Shopify and Microsoft Team Up

Today In Digital Marketing is a daily podcast showcasing the latest in marketing trends and updates. This week, Tod touches on:

• Q3: Snap Says Apple's Changes Hit It Hard
• INFLUENCERS: Instagram Adds Branded Content Tools
• COMMERCE: Shopify and Microsoft Team Up
• BRAND SAFETY: Facebook Offers IP Protection
• SEO: Blog Post Author is "Not" A Direct Ranking Factor

Below is the transcription from this weeks topics

Q3: Snap Says Apple's Changes Hit It Hard

Image: Pexels

We start off today with another finger being pointed at Apple. Snap reported Thursday that revenue expectations were not met for its third quarter. Snap's Q3 revenue was $1.07 billion, missing Wall Street's expectation of $1.1 billion.

As for growth, the company drew 306 million daily active users in Q3, up from the 293 million it reported in Q2. While not skyrocketing, it is healthy for a platform that was almost irrelevant not long ago.

Who’s to blame for the revenue miss? According to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel:

• Apple’s big iOS privacy change, which put new restrictions in place for apps seeking to track user behavior beyond their own borders.
• Broader pandemic market trends.

Although Snap's bottom line might be negatively affected by Apple's decision to build more privacy into its mobile OS, Spiegel, unlike Facebook’s leadership, has consistently supported Apple's decision.

INFLUENCERS: Instagram Adds Branded Content Tools

Image: Pexels

With the Christmas shopping season approaching, Instagram is testing new options for creator monetization so its most prominent users can maximize their earnings. Creators will have access to three new tools being tested:

A new ‘Partnerships’ messaging folder within Instagram DMs:

• This folder is a dedicated space to keep track of sponsored content.
• Messages will be filtered through from Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager platform.
• All brands getting in touch with this folder will qualify for the new connection tools by having met Partner Monetization policies.

Image: business.instagram.com

A new digital storefront option for creators taking part in its affiliate program:

• Providing another way for individual creators to promote sponsored products to their audience.
• Creators will be able to create their own shops of products they endorse.
• This creates more exposure for potential brands, and more revenue share options for creators.
• This option is currently being tested with US creators.

Image: business.instagram.com

New branded content ads in Reels:

• This option looks very much like Instagram’s Branded Content tags for Reels, only with a ‘Sponsored’ marker, instead of just ‘Paid Partnership’.

Branded content ads in Reels is another step towards monetizing short-form video. Quoting Social Media Today:

Though effective monetization of short-form video, overall, remains problematic, because unlike longer videos, you can’t insert pre or mid-roll ads into 30-second clips. That limits your capacity to attribute revenue share to specific uploads, which is why branded content formats like this are a key avenue for creator monetization, and providing more incentive for popular Reels stars to keep posting.

COMMERCE: Shopify and Microsoft Team Up

Image: Microsoft Advertising Blog

Microsoft announced a new partnership with Shopify that gives merchants access to its Search Network and Audience Network in the Microsoft Channel app.

A representative with Microsoft Advertising, explained:

To significantly expand the reach of their brands and products across Microsoft Search Network and Microsoft Audience Network, merchants can create new ad campaigns and view their marketing performance through real-time reports in their Shopify store.

Image: Microsoft Advertising Blog

How does the Microsoft Channel App work?:

• Merchants connect their Microsoft Advertising Account.
• They can then create new ad campaigns and view their marketing performance through real-time reports in their Shopify store.
• Products are automatically available on the Microsoft Bing Shopping tab and the Microsoft Start Shopping tab for free as Product Listings.

BRAND SAFETY: Facebook Offers IP Protection

To brand safety now and new updates Facebook is making to maintain trust of marketers ahead of the holiday season. A new feature of its safety tools lets marketers search Instagram accounts and posts for content that infringes on their intellectual property.

MarketingDive reports:

As e-commerce continues to grow, digital sales are expected to hit between $210 and $218 billion this holiday season, up from $189 billion last year. Yet despite this outlook, consumers still have reason to distrust Facebook's offerings. To this end, the updates also seek to protect buyers from counterfeit products, which could help to strengthen trust in Facebook's merchants and its platforms — an especially important play this year as supply chain issues erode brand loyalty.

By using the Brand Rights Protection tool, brands can identify trademark violations, counterfeit products, and copyright infringement in:

• Facebook or Instagram ads
• Shops and Marketplace
• Instagram accounts
• Instagram posts
• Facebook buy and sell groups

How does the tool work?

• Users can upload up to 10 images to their accounts, for which Facebook will scan Instagram and its core social network to identify unpermitted matches.

Facebook is not the only company enhancing brand safety ahead of the holiday season:

• TikTok unveiled tools to help marketers find creators, better measure campaigns and properly disclose ad content.
• Google adopted a security email authentication protocol to combat phishing, which is a big problem in the holiday season.

SEO: Blog Post Author is "Not" A Direct Ranking Factor

Image: Canva

One of the common refrains we hear from Google on its search algorithm is that the content should be trustworthy. And the author of the article, if named, should have some authority on the topic.

But is the name of the author an actual ranking signal? Google says, no.

During a video hangout with Google's John Mueller, he explained that the author of an article isn't a ranking factor.

For instance — when asked if it matters if you have a recognized and authoritative doctor write or review your medical content, when it comes to Google’s E-A-T recommendations, he said no.

Quoting Mueller:

There would be no "quantifiable difference" between using a doctor who is well known versus not well known in terms of SEO or ranking. Purely from an SEO point of view it probably doesn't matter either way to have a top doctor or lesser known doctor write or review the content.

Which is great and all, but in the past Google has previously recommended having doctors review your medical content and having an

Credit to Tod Maffin and the Today In Digital Marketing podcast, Produced by engageQ.com