August 2020: What's new in the world of digital
Posted on 4th September 2020 at 15:03
Today we look back at some of the key changes and innovations across all aspects of digital in August. We give you a snapshot of what the update is, why it is important and what action should you take. This month we have extended our updates to include the first week of September, due to two big announcements from Google.
Generate Leads Seamlessly via Google Discovery Ads
What is it?: Google announced on Wednesday 5th August that it will be enabling lead form extensions into discovery ads later this year. A demo can be seen in the Jeep Wrangler Ad.
Why is it important?: Advertisers crave for advertising opportunities which can drive customer awareness, interest and conversion all in one. This new format which will be ran across Google’s YouTube and Gmail properties, looks to have achieved this.
What action should you take?: Speak to your Google Account Manager to understand when this ad format will be available for your business.
Facebook Launches Free Paid Online Events
What is it?: Following the launch of ad credits, Shops and additional training to their customers, Facebook confirmed on Friday 14th August a new initiative to allow brands to promote paid for events and collect payments directly via Facebook, without any charges for a year.
Why is it important?: Many services such as training are having to be ran virtually due to Covid-19. Finding the right platform to host these events and take payments can be challenging. This allows Small to Medium Size businesses to digitise their offering via a simple, cost free payment process
What action should you take?: Read through the official guides created by Facebook to check your eligibility
Discover more: Best Practices for Paid Online Events
Bing Launches Free Product Listings in the US
What is it?: On Monday 17th August Microsoft followed Google’s announcement by introducing free shopping listings into their shopping tab. Like Google, this will be rolled out to the US initially, and to Canada, Australia, France and Germany soon after.
Why is it important?: Although Bing’s market share is only between 5% to 10% of Google, the quality of the audience should not be underestimated. At a time where advertising costs continue to rise, ensuring your feed is available for free listings is a no brainer.
What action should you take?: If you already have a Microsoft Merchant Center with approved products, no action will needs to be taken as you will automatically benefit as soon as it rolls out to the UK. If you do not, we would recommend launching with Google Shopping to take advantage of paid listings in time for peak trading. Conversion rates are often stronger than Google and costs to advertise are lower.
Discover more: Microsoft Official Announcement
Google announce plans to pass on 2% UK digital tax to brands
What is it?: On Tuesday 1st September Google followed Amazon, announcing that the 2% digital tax in the UK will be passed directly onto advertisers. For Austria and Turkey the amount rises to 5%. eBay have decided to absorb their fees whilst Facebook and Microsoft haven’t announced their plans.
Why is it important?: The change impacts on all of Googles ad properties including YouTube. This will have a direct negative impact on advertisers bottom line, immediately reducing the Return on Ad Spend from their Google campaigns.
What action should you take?: The cost will be applied from media spend / fees generated from November. From a management perspective, the increased costs will need to be factored into forecasts, budgeting and revised optimisation targets.
Discover more:
Managing negative keywords become harder with changes to AdWords reports
What is it?: On Wednesday 2nd September Google announced that they would be removing search terms which do not have significant enough volumes from Google AdWords search terms reporting.
Why is it important?: For advertisers using phrase and broad match types, this change will mean that you will not be able to see every search term that has triggered an impression or click, potentially increasing irrelevant search terms.
What action should you take?: As a result, we would recommend a higher focus being placed on exact match keywords, spending time researching positive and negative keyword variations from Google Keyword Planner.
Discover more: Google Ads to limit search terms reporting citing privacy
Looking to understand the latest product updates?
If you would like further information on any of the above updates or your like to access your free no obligation consultation, please get in touch to understand how we can help you.
Tagged as: Digital Marketing, Thought Leadership
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