Social Media

Instagram Officially Begins Testing of DMs in Its Desktop Version

The addition will make Instagram’s messaging tools more widely accessible, as not all users are able to access the platform via the app. People in regions where network access is limited, or where data plans are restrictive, could benefit from being able to connect to their DMs on an alternate platform.​ And given the popularity of direct messaging on Instagram – as demonstrated by the launch of its ‘Threads’ messaging app last year – it makes sense for the platform to look for more ways to facilitate direct interaction. For brands, the addition could have specific benefits for those looking to use Instagram Direct for customer service queries, enabling easier integration into your broader social media workflow.

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LinkedIn Adds Live-Streaming for Company Pages and New ‘Invite to Follow’ Options

While none of these updates is ground-breaking, as such – there are no major functional leaps or big system improvements – each of these changes could have significant impacts, and could make it easier for you to build your LinkedIn presence. LinkedIn says that all of these updates are rolling out from this week, so if you’re not seeing them yet, you will shortly (except in the case of LinkedIn Live, for which you need to apply for access).

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Marketing

Google Ads Enables Bid Simulator for Target ROAS, Budget Simulator for Maximize Clicks, Conversions

The bid simulator has been available only for manual and Target CPA bidding. It’s now available for Target ROAS campaigns. The screenshot below shows a bid simulator for Target ROAS portfolio strategy, but you can also see the simulator icon at the ad group level in Target ROAS campaigns that aren’t using a portfolio strategy. The simulator works the same way it does in manual and Target CPA bidding campaigns. The projected impact of a change is based on your auction data from the past seven days and assumes all other influencers, such as your ads, landing pages, your competitors’ ads and bids, all stayed the same.

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Google Introduces a New Shopping Section in Search Results

In order for merchants to have products surfaced in the popular products section, they’re encouraged to set up product feeds in Google Merchant Center and/or apply the appropriate structured data markup to product pages. According to Google, this new feature will help drive organic traffic to merchants. It will be interesting to see if that ends up being the case, considering this feature allows users to do a considerable amount of browsing without ever leaving Google.

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