I spy with my little eye…
…no more surveillance products on Google. In a weekend that brought some big updates across the board, Google announced that beginning August 11, spyware and surveillance products will be banned from Google Ads and Shopping.
Surveillance products, like GPS trackers and nanny cams, will be joining a long list of products that Google’s already banned. The policy update is in attempt to curb dishonest behavior – and considering how critical Google Ads and Shopping are for many businesses, Google just might be successful.
There’s always more, isn’t there?
The dishonest behavior policy update isn’t the only news the tech giant has dished out lately. Here are a couple more points of interest from the last few days:
- Google Analytics is getting more useful by the day. The website will now suggest new predictive audiences in the Audience Builder, making it even easier to forecast the future of your business.
- Mac users rejoice. Google is reportedly working on an update for Chrome that will “dramatically” improve battery life on Macs by prioritizing power usage between tabs, amongst other things.
Facebook is heading into uncharted waters
Zuckerberg on your mind lately? From CCPA confusion to ad boycotts, there’s been a lot going on in Facebook land. We’ve got a couple of updates from the weekend, ranging from minor changes to sweeping overhauls. These are the latest updates from Zuck & company:
- A ban on political ads might be approaching. As the United States makes its way towards election season, Facebook is considering stopping all political ads. We wouldn’t be surprised if this is also a bid to appease many of the big brands that are boycotting the platform for political reasons.
- Facebook’s SDK has had some issues. If you’ve got an iPhone, you might have noticed some problems opening apps on Friday. You weren’t alone, as it was an issue with Facebook’s SDK causing these apps to crash. This also happened back in May, which is leading some to think this isn’t a one-time problem.
- Sharing Facebook stories is getting easier. Per Matt Navarra on Twitter, a reaction-like icon for sharing content may be coming to stories in the near future.
There are uncharted waters ahead for Facebook, but Zuckerberg has had no problems steering the ship so far – we’re looking forward to seeing what comes next.
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The surprising stories data tells us
What’s a deal with a Kardashian worth to a company’s share price?
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Chartr is a newsletter like you’ve never seen before, going deeper than the headlines with data-driven insights.
Chartr’s free 5-minute newsletter is jam-packed with stunning visuals and fresh insights into business, technology, entertainment & politics such as. Past newsletters have explored:
- Should you really buy stocks after a big market crash?
- What’s the next diet craze?
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- When are Twitter users happiest?
- Who profits from your morning cup of coffee?
Chartr answers these questions with data and charts.
You can listen to people’s opinions on Facebook groups. Or you can truly understand what’s happening in our world with data. Like you do with your campaigns.
COPYWRITING
How to say HEY to your customers with refreshing copywriting
You’ve probably heard of HEY by now – the new email-replacement from Basecamp that’s received a generous heaping of media attention in the past couple of weeks.
Enter Harry Dry, aka Marketing Examples. In his latest tweet, he broke down how Basecamp made us care about HEY, and why that matters for your business.
According to Harry, HEY’s marketing success all comes down to landing page copy that even Don Draper himself would envy. Here are our biggest takeaways from the refreshingly simple approach:
- Don’t sell a product, tell a story. Instead of a cookie-cutter features and benefits page, HEY’s landing page tells a story, convincing the reader that their service is useful.
- Draw the reader in with a hook. Yes, that same advice your third-grade teacher gave you also applies to copywriting. HEY doesn’t even introduce itself until the end of the landing page, when you’re all-in on the premise.
- Create conflict, even if there isn’t any. HEY’s branding is akin to the guy at the party who turns his nose up at cheap beer, or the coffee shop barista who scoffs at anything he doesn’t drink himself. By pitting themselves against the status quo, the marketing team at HEY creates conflict and appeals to confident buyers.
HEY isn’t for everyone, and the team at Basecamp knows it – which is exactly why they were able to craft such precise messaging. If you want to watch Harry’s 2-minute video breaking it down further, check it out on Twitter here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
TOOLS: This isn’t the best thing since sliced bread, it’s better – it’s a tool that uses AI to generate font pairings based on your preferences.
AMAZON: Pump the brakes! Just hours after telling their employees to delete TikTok, Amazon pulled a U-Turn and said it had made a mistake with its messaging.
TIKTOK: TikTok is offering some significant advertising incentives to businesses in their “Back to Business” program. A total of $100M is up for grabs by SMB advertisers.
SEO: When you click on a featured snippet in SERPs, you may soon be taken to the part of the article where the snippet appears – it seems Google has been testing the feature.
PINTEREST: The company updated its Feed algorithm to put more focus on videos and new types of content, different from the one that the user usually engages with.
BRAIN TEASER
What did Obi-Wan say to Luke when he was having trouble eating at a Chinese restaurant?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
How to trick yourself into remembering things
Marketers have a lot to remember. Clients to check in with, ad campaigns to monitor, whether or not your pile of dirty laundry is in the background of your Zoom call, the list goes on.
Fortunately, the good people over at Wired talked with a four-time memory champion and a psychological scientist to figure out four simple steps to memorizing almost anything. Here’s what they came up with:
- Start with strong images. For the Great Wall of China, for example, try imagining a simple wall. For memorizing the CCPA guidelines, well…we can’t help you there.
- Put those images in a familiar location. Visualize what you’re trying to remember in a location that you’re familiar with – your house, for example.
- Pay attention. OK, this tip is essentially “try hard”, but it’s important to stay focused when you’re trying to memorize something.
- Break things down. If you’re trying to memorize something big, break it down into smaller, bite-size pieces, and work on memorizing those.
You might not be a memory champion yet, but you’re well on your way – try a couple of these tips out next time you need to memorize something (but maybe set a reminder on your phone, just in case).