This Week in Digital Marketing - December 2, 2022

It’s important to keep up with marketing trends throughout the year, but being aware of marketing and sales changes leading up to and through the holiday shopping season is even more important! Are you prepared for the end of the year?

Black Friday Sales Up Nearly 12% From 2021
This year's Black Friday in the US was noticeably less intense than previous years due to inflation and "sagging consumer attitude." The data, however, indicates that malls are regaining popularity as consumers once again choose in-person shopping.

Online sales increased 2.3% to $9.12 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. The company's initial prediction was $9 billion; to put this gain in perspective, it was significantly less than the nation's current inflation rate of approximately 8%.

Microsoft Is Planning To Double The Size Of Its Ad Business To $20 Billion
Microsoft wants to increase the revenue from its advertising division from $10 billion to $20 billion. Leadership didn't give a deadline, but if they succeed, they will overtake Google as the sixth-largest digital ad supplier globally.

There are more alternatives for advertisers who want to reach consumers outside of Google and Facebook as Microsoft's ad business expands. Additional alternatives will provide publishers and marketers more possibilities, including in-game advertisements, Netflix, and the demand-side platform Xandr.

Twitter Has Launched 3 New Ad Targeting Options
New ad targeting options, including a new "Conversions" objective, have just been made available by Twitter. the updated "Conversions" goal. Advertisers can now target the users who are most likely to perform particular activities with their advertising campaigns.

Yes, despite laying off the majority of its personnel, Twitter continues to roll out new ad upgrades. But given that they had been in development for months, it's possible that these updates were already nearly finalized when Musk took control. The new ad features and possibilities should be tested by advertisers who are still using Twitter to determine whether they are worthwhile additions.

What Can We Learn From Crumbl Cookies?

• Leverage scarcity: Their weekly rotating menu positions their product from a commodity to a specialty.
  
• Branding 101: Distinct packaging leads to distinct results.
  
• Stay social: Building a following can give you the ability to acquire customers and build awareness for less ad dollars.
  

Over Half Of Marketers Are Using The Metaverse Or Considering It
According to the IAB's most recent 2023 outlook study, 56% of media buyers at brands and agencies are either investing in or contemplating metaverse advertising and marketing efforts.

This fall, when surveyed, 20% of participants stated they were actively involved in metaverse events, and another 36% said they were thinking about it.

In a study of 223 marketers, the term "metaverse" was used to describe virtual, internet-based experiences that connect the offline and online realms and allow users to create avatars, play games, purchase, interact, and virtually attend live events.

85% Of Yelp Survey Respondents Say They Trust Written Reviews Over Stars Only
2,000 Americans were questioned about the kind of reviews they believe to be reliable in a recent survey performed by Material under the direction of Yelp. In order to make purchasing judgments, the respondents indicated they typically read five evaluations about a company, and 77% said they read more online reviews now than they ever have.

When requesting reviews on Yelp, local companies should follow moral and legal guidelines. As an alternative, businesses can utilize paid ads to appear higher in search results, address any bad reviews, and maintain their sites so that their business listings are optimized.

LinkedIn Just Released 3 New Features For Pages
LinkedIn just unveiled three new services for businesses to promote goods, track trends, and enhance newsletters.

By sending a single notification to the followers of your Page and continuing alerts to the subscribers of your Newsletter, you can publish recurrent Articles and create a subscriber community using LinkedIn Newsletters.

Now on LinkedIn, users may find your products by conducting an internal platform search. Customers can conduct searches by brand, business, or category to find what they're looking for.

You can now access a new version of the LinkedIn Pages Competitor Analytics dashboard on both desktop and mobile, which will help you learn what your rivals are doing and differentiate your brand. You can now: 

• Track follower growth, recent posts, and engagement rates to see what your competitors are talking about and how members are responding, while also benchmarking your own content creation efforts.
  
• Quickly surface trending content from competitors to stay on top of what’s happening in your industry and inspire your own content strategy.
  

To get the most out of their accounts, B2B brands and advertisers who manage pages on LinkedIn should test and apply these new technologies. Companies can take use of the platform's new capabilities to gather first-party data with newsletter signups, as well as new ecommerce opportunities and competitor stats, since many brands may be reevaluating their social media tactics.

Some of this information will be useful to your company, while some will not. This is where we can help you. We can sort through these updates and determine which ones are most significant to you and your company. Contact us for a consultation!