What were some of the top stories from the world of marketing and video? Each week with Render Perfect Productions, your video marketing experts in Baltimore and beyond, we’ll take a look at marketing news this week. In this edition, we are covering some of the top stories from the week of May 9th to May 13th 2022.
Google add customizable ads on search and YouTube
- Google unveiled a new ad experience at its keynote conference this week, giving users more control over what ad content they see. A new feature will arrive later this year across Google’s suite of apps and websites, including YouTube and Search.
- Under My Ads Center, users can follow brands and elect to see more ads from a specific business depending on their preferences and current interests. The system intends to act as a hub for users to manage their advertiser interactions, ranging from blocking or reporting content to view details on an ad’s funding sources and targeting metrics.
- The change follows last month’s update to Google’s Ad Settings that let users limit ads pertaining to certain topics like gambling, alcohol or dating, as well as an antitrust complaint centered on its ad-tech ecosystem.
Google wants to give consumers more control over their ad experience as it seeks to double down on personalization and privacy.
The features under My Ads Center will roll out later this year, allowing users across its suite of apps and websites to fine-tune their ad preferences by liking, blocking or reporting content. They will also be able to see who provided the funding to place the ads. YouTube viewers watching car reviews can select the “hybrid alternative vehicles” category to prioritize ads related to that topic over traditional fuel cars, per the example in Google’s announcement.
The new features should allow users to select subjects they wish to see more of, though it’s unclear how many people will take the time to opt-in to follow a brand or receive more of their content. However, the tools also let users more easily block ads or brands altogether, ultimately giving them more control over their internet experience via the new My Ads Center.
For brands, the new feature boosts ad engagement and reach consumers who are more likely to be interested in their content as third-party cookies are phased out.
Google this week also announced it will add new brand suitability tools to guide advertisers in their decision-making around media buys on YouTube, Adweek reported. These features will let advertisers apply brand safety categories more consistently across Google properties and help them understand how their brand safety decisions impact ad reach.
Privacy has been a core issue for Google in recent years. The tech giant announced over two years ago that it would phase out cookies to elevate privacy, though the timeline for the phaseout has changed several times as Google tries to develop viable alternatives at scale. The new My Ads Center is separate from the Topics targeting approach currently being tested within Google’s Privacy Sandbox, as these categories are explicitly noted by users and not informed by their browsing history.
Instagram test new following tab in India
Oh wow, Instagram Reels is trying to be even more like TikTok, you say? What a surprise.
Instagram’s currently tweaking the design of the main Reels screen in the app, with users in India now seeing a new ‘Following’ tab alongside the main Reels feed.
Which mirrors TikTok’s ‘Following’ and ‘For You’ feed approach, with the algorithmically recommended clips in ‘For You’ enabling the app to showcase a much broader range of popular video clips.
That’s been the key to TikTok’s success. Rather than limiting your content streams to your personal network, TikTok’s able to take the best content, on an unlimited range of topics, and show them to you based on your interests. That means that the most popular clips have more chance to succeed, regardless of who each user is following, and while you can also filter through the latest uploads from people that you know and like, many users find that the main ‘For You’ feed is enough to give them their short-form video fix.
Reels has taken a similar approach with its Reels tab feed, while content from creators that you follow is now inserted into your main IG feed display. But with this alternating feed approach, you would have a more Reels-specific way to check out clips from the accounts that you follow, which could help to boost engagement by further leaning into the short-form video trend.
Though even then, the true secret sauce for TikTok is its algorithm, which is increasingly good at learning what you like, and showing you more and more of that.
Besides this, TikTok’s internal classifiers what’s actually in each video clip are very specific, and it’s this loop of direct feedback and intricate entity labeling that makes TikTok’s system so good at showing you more of what you want to see.
Instagram Reels isn’t at that same level yet. Though it is working on it.
It’s an interesting shift, because as noted, Facebook, in particular, has long prioritized content from family and friends, and with more users than any other app, by a significant margin, that’s been a winning formula – while other platforms have been forced to find new and better ways to showcase the best content in their apps on a broader scale.
Reddit does this well, through crowd-sourced moderation (up and downvotes). Twitter remains horrendously bad at discovery. But TikTok has mastered it, to a large degree, which is why it’s so interesting, and has become such a time sink for people looking for quick-hit entertainment.
There are some questionable elements within this, in that TikTok feeds into more concerning interests by showing users more and more of the same. But it’s effectively shown that AI recommendations can be an effective way to maximize engagement, with no social graph, opening up more competition in the social media space.
Now Meta’s trying to catch up – though including a ‘Following’ tab will also help to maintain that more close social connection aspect, something that TikTok is now also working to better incorporate as it looks to move into broader social connection.
LinkedIn’s funny reaction getting closer to release
Get ready to express yourself in a new way on LinkedIn, with its ‘Funny’ reaction getting closer to release.
Which, in all honesty, don’t seem to really fit on LinkedIn – and even worse, many platform ‘influencers’ just steal memes like this from other platforms than re-post them to LinkedIn, and get all the credit as Likes and engagement.
But there’s always room for some laughter and jokes – and on LinkedIn, the ‘laughing’ reaction has actually been one of the most requested updates.
Indeed, back in February, as part of an update of his team has been working on, LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen said that:
“One of the top requests we got was for a laughing emoji reaction. We hear you loud & clear and we agree. Humor is indeed a serious business.”
LinkedIn has also added other emoji response options in the past, including the ‘Support’ reaction that it rolled out in June 2020, in response to posts about the pandemic. ‘Funny’ will be the next element, which, based on user interest, could add some value to the app.
There’s no official word from LinkedIn when it’s going to go live with its ‘Funny’ addition, and it hasn’t been added to its Help page for Reactions as yet (LinkedIn normally updates its Help pages before going live with new features). But it seems to be getting close, with this format and visual style looking pretty much complete.
TikTok launches new interactive market insights tool
This could be very beneficial in your TikTok marketing process.
TikTok has launched a new, interactive insights platform, which enables you to use a range of filters to discover key data points on your target market/s.
It’s similar to Facebook’s interactive insights tool (also worth a look), which gives you a more customized perspective on key data points, as opposed to more generalized studies and white papers that may not be aligned with your needs (see also: Facebook’s Monthly Trending Topics tool).
The info could help to guide your strategic approach and inform your choices. The only drawback right now is that TikTok’s insights database doesn’t seem too deep, so many of the same data points show up in several categories, which means they may not be as specific as you might like.
The data presented relates to each element, and provides more perspective on what’s happening in the app.
And with TikTok currently being the app of the moment, and on track to reach 1.5 billion users in 2022, many marketers are indeed looking for more ways to tap into trending discussions, and build a presence via TikTok clips.
If that sounds like you, you should definitely check this out, if just to learn more about what the latest research says about TikTok usage.
About Render Perfect Productions:
Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.
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