Although YouTube hasn’t formally announced the new platform changes, many users have found it while navigating within the platform. Some have even documented how to access the dedicated section.

To access the update, just go to the Explore tab, which will display the menu options, including the podcast. Then click the option of ‘Podcast’ and get ready to support your favourite content creators. 

 

Does this mean YouTube will also raise the fight for podcasts in the industry? 

What we know about this update is that it is slowly being tested and rolled out by countries. It is also known that podcasts are being displayed by subcategories to ease the navigation of the user.

There are 9 podcast categories to suit the need of the customers and help them explore the vast content. These categories are:

1. Popular episodes
2. Popular podcast playlists
3. Recommended (Based on your Subscriptions and History)
4. Popular podcast creators
5. Comedy
6. True Crime
7. Sports
8. Music
9. TV & Film

It does seem that this rollout is the start of something bigger than merely performing changes in the layout of the platform. YouTube knows its market advantage and has taken the first steps into the podcast industry.

 

• Twitter is testing professional account options, which includes shopping & link features

 

These sure are exciting times for professional accounts on Twitter. The platform has announced that a new set of features are being unlocked exclusively for professional accounts. 

Twitter is committed to helping businesses, brands, and creators to have a strong online presence and this new shopping and custom links functionality seems to be hitting off the ground.

 

? We’re going global! Now, any professional around the world can add a Location Spotlight to their profile to help customers find their biz location and get in touch faster. And☝️it has a new Google Maps integration to help customers with directions. pic.twitter.com/Uw5oLdJWXU

— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) August 4, 2022

 

Let’s review what these two new profile spotlights are about. The first one would be the Location Spotlight has rolled out globally. This update aims to help any business owner to become visible to their customers with even a Google Maps integration for directions. 

 

But this isn’t all this new spotlight feature can do for your business. It also includes updates such as displaying business hours and direct contact methods to bring customers closer to businesses. Among the contact options, you can set up to be contacted by phone call, text message, direct Twitter message, and email.

 

 

Last but not least, the Shopping Spotlight is perhaps the most exciting update for professionals and their sales goals. Unlike the previous update, this functionality is available only to qualified accounts, mainly in the US. 

So what’s exciting about this update?

Those qualifying accounts will be entitled to a dedicated section at the top of their account profiles to display their products. The spotlight will act as a catalogue for easy access to purchase products without having to leave Twitter.

As Twitter describes this update:

“This is a feature that allows us to explore how shoppable profiles can create a pathway from talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them. “

The update doesn’t stop here. Twitter is actually developing a product management platform to create a seamless experience in showcasing products. This development will mainly assist business owners to create their own catalogues in-line with the right display in the app.

 

About Frizbit

• Save the date, a new workshop is coming up on September 22nd [Event held in Spanish]

 

We are delighted to announce that we are back with our offline events in Barcelona after a well-deserved summer break. In this event held in Spanish, we will review the strategies to perform retargeting without using third-party cookies.

Despite the delays from Google in fully implementing the cookieless era, we know the change and upcoming challenges are imminent. So, what better way than to actually get your hands on a theory-practical workshop to get ahead of the game?

If this event already sounds like you, keep reading to find out the details about this exciting workshop. 

During the event, you will learn what these types of alerts really are, and you will discover everything they can do for your e-Commerce to bring your customers back. 

In addition, you will explore this channel, which besides being innovative, is aligned with the new data privacy restrictions and third-party cookie limitations that will come into force by 2024.

Of course, after-work, and networking could not be missing in this workshop, so besides learning about best practices and tips to implement them, you will also be invited to enjoy some free beers on a nice terrace in Barcelona.

If you are not in Barcelona but still would love to attend the event, we got you covered! For those who can’t make it physically to the event, we will have a live broadcast for the workshop. To access the broadcast, register through the link below and choose “Watch Online – Remote”.  We will email you the live link on the day of the event.

The details:

When: September 22nd

Time: 18:30 (registration opens) until 21:00 

Where: Aticco Verdaguer, Barcelona

Workshop Facilitator:  Ata Gur, CEO & Co-founder of Frizbit

 

You can register for free here

 

On the 20th of July, we organised our last event before the summer break. Aside from the dynamic roundtable discussions, thanks to our moderator Tim Çakir, we also enjoyed a thriving networking session with some mandatory cool beers. 

For this roundtable, we wanted to create a more enriching experience for the attendees, which is why we brought together two other marketing tech automation startups: Vidjet and Spitche, with their corresponding CEOs and co-founders Baptiste Nicolas and Kevin Markowski. Representing Frizbit, we had our CEO and co-founder Ata Gür on the stage. 

Keep on reading if you want to grasp the key takeaways from this event.

Spoiler alert: Our moderator, Tim Cakir, did not hold back in any of his questions!

Previously, we stated we wanted to provide value to our audience, which is why throughout the roundtable, we discussed the future and trends for eCommerce, the changes they had faced in the customer journey, and how the solutions of each of the speakers add value to any online store owner.

“The right time, the right place and the right audience.” quote by Tim Çakir.

If we were to highlight a key phrase to get the core of the event, this would definitely be it. Any marketer, eCommerce manager, or anyone involved with digital businesses will agree to the veracity of this quote. The tools and answers from the roundtable will help you accomplish this goal, so without further due, let’s dive into the main insights from the event.

 

Quick guide: Essential Tools for eCommerce Automation

Pexels/ Andrea Piacquadio

 

Answering the question of “how any of these tech solutions can help the industry”, the main insights were the following:

 

• If you are looking for ways to humanize and make more “tangible” your products/your brand in the online space, then a shoppable video app like Vidjet is your way to go. This tool will also help you get closer to your customers in the crucial purchasing decision moments through honest video content.
• If you are looking for ways to improve trustability and boost your engagement with social proof, this is what you need for your business. Spitche works with brand ambassadors from your own community in a win-to-win environment.
• Last but not least, if you are looking for a way to engage with registered and non-registered customers without ads and bring them back to your site, then the Frizbit automation system is the tool you require. Its hyper-personalisation, multi-device communication, cookieless operation and consumer-behaviour patterns are what make this tool so attractive for online business owners.

 

If you haven’t started to automate your business with the marketing tech available at the moment, you are losing on ways to scale and be more profitable. Each of these solutions targets a different pain point that normally an online consumer can face. By addressing and acting at the right moment, we are sure your online business will get the push to reach the next level.
At the moment, at Frizbit, we offer a demo of our retargeting solution. You can apply directly here and be eligible for a one-month free trial.

What is changing in the customer journey scenery?

 

Constant changes and a fast-paced lifestyle are the new normal. Therefore, we should expect that customers are changing their patterns and behaviours too in their purchase journey. 

During the event, this was one of the questions that Tim asked the speakers, and from it, we can take that there are changes from the pre-purchase to the post-purchase. Let’s see what this is about.

Consuming less is the new trend, and from the pre-purchase phase, users want to be sure of what they are purchasing. If we have an eCommerce, it isn’t enough to only display pictures of our products anymore. It simply might not be enough.

So, what can you do to reassure your customers? 

Try implementing dimensional strategies such as on-face preview tools and videos showcasing the different textures -if that’s the case. And why not? Integrate the usage of augmented reality to create more real-life-like experiences.

 

 

The second change we can experience in the online customer journey purchase is the announced C2C era. It stands for “Connect to Customer”, and the truth is, it couldn’t be more accurate. 

The new C2C era stands for more sustainable and long-lasting relationships, which ultimately translates into finding tools to engage with customers on deeper levels. 

What does it look like from an eCommerce perspective? 

Now more than ever, placing your products in front of the best customers is imperative. One of the ways to achieve this is by enhancing the UGC. The biggest lesson we take from the roundtable is that within your existing customers, you can find superfans hidden in your audience, and they can boost your conversion rates through values such as honesty, trustability and transparency. These are all values that the now-a-day consumer demands.

 

Lastly, one of the biggest shifts the online space is facing is undoubtedly related to the privacy of users. This is imminent, and the biggest challenge we are facing is undergoing the ‘cookieless’ era. Reaching and accessing your customers could get really tough if you are not prepared for it. 

If you are not allowed to conduct retargeting with ads any more, how will you be able to boost your sales? Using cookieless strategies such as web push notifications will not only allow you to stay in line with the new data regulations. It will also allow you to talk to your customers in real-time, even if they are not on your site. So, say hi to multi-device messaging!

 

How does the future of eCommerce look like?

Two words: harmonisation and humanisation.

Creating in-sync customer journeys is essential to any online business that wants to thrive in the digital world. Nowadays, customers have more dynamic and complex behavioural patterns. This is why, if you run an eCommerce business, being present at different touchpoints and devices along the journey is crucial. 

Automation tools can become your best ally, helping you display the right message to the right customer at the right time. We hear this constantly, but it is true, and what’s best is that you don’t need to figure it all out on your own. There are already existing tools that track behavioural data for you to connect to your customers in a timely manner.

With automation, we always face the risk of losing the spark of the human touch. This is why, for the future of eCommerce, it is now necessary to find ways that resonate with users and speak directly to them. Some of the ways we learned at the event are the usage of video messages created by people for people, hyper-personalised messages and peer-to-peer connections. 

 

 

Key takeaways:

• The future of eCommerce is changing within 3 pillars: privacy, authentic online experiences, and the appearance of the C2C era.

• Connecting to a deeper level with customers is essential. Some great tools to do it are hyper-personalised messages, human and kind video messages, and enhancing your UGC.
  
  
• If used correctly, the tech marketing tools can help you boost your eCommerce. Using marketing automation tools isn’t equivalent to delivering cold messaging to your audience.
  
  
• Harmonisation is crucial to any eCommerce that wants to adapt to the dynamic and fast-paced environment

 

Having said this, we would like to thank everyone who took part in this experience and made it possible. Special thanks to our speakers, moderator, and Áticco Working Spaces for their collaboration and continuous support.

 

If you missed the event and want to catch up with the latest digital marketing strategies and tools using first-party data, the replay of the session is available here.

 

We hope to see you at our next event ?

 

We are excited to share that we have launched a new overview of campaigns analytics on the Frizbit Dashboard so that you can see detailed reports of all your campaigns in one place.

In this view of campaign reporting section, you can see information about the following actions for each push notification, email and SMS campaign depending on the case:

• Received
• Clicked
• CTR (Click through Rate)

You can also filter by specific time periods and the campaign type. You can also download reports as PNG, PDF or CSV by clicking on the button at the right-bottom.

To access this panel, you just have to log into your Frizbit account, go to the left menu and click on Campaigns > Overview.

At Frizbit we are constantly making improvements to the product, to offer you the best possible product and we hope that this new functionality will be very useful for you and that you can see the results of your campaigns whenever you want.

We are at your service for any questions or comments.

We wish you a great November from the entire Frizbit team.

Natura is a miscellaneous product retailer with 221 stores open between Spain, Portugal, Italy and Andorra. They recently launched their e-commerce site with 5 languages and were looking for a solution to engage, bring back customers and increase their revenue with a hyper pesonalized experience that fits their brand.

They implemented automated web push notifications and emails from Frizbit. 

Natura Success Story by Frizbit

By using behavioural, hyper-personalised emails and web push notifications from Frizbit, Natura managed to bring customers back to finish their transactions with a ROAS of 16.8x, a 0,10€ cost per session and a 4,3% increase sales increase for the month of July.

We have put together a complete Success Story explaining the problem Natura was facing and how Frizbit offered an all-in-one solution. In this study you will find all the information, data and insights about this specific case and understand how Frizbit offers the possibility to retarget completely anonymous users without ads and 3rd party cookies when they have already left your site.

Get the Case Study and Request a demo for your site

If you are interested in learning more about Natura’s success with retargeting email and web push notifications, download the case study by clicking here: https://dmgh2x5m53bk.swipepages.net/natura-success-story-by-frizbit

You can get in touch with Frizbit to request a demo and see the benefits it can present for your online business as well.

More Success Stories!

• Bidcom reached a 37x ROAS with automated Emails and Web Push Notifications from Frizbit
• Primor Reached a 36x ROAS with Web Push Notifications from Frizbit

Digital marketing never sleeps and neither do marketing professionals when it comes to keeping up with trends, news and updates. Between coming up with new and innovative ways to catch people’s attention and not missing any news from Google, finding time to shut an eye might seem impossible. 

So here we are, gathering and sharing with you the most important:

Digital Marketing News, Updates and Insights from June 2021

1. Search Marketing Updates

• Google delays third-party cookie phaseout one more year

In a recent blog post, Google updated us about their progress on their intention to eliminate third-party cookies. They announced that, even with the considerable progress they’ve had with Project Sandbox, more time is required to get things right. 

The aim of this project is to protect people’s privacy online, while still offering companies the tools they need to do digital business. Google believes that the online community needs “to come together to develop a set of open standards to fundamentally enhance privacy on the web, giving people more transparency and greater control over how their data is used.”

To achieve this, they feel the need to move at a slower pace to be more responsible. Google wants that boths users and publishers are protected, by making sure that cookies are not replaced with any sort of individual tracking or fingerprinting, and that advertisers have enough time to migrate their service and preserve their business models. 

We must take time to evaluate the new technologies, gather feedback and iterate to ensure they meet our goals for both privacy and performance, and give all developers time to follow the best path for privacy. – Google Blog

They stated that key technologies will be deployed for Chrome late 2022 and start phasing-out third party cookies by mid 2023 ending late 2023. 

• Google ads new feature that helps businesses display their information

Google is constantly updating and creating new tools to help businesses show more accurate and detailed information in Search and Maps so owners can easily connect with potential customers.

You can add details, such as contact information and opening hours, and create Posts to share updates, like special offers or new offerings, right from Google Search. Starting next week, you’ll also be able to create Posts about upcoming events including when and where they’re happening. Google Blog

New features allow businesses to change and share information directly from Search and Maps. They include:

• Easily show your services: businesses can now use the Edit Profile menu on Search to display their services. It’s even possible to show specialties if you offer personal care services, for example. For restaurant owners that work with Reserve Google, they can enable online bookings through their Business Profile.

• Accept takeout and delivery orders: Google reported a 230% increase in food ordering since last year. To adapt to this demand, Order with Google allows businesses to accept takeout and delivery orders through their Business Profile. Restaurants can also update their menus directly on Search and Maps.

 

• Automatically update your inventory: Google Searches for “who has” + “in stock” have grown by more than 8,000% year over year, which shows that shoppers are searching for products online before they head to the stores. As a response to this, eligible retailers in the U.S will be able to “get all their in-store product inventory automatically added to their Business Profile by signing up for Pointy from Google right from Google Search”. With this tool you can scan your products and they are automatically added to your Business Profile.

• Brave search engine launches public beta

Creators of Brave, the browser that puts user’s privacy first, have launched Brave Search Engine in a global public beta. They have announced it as a “real alternative to Google” that’s private, transparent and doesn’t surveille users.

Brave’s search engine works completely independently from Google, it uses its own independent index of the web. It’s available for desktop and mobile devices in any browser at search.brave.com. 

This search engine doesn’t collect user data which makes it impossible to sell, share or lose. They also claim to offer real transparency by not using any type of “secret algorithms” to show search results: We rely on anonymous community contributions to refine results, and community-created alternative ranking models to ensure diversity. 

The engine was developed by the former Cliqz Team as the company announced back in March of this year. 

2. Marketing Tech Updates

• Google Integrates with WooCommerce for easy Product Uploads

WooCommerce has launched an extension that allows sellers to upload their products to Google for free. This means that online retailers will have the opportunity to get discovered by more shoppers through Search, Shopping, Images, and YouTube.

By connecting a WooCommerce store with Google Merchant Center, all products and their information will be listed on  search results on Google. All the product’s details will be automatically updated when any changes are made on WooCommerce. 

It’s completely free to list products in the Google Shopping tab, and retailers also have the option to pay for ads if they wish to have more visibility. 

Through the new Google extensions, sellers have total control of their products listing, performance and analytics without needing to leave the dashboard and the opportunity to reach more users without extra work. You can get the extension here!

• Google Announces New Ads Creative Studio

With the intention of offering designers, agencies and brands better ways to work and create ads, Google has announced the launch of Ads Creative Studio. A platform to unify all of Google’s creative advertising tools. 

The objective is to help creative teams increase productivity and to simplify the process of designing compelling ads. Google says on their blog that “Ads Creative Studio will bring together a number of creative tools previously found across products like YouTube, Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360. “

Ads Creative Studio features include:

• Director Mix: this feature allows to create different versions of a YouTube video for different audiences with swappable elements.

• Dynamic display and HTML5 tools: they allow you to generate customized and interactive creatives for Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360.

• Audio Mixer: that allows you to create tailored audio ads for Display & Video 360.

• Shopify rolls out Product Updates for Shopify Developers

This month Shopify announced a series of updates for developers:

• Subscriptions support for PayPal Express: the launch of this feature represents the first additional payment gateway support after Shopify Payments with the hopes of offering support to more sellers around the world. 

• Partner-initiated app refunds: before this update, partners had to contact Shopify Support to issue refunds. Now, they can handle them directly through the Partner Dashboard.

• VAT changes for ecommerce purchases made within the EU: in order to help merchants comply with changes made to tax regulations for ecommerce purchases made within the EU, Shopify is adding new options to the tax settings. 

3. Social Media Marketing Updates

• Twitter is adding Subscribe Button to profiles for Newsletter Signups

In January 2021 we shared the news about Twitter acquiring newsletter platform Revue to help content creators share and monetize their work. As it was to be expected now Twitter is adding a new Subscribe button to profiles so people can sign up to newsletters. 

The button will appear on the user’s profile next to the mutual followers section. When signing up, the subscriber will receive a message letting them know that their email address will be sent to the newsletter owner and have the chance to take a sneak peek at the content before finally agreeing to sign up. 

This new feature will be available to all users that have a Revue account. 

• Instagram Announces New Features for Creators to Make Money

Instagram has become a business platform for a lot of people. With this in mind, they have announced the launch of three major new features to help content creators make money: Creator Shops, affiliate commerce, and a “branded content marketplace.

• Creators Shop: creators shop is designed for those who want to sell products using their personal profiles. It can be done in two ways:

• Existing products can be linked to both personal and business accounts
• New shops can be set up through the Instagram app linking their account to one of Instagram’s merchandise partners: Bravado/UMG, Fanjoy, Represent, and Spring. This feature will be available for creators in the US at the end of the year.

• Affiliate Commerce: this program aims to help creators gain a commission payment within the app when they generate a sale for a brand through a post in their accounts. It will feature a label indicating users that they will support the creator with their purchase.

• Branded Content Marketplace: this feature is designed to help brands connect with content creators and influencers that match and align their work. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri said “We should be able to help brands find creators that are uniquely aligned with the work they’re trying to do and vice versa. If we can help with matchmaking, we can help drive more dollars to the smaller creators who can do amazing work for brands.” 

• Facebook Launches 4 New E-commerce Features 

Facebook is introducing new features to help online shops reach more people, get their products discovered and increase sales:

• Facebook Shops in More Places: online shops can now choose Marketplace as an additional channel to Shop tabs on Instagram and Facebook to sell their products. 

• Customer reviews: customer ratings will be expanded to products in Shops on Instagram with photos and videos from the community.

 

• Personalized shop ads: Facebook is launching new ads to personalize customer’s shopping experience and send them to curated collections based on their shopping history where they are most likely to make a purchase. 

• Expanded Access to AR Try-On Feature: Facebook is developing APIs to help more brands have access to augmented reality features that bring the “in-shop” experience to users online. They are also adding AR to some types of ads to encourage people to try on suggested products. 

Which digital marketing news from June 2021 surprised or interested you the most?

Make sure to also read: 

• How can Marketing Automation Help you Sell More
• Hyper-Personalization: What is it and How it Differs from Personalization
• 6 Multi-Channel Marketing Strategies for B2B