Attention shoppers: Pinterest is adding a cartful of new features
Wow.
Pinterest just wrapped up its second Pinterest Presents, a global advertising summit where they usually introduce too many features for us to cover in a single newsletter issue. So we’ll just share the ones that seem most relevant to you:
- In-app checkout. Users can now buy products without leaving the app. This feature will be available to a limited number of Shopify merchants in the United States before expanding to a broader audience later this year.
- Pinterest API for shopping. Pinterest will give you an easy way to share almost everything about your products, from availability to pricing updates.
- Your shop. Discovering products is becoming easier. “Your Shop” will be a personalized shopping page that displays products based on users’ activity and preferences.
What this means for you: Pinterest is transitioning from an e-commerce marketing channel to an e-commerce platform. If your target market is women and you’ve never really paid attention to Pinterest, now might be a good time.
TIKTOK
TikTok is gaining on YouTube
How do TikTok and YouTube compare in terms of usage in the U.S.?
This recent eMarketer report shows the gap is closing.
YouTube is huge: 225.8 million people watch YouTube videos every month. Last year, the number of U.S. TV viewers and YouTube viewers was about the same: 245 million.
YouTube currently dwarfs TikTok: In 2022, YouTube will have over twice as many users as TikTok. More than half of children between 0 and 11 use YouTube, while TikTok is used by only 4.6 percent.
But not for long: YouTube’s reach increased by just 1.5 percentage points among US teens ages 12–17, while TikTok’s reach increased by more than 13 points among the same audience.
When it comes to young adults ages 18–24, the gap between YouTube and TikTok is even narrower: 85.4 percent vs. 73.9 percent in terms of usage this year, respectively.
If things continue at this pace, by 2025, there will be 24.4 million TikTok users in the U.S. aged 18–24 compared to 26.6 million YouTube users. That’s a tight gap.
Why we care about all this: Because our marketing dollars usually go where people’s attention is. And right now, more and more young users are paying attention to TikTok.
SPONSORED BY AHREFS
Last week, over 10,348 companies dumped Google Search Console and got even more organic traffic
Almost every website has at least one SEO issue that is damaging their ranking in Google’s search results. And simply fixing these issues means getting more traffic.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (aka, AWT) helps you do exactly that.
While Google Search Console may report on a handful of issues, AWT reports on 100+ common SEO issues.
100+ more opportunities to get more traffic. Uncover them for free.
That’s not all.
AWT analyzes your backlinks (all of them), reports on metrics, link type data, and broken links data for internal and external links.
And what about your keywords? AWT provides you with SEO metrics for pages and keywords, SERP snapshot with competitive data, SERP features for every keyword.
Does Google Search Console give you that data?
No… And that’s why TripAdvisor, Expedia, Pinterest, Facebook, HuffPost, eBay and thousands of other companies use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.
ADVERTISING
4 ways to reduce your Google Ads CPA
Ever wished you had a bigger ad budget?
Here’s an idea for winning over the CFO: decrease your acquisition costs.
In this PPC Hero post, James Bessey-Saldanha offers a nice balance of basic and advanced tips for driving down your CPA.
Here’s the recap:
1. Increase the conversion rate. How? A couple ways to do this…
- Reduce the number of clicks required to complete your conversion action. For example, if you’re in e-commerce, consider using the product page as the landing page. If you’re generating leads, make the form visible.
- Use images that nudge customers toward the CTA: A common trick here is using images of people pointing or looking at the CTA, like this.
2. Reduce the CPC. You can do this by…
- Including target keywords in your ad copy.
- Including target keywords in your landing page copy.
- Making the landing page copy and ad copy consistent.
3. Implement a single keyword ad group (SKAG) structure. When each ad group has its own set of ads tailored to one keyword, the quality score increases across the entire campaign.
4. Expand your keywords, then narrow down. Start by targeting a high number of keywords. Then focus on the ones that perform the best. This gives you the chance of discovering new targeting opportunities.
There are a few other details we didn’t mention. You can find them here.
SPONSORED BY PROPUSH
How to earn 30% more using the ProPush Smart Tag and sweepstakes affiliate offers
Who wouldn’t like to get a 30% better return on their ad spend, right? That’s where the Smart Tag comes into play. It’s the ultimate tool to get extra revenue with any CPA offer. Yes, really, it works across verticals.
It’s been especially good for sweepstakes because of the simple conversion flow. You can see it in action and learn to use it in this free case study.
Learn how this affiliate got $11,114 extra using the Smart Tag.
Join ProPush.me to use the Smart Tag in your campaigns.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Why you should ignore copywriting rules about length
If you read most ads you find on the internet, you’ll see that a lot of copy looks and reads the same.
Here’s why: Most copywriters are learning from the same places. They’re reading the same Twitter threads, buying the same courses, desperately leafing through the same generic guides, and reading the same newsletters… like ours.
To stand out, look backwards. Specifically, look back in history at a man named David Abbott. He was one of the most brilliant admen of his era (and of all time). This is his best work. It’s an ad for the whisky brand, Chivas Regal.
We’ll paste a sample so you can take a sip:
“Because I’ve known you all my life. Because a red Rudge bicycle once made me the happiest boy on the street. Because you let me play cricket on the lawn. Because you used to dance in the kitchen with a tea towel around your waist…”
This goes on for 21 more lines. It’s a massive ad. Reading it takes at least a minute.
Abbott’s copy isn’t “short and punchy.” It’s long, and it’s good. While he wrote the copy for print, it could work just as well online.
If you get the chance––and this can be on your homepage, about page, sales page, or somewhere else––try writing long copy, Abbott-style. Write with passion and emotion.
Because while the advice to write short copy might work for average copywriters, you’re not average.
And you’re going to sell more than the lot of ‘em.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
BUSINESS: If Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook agreed on something, it would be this business newsletter. The Daily Upside, written by a former investment banker, is a quality newsletter that delivers insights to make you smarter every day. Sign up for free today.*
GOOGLE: Consent or get suspended. Starting May 11 2022, if you use Google Ads in Europe, you’ll need to ask your users to agree to cookies…or else.
BUSINESS: Stripe’s getting into crypto. So if you’re a user… and you dream of building a crypto business… they’ve got a new feature you’ll probably love.
ADVERTISING: In addition to pausing ads on its own network, Google will also pause ads on Google properties and networks in Russia.
E-COMMERCE: Uh-oh. Mercado Libre, a massive e-commerce platform in South America, got hacked. While they promise critical customer data is safe, 300,000 platform users were exposed all the same. Not so good.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
You live in a one storey house made entirely of redwood. What color would the stairs be?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Who’s chipping in for gas?
Uber and Lyft drivers are increasingly finding themselves in a tough situation.
Both Uber and Lyft expect their drivers to pay for their own gas. But as gas prices rise dramatically, drivers make less, which results in less drivers.
It’s not clear yet who’s picking up the tab, but Uber’s promise to pull levers isn’t too assuring.
Buckle up, drivers and passenger