Daily Minute Master Series – August 30, 2019

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Social Media

Facebook Announces New Business Tools for Messenger Interactions

Facebook has announced a range of updates for its business tools on Messenger, adding in new lead generation automation options and appointment booking options in-stream. The biggest element of the update is the launch of Messenger lead generation templates, which Facebook first previewed at its F8 conference back in May. Tew lead generation flow, when integrated with your CRM, can provide more nuanced responses based on user feedback, and then track relevant leads for response at a later date – like when the desired item is back in stock. Another feature announced at F8, Facebook is now also adding integrated appointment booking options direct in Messenger. The option enables businesses to integrate their Messenger response flow with their existing calendar booking software, facilitating the full process within the app. Facebook is also updating its Standard Messaging response window for those using Facebook’s Send/Receive API to 24 hours only – as opposed to the current “24+1” setting.

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Google now showing competitor ads on local business profiles

Google has been slowly ramping local search monetization over time. It introduced local search ads in early 2017, which put ads in local packs, and began putting ads in local Knowledge Panels roughy two years ago. Now, the company is starting to show competitor ads in local business profiles. art of Local Campaigns, the ads are designed to drive visits to local businesses and retail locations. These fully automated units run across Google properties, including search, Maps, GDN and YouTube. There’s a sense that the GMB profile is “owned” by the business. However that’s not correct; it’s Google’s property, just as Facebook owns and controls local Facebook Pages. This is something that businesses should be sober about. However, Google must also be mindful of too-aggressive monetization of local. Some SEOs are saying this is such an example. It’s probably better that businesses can’t pay to remove these ads because that would be perceived as a form of “extortion,” something Yelp has been accused of — it’s advertisers don’t have competitor ads on their profiles. 

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Marketing

Google Removes Some Filters from Image Search Results

Google appears to have removed the ability to filter image search results by “minimum size,” “exact size,” and “full color.” This change was made quietly, as there has been no official word from Google about removing the filters. Apparently, the filters are still available in the “advanced search” section which is accessed from the settings drop-down menu. However, the fact that the filters have been removed from the main UI is an indication they’re being deprecated. Google removing frequently-used features from image search is a pattern that hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Time will tell how many more features get removed from Google’s image search results in the future.

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Advertising

Bing Webmaster Tools allows site verification via Google Search Console

Bing has launched a beta feature that allows site owners to import their sites from Google Search Console to its own Webmaster Tools. After logging into Bing Webmaster Tools, site owners may be presented with an option reading, “Already verified on Google Search Console? Beta Skip verification by importing your site.” Although Bing’s share of the search market pales in comparison to Google, it is still the world’s second-largest search engine. For larger brands that are sensitive to the slightest of traffic fluctuations, having the tools necessary to address SEO issues as efficiently as possible may directly impact revenue. Being able to import your sites from Google Search Console decreases the friction (or inertia) involved with monitoring for those potential issues on a second frontier.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 29, 2019

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Social Media

Pinterest Will Limit Search Results for Vaccine-Related Queries to Content from Official Health Outlets

After rolling out a ban on anti-vax content in Pins earlier in the year, Pinterest is now taking another step to halt the spread of vaccine misinformation on its platform, limiting its search results for vaccine-related queries to Pins from officially-recognized health organizations only. A search for vaccine information will now only surface results from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Vaccine Safety Net (VSN). That, along with the aforementioned ban on anti-vax Pins, will significantly limit the spread of any false information around the topic on the platform. Pinterest says that it’s taking stronger action because the anti-vax movement has become particularly damaging, with the CDC recently confirming that the U.S. is experiencing the greatest number of measles cases reported since 1992 – a virus that was declared “eliminated” in the region in 2000. 

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Facebook’s Testing a New Screen-Sharing Option for Messenger

Facebook is testing a new Messenger video option which would enable you to share your phone screen in a Messenger chat, as opposed to using the camera. There’s a range of ways this functionality could be used – you could run real-time walkthroughs on-screen, quickly share a range of photos or videos from your phone, or discuss documents for work/study-related chat. The function would enable viewing of video content from beyond Facebook. Facebook already has communal video viewing options available (which are popular among video piracy groups), but this option would expand the capacity of the same to any video type that you can play on your phone. Set up a full-screen broadcast of the latest pirated movie, or other controversial content, and you have your own small cinema, with a group of your friends able to watch together and discuss.

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Marketing

Google moves to simplify, standardize content policies for publishers

Google is reorganizing how it presents publisher content policies, and standardizing its content policies and restrictions across AdSense, AdMob and Ad Manager. Google content policies will soon be divided into two categories: Google Publisher Policies and Google Publisher Restrictions. The Google Publisher Policies page will outline the types of content that cannot be monetized and the Google Publisher Restrictions page will outline specific content types that do not violate policies, but may not be appealing to all advertisers, such as alcohol or tobacco-related content. Brands and marketers have long been pushing for digital ad platforms to create more transparent and brand-safe environments. In the process, many of the content policies from ad platforms have been difficult to follow and understand for publishers — knowing what content cannot be monetized versus the types of content that can be monetized, but may not fit an advertiser’s branding standards. With this update, Google is making it easier for publishers to follow the rules. 

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Advertising

Google Ads Introduces Seasonality Adjustments for Smart Bidding

Google Ads is rolling out seasonality adjustments for smart bidding for search and display campaigns. Smart bidding strategies set bids automatically to help advertisers improve the performance of their Google Ads campaigns. Smart bidding is already designed to take seasonality into account, but sometimes there are occasions outside of regular seasonality patterns when an advertiser may want to spend more on ads. Google recommends using seasonality adjustments only if major changes to conversion rates are expected, because Smart Bidding already manages seasonal events such as holidays. Seasonality adjustments are currently available only for Search and Display campaigns. Support for Shopping campaigns is expected later this year.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 28, 2019

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Social Media

Facebook is Testing a New Listing of Post Reactions in Your Notifications Stream

Facebook is testing out a new way to highlight Reactions to your Facebook posts, with a new notification format within your Notifications listing that would display a small tile of the post, with respective Reactions overlaid. That could help spur engagement and response – for one, the more visual notifiers stand out, though you would expect the effect of such would diminish over time. But they might also show a Reaction you weren’t expecting, or signify posts that are seeing a lot of response. It would be a small addition, in relative terms, but you can imagine it having the desired effect – while for brands, it could help to highlight key posts that are sparking emotional response, and get you responding faster to maximize that engagement. 

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Instagram is Developing a Separate Messaging App Called ‘Threads’

After shutting down its standalone messaging app ‘Direct’ earlier this year, Instagram is reportedly working on a new iteration of the same, which aims to put more focus on maintaining connection between close friends. According to The Verge, Instagram’s latest weapon on this front is a new messaging app called ‘Threads’ which will look to focus on building stronger, more constant connection between smaller, enclosed groups. The aim, as noted, would be to make Instagram more of a rival for Snap, in regards to keeping close friends more connected, as opposed to broadcasting in your main feed for all to see. That could help Instagram build stronger bonds with younger users – or it could, as Direct did, fall flat.

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Instagram is Doubling Down on Stories Ads

Instagram is literally doubling down on stories ads in a test that will show back-to-back ads to some users. Instead of showing the usual one ad between stories, Instagram is testing how users will respond to two ads from different brands. A spokesperson tells AdWeek that Instagram is simply gathering feedback for now, and the focus of the app will remain on the user experience. No further details were provided with regards to how many people are part of the initial test group.

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Marketing

Yelp adds new personalization features in bid to regain local momentum from Google

Yelp is betting big on personalization. Soon, new screens will allow users to select preferences and favorites that will be used by the company to offer better recommendations and personalized search results. Yelp says that it’s using reviews content, photos, business attributes and other data to match consumer interests and businesses or activities. Yelp says the new features will be rolling out soon to iOS users and in stages for Android users, with the “full experience” available early next year. The company also teases that these new capabilities are “the beginning of major product changes the company is undertaking to significantly evolve and improve the consumer experience.” Yelp faces intensifying pressure from Google and GMB’s increasing transactional functionality. The company needs to make changes that differentiate its experience from what Google is doing. It needs to regain growth and momentum or face an eventual sale, to private equity or someone else.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 27, 2019

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Social Media

Twitter Tests New, Larger Image Tweet Carousel Ad Format

Back in March, Twitter began testing a new carousel ad format for app install campaigns, which would give advertisers the capacity to add multiple, larger images to their collections. Now, Twitter is expanding its new carousel format to additional campaign types, and potentially even regular business posts. The new format includes a larger image panel, and a swipeable carousel stream. The post appears to have been created via an app called ‘Carousel-Composer’, though there’s limited information on the tool available. The new layout is more visual focused, and definitely stands out more in the Twitter stream. There’s no word, at this stage, on an expanded roll-out, but Twitter will be monitoring the results and assessing the next stages.

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Facebook’s Clear History Tool Could be Delayed in the US Due to Court Case

Here’s another interesting wrinkle in Facebook’s protracted release of its ‘Clear History’ tool, which will enable users to detach their off-platform activity from their Facebook data profile. According to Bloomberg, a US launch of the option could be delayed because it would potentially impact a pending court case in Texas. To be clear, Facebook’s off-platform activity tool has no US launch date as yet. Last week, Facebook rolled out the first stage of the tool in Ireland, South Korea and Spain, and Facebook will learn key lessons from that initial release before expanding the option to other markets, with no communicated plan for a US roll-out at this stage. 

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Marketing

Google Search Console API drops more app features

Google announced it is removing some features from the current Search Console API. Most of these features are related to apps, specifically Android app search appearance types. Google also said that the Sitemaps API is no longer populating the indexing status of submitted sitemap files in the “Indexed” field.  Assuming Google is still going to be developing towards the new Search Console features, expect a new Search Console API to come in the future. For now, those using any of the features (Install, App Universal and Opened) won’t be able to see data for those types going forward.

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Google testing highlighting content on-site based on the search result clicked

Google confirmed it’s testing a feature that takes the searcher from the search results page to a third-party site, then anchors them to that exact location on the site while highlighting that content. This is something Google originally did on mobile through the AMP cache, and is now being tested on desktop and Chrome browsers. Previously, this launched in 2018 for AMP mobile pages but now Google is trying it for Chrome desktop users as well. Essentially, the new feature no longer requires solely AMP content. With this, searchers may skip down past ads and/or call to actions to jump directly to the relevant content. SEOs should take measures to track if your site is doing this in Google search, and possibly replace your ads/call to actions in a more appropriate location.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 26, 2019

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Social Media

Facebook Brings 3D Photos to Android Devices

Late last year, Facebook rolled out its group badges, little images and notes that appear alongside group member names within the comments section of group posts. Facebook has been slowly adding badges into Page interactions also, and expanding the signifiers available in order to highlight more prolific and engaged Page fans. The additions expand the options for badges beyond groups alone, and provide new ways to Page admins to better understand their Facebook fans. Facebook hasn’t made any further announcements on this element as yet, but it’s interesting to see the various Page badges popping up, and considering what other functionalities they could facilitate. 

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Facebook Adds More Page Badges to Encourage Engagement

After flagging an expanded Android roll-out back in April, Facebook has this week officially announced that its 3D photos option will be made available on Android devices, and an expanded set of iOS smartphones. Facebook’s 3D photos, which add depth to still images by using the dual camera capacity of most modern smartphones, provide another creative option for your Facebook posts. And Facebook’s more advanced visual formats are already proving popular – Facebook reported last year that more than 70 million 360 photos had been uploaded to The Social Network. It’s another option to consider – and definitely, the 3D posts can help to ‘strop the scroll’ and grab people’s attention in feeds.

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Marketing

Google Introduces Relative Mobile Conversion Rate Metric

Google published an article detailing a conversion metric called the Relative Mobile Conversion Rate. It’s a ratio of desktop versus mobile conversion rates. This metric, first discussed  in 2018, has now received an official introduction. It reveals gaps in mobile performance and provides an accurate reflection of conversion rates overtime. The metric is referred to as Rel mCvR. Google’s official blog post suggests it’s an important metric to monitor because it may indicate there are latent performance improvements if the mobile version is experiencing significantly less conversions than the desktop version. Google stated that the mobile version will consistently experience less conversions than the desktop because a greater percentage of mobile users are in the research phase.

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Apple’s WebKit outlines cross-site tracking crackdown, will block advertisers who try to bypass privacy rules

Apple’s WebKit team published its tracking prevention policy last week, outlining its stance against technologies designed to track user activity across the web. Falling in line with the company’s pro-privacy position, the WebKit Tracking Prevention Policy outlines the web tracking practices it believes should be limited by default. Webkit, the open-source rendering engine that powers Safari, aims to treat attempts to circumvent the policy as security abuse. WebKit said it will prevent covert tracking and all cross-site tracking (even when it’s not covert). This includes cross-site tracking, stateful tracking, covert stateful tracking, navigational tracking, fingerprinting, as well as all tracking techniques not currently known. Apple isn’t closing the door all the way, however. “We may alter tracking prevention methods to permit certain use cases, particularly when greater strictness would harm the user experience,” the document states. “In other cases, we will design and implement new web technologies to re-enable these practices without reintroducing tracking capabilities.” Apple’s policy certainly disrupts how user data is collected, how advertisers measure the effectiveness of their campaigns on Apple’s Safari browser on iOS and macOS devices. Additionally, advertisers may face further restrictions to audience measurement, analytics tracking and third-party authentication.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 23, 2019

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Social Media

Google Outlines Proposal for Improved Data Transparency Measures in Online Advertising

This week, Google has outlined the next steps its looking to take to improve online ad transparency, including measures to block digital ‘fingerprinting’, a more obscure tracking technique, and a new proposal for improved data transparency measures across the industry. In terms of fingerprinting – which utilizes device data to establish a unique identifier for each user, regardless of any privacy settings – Google says that this practice may help publishers and websites, by providing an alternative data funnel, but it doesn’t address key user concerns on data privacy. Google says that it is now advancing its efforts to restrict the use of fingerprinting, blocking processes within Chrome and its other applications in order to disincentivize the process. Google’s proposal to the broader industry, meanwhile, which it has published for discussion, outlines the measures which Google believes are key to solidifying the future of online advertising, including improved data usage transparency and controls. 

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LinkedIn Launches New Insights Hub to Provide Additional Audience Insights

LinkedIn has launched a new element of its ‘Success Hub’ marketing data and insights platform, which aims to provide additional information on specific audiences and verticals, in order to help better inform marketing decisions and understanding. The new Insights and Research hub collects a range of LinkedIn resources into one place, while also mixing in few new, broad-ranging data insights. The main element of the new hub is the People Insights section, which enables marketers to drill-down a little further into key trends of note within specific sectors. This can help improve your marketing, not only by highlighting the key topics of focus, which you may want to explore in your content efforts, but also the key people to tune into, and the brands that are being followed by these professionals on LinkedIn. In addition to this, LinkedIn also provides new hub sections for Industry Insights and Advertising Insights, each of which is essentially a collection of LinkedIn blog posts and resources, which, again, you can sort by vertical. The aim of the new hub, according to LinkedIn, is to better enable marketers to target the right audiences on its platform.

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Marketing

What is ‘Google Screened’ and how does it differ from ‘Google Guaranteed’?

Google Guaranteed was introduced a few years ago, largely to boost consumer confidence in-home services providers appearing in Local Services Ads. More recently, this year, the company introduced another program for professional services, dubbed “Google Screened.” Businesses must also possess a star rating on Google of 3.0 or greater to be eligible. There’s no application fee for Local Services advertisers (in the relevant categories and markets). If Google decides to expand the program, there are dozens of available subcategories, including marketing and advertising services. To become Google Guaranteed, businesses must pass a background check and have their license and insurance details verified. Google Screened businesses must also pass a similar license and background checks (civil and criminal). Google Guaranteed or partner-screened status (HomeAdivsor, Porch) is a requirement to appear in Google Assistant results on the smartphone and Google Home devices. It will be interesting to see, going forward, whether Google Screened expands and whether Google makes it available (as it has with Google Guaranteed) to non-advertisers. And if it does, the next question is whether the company offers any rankings boost to pre-screened companies as a defense against fake local listings and spam — which is precisely what it’s doing with Google Guaranteed and the Google Assistant.

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You can now add custom JavaScript to AMP pages

Custom JavaScript can now be added to AMP pages, Google announced this week. The amp-script component can be used to enable user interactions, and to share code across AMP-enabled and non-AMP pages. The AMP team said this was one of the most requested features from developers using AMP. It enables web pages delivered via AMP to incorporate more of the interactivity features that JavaScript offers. Prior to this update, AMP pages have been mostly static, which limited its uses and forced publishers to compromise features for speed and potentially visibility in mobile search results.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 22, 2019

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Social Media

Instagram Debunks Viral Hoax Regarding Rule Change in Relation to Photo Re-Use

The claim that Instagram might suddenly change its mind and make ‘everything you’ve ever posted’ public, including private messages, is not only not happening, it’s not legal without a significant change to the platform’s terms – which you, as a user, would have to explicitly agree to. While you do grant Instagram some usage rights of your content within the platform’s Terms of Use, there is also this specific note within its qualifiers. It’s not the first time that Instagram, and parent company Facebook, have felt the need to make official statements on these random hoax posts. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri has specifically explained that there is no truth to this. People have shared this update, and are sharing it, including high-profile users with verified profiles, adding further weight to the rumor. Basically, if you see a post claiming that you need to re-post something for legal purposes, that’s not true, and not how the process works. If it seems a little fishy, or the wording and presentation looks not quite right, it’s probably a lie. ‘But there’s no harm in just sharing it’, I’ve heard people say. I mean, sure, if you don’t mind potentially being tagged as a future scam target because it lets the scammers know that you’re gullible. Sure. No harm at all. 

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YouTube Will Remove its In-App Messaging Option Next Month

After originally launching its chat option back in 2017, YouTube has now announced that it will remove the functionality next month, in order to put more emphasis on public sharing via comments, posts, and YouTube stories. YouTube’s new focus appears to be Stories, and staying up with the next big social sharing shift. YouTube Stories is still only available for users with over 10k followers, but it looks to be where YouTube would prefer to drive attention – at least for now. So, as we did with Google Allo earlier this year, we now bid farewell to YouTube messaging, another casualty in the digital attention war. He never even stood a chance. 

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Marketing

Traffic from Image’s Swipe to Visit feature now appears in Search Console

Visitors that arrive on your pages via Google Image’s Swipe to Visit feature are now accounted for in Search Console under the new “AMP on Image Results” search appearance, Google announced Wednesday. Image search is one way publishers can draw traffic to their websites and Swipe to Visit may make it easier for users to move from Image search results to your pages. Having Search Console data on how users arrive on your site can help you optimize for their journey and inform your SEO and overall business strategy.

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Advertising

Google rolls out maximize conversion value smart bidding strategy

The newest smart bidding strategy in Google Ads’ lineup, maximize conversion value, is now available in all Search campaigns. First announced at Google Marketing Live (GML) in May, maximize conversion value aims to optimize for the greatest conversion value within budget. Google says maximize conversion value uses historical campaign data and the searcher’s contextual signals to determine the “otpimal CPC bid” at auction time. To use or test out maximize conversion value, you’ll need to be using transaction-specific values or have set conversion values for the conversion types you’re optimizing for from the Conversion page under Tools.  As we noted in May, manual bidding is still available in Google, but it’s largely de-emphasized and missing some capabilities. With the proliferation of smart bidding strategies, it’s important to understand how each is designed to work and which goals, settings and metrics best align with each.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 21, 2019

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Social Media

Facebook Finally Launches its ‘Clear History’ Tool, Starting in Ireland, South Korea and Spain

Facebook has finally announced the initial rollout of its promised ‘clear history’ tool, which will enable users to see the websites and apps which send Facebook information when they use them, remove that information from their account, and turn off Facebook’s ability to store the same going forward. The tool will give users more capacity to manage how their data is utilized by Facebook and advertisers.The new option is being launched, with users in Ireland, South Korea and Spain getting first access to the functionality, ahead of an expanded push. The functionality will also have some level of impact on Facebook’s ad targeting tools. How much of an impact, exactly, will be dictated by how many users take up the option to delete their history, but Facebook warned marketers back in May that the implementation would lessen its capability to provide in-depth tracking for advertising purposes.

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Facebook Looks to Launch WhatsApp Payments in Indonesia

At the Libra launch event in June, Facebook clarified that India was not part of its initial rollout plan, which may, in part, be due to concerns around cryptocurrency from Indian regulators. Instead, Facebook has since switched focus to WhatsApp Pay, which it’s now planning to roll out to all of its Indian users toward the end of the year. And while Facebook waits for Indian regulators to assess WhatsApp Pay, Reuters has reported that WhatsApp is now also in talks with multiple Indonesian digital payment firms over plans to offer WhatsApp Pay in that market as well, potentially reaching another 100 million users. Which would be good for WhatsApp, helping it to build its eCommerce capacity, and good for Facebook overall. But it also leaves a question mark of the viability and potential of its Libra currency. Facebook will likely still push ahead with its plans, and the implementation of WhatsApp Pay could serve as a good precedent for regulators, and example which shows that Facebook can be trusted in this respect. But it may also spark a re-think of Libra, and the way it’s used. If it’s not going to be accessible in Facebook’s largest user markets, maybe it’s not as valuable as Facebook may have initially hoped.

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LinkedIn Outlines its Improving Efforts to Eliminate Fake Accounts and Spammers on its Platform

This week, LinkedIn has outlined its evolving efforts to detect and remove fake profiles, which can be used to make connections, and then steal personal contact info from unsuspecting users. ​Given the professional focus of LinkedIn, it seems like it would be less of a focus for misinformation campaigns in particular, but as noted, there are numerous known LinkedIn scams which involve fake profiles making connections in order to steal personal information, and gain insights into your LinkedIn network. So while it may seem less of a focus, LinkedIn is actually just as susceptible to such use as other platforms. In this sense, it’s good to see LinkedIn improving its systems, and working to better protect its now 645 million member base.

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Marketing

Bing Webmaster Tools adds Domain Connect verification integration

In order to make it easier for some webmasters to verify their web sites with Bing Webmaster Tools, Bing added support for verification through Domain Connect. This allows those using 1&1 IONOS, GoDaddy, Media Temple or Plesk easier access to verify their web sites with Bing Webmaster Tools. Google also did some forms of automatic verification for Google Search Console and has worked with domain name providers to make it easier. But Google does not work with Domain Connect. Making it easier to set up a verified site with Bing Webmaster Tools will mean more web site owners will be able to use the tools. This will lead to more reporting, more debugging and more informed site owners. It will help sites find indexing and ranking issues faster and give site owners more access to advanced search engine reporting.

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 20, 2019

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Social Media

Twitter Launches 6-Second Video Ad Bidding, Providing New Options for Video Marketers

Twitter is launching a new video ad option in the form of 6-second video ad bidding, which will see advertisers only charged if and when their video ad is in view for six seconds. According to EyeSee, which conducts studies of audience engagement based on advanced eye-tracking technology, 3 seconds is actually the hot spot for video ad recall and response. That should, theoretically, mean that Twitter’s new 6-second bidding option will be more than enough time to ensure optimal response. To clarify, video advertisers will still publish their on-platform video ads as normal, but this new option will enable them to choose to only be charged when their video is viewed for 6 seconds. The idea is that this will provide a more flexible option for advertisers, enabling them to optimize for completed views, while also putting more reliance on Twitter’s system to showcase their content to relevant audiences who are more likely to watch.

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Reddit Previews Coming Live-Streaming Capacity in New, Week-Long Project

Reddit is looking to get in on the live-streaming action – though it’s doing so in its own, unique way. Late last week, a new Reddit called r/pan began sharing cryptic messages. The series of posts have ended up being the precursor to what Reddit’s labeling its version of the Public Access Network (PAN), which will enable Redditors to broadcast, in real-time, on a dedicated PAN channel. Reddit says the option to broadcast is coming to all users this week, but it’s rolling out in stages, so some users will have it before others. The addition makes sense, from a functional standpoint, but it also seems destined for controversy, with Reddit being more open to questionable content, and welcoming of related discussion. Reddit has long sought to distance itself from editorial interference in what users discuss on the platform, with no ID requirements and profiles being optional on the network. The initial r/pan experiment will run for a week, giving users a glimpse at Reddit live-streaming, and providing Reddit with insight into what it will need to do to stay on top of content issues. 

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Marketing

Voice assistant usage now at ‘critical mass’ as Google Assistant crowned smartest

 A new estimate from eMarketer pegs the number of monthly users of voice assistants at roughly 112 million, up from 102 million in 2018. The firm characterizes this as “critical mass,” although it still represents a minority of internet users (40%). By 2021 eMarketer says about 123 million people will be using voice assistants at least monthly. More voice search and engagement happens on smartphones than smart speakers, which eMarketer says are used by 77.6 million people. Separately, last week, Loop Ventures released its latest comparison of virtual assistants. The study found, “Google Assistant was once again the best performer, correctly answering 93% and correctly understanding all 800 questions. Siri was next, answering 83% correctly and only misunderstanding two questions. Alexa correctly answered 80% and only misunderstood one.” The report also expressed surprise at the continuing rate of improvement in accuracy. Ultimately Google Assistant is in the strongest position and will likely become the dominant voice assistant, with corresponding advertising and commerce implications for marketers and brands. An open question is whether or how much voice will eventually supplant traditional search on mobile devices.

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Advertising

Google Ads to remove accelerated ad delivery option next month

Google Ads announced a coming change to ad delivery options that will start September 17. The accelerated delivery option will be removed and standard delivery will be the only option for Search and Shopping campaigns, as well as for campaigns with shared budgets. Any Search or Shopping campaigns and shared budgets using accelerated delivery will be switched over to standard delivery automatically by October 1. Google says, the way that accelerated delivery works can make it an inefficient option. Google recommends choosing the maximize conversions or maximize clicks bidding strategies to indicate your performance priority for campaigns that had been using accelerated delivery. And, of course, use ad scheduling to manage when your ads are shown and bid adjustments to increase and decrease bids during certain times of day. (Though Google’s ad scheduling only takes your account’s time zone into account.)

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Daily Minute Master Series – August 19, 2019

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Social Media

Facebook is Removing its Group Chats Feature to Limit Spammers

Facebook has announced that it’s removing the group chat functionality that it launched in October last year, which was designed to facilitate more intimate discussion between group members, separate from post comments. As noted by TechCrunch when the feature was launched, group chats are able to host up to 250 group members, who are not necessarily connected as friends, but are connected through a group. The problem here is that as people become increasingly protective of their more intimate messaging, they may not be overly happy that some random stranger who they’re tangentially connected to via a group is able to send them a direct message via this option. That’s only speculation – Facebook hasn’t provided any further clarification on the update beyond the above note, though it did provide some additional pointers to help members and Page admins manage the change.

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Facebook Marketing API to get ‘Special Ad Category’ field for housing, employment, credit advertisers

Facebook is adding the same Special Ad Category field it rolled out in Ads Manager in July to its Marketing API next month. The update, which is designed for marketers and developers running housing, employment and credit ads, limits the set of targeting options to keep marketers from running discriminatory ad campaigns. Facebook’s efforts to end discriminatory advertising practices impacts any marketer running housing, employment or credit related ad campaigns. Advertisers that don’t select the Special Ads Category run the risk of their campaigns being terminated on the platform. Once the Special Ad Category is selected, some detailed targeting options will no longer be available, such as demographics, behaviors or interests. “Special Ad Category” advertisers will also not be allowed to exclude any targeting options. The decision was part of a settlement Facebook reached with multiple civil rights groups that charged the company with allowing discriminatory ad campaigns to run on the platform. 

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Instagram to Crack Down on Fake Stories Views

Instagram is reportedly working on a solution for the wave of inauthentic story views that has spread throughout the network. TechCrunch reports the influx of fake views is related to a new tactic where spammy accounts are “watching” stories to appear more real and gain new followers in the process. This growth hack sprung up after Instagram began cracking down on bots and paid likes and followers back in November. The types of accounts responsible for fake story views range from Russian models, to social media agencies, to public figures trying to grow their presence. Instagram confirms to TechCrunch that it’s aware of fake story views and is working on ways to reduce the activity. The solution will involve implementing new measures specifically for stories. Instagram did not not offer any further details. Eventually Instagram will have measures in place to thwart this activity without users having to clean up the spam on their own.

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Marketing

Google My Business adds bulk review management

Google has added the ability to see all your reviews across multiple listings on a single page. You can see this within Google My Business reviews section at https://business.google.com/reviews. This is available in location groups with 500 or fewer locations, but is not available for organization accounts. This can be very useful for those who manage more than one location or listing. You can quickly see all the reviews under your Google My Business account, and you no longer need to click into each individual listing to see its reviews. This should save you time and help you find and report on important reviews sooner.

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