2021 September
Hello, September! Another month has gone by, and we’re back with the freshest news from the world of digital marketing and PPC. The experts at Facebook and Instagram hasn’t been lazy this past month either, we’ve got plenty of news from their end – but Microsoft and Twitter wasn’t silent as well.
Let’s dive into this month’s findings!
Every news starts with a short summary with the key points, however, if you are willing to dive deeper into a certain topic, you can always find an additional link for further reference.
1. Ads in the Instagram Shopping Tab
Facebook for Business
Instagram’s fully dedicated shopping tab will also feature Sponsored ads from now on. This way, customers who are already in the mood to shop wills see these ads, therefore there’s a higher chance to convert. Among Shopping suggestions, there will be Sponsored tiles as well.
2. Instagram Helping Businesses to Get Inspired
Facebook for Business
In an attempt to help (mostly) small businesses in content creation (since 44% of users associate Instagram with discovering small businesses), Instagram has added a ‘What Should I post’ suggestions feed to the Professional Dashboard (available for Business accounts.)
3. Introducing Facebook’s Campaign Ideas Generator
Facebook for Business
Facebook has launched its own Campaign Ideas generator tools, helping businesses to come up with new, innovative campaign ideas for their businesses. With the tool, users can look for ideas based on industry and time of the year – they can also have a look at ready-to-go ads, and filter data and insights on various filters.
4. Facebook Reels is Rolling Out
Tech Crunch
After the growing popularity of TikTok (focusing on short videos), and after introducing Instagram Reels over a year ago, Facebook is rolling out Facebook Reels in the US – a similar platform to Instagram Reels, focusing on short videos. Today, video accounts for almost half of all time spent on Facebook – that’s why they replicated the Instagram feature to Facebook. The interface and available tools will be almost the same as on Instagram – with a possibility to change based on user feedback.
5. Messenger celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Tech Crunch
Facebook’s very own Messaging app rolled out 10 years ago, and in order to celebrate the occasion, the tech giant has announced 10 new updates to the application, including: poll games, word effect, contact sharing, birthday gifting.
In another update, they are testing Facebook updates that include Audio and Video calls within the application – though earlier they were focusing on separating the two applications.
6. Facebook launches Fantasy Games
The social giant has rolled out Facebook Fantasy Games within the Facebook app for iOS and Android users across the USA and Canada. The aim of the Fantasy Games is to “bring the social fun of traditional fantasy sports to simpler formats that are easy to play for people new to prediction games, while still engaging enough for more seasoned players.” Fantasy Games provides an additional space for users to interact with each other, create their own fantasy league and compete against friends and other fans. Leagues can be public or private as well, and will allow members to compare scores to others in the league and provide a place for members to share picks, reactions and comments.
They have already launched the first game, daily sports prediction game Pick & Play ports, in partnership with Whistle Sports. They are also planning a Survivor Fantasy Game, and a Fantasy version of the Bachelorette to launch this fall.
7. Twitter Announces Communities Feature
Search Engine Journal
Twitter announced that soon, (only) approved accounts are able to create Communities, where they can invite other users in order to discuss their topic of shared interests – however, every user can see what’s going on in the community. This is now in testing mode.
The feature is really similar to how Reddit and Facebook Groups work.
8. Microsoft Advertising Updates for September
Search Engine Journal
From now on, advertisers on the Microsoft Audience Network can use videos as well – from 6 seconds up until 2 minutes long. It is currently available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. They are also testing vertical-based ads on the Audience network, currently in the UK and the US. These ads let advertisers use their existing feeds to showcase their auto listings, entertainment events, hotels, vacation rentals, tours and activities in native environment. They are also rolling out ‘Inline Appeals’ in the Merchant Center, which provides visibility into any editorial rejections of offers for the respective policy violations in the Store. This way, advertisers will receive an organized summary of key policy violations driving major rejections of their ads. They have also introduced Disclaimers in Ads, letting advertisers leverage disclaimers to help manage regulation requirements such as those in Automotive, Financial Services or Health and Wellness industries.
9. Facebook offers optimized conversions for shops
Business of Apps
Businesses on Facebook will now have the opportunity to direct 10% of their traffic to their shops on Facebook and Instagram – another move the social giant has made to expand the possibilities offered to ecommerce businesses. Rather than directing the customers to a third-party link, they can now direct them to their in-app stores. What’s more, Facebook would now cover the cost of impressions directing traffic to shops for those who opt-in. This will help the social network to optimise future advertisements by learning more about shopping behaviours.
10. Mobile ads are 23% more memorable when ads match content
Business of Apps
In a recent study conducted by Integral Ad Science. The Context Effect study shows that ‘endemically matched’ ads (ads that are relevant to a specific page not just in their topic but also messaging) drove a 27% rise in memorability of themes, narrative and audio and visual elements. Matching the content to a key message of an article boosted detail memory by 36.