This Week in Digital Marketing - October 15, 2021

As we wind down from the big Facebook outage last week, we’re back with more digital marketing news. We have updates from Google, Facebook, and more! 

Google AdSense moves to a first-price auction model
Google will move AdSense from a second-price auction model to a first-price auction by the end of 2021, the company announced last week. In a second-price auction, the final price paid by the winner is determined by the second-highest bid. In a first-price auction, the final price is the same as the winning bid.

The transition to a first-price auction only affects AdSense for Content, AdSense for Video, and AdSense for Games (does not affect AdSense for Search or AdSense for Shopping). This change also aligns AdSense with Ad Manager and AdMob, both of which already operate under a first-price auction model. There is no action for advertisers or publishers to take and these changes will occur automatically.

Why we care: As Google pointed out, making the winning bid the actual price advertisers pay may make it easier for some advertisers to plan their spending and enables them to use a single approach across AdSense, Ad Manager, and AdMob.

However, a first-price auction means that the final price the winning advertiser pays will be higher than it was under a second-price model if advertisers bid the same amount. “When buyers lower their bids in the context of a first-price auction, the effective payments tend to be similar in both models, reflecting the value of the publisher’s ad space and audience,” a Google spokesperson said, “We announced our change to first-price auction in advance to give our advertising partners the opportunity to adjust their bidding strategy before the auction goes live.” Campaign managers should inform stakeholders of this change as it may affect their strategy and/or budget.

Facebook changes how it measures users for advertising purposes; Instagram introduces notifications for outages and a new Account Status tool

Facebook changes how it measures accounts for advertisers. 
“If someone does not have their Facebook and Instagram accounts linked in Accounts Center, we will consider those accounts as separate people for ads planning and measurement,” Facebook announced Monday, adding, “Facebook and Instagram accounts that are connected in Accounts Center will continue to be counted collectively as a single person."

Previously, if someone used the same email address for both their Facebook and Instagram accounts or accessed both platforms using the same device, the company counted them as one person when they interacted with ads. As this new methodology rolls out over the next few weeks, advertisers should expect increases in pre-campaign estimates such as estimated audience size, “but for most campaigns we do not believe this will have a substantial impact on reported campaign reach,” Facebook said.

Instagram launches notifications for outages and a new Account Status tool. 
Instagram is testing Activity Feed notifications to inform users when the platform experiences outages (like the one from last week), technical issues and when those issues are resolved. “We won’t send a notification every single time there is an outage, but when we see that people are confused and looking for answers, we’ll determine if something like this could help make things clearer,” the company said. The test will run in the U.S. for the next few months.

Alongside that announcement, the company also unveiled a new tool called “Account Status.” The tool is designed to inform users about whether their account is at risk of being disabled. Within the tool, users can see if their content has been removed and why. They can also appeal a removal by requesting a review from their Account Status menu.

They see me scrollin’: Google rolling out continuous scroll on mobile
Google’s mobile search results now offer infinite scroll, what Google is calling continuous scroll. So as you scroll, Google will not show you the “more results” button when you reach the bottom of the page, instead, Google will just load the next page of results automatically.

Why we care: This may (or may not) encourage searchers to look beyond the first few results and scroll more through more results. It is yet to be determined how this might impact your click-through rates and traffic from Google search but keep an eye on it.

Microsoft will shutter LinkedIn in China by the end of the year
Microsoft will shut down its localized version of LinkedIn in China by the end of the year, the company announced Thursday. Microsoft cited a difficult operating environment, enhanced compliance requirements and a lack of success with the social aspects of its platform as reasons for shutting down LinkedIn in China.​

InJobs to launch in China. As it sunsets LinkedIn, Microsoft plans to launch InJobs, a new, standalone jobs application for China, later this year as well. Unlike LinkedIn, InJobs will not have a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles.

Why we care: Sunsetting LinkedIn in China is likely to hinder B2B businesses that have a partner there or rely on the platform for communication with potential partners. Additionally, LinkedIn advertisers will no longer have access to users in China. However, it is likely that InJobs will offer some of these capabilities.

Digital Marketing Snippets

• Adding videos to your blog post can increase time spent on-site by 25%.

These are the types of things that we work through with our clients. We make sure that all of their marketing channels are up-to-date and functioning as they should to produce the best results. Could you be getting better results from your marketing efforts? Contact us for a consultation!