Spoiler: That Wasn’t Insurance You Just Bought.
TodayInDigital is a daily podcast showcasing the latest in marketing trends and updates. Today, Tod touches on:
Your next source of product sales could soon come from WhatsApp
Snapchat will certify you on its ads platform for free
A clever marketing campaign provides insurance that’s not actually insurance
Twitter Stories are almost here
and yes, Google My Business has some issues today.
Below is the transcription from this episode
It’s Thursday, November 12, 2020.
Happy World Quality Day.
I’m Tod Maffin from engageQ digital. And here is what you missed, Today in Digital Marketing.
Quiz
Back from a day off yesterday in recognition of Remembrance Day, and we start with a quiz!
In the first six months of this year, what Facebook group topic was the fastest growing in Canada and the U.S.? Was it: Groups about Cooking… Home Schooling… Gardening… or Movies? I’ll have the answer at the end of today’s article.
Is TikTok Alive?
TikTok is back in court today, but nobody’s really 100% why… including TikTok itself.
Today is the day the U.S. government was set to ban the popular app. Why? That depends on who you ask. The Trump administration says it’s a security risk. Other think Trump is personally hurt over having one of his rallies punked by a bunch of TikTokers.
And so TikTok is in court asking for some clarity. Clarity because, they say, the U.S. government has ghosted them. Weeks ago, TikTok asked the Committee on Foreign Investment for a 30-day extension but they haven’t heard from that group since.
So they’re in court because, technically, at midnight, without the Oracle and Walmart ownership deal being finalized, the app is due to be cancelled.
Maybe Trump’s people just gave up after a couple of earlier court decisions didn’t go there way. Orders to prevent new downloads or software updates was shot down by a district court. Other restrictions that were due to go into effect today were shot down by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.
So… maybe PART of that ban is still around? But how do you enforce a ban when part of that ban doesn’t exist any more? It’s kind of like being partly pregnant. You either are or you aren’t.
So yeah, it’s confusing. Even to TikTok, so they’re back in court to try to figure it all out.
WhatsApp Launches Shopping Button
When digital marketers think about the Facebook marketing platform, we usually think of one of two apps: Facebook and Instagram. But Facebook also owns WhatsApp — and now, they’re moving more aggressively into the marketing space with that platform as well.
A new shopping button in the app is showing up, which will let users browse your brand’s catalog of products. The catalog, of course, comes from the regular catalog you set up in Facebook’s business manager.
This new button is rolling out around the world starting today. It looks like a little store icon and it replaces the Call button in the top-right corner.
Facebook says more than 175 million people message a WhatsApp business account every day.
Snapchat Courses
Snapchat is adding more marketing courses to the platform. The company offers free certifications for different types of direct-response advertising.
The courses will show you how to use their advertising tools to drive customers to an e-commerce app or website, Promote an app to get more installs, and Drive awareness and installs for a mobile game.
I should note that when I say FREE certification, I do mean free — like, everything is free.
That’s different than Facebook’s certification programs. Yes, the course material itself is free there, but you have to pay if you want to take the final exam.
There are separate modules for North American and international markets.
If you want to check it out, you’ll need one of their Ads Manager account.
Turkey Insurance
A clever marketing campaign from Amazon-owned Whole Foods — turkey insurance.
Yes, I think we can all reflect on poor Thanksgiving turkey executions — you didn’t cut it right, or it was undercooked, or the stuffing inside got burned to a crisp.
So, they’re selling turkey insurance. And while it’s underwritten by an actual insurance agency, both “underwritten” and “insurance” are in quote marks because it’s not really insurance, it’s just a great gimmick.
Basically, for a one-day period, they’ll have a mini-site up where you can upload a photo of your failed turkey attempt, describe what went wrong, and — of course, prove you bought it at Whole Foods by also sending a photo of your receipt.
And they’ll send you a $35 gift card. It’s only for the first 1,000 people, terms and conditions apply, blah blah blah… but this is such a great idea. And by limiting the number to a thousand, they know — this will cost them just $35,000.
Great idea.
Lightening Round
Which brings us to the Lightning Round.
Instagram has added account switching on the desktop. So if you’re logged into your user account via the web interface, you’ll be able to easily switch between accounts.
Instagram is also rolling out a UI change to its app — they’re finally adding a Reels tab at the bottom of the screen and a Shop tab as well. Source
Also, Twitter yesterday rolled out its redesigned carousel ads. It’s an ad unit with between 2 to 6 horizontally swipeable images or videos.
Still with Twitter, it looks like Twitter Stories will be here soon. They call them Fleets. The platform is rolling it out this week to Japan. So now it’s launched there plus in Brazil, Italy, India and South Korea. Source
It looks like there’s a backlog of reviews waiting to be being added to Google My Business profiles. So if you’re expecting a good one from a customer and it’s not there, but they promised they wrote one, they may indeed be telling the truth. Google’s aware of it and says the backlog should be cleared in the next day or two. Source
YouTube says this year it’ll skip its usual Year In Review video. Why? Because 2020.
And Facebook this morning reported… wait for it… problems with ad delivery. At the time of this recording, the issue was still outstanding.
Oh - and the answer to the quiz question: In the first six months of this year, the Facebook group topic that grew the most in Canada and the U.S.? I’ll bet you didn’t get this one — Gardening. Yes, groups about gardening grew faster than any other topic.
I’m Tod Maffin; talk to you tomorrow.
Credit to Tod Maffin and the Today In Digital Marketing podcast, Produced by engageQ.com.