This Week in Digital Marketing - November 26, 2021

Thanksgiving week  kicks off the holiday shopping season. We’ve been busy making sure that our clients have the best strategy for their customers this holiday season. Gifting is a large part of December promotions for our B2C customers, whether it’s promoting their products as great gifts or our clients giving free products and amazing deals for their customers.

Advertisers can adapt to supply chain issues without pausing campaigns
The holiday shopping season is typically a boon for online retailers, but this year, supply chain issues coupled with heightened consumer demand have put merchants, and the PPC professionals that work with them, in a difficult position. After all, if there’s no inventory to sell, advertising those products will only lead to wasted budgets and disappointed customers.

While demand is likely to level off as we move past the holidays, supply chain issues may linger. Without a clear end in sight, retailers may consider halting their paid campaigns or even suspending their partnerships with PPC agencies, which may also have experienced similar client churn at the outset of the pandemic as well.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to going dark with your paid campaigns that can not only help you weather the storm but also put your brand ahead of competitors that do pull the plug on their ads.

Facebook’s topic exclusion controls test rolls out to more advertisers
Facebook will soon expand its test of topic exclusion controls for ads in the News Feed to a limited number of advertisers that run ads in English. First announced as a test in January 2021, topic exclusion controls allow advertisers to exclude ad delivery to users who have engaged with any of the following topics: “News and Politics,” “Social Issues” and “Crime & Tragedy.”

Why we care: If these controls roll out more widely, advertisers might feel more confident about brand safety on Facebook. The platform has been at the center of numerous controversies over its handling of misinformation and hate speech and may be falling out of favor, particularly with teenage users, which are projected to decrease by 45% over the next two years.

4 ways to optimize your responsive search ads

1. Use more headline variants
   
2. Analyze asset labels
   
3. Review combination reports
   
4. Put smart bidding automation in place
   

Instagram Hashtag Strategy
How many hashtags should you really be using on Instagram? The magic number to boost your reach is 20 and 30 to boost engagement. The takeaway for your hashtag strategy is to try adding more relevant hashtags. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all number, but it’s a place to start then test for your pages.

Is your marketing strategy ready for the holiday season? Personally and professionally, the holiday season is a busy time for everyone. That’s where we come in. We can make sure that your marketing strategy is set through the holiday season (and beyond!), giving you one less thing to worry about. Contact us for a consultation today!