Happy Easter! It’s been a busy few days in the world of digital marketing; no one story necessarily warrants full focus, but there are plenty of bits and pieces to keep an eye on.

Will Meta get elections right in 2024?

There’s been a lot of chatter over the last few days regarding Meta and numerous elections taking place this year. To briefly summarise:

• Some people were surprised to learn that Instagram is limiting visibility of political content by default (this can be reversed, but only by hunting through settings).
• Meta has also killed off CloudTangle, one of the key tools utilised for finding and flagging disinformation. Meta has essentially responded by stating that it is launching new features which will make these tools obsolete.
• Relevant but also not directly related, I found this piece on how AI deep fakes are scamming older users on Facebook interesting, alarming and thought provoking.

Back to my original question – with so much external and regulatory pressure, it’s hard to imagine how Meta can reasonably handle elections (and politics in general) in a way which pleases everyone. 

That said, after years of a relatively free-for-all environment, I can’t help but feel that limiting and restricting content is probably the most sensible approach. It just doesn’t feel like they’re nailing it currently. One to watch and something I’m sure I’ll circle back on as we learn more.

Disney+ advertising available for self-service buyers

Users of Google’s DV360 services should shortly be able to buy ads on Disney+ for users of its ad-supported tier. 

I’ve mentioned this before, but this has now started to move from the realms of theory to reality. Personally I think this is really interesting; for a long time, the only way to buy ads on some of the world’s largest video streaming platforms was to buy direct. This is great for big businesses with a small navy of agencies at their disposal, but for marketers who have to work smarter it means fewer options, and less ability to test, learn and scale accordingly.

I’ll still always suggest using the right channel and targeting to match your audience and service, but another powerful option seems to be around the corner. (ICYMI: You can buy ads on Netflix via Microsoft’s ad solutions)

It’s all going on with X (formerly Twitter)

It feels like every time I check my news feeds this week, there’s something else going on with X.

• According to some new research, X usage is down a quarter when compared to life before Elon Musk’s acquisition. The only surprise is, given the amount of people in my little digital marketing bubble who’ve said they’re boycotting it, is that the figure is so low. The echo-chamber in practice. 
• Remember the drama around users having to pay for blue ticks? Well, we’re now heading back to the model where people with big followings could get verified, whether they like it or not.
• And finally, X is testing adult content groups for users. Just what the platform needs, more “ickyness” – that’ll definitely get the advertisers back.

It’s hard to feel that X is anything other than a sinking ship at the moment – and none of these developments make me feel more inclined towards encouraging clients to go back there. But nevertheless, another one to keep an eye on.

Further Reading

🚨 TIKTOK AND UNIVERSAL KLAXON 🚨: This week’s news story doesn’t actually involve TikTok, but an interesting expansion of the deal between Universal and Spotify. Likely a coincidence but a sign that Universal is willing to play nice, under the right conditions.

LinkedIn is adding dynamic UTM tracking to ads. Dry, but incredibly useful.

YouTube is offering creators even more analysis of their viewers, with audience retention insights.

Came across this piece (Meta takes $40K, holds our business ransom) and, let’s just say, Meta’s customer service doesn’t come out of it particularly well. Given that they and others are moving more and more CS functions to AI, the future looks bleak on this stuff. Although at least you’ll be able to look at it through cool augmented Ray-Bans.

And finally, for those who really do want some further reading about social media, this seems like a great list and one I’ll be working through for sure.

That’s it for this week – if you found this interesting then I would really appreciate if you shared this with your friends and peers. 

If you’re feeling particularly generous, then I won’t stop you from  buying me a coffee. Have a great Easter break and see you next week!

Happy Equinox! It barely feels like the year has started and yet in the UK at least spring has very much sprung.

After a hectic few weeks in the world of digital marketing, where we’ve seen the US government stop just short of declaring war on TikTok, Google’s core search algorithm update and plenty of excitement around quarterly earnings, it felt like this week was a little quieter. Perhaps everyone is gearing up for the Easter holidays, or maybe just enjoying some spring cleaning.

As such this week’s edition is a little truncated, with just one quick feature looking at something I found quite interesting around SEO this week, as well as a few small developments from the world of digital. Normal service will (probably) resume next week.

SEO – more than just a to do list

Search Engine Journal this week published a thought-provoking piece on how SEO isn’t something you just “do”. Over the years I’ve heard words along these lines from plenty of clients and peers – “we should do some SEO”, as though it’s a switch that can be flicked as opposed to a sometimes-painstaking long game.

I won’t spoil the full article, but the gist is that like any digital marketing channel, you need to start with clear, measurable (dare I say…SMART?) goals in mind (as opposed to “I’d like us to be better on Google”), preferably aligned to wider business or marketing objectives. Then you need a clear strategy to achieve this, beyond stuffing more keywords into blog posts.

Ensuring you have sufficient resource (i.e. don’t just expect an intern with 3 weeks experience to transform your organic search results), measure regularly and then are integrating these activities with your marketing efforts shouldn’t be things that readers of this need to know, but articles such as this are good reminders of best practice and can be helpful aids for your colleagues to point them in the right direction.

Further Reading

There hasn’t been a great deal of progress following the developments last week that US legislators are moving to force ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban. However, there are some interesting opinion pieces out there which are worth a look, as well as a good look at how brands are preparing.

I covered this within this newsletter a few weeks ago, but ICYMI Search Engine Land has since compiled a brief but useful list of the key takeaways from Google’s core search update this month. Speaking of Google, Forbes latest CMO letter looking at how AI will transform search is worth a few minutes of your time.

BeReal (remember them?) is running out of funding, and may not be around for too much longer.

And finally, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts that AI will overhaul 95% of marketing tasks. It’s never been a better time to make sure you’re staying up to date with trends around AI and marketing, to ensure you’re safely ensconced in the remaining 5%!

That’s it for this week – if you found this interesting then I would really appreciate if you shared this with your friends and peers. 

If you’re feeling particularly generous, then I won’t stop you from  buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend and see you next week!

TikTok has driven the headlines this week – you’ll likely have heard that it could be banned in the US. I’ve taken a quick look at this, as well as Meta’s bid to increase verified subscription sign-ups and how you can use AI to improve your day-to-day workflow.

TikTok facing prospect of ban in US

The big news this week has been the bill mentioned in last week’s newsletter meaning that ByteDance may have to sell off TikTok in the US, or face a ban. 

Now, there is much debate about whether or not this will happen, however the reality is that it would be enormously complex to implement any such ban. Given those complexities plus the enormous potential of the US as a revenue driver for TikTok, I wouldn’t be surprised if some form of agreement is reached.

Nevertheless, there’s a few takeaways for any digital marketer from this. Firstly, don’t put all of your focus into one platform – you cannot legislate for legislators interfering and potentially banning platforms or forcing huge changes (GDPR and iOS14 among others have meant huge pivots in paid social strategies, for example). 

Secondly, and this is more for the global brands out there, but while for years the emphasis was on centralising social media accounts, it could be worth considering splitting out geographies – if only to ensure you don’t get caught out by market bans. This would be a drastic step out of nowhere, but on TikTok is surely a must-do now.

Meta looking at ways to increase verified subscription sign ups

There’s been a steady increase in conversation around social platforms and premium or verified subscriptions over the past couple of years, with X Premium a huge driver of that towards the end of 2023.

Now it looks like Meta is testing the waters on this, sending out a survey to verified users to see what they would be willing to pay for. It already has a service, but word is that it isn’t exactly flourishing. 

There’s a few interesting potential features here though – faster ad reviews and better access to customer support are certainly things I’ve wished for previously, and wouldn’t be at all surprised to see brands paying for.

On a slightly related note, and more in relation to consumer use; LinkedIn has seen a positive trajectory by most measures over the last 4-5 years, and it looks like Premium Subscribers are no exception – it recorded a 25% YoY increase in 2023.

How can I use AI to improve my website content?

Search Engine Journal posted a nice piece this week on how, despite Google deprioritising AI content, you can still use it to improve your overall rankings. 

Spoiler alert: you don’t just get the AI to do everything, but you do get it to do plenty of the heavy lifting. There’s probably not a lot here for people who are now regularly using Generative AI tools in their day-to-day workflow, but possibly some interesting thought starters for those who aren’t.

Further Reading

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet – particularly if it has anything to do with Twitter/X, which this week has been shown to be releasing misleading data relating to growth while third-parties report otherwise.

An interesting one in terms of Gen AI and search – Google has restricted Gemini from being able to answer questions relating to upcoming in-market elections. Likely more a preventative measure than an instructive one, but interesting nonetheless.

Microsoft is expanding access to its Copilot tool, which allows easier advertising solutions via AI content and asset generation. Still early days and only available to a few, but one to watch.

And that’s it for another week – if you found this interesting then I would really appreciate if you shared this with your friends and peers. 

If you’re feeling particularly generous, then I won’t stop you from  buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend and see you next week!