Daily Minute Master Series – July 10, 2019

Social Media

Facebook makes a play for creators with new tools, features for monetizing content

Facebook announced Tuesday a new slate of updates designed to provide creators with more opportunities to make money — and attract them to the platform, which is competing for creators’ attention with YouTube. Creators who meet Facebook’s Monetization Eligibility Standards will be able to take advantage of a new feature in its Ad Breaks ad unit that gives creators more options for video ad placements. The feature gives creators on the platform the ability to activate un-interruptive ad formats, like pre-roll or image ads, in video content that may not have a natural break for ads. Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager is designed to facilitate the relationship between brands and content creators. With the new updates, creators will have access to performance insights in the Brand Collabs Manager and able to share audience metrics with advertisers for more efficient and secure ad targeting. The Creators Studio tool now includes a new range of updates to support monetization efforts. Enhancements to the Creator Studio include a dedicated Monetization Overview section, new audience and retention insights, and the ability to now manage Instagram posts and IGTV in the Creator Studio. Facebook has been working to attract creators from other content-driven platforms (ahem, YouTube), and giving them more revenue opportunities could bolster those efforts and entice them to create more content on Facebook.

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How TikTok is testing in-app e-commerce

To some, TikTok seems like a digital fad. To others, it’s the next wave of social media. Whatever it is, it currently provides a direct line to the younger generation. While it’s undeniable that the social video app would love to make money from online retail, its success in the space remains to be seen. And while advertisers have been dabbling with TikTok in the U.S., the e-commerce part is still very much in its infancy. Some retailers have launched branded content campaigns on the app since last year. The primary issues for TikTok’s e-commerce ambitions in the US have to do with consumer behavior, explained eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. Social shopping is much more engrained in Asia and it’s yet to really take off in North America. What could drive TikTok’s success in the social commerce space, however, is competition. As more popular social platforms continue to push e-commerce programs, the behavior could become more commonplace by everyday app users. According to Lipsman, TikTok’s US e-commerce forays are likely a way to simply test the waters, stake a place, and then wait to see if programs like Instagram’s checkout prove successful.

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Marketing

Bullish forecast predicts 31 million Americans will ‘shop’ on their smart speakers in 2019

EMarketer says that 31 million Americans “will shop via a smart speaker this year, up 31.6% from 2018.” The company defines “shopping” expansively as “browsing, researching products and adding things to a shopping cart.” In two years, eMarketer says the number will climb to 38 million voice shoppers, as smart speaker owners do more product research on the virtual assistant devices. EMarketer also says that 21 million people in the U.S. will make a purchase this year using a smart speaker. The important caveat is that these will almost entirely be digital goods: movies and music. Notwithstanding the sale of millions of smart speakers, and bullish forecasts, voice shopping and commerce have not really materialized. This is not to say that they won’t or that voice search on smartphones isn’t gaining real momentum.

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Google My Business Listings Getting Suspended After Adding Short Names

A number of SEOs have reported having Google My Business listings suspended after adding a short name to their profile. Short names were introduced in April as a way of allowing businesses to create custom URLs for their Google My Business listings. Now it has become apparent that adding short names is causing legitimate business listings to get suspended and removed from SERPs. Google hasn’t confirmed there’s a bug related to GMB short names, nor has it acknowledged that it’s even aware of this issue. So all this evidence is anecdotal, and the consensus is that removing short names fixes the problem. If you’ve recently had a GMB listing suspended after adding a short name, your best course of action is to remove it.

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