In this monthly post, we bring you the latest from all of the major platforms.
Google Ads
What: Google expands lead forms to Youtube and Discovery Campaigns
Details: Lead form extensions (which are currently active in search) now extend to Youtube and Discovery campaigns.
Impact: Google has become increasingly B2B friendly over the past couple of years. The success of Lead Forms in other platforms has created pressure for Google to provide a suitable offering. The expansion of this option into new platforms provides opportunities for marketers in both volume and efficiency.
What: Automatically update Customer Match Lists with Zapier
Details: With Zapier, there would no longer be a need to manually upload, sort, or remove contacts from a list. The integration would automate this process through your customer relationship management system.
Impact: Those that opt-in would benefit from more accurate audience representations thanks to up-to-date Customer Match Audiences and the targeting that seeds directly from them(similar audiences).
What: Google improves control of shopping ads by country
Details: Google has added the “shopping_ads_excluded_country” attribute to allow advertisers to avoid showing their product in certain countries their campaign may be targeting.
Impact: Advertisers will no longer need to create unique feeds for countries with differing product availability/offerings.
What: Simplified image requirements for App campaigns
Details: Currently, App campaigns accept more than 30 sizes and dimensions. Later this year, Google will shift from size-based to ratio-based image specifications. Only three aspect ratios will be needed.
Impact: Simplified specs will improve things for all members. For advertisers, creative testing is simplified. For creative departments, the scale of requests is diminished.
What: Maximize conversions available for App Campaigns
Details: The Automated Bid Strategy Max Conversions is now also available for App campaign users.
Impact: Advertisers that are budget and volume focused over CPI now have an automated App strategy that meets their needs.
What: Performance planner receives numerous new features to improve budget planning
Details: Upgrades to Performance Planner include support for shared budgets, the ability to share plans for viewing or editing, and projections that factor in conversion delay.
Impact: Whether it’s through a platform tool, manual analysis, or proprietary tech, projections are often more like guesstimates. Google’s Performance Planner now makes it easier to collaborate on plans through the sharing feature, while getting a boost in accuracy due to support of shared budget and conversion delay.
What: A billing-only role comes to Google
Details: The billing-only role allows access to be granted to those that only need transparency into the financials of an account.
Impact: This access level would limit campaign viewing and editing, meaning it’s likely a perfect match for the finance department. Google continues to overhaul many of its access levels in order to maintain a combination of flexibility and security for advertisers.
Microsoft Advertising
What: Bing Editor now includes recommendations and campaign-level associations
Details: Recommendations were announced last year and are globally available in the online interface. These will now be shared in the Editor as well. These include tidbits such as campaigns limited by budget, ad groups without ads, keyword expansion ideas, and more. Additionally, campaign-level audience targeting is now available within the Editor.
Impact: For recommendations, the “spot-check” value of these suggestions is now taken offline as well. Meanwhile, campaign-level audience associations create cohesion with Google and remove the need to select at every individual ad group level.
What: Microsoft Audience Ads expanding to Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany
Details: Expect rollout in for Australia and New Zealand on August 18, 2020 and in France and Germany on September 8, 2020.
Impact: For those finding success with Microsoft’s native offering, geo expansion is on its way.
What: Free Product Listing Ads in Bing Shopping Tab
Details: Much like Google (as always), Bing is rolling out free Product Listings within its shopping tab. No action is required to opt-in, however, there are opt-out options if desired.
Impact: The jury is still out on what volume these free listings will make-up on Bing, and what strategy is required to maximize your impressions.
What: Simplified Targeting Categories
Details: Facebook will combine audiences in Certain cases in which advertisers rarely use minor targeting criterion variations. For example, Facebook combined several options representing military bases or regiments given the specific interests were rarely used. Other examples include cleaning up duplicates by removing ‘Key West’, which mimics ‘Key West, Florida’ that would remain.
Impact: Given the data indicates low usage, chances are if advertisers discover their audience has been retired there should be a suitable and similar replacement.
What: Facebook preparing for iOS 14
Details: Facebook will no longer collect IDFA on their own apps. Additionally, Facebook will remind users they have a choice about how their information is used on Facebook and about their Off-Facebook activity feature. Lastly, a new SDK will be released to provide support for Apple’s SKAdNetwork API.
Impact: If you work in the App space, chances are you’ve spent much of the last month prepping for this change. Adjustments will likely be ongoing for all platforms including Facebook once iOS 14 is released.
General Note
If you missed last month’s, turn to July 2020 Updates to Paid Media Platforms for all of the latest info.
Did we miss any major monthly updates? Not covering a certain platform close enough? Feel free to let me know on Twitter @Will_Larcom
