New ad format for you to check out on Pinterest
Looks like last year’s new Idea pin format was a success for Pinterest.
Because now the platform has decided to turn Idea pins into ads.
Going the hybrid format route: Just announced Pinterest Idea ads should provide brands with more tools to make their audience want to engage.
The full-screen vertical format will allow you to include both video and image content to create ads specifically designed to drive traffic.
Additionally, Pinterest announced Idea ads with paid partnerships feature. This helps you connect with popular creators and produce promotional content using the format.
Why we care: The launch of Idea ads can be a nice boost for e-commerce brands advertising on Pinterest.
Also, the combination of image and video format ads can help bring your products to life in more immersive ways.
Speaking of video formats…
YOUTUBE
Short videos are here to stay
Vine introduced them. TikTok made them staple…
And now Google is also reaping the benefits of short video format.
Winning the short-form game: Google announced that more than 1.5 billion people watch YouTube Shorts every month.
Third-party estimates peg TikTok at 1.6B monthly users, while Instagram Reels apparently counts for 20% of all time spent on the platform by its 2 billion users.
This seems to further prove platforms are banking on short videos to be the primary communication channel for the younger generation.
Why we care: While it’s still not sure if the format will win the race, it’s currently well positioned as a source of engagement and acquisition – and an attractive promotional channel.
This might be a good time to experiment with short-form video content in your ads.
Not sure how to start those experiments? Here are some TikTok success stories that can help you in the… short-term… See what we did there?
SPONSORED BY CHILI PIPER
Is your B2B funnel leaking prospects?
Visitors leave your website and never come back. Or they book demos or discovery calls and never show up.
At the same time, they’re checking out your competitors.
A leaky funnel is an expensive problem. Thankfully, it’s a problem you can fix right now.
Chili Piper can patch those leaks and optimize your funnel. And they’ve got the results to prove it:
Boost your conversion rates: ChowNow quadrupled the conversion rate of their funnel thanks to Chili Piper.
Generate more demos and calls: Workato used Chili Piper to increase the number of booked demos by 50%.
Make sure leads actually show up to meetings: Sendoso used Chili Piper to hold 92% of meetings booked.
And they’re not the only ones… Shopify, Airbnb, Salesloft, and Twilio rely on Chili Piper, too.
Now it’s your turn.
GOOGLE ADS
What you need to know about Google’s Optimized Pricing
Google recently released a new feature for advertisers that monetize their content with ads: Optimized Pricing.
The goal of this feature is to maximize the long-term revenue of a slice of ad inventory you sell.
Optimize Pricing works on top of Unified Pricing Rules (UPR) to protect the value of ad inventory. It prevents media buyers from purchasing that ad inventory for less than its set worth.
Basically, Google helps publishers by selling their media inventory at the highest bid. But how does it balance it with bidding optimization on the seller side? Because Google also optimizes to offer advertisers the lowest bid.
And how does Google determine the price for media inventory? Kean Wang gives an explanation in this AdExchanger article.
With Optimized Pricing helping publishers protect the fair value of their inventory, buyers are better informed of the competition and can offer higher bids that compete for the impression.
However, Prebid auctions only happen before and outside of the Google Ads Manager. Therefore, Unified Pricing Rules are not propagated to Prebid bidders.
So, what’s the solution? Optimized Pricing won’t decrease the floor’s pricing when they’re set too high. As a publisher, it’s important to manage your UPR structure, and leave room for Optimized Pricing to work.
Test it: Unfortunately, Optimized Pricing is not a feature you can A/B test. But you can set it up for a period of time, and analyze performance before and after.
SPONSORED BY INBOX MAILERS
Use this engagement trigger to 3x your open rates
There’s a new technology that enables you to send more engagement triggers to your list.
This creates a virtuous cycle that boosts your reputation, deliverability, sender scores, and IP health — all at once.
Brands leveraging this tech are tripling, and sometimes even quintupling their open rate.
This free guide shows you how to do that.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
A simple tip for boosting performance on your social media ads
Dark mode.
You’re probably using it on your phone & your social media platforms –– about 82% of people prefer dark mode for their phones.
What does this have to do with advertising?
Well, we’re here today with a very specific tip: If you use platform-native social proof, take screenshots of that social proof in dark mode.
For example: If you’re running an ad on Twitter which uses a screenshot of a customer’s tweet as the creative, take a screenshot of that tweet with your Twitter in dark mode.
Why it works: Most people use dark mode. If you’re using platform-native social proof, using that creative in dark mode helps it feel more organic for the 80% of people that use dark mode. In other words, it feels less like an ad and more like a real post.
It won’t work for everyone, but it does for some –– give it a shot!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
INFLUENCER MARKETING: Find influencers with engaged audiences, proven sales track records, and the skills to create content that converts. With Afluencer you can connect with an A-list influencer in just 3 steps. And Stacked Marketer readers can do it for free.*
E-COMMERCE: PayPal announced “PayPal Pay monthly” which will allow customers to separate their purchase into 6 to 24 monthly payments. This should make selling and buying high-ticket products via PayPal much easier…
BING: Google Shopping is about to get a new competitor. Bing is testing an online marketplace they claim is “better than Google Shopping” as it will let users set their shopping preferences to see only relevant products. Let’s see how that goes.
BUSINESS: Back to school means back to spending. Mastercard forecasts a 7.5% spending surge during this year’s back to school sale, with department stores leading the growth. Good news for the upcoming holiday season?
GOOGLE: Search Console is about to get simpler. New reports will label pages only as valid and invald – depending on whether they appear on Google – cutting the dubious “valid with warnings” category.
TWITTER: Brick and mortar businesses get a Twitter boost! Stores in the U.S, Canada, and Australia can now display business location, hours, and more contact information on their profiles. Pretty cool!
GOOGLE: The company’s Discover feed seems to be turning into a “can I copy your homework” meme. Users are plagiarizing Web Stories so they can appear on the feed and there seems to be no way of stopping it… yet.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
Spelled forwards I’m what you do everyday. Spelled backwards I’m something you hate. What am I?
You can find the ahttps://pastebin.com/Raw3NLURswer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
“I, for one, salute our AI memelords”
It looks like we have another job threatened by artificial intelligence (AI)…
Look away, meme page admins! Because an AI image generator unintentionally became one of the most viral meme sensations.
And it’s doing a darn good job in making us laugh our socks off… quite hysterically!
How it works: Just type a query into the search bar, press Run, and wait for the AI meme master to wrap up their work of art.
What can you type? Anything.
- Spiderman buying a can of beans.
- George Washington playing Minecraft.
- Thanos looking for his mom in Walmart.
…the results are hilarious. And the best thing is you can play with it as much as you want for free.
Whoever made it, you’ve made the Internet a better place.