Digital Marketing News 02/08/2022 – 02/14/2022

Social

Upcoming Deprecations for Facebook Graph API and Marketing API Announced

Meta introduced Facebook Graph API v13.0 and Marketing API v13.0 and the upcoming deprecation of older versions that may affect app integration to the platform.

On February 9, 2022, Meta announced the release of Facebook Graph API v13.0 and Marketing API v13.0. Changes include announcements, product updates, and notifications on large-scale deprecation that may affect app integration to the platform.

Included in upcoming deprecations are the following:

Graph API

• February 3, 2022: Graph API v5.0 will be deprecated and removed from the platform

• May 5, 2022: Graph API v6.0 will be deprecated and removed from the platform

• August 4, 2022: Graph API v7.0 will be deprecated and removed from the platform

Marketing API

• February 2, 2022: Marketing API v11.0 will be deprecated.

• August 9, 2022: Marketing API v12.0 will be deprecated.

To avoid disruption to your business, migrate all calls to the latest API version launched last February 9, 2022. Visit the changelog for more details.

PPC

Google Introduces New Search Ads 360

Search Ads 360, the search management platform that lets marketers manage campaigns across multiple channels has big updates coming in.

Google is introducing new ways to bring ease of use to users with the new Search Ads 360. Google says,  "a new user interface, and adding support for more search engine features and campaign types based on feedback from advertisers who told us they want an easier and more convenient way to build campaigns across advertising platforms."

To start, the refreshed look and feel of Search Ads 30 will resemble a familiar user experience resembling search engine tools like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. This move will make navigation faster and easier for enterprise marketers to manage campaigns. 

Here's a GIF of the new interface:

Advertisers can now also immediately access management support for most of the new Google Ads features like Performance Max and Discovery campaigns.

Google also added new built-in enterprise features that can also give you new ways to centralize and scale tasks across multiple engines and accounts. Changes to campaign management, automated rules, and labels can now be made across multiple advertisers simultaneously. 

The new Search Ads 360 will be able to manage and process more data while still conforming to strict latency guidelines to deliver a fast user experience. 

Search

PriceRunner Sues Google for €2.1B for Search Results Manipulation

Google faces a lawsuit approximately worth €2.1 billion for meddling with data and controlling sales across Europe.

PriceRunner, a leading price comparison company, announced on February 7, 2022 that it was suing search giant Google for manipulating search results. The lawsuit was filed in Sweden, and PriceRunner is demanding compensation from Google for profit losses in the country over at least the past decade.

Google claims that, "the changes we made to shopping ads back in 2017 are working successfully," and PriceRunner couldn't see improvements because it doesn't use shopping ads on Google. The tech giant's spokesperson added that the company is ready to defend the lawsuit in court.

Note that in November 2021, Google was slapped with a €2.4 billion antitrust fine from four years ago, hinged on illegally making a profit by favoring its own comparison shopping service over competing services in Europe. However, they also avoided paying a €3 billion fine for historic user tracking in 2021. 

We'll all see how the case proceeds from here.

Social

YouTube Giving Creators More Ways to Monetize Their Content 

YouTube will soon be giving content creators more ways to make money across all video formats.

Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan reveals that creators will have new ways to monetize Shorts, regular videos, and live streams, announced last February 10 at YouTube's 2022 roadmap. 

YouTube Shorts Currently, creators can make money from Shorts through Short Funds. But in addition to that, YouTube will start testing ways for creators to make branded Shorts content through BrandConnect. Super Chats found in YouTube's live streams are also coming to Shorts, allowing viewers to purchase highlighted messages. The ability to shop directly from a Short will be tested as well.

YouTube Live

YouTube plans to give users the ability to purchase gifted channel membership for other live stream viewers, similar to how Twitch users can gift paid subscriptions to other users during a stream. 

Limited Youtube channels are already being tested with this feature and will roll out more widely in the coming months.

NFTs

Web3 opens new monetization opportunities for creators on YouTube through blockchain and NFTs. For example, giving fans verifiable ways to own unique videos, photos, and art.

Mohan says there's a lot to consider in this area, so these new technologies may take some time before rolling out if they will. 

Other features for YouTube creators include replying to comments with a Short, collaborative live streaming, and new insights in YouTube Studio.

Social

Facebook Shifts Focus to Short-Form Videos After Drop in Stock Price

Facebook sets its sight on short-form videos after a historic single-day stock plunge.

Facebook's parent company, meta Platforms Inc, dropped by over 200 billion dollars this past week after major losses in the quarterly earnings report. 

From the third to fourth quarter of 2021, almost half a million people stopped logging into Facebook every day—the first-ever decline in daily active users. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attributes this loss to an "unprecedented level of competition" from TikTok, report says.

Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature introduced last year limits the ability of iPhone apps to track user data, eating into ad revenue. This reduces the targeting capabilities of Facebook ads, leading to less engagement from users. 

Unable to fix the advertising problem, Facebook will take on TikTok by building up short-form video as its main pull. The company is now said to be prioritizing Reels. Zuckerberg states in a call with investors, "People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly. And this is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long term."

Marketers will need to meet this new demand for video, almost becoming a necessity to adding this format into marketing efforts instead of simply images and well-crafted captions.

Social

LinkedIn to Roll Out Updates to Sales Navigator Platform throughout Q1 2022

LinkedIn rolls out a series of updates to the Sales Navigator platform to help users find leads faster.

LinkedIn Sales Solutions announced updates to the Sales Navigator platform, including improvements to the Search experience, homepage optimizations, and CRM integrations. The main goal of these new features is to boost efficiency for advertisers and sellers. 

Sales navigator will now show all available filters when you go to the search bar. Additional options such as "Company Headquarters" and "TeamLink connections of" will also be included.

When filtering for your target audience, the results will also update in real-time, making finding your target audience or accounts easier and less time-consuming.

Advanced Plus users will enjoy a feature enhancement in the Sales Navigator, allowing you to link your CRM system via Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce to manage your contacts. In addition, you can also expect a new tool called "At-Risk Opportunities" list—a report of people who have left open opportunities. 

New Homepage features show customized insights for key accounts. LinkedIn updated the Alerts Feed and Priority Accounts section and added a new "Bookmarked Alerts" tab.

Enhanced CRM cards is another update to the CRM integration. These are now added to the Account Pages and Contact pages, minimizing the need to move around the platform.

The new LinkedIn Sales Navigator experience provides more efficiency to your sales team and deepens your CRM insights to close more deals in a shorter time. 

What you can do next

• If you're an app that integrates to Facebook, ensure you have the latest Graph API and Marketing API to ensure everything is seamless.

• Review what's next for Google Search Ads 360 and scale your marketing efforts with more user-friendly navigation and enterprise-level features.

• Start ramping up your marketing efforts with video formats to meet the demands of today's trends.