Time’s up for Zuck
2020 has been a bumpy ride for big tech companies.
TikTok’s been banned and unbanned in just about every part of the world. The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to tear Google to shreds. So it’s only fair that Facebook gets its comeuppance, too, right?
Yesterday, dozens of states rallied with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to sue Facebook for engaging in anticompetitive behavior. And as you’d assume, Zuck & Co. are not happy. Here’s the deal:
- This is a massive lawsuit. This isn’t something you see every day, and the potential implications are big. If the FTC and state governments get what they want, Facebook may be forced to sell assets like Instagram and WhatsApp – meaning that the Facebook ecosystem of today would be non-existent.
- We don’t have a timeline. Legal battles like this are very time-consuming, and sometimes end with neither party getting what they want. Expect many months of warfare between Facebook and the U.S. government.
What did Facebook say in return? It wasn’t friendly:
- Facebook says the government is backpedaling. The company stated that “years after the FTC cleared our acquisitions, the government now wants a do-over,” voicing obvious frustration with the United States.
- This will damage innovation going forward. In a very long blog post, the company claimed that new restrictions on acquisitions, and backtracking to break up companies, will hurt innovation going forward.
A breakup of Facebook would have massive implications on the advertising industry. But, we’re not there yet – so keep those campaigns running and hold on tight!
Instagram just got a little bit better
Sure, yesterday was a wild scene for the Facebook family. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean we can’t still get some useful updates. Here’s what happened (besides an enormous lawsuit):
- There’s a content calendar feature in Facebook Creator Studio. Reported by Matt Navarra on Twitter, there’s a new content calendar feature that’ll let you view past posts and schedule new ones. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a feed preview feature (yet).
- The UK got Instagram’s first-ever shoppable catalog. The company released a curated catalog with featured products and collaborations with influencers, marking another push for eCommerce. You can learn more about that here.
The Crew’s take: How excited are the social media managers out there for the new content calendar feature? Also, how annoyed are you that they didn’t release it with a ‘preview feed’ feature?
SPONSORED BY PROPELLERADS
The Ad is in The Details
Gathering accurate stats can be tricky, so PropellerAds has put together two very handy reports. They’re bound to help you tackle these burning issues: planning your popunder campaigns, and taking advantage of the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) market opportunity.
Let’s start with popunders! PropellerAds ran the numbers on popunder performance; and oh boy, we’ve got news!
Here are just some of the points this exclusive report looks into:
- India’s performance compared to other TOP GEOs.
- USA’s Average CPM, that ranked… pretty much as expected?
- Multiple Variables’ Conversion Rates that changed significantly.
- OS & Platform Numbers that showed impressive results.
- Interesting Monthly Volumes and Average Costs.
Download the free popunder report here.
So where’s the next popunder opportunity? Learn how you can better optimize, stay relevant, and eclipse your competitors, all while taking over new and spicy GEOs.
You should know this before advertising in the less-explored MENA region:
- Language: Arabic all the way or a licensed dialect translator.
- How to plan your ad schedule for this region.
- The secret to OS, Platforms, and PSP in MENA.
- Verticals, CPA networks, Major Stakeholders.
- What’s a Definite NO when advertising in MENA.
After carefully analyzing data gathered over the months, the future just turned brighter. We’ll just tell you this: the popunder CTRs PropellerAds found, are… not too bad. Not bad at all! And the MENA volume and costs are really worth looking into.
But don’t just take our word for it, check the MENA report here.
Download the free popunder report.
Download the free MENA report.
CONTENT MARKETING
Going straight for the kill
Most of the time, blog posts are created to attract new prospects. And content marketers rarely have the goal to convert users straight away, with one blog post.
Usually, content is organized following the different stages of the funnel, TOF, MOF, and BOF. For the newly initiated, that means Top of the Funnel, Middle of the Funnel, and Bottom of the Funnel.
But if you feel aggressive, you can also try to go straight for the sale without whipping out the funnel.
In this video, Tyler Hakes says that in some cases you can move the buyer all the way through the funnel with one blog post. From reader to customer, with a thousand-word post.
He reports an example as well. It’s a blog post from a SaaS company that is turning 5% of readers into signups for the software.
Let’s see how:
1) Title: “Product Sheets: Creating Automated Sell Sheets with Plytix”
- The first half of the headline has a high volume keyword. This allows you to target TOF audiences.
- The second half instead communicates that the post outlines how to solve the problem with a specific product.
2) When you read the first part of the blog starts with TOF content. It presents a problem: The tedious process of creating and editing sells sheets.
3) Afterward, the posts move into the MOF stage, presenting a solution to the problem: Automating the sell sheets creation process.
The post talks about what automating means for your business and why automating sell sheets can be valuable for your business.
4) The blog post’s final part is about using Pytix to solve the problem, bringing the prospect from a solution aware stage to product aware. They don’t do anything complex. They just explain how the product works, and how to use it.
That is all.
As Tyler Hakes said, they didn’t do anything difficult here. They didn’t spend hours finding the right pain points or optimizing the copy.
They just mapped the different stages of the funnel people go through – and the information they need as they go through the phases.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
ADVERTISING: App Annie, the industry’s most notable authority on apps, released their 2020 report. Crucially, spend and downloads are projected to soar in 2021 – meaning so will marketing opportunities within (and for) apps.
GOOGLE: There’s been an update to the Search Console API that allows for fresher data and more. Check it out if you’re into analytics!
SEO: We’ve written a bit about the Google December Core Update. This article provides more than 1k winners and losers, if you’re interested in diving deeper.
WHATSAPP: A couple new wallpapers and backgrounds just got announced for WhatsApp. Choose yours carefully.
BRAIN TEASER
What did the mother triangle say to the baby triangle?
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.
Starships were meant to fly
Before you close this email in horror: We’re not talking about the Nicki Minaj song.
We’re talking about a real-life starship (without a crew), one that Elon Musk’s team at SpaceX has been building.
It got a test launch yesterday, flying a record-high 8 miles above the earth’s surface. While 8 miles might sound like a trip over to the local grocery store, it’s a hell of a lot more impressive in vertical distance.
The ship couldn’t quite stick the landing – if you want to see it land and promptly explode, check out this video.