Blue goes live on App Store as big advertisers hit the brakes on spending
You probably noticed there’s a lot going on at Twitter HQ. Seems like things are only getting started…
The early bird gets the… something: Twitter’s revamped verification system became available to Apple users over the weekend, granting them the verified blue tick if they subscribe to Twitter Blue.
The subscription includes Undo Tweet in addition to other premium features that are still in development. Twitter assures users they will get access as the features roll out.
Android users are supposed to get Twitter Blue access next, though it’s not clear when.
It’s also not clear when all paying users will have a blue tick visible next to their names. Guess we’ll have to wait and see…
Hitting pause: Meanwhile, brands like Audi, L’Oreal, and General Motors have stopped spending ad money on the platform until they see “how things will change.”
Musk confirmed a “massive revenue drop” and alluded to “activist groups pressure,” but he also claimed nothing has changed in moderation policies.
Musk did say they’re working on ways to make Twitter Ads better, which could be good news for smaller advertisers… if it comes to fruition.
Why we care: Depending on your ROI, you could follow along with the big brands and pause spending until there’s more clarity, or try to leverage lower costs for better placements.
Either way, here’s hoping things at Twitter stabilize soon, for marketers and users alike.
ALPHABET
Links are losing weight, and YouTube expands live stream guest feature
Meanwhile, over at Google HQ…
Links are getting demoted: According to John Mueller, links will lose some of their ranking clout in the future.
John says that the “weight of the links will drop off as Google gets better in figuring out how the content fits in within the context of the entire web.”
Don’t worry, the importance of backlinks won’t be fading away anytime soon. John admits “links will always be something they care about,” just… maybe not that much.
Better together: YouTube announced they’re expanding the rollout of Go Live Together—a feature that lets guests join live streams—to more users this week.
The feature opens up new possibilities, like hosting live interviews and internal sessions, letting viewers tune in, and much more.
It’s also opening up new ad placements. Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads will be attributed to the channel host. Nice.
Why we care: While you should always acquire solid backlinks, make sure you diversify your SEO strategy. The channel is obviously evolving…
And YouTube’s new features look great for creators as well as for marketers and advertisers. If you use them, let us know how they work out for you!
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APP STORE MARKETING
How to 5x your App Store keyword list size with one simple trick
Placement here, placement there… It seems Apple is adding a new ad placement every week.
So how do you squeeze every ounce of organic traffic? By making the most of your keywords list, of course.
Unfortunately, Apple caps the keyword list at 100 characters, meaning you can effectively type 10 to 12 words before you max out. Bummer.
… Unless you do what AppFigures recommends and take advantage of localization.
What’s locale got to do with it? See, Apple allows an additional 100 characters for different localizations, no matter the language.
ASO experts study which localizations are used in every country. For example, Apple US uses keyword lists for English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic.
So by localizing your app in other languages, you can introduce 100s of new characters in English for every additional localization! For the case above, that means 500 new characters. Wow.
How do you add additional localizations? Just follow these steps:
- Log into your App Store connection. Go to My Apps and select an app you want to optimize.
- Create a new version by clicking on “Add new version or platform.”
- Click the language sector and select the language you want to add.
- Enter new keywords into the keywords list.
- Save changes.
Here are a few more tips that may help your apps to rank higher and get more downloads:
- Use long tail keywords. For example, an app providing guitar tabs might do well with a “learn to play guitar” query.
- Use extensions. Be more specific. If you’ve got a weather app, for example, add big city names to terms like “weather” or “forecast.”
- Try trending and seasonal keywords. Add temporary keywords for current events. Sports news apps could benefit with the keywords of a currently trending game.
- More keywords. And simplest of all, you can always just add keywords that you think could benefit your rankings. Go on and fill those gaps.
There you go! Using the tips above might help your app gain more organic traffic despite the flood of paid ad content. Good luck out there!
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THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Try this creative email idea to make more sales
It’s a lazy Monday morning. You open your inbox. And oh, look, there’s another email from Walmart and Target and Macy’s and… too late, you’ve already moved on to doing something else.
You don’t care about any of these emails.
Why? Because getting sales emails from companies is boring! And your customers probably feel the same way.
So try this instead: Write an email from a character instead of your company.
For example, if you’re marketing for a soap brand and your Head of Product is named Emma, your email could start out something like this:
“Hey there, Emma here.
I’m Chief of Soap here at Generic Soap Brand (my real title is Head of Product, but Chief of Soap explains what I do so much better).
I wanted to send you a quick message about…”
Emma doesn’t even have to be real, although it helps if she is.
Point is, people like hearing from people, not brands. The tactic above can be very effective, especially when you don’t use it too often and the message is right.
We do this, too. Ever noticed the cartoon character featured in many of our newsletter images?
He’s there to give you a character you can connect with, as a way to help you connect with the Stacked Marketer newsletter and brand.
And we love him, too, of course. Hopefully you do, too.
So try writing an email to your list from a character or a person at your company and see how it does. If nothing else, it’ll make your readers look twice before moving on.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
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APPLE: More ad placements coming… It seems Apple is planning to run ads during soccer games after striking a partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS). Apparently the ads come in three tiers, including a dedicated package, paid TV+, and free TV app.
ADVERTISING: Beware of connected TV (CTV) ad fraud. The overall average ad fraud rate in open programmatic buys is 19%, with Google Chromecast, Sony, and Apple topping the list. Meanwhile, Microsoft, Roku, and Amazon Fire ranked the lowest. Good to know.
BUSINESS: Real or fake? Apparently over 30% of the reviews you read online are indeed fake… and most shoppers can’t tell the difference. No wonder big tech companies have started taking the matter seriously.
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BRAIN TEASER
In 1990, a person is 15 years old. In 1995, that same person is 10 years old. How can this 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.
Attack of the tumbleweed
Imagine this: you get up, make the bed, draw the curtains… and discover your entire house is surrounded by tumbleweed!
That happened to a Colorado couple recently, who found their front yard and driveway completely “submerged” in tumbleweed.
Luckily, they managed to resolve the—in their words—“eerie and creepy” issue with mowers and plows.
The couple blamed strong winds for the “horror movie” situation, but we think they should ask Stephen King for a second opinion…