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Amazon Prime Day 2023 sets U.S. sales record: $12.7 billion

Friday, July 14th, 2023

Amazon Prime Day 2023 broke records to become the retailer’s most successful to date.

The two-day event, which took place on July 11 and 12, saw year-on-year spending shoot up by 6.1% to $12.7 billion in the U.S., according to Adobe Analytics data.

Prime members splashed out on more than 375 million products worldwide and saved over $2.5 billion on Amazon’s discounted deals.

Why we care. Amazon Prime Day is soaring in popularity and with such a high footfall of traffic, it’s an excellent time for marketers to advertise and optimize on the platform for maximum reach. For those advertising on Amazon already, it may be worth considering increasing ad spend. The bi-annual event provides brands with the opportunity to not only strengthen their relationship with existing customers but also reach and attract new ones, which could potentially help drive brand awareness and result in a higher ROI.

What categories reported the biggest increase in sales? Surges in spend were reported across several categories by Adobe. In comparison to average daily sales in June:

• Appliance sales increased by 52%
• Toy sales increased by 27%
• Apparel sales increased by 24%
• Electronics sales increased by 12%
• Stationary and office supplies sales increased by 76%

“Prime Day has become one of the biggest e-commerce moments of the year, as consumers latch onto major discounts from a number of different retailers. The record spending shows us that consumers are tapping into their inner bargain hunters, stocking up on specific categories such as electronics and apparel while the discounts remain steep,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.

What discounts were offered? Amazon offered discounts across all categories of its product portfolio – although not all products were included:

• Electronics were discounted by up to 16%
• Apparel was discounted at 13%
• Toy were discounted by up to 15%
• Sporting goods were discounted at 9%
• Furniture was discounted at 7%

Additional findings. In addition to identifying how much customers spent, the Adobe Analytics report also identified how customers are changing their buying process:

• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) orders were up 19.5% year-on-year and accounted for 6.4% of all online orders.
• BNPL generated $461 million in revenue.
• BNPL was primarily used for products purchased in apparel, furniture/home and electronics categories
• Smartphone sales were up 42.7% year on year and drove 43.7% of sales

When is the next Amazon Prime Day? Amazon is yet to confirm if there will definitely be a second Prime Day this year. However, last year, in addition to hosting the two-day sale in July, Amazon also hosted one Oct. 11 and 12.

Retail Media Networks. A new force this year, retail media networks (RMNs) also contributed to Prime Day returns. Traffic referred to retail websites from RMNs increased by more than 70% over last year, according to Salesforce.

• “Ads on retail media networks caught consumers’ eyes throughout Prime Day. We saw a huge surge in traffic from this emerging media – making it a critical component of the marketing mix,” said Rob Garf, Salesforce’s VP and GM of retail.

Additional reporting on this story from Chris Wood.

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Leverage real-time data for stronger campaigns and higher ROI by Cynthia Ramsaran

Friday, July 14th, 2023

Communicating with your customers across channels is crucial to providing positive experiences. However, often this means regularly replicating and syncing customer data across different systems in order to deliver differentiated and personalized campaigns. But with all of this data movement, you end up stuck with a version of (not so real) “real-time” marketing data.

The solution is simple: live where your data lives.

Join Snowflake, MessageGears, and their joint customer Frontdoor for a dynamic discussion on how your entire customer engagement strategy can and should be centered around your data – so that you can do what you do best without having to worry about the technology.

Register and attend “Ignite Your Marketing Engine with the Power of the Data Cloud,” presented by Snowflake.

Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars.

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Threads is adding branded content tools to create paid promotion opportunities

Friday, July 14th, 2023

Threads is implementing branded content tools to give marketers access to paid promotion opportunities.

Meta’s new social platform doesn’t serve ads yet. However, this feature will enable brands to explore the possibility of running influencer campaigns.

Why we care. Meta is waiting until Threads reaches a critical mass before selling ad space, which is proving a little frustrating for brands wanting to be one of the first to advertise on the fastest-growing social app in the world. With that in mind, paid promotion opportunities could be an effective way for brands to connect with the Threads audience in the meantime, in a way beyond creating organic posts.

Following Instagram’s lead. Threads has adopted the terms of services implemented by its Meta sister platform, Instagram. The terms include guidance regarding sponsored content. Under these guidelines, Threads has to ensure that:

• Brands use Instagram’s branded content tools when they work with influencers on sponsored content.
• Only eligible brands have access to paid partnership labels to posts.
• Brands clearly disclose paid partnership collaborations.

Why now? Marketers are eager to ensure that their brands are one of the first to establish their voice and identity on Threads, while it’s still one of the world’s most talked about social apps.

More than 100 million people signed up to Threads in its first week, and marketers are desperate to start reaching the platform’s users in the most effective way possible while it’s still trending.

Deep dive. Read our Threads FAQ guide for a more in-depth overview of the new platform.

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Repetitive ads ‘damage brand reputation and purchase intent’

Friday, July 14th, 2023

Repetitive advertising on streaming platforms can damage a brand’s reputation, according to a new study.

Overexposure to the same ad campaigns was described as “annoying” and “disruptive” by participants in a new joint study, conducted by IPG’s Magna unit and ad tech firm Nexxen, called It’s All in the Delivery: How Repeating Ads Affect CTV Viewers, Brands and Platforms.

Notably, researchers identified a 16% drop in purchase intent amongst those who had seen the same ad six times or more.

Why we care. Marketers must ensure they are purchasing ad space on platforms with effective technology to manage frequency. By not doing so, they run the risk of overexposing the services and products they want to promote which has been identified as having a negative impact on potential customers. Not only does improper frequency management result in a decline in purchase intent but it can also damage the reputation of a brand.

By the numbers. Although participants who saw the same ad six times reported a 92% recall afterward, demonstrating an incredibly strong brand awareness, there were negative findings linked to the increased frequency:

• 48% of participants found the ad “annoying.”
• 33% of participants reported the ad “disrupted” their viewing experience.
• 83% of participants were convinced the repetition was intentional.
• 68% of participants blamed the brand for the repetition.
• 44% of participants blamed the streaming service for the repetition.

What have the researchers said? Kara Manatt, executive vice president of intelligence solutions at Magna, stressed that repetitive ads caused damage to both brands and the streaming platforms, and so called for change. She said:

• “The platforms are suffering too, because people also attribute the fact that this is happening to the platform. It really can be so annoying to people and viewers, that they’re willing to find content elsewhere.”
• “This really validates the need to be working with trusted partners who have the right technology to help manage frequency. It’s not just the overall frequency. It’s making sure that those six exposures don’t take place in a single show [but rather] takes place in an appropriate cadence over time.”

IPG client, New Balance, took part in the study and said the results highlighted the need for frequency caps. The company said in a statement:

• “While these fundamentals are currently part of our buying process, we are eager to hear more in terms of larger advancements in the industry from a broadcaster/publisher perspective that will ultimately create a more optimal user experience.”

About the study. The It’s All in the Delivery report research analyzed the feedback of 1,246 participants, who were exposed to a variety of frequencies of the same ad during a one-hour viewing period. Some were exposed to the same ad six times, while others just once.

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How to deliver PPC results to executives: Get out of the weeds

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Executives have much on their plate and little time to get through it all.

When presenting PPC results to a CMO or VP of marketing, many marketers make the mistake of diving too far into the weeds of their work. 

Tailoring your delivery to your audience is crucial for any communication, whether it’s a presentation, an email or a report.

Here are three ways to make your next delivery to an executive successful.

1. Start with a straightforward takeaway

There are instances where “save the best for last” is great advice. Presenting to executives is not one of them. 

Executives are busy, and as a result, they’re often impatient. They need the CliffsNotes version, not the unabridged edition.

They need to know right off the bat what the takeaway should be. 

In order to give them that takeaway, you first need to figure out what it is. My formula for the perfect takeaway has three primary parts:

• What did you do?
• What happened? (Tie this back to the main goals of the project or business if not readily apparent.)
• How should your audience feel about it and what you’re doing next?

Once you have these three elements, you have your default opener. 

Your takeaway should start things off, whether it’s the first sentence of your email, the abstract of your report, or the opening slide of your presentation. 

The beauty of this format is that it hits all the main points while limiting your ability to wax poetic about your process or secondary metrics that don’t actually matter to someone with a VP title. 

The executive needs to know what you did, but they usually don’t need to know how you did it. 

They need to know the results, but only as far as they affect the primary KPIs. 

And they need to know how they should feel about it and what comes next.

Here is an example takeaway:

• We launched Performance Max campaigns at the beginning of last month. 
• In the past eight weeks, these campaigns drove more leads at a lower cost than legacy campaigns. Notably, an 8% lower cost per acquisition and a 4% higher conversion rate.
• These are great early results that we expect to improve on in the coming months by launching additional Performance Max campaigns. 

This takeaway starts out by “naming” the project, so the executive can reference it later if needed.

It tells how the results affected the primary KPI (leads, in this case), even if the metrics we’re reporting on are tangentially related (CPA and CR).

And finally, since it’s a rare Executive that would know that a 4% increase in Conversion Rate in PPC is amazing, it tells them that these are really good results and what comes next. 

2. Use data to support your takeaway, not distract

Now that you have your main takeaway, you have some clear direction about what should come next. 

When it comes to selecting which data and graphics to include in your reports, use the following checklist.

Does my data visualization reference the metrics in my takeaway?

Use the metrics in your takeaway to guide the data you select. This ensures that the data you show is directly relevant to your main point. 

It also helps you identify and rule out data that may be tangentially fascinating but doesn’t directly tie to what you’re trying to say. 

Any charts or tables that don’t directly relate to your takeaway should be relegated to the appendix or shared later as supplementary,

Does my data visualization show where to look?

Data and charts can quickly get overwhelming, and executives need to know, at a glance, what’s important. 

Visual representations should be included to help your audience understand data quickly, not muddy the waters. 

Use arrows, callouts, highlights, and text to show exactly where someone’s attention should go. This is especially important if you include a table with multiple rows and columns. 

Does my data visualization clearly say one thing?

A data chart should only convey one major point to avoid obscuring or overshadowing your takeaway. 

You might be tempted to fall into the “more is better” trap, but resist the temptation. 

Remember that successful results mean tailoring your presentation to your audience.

When your audience is executives, they need to know immediately why you are including a chart and what they should take from it. 

This means that you need to be ruthlessly stingy when evaluating how necessary metrics are, and generous in creating new visualizations for each point. 

If complex visualizations are necessary, use highlights, arrows, and callouts to draw attention to the part that really matters. 

3. Run it by a colleague from another team 

“The medium is the message” is a concept coined by communication theorist Marshall McLuhan. 

He asserts that the way a message is delivered determines how that message will be received. 

This means how you verbally present your slides is just as important as the content on your slides. 

The words in between the data in your email determine how the data is accepted by the reader.

The style and delivery of your report matters as much as what the report is trying to say. 

Even if you follow the above steps and know what you want your message to be, it can be difficult to know if it’s coming across the way you mean it to.

You can feel like you’re at the pinnacle of brevity compared to your usual delivery.

Still, it can come off as rambling and confusing to executives who don’t interface with you regularly and have no point of comparison.

To help evaluate the medium of your message and to ensure it makes sense to an executive, run your presentation or report by a colleague who is not knowledgeable about PPC and ask for specific feedback, such as: 

• Is your takeaway clear?
• Is the main point evident quickly? 
• Does the data clearly support your main point? 
• Is there “fluff” that can be removed or seems superfluous? 
• Does it feel too long? 
• If it’s a verbal presentation
  • Are your transitions from slide to slide seamless? 
  • Do you use acronyms and not explain what they stand for? 
  • Is the information organized in an easy-to-follow format?
• If it’s a written report
  • Are there too many conjunctions? 
  • Did they have to read any sentences twice?

Make sure to time yourself, too.

Shorter is better, and a time/word limit, even a self-imposed one, can help you rule out items that aren’t directly relevant and remove unnecessary wordiness. 

Presenting your work to people who matter

If these suggestions seem like extra work, it’s because they are.

Presenting to executives means presenting to the most influential people at a company and requires different preparation. 

These people can move your ideas forward or stop them in their tracks.

As nerve-wracking as it can be to deliver results to senior leadership, it can also open doors and opportunities if you nail it. Remember: stay succinct and stay out of the weeds. 

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Twitter blocks links to Meta rival Threads

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Twitter is reportedly blocking links to its new rival, Meta’s Threads.

Reports started surfacing on Monday that Twitter was selectively blocking links to Mark Zuckerberg’s latest social networking app. Users noted that while some links worked, others noticeably did not.

The move means it will be more difficult for people to track down conversations on Threads and locate users’ profiles.

Why we care. Since Threads launched on July 5, the app has become the fastest-growing social media platform in history and trending regularly on Twitter. Experts believe the decision to block selected links to Threads in Twitter search results is an attempt to keep users engaged on the platform rather than move away to its rival.

What have people said? American technologist and blogger, Andy Baio, was one of the many people on Twitter to notice that selected links to Threads weren’t working. He confirmed the problem after conducting a search query using the operator “url:threads.net”. After this search failed to serve any results, he shared his findings on Threads:

• “Twitter is selectively blocking searches for tweets that link to Threads, even though they allow posting Threads URLs (for now).”

However, Baio shared a technique that users can implement to prevent the block:

• “Clever workaround via @kepner, you can quote the domain name and remove the period to bypass the block.”
• “Adding “filter:follows” and clicking Latest will show you everyone you follow who has posted links to Threads.”

In an exchange with The Messenger, Baio described the move by Twitter as “anti-competitive”. He said:

• “Hiding tweets about Threads seems fully in line with Twitter’s new anti-competitive stance, creating a fully walled garden that blocks open expression while hypocritically claiming to promote free speech.”

Why now?

What has Twitter said? Twitter is evidently taking people’s concerns extremely seriously. So much so, the platform responded to our request for comment with a poop emoji, perhaps indicating that it is now in fight or flight mode in response to Thread’s soaring popularity.

Twitter owner Elon Musk has also addressed the increasingly tense rivalry between himself and Meta CEO Zuckerberg. Earlier this week, when Threads sign-ups surpassed the 100 million mark, the billionaire tweeted “Zuck is a cuck.”

He then reassured his loyal army of followers that he is not remotely threatened by Zuckerberg by proposing “a literal d*ck measuring contest”. In case anyone was confused by the word “measuring,” he added an emoji of a ruler for clarification.

Twitter blocks unregistered users and Google Search. It seems Musk isn’t trolling his good friend Zuckerbeg, he may have his finger hovering over the block button as in addition to restricting links to Threads, he also blocked unregistered users and Google Search last week. As a result, there was a 62% drop in index saturation by Google of Twitter.com.

This was another move by Twitter that may be of huge concern to marketers as it could impact reach for brands that may rely heavily on visibility in Google Search. It also means that some older tweets which may have historically always ranked well in Google Search, may see a dive in rankings and therefore reach and CTR.

Deep dive. During Threads’ first two days of operation, Twitter traffic was down 5% in comparison to the same period a week earlier. It was also 11% down compared to the same period a year earlier. Read the full SimilarWeb analytics report to find out how Twitter and Threads are competing against each other.

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Google sued for allegedly stealing content, data to train AI products

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Google is accused of illegally using copyrighted content and stealing the personal information of millions of Americans to train its AI products.

The allegations were made in a proposed class action lawsuit in San Francisco on Tuesday by eight individuals, who say they are seeking to represent the millions of internet users affected.

If Google is found guilty of violating federal privacy and consumer protection laws, it could owe at least $5 billion in damages.

Why we care. Marketers are widely being encouraged to embrace AI and implement technologies such as ChatGPT and Bard into their strategies. However, if AI products are being developed using content and data that has been taken illegally, this could prove to be problematic, as it runs the risk of potential copyright issues.

What has Google allegedly done? The claimants allege Google has:

• Been illegally taking digital content created and shared by millions of Americans.
• Been using this private property to train its AI technology, including its chatbot, Bard.
• Stolen “virtually the entirety of our digital footprint”, including “creative and copywritten works” to develop its catalog of AI products.

The eight plaintiffs have accused Google of taking a variety of content they shared on social media without permission, ranging from photos on dating websites to playlists saved on Spotify to videos uploaded onto TikTok.

One of the claimants, who is described as a best-selling author from Texas, more specifically accused Google of copying a book they wrote in its entirety to train Bard.

Who is suing Google? There are eight plaintiffs who remain anonymous and are known only by their initials.

The lawsuit was filed by Clarkson Law Firm against Google, its parent company Alphabet as well as Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind. If Clarkson Law Firm sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same company that filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI last month.

What do the claimants want? The plaintiffs want Google to give its users the option to opt out of its “illicit data collection”. They are also asking the search engine to delete its existing catalog of data – otherwise, they say Google should pay the owners of that content “fair compensation.”

What have the claimants said? Ryan Clarkson, managing partner of the Clarkson Law Firm, issued a statement:

• “Google harvested this data in secret for years, without providing notice to anyone, much less with anyone’s consent.
• “Google does not own the internet, it does not own our creative works, it does not own our expressions of our personhood, pictures of our families and children, or anything else simply because we share it online.”

Tim Giordano, an attorney working on behalf of the plaintiffs at Clarkson Law Firm, told CNN:

• “Google needs to understand that ‘publicly available’ has never meant free to use for any purpose.
• “Our personal information and our data is our property, and it’s valuable, and nobody has the right to just take it and use it for any purpose.”

What has Google said? Google has denied the claims and described the lawsuit as “baseless.” In a statement, Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s general counsel, said:

• “We’ve been clear for years that we use data from public sources — like information published to the open web and public datasets — to train the AI models behind services like Google Translate, responsibly and in line with our AI Principles.”
• “American law supports using public information to create new beneficial uses, and we look forward to refuting these baseless claims.”

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How to track Performance Max campaigns with Google Apps Script

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

If you manage ecommerce PPC accounts in Google Ads, you likely have used Performance Max campaigns since mid-2022. You also know that the insights and reporting are limited.

We can’t control how much of our budget goes to top-of-funnel strategies like video, display and discovery campaigns.

We can’t see how that spend is broken out through Google’s automation.

Learn how to overcome this hurdle using Google Apps Script to pull data on campaign spend breakout and glean insights to improve performance and impress your clients and team.

Why use Apps Script in Google Ads, Performance Max?

Apps Script is a Google tool enabling you to automate actions in Google Ads using JavaScript code in your account. (Don’t worry, no coding experience is needed for this guide!) This saves time and simplifies management.

Due to a lack of control and insights from Performance Max, some advertisers opt to use standard Shopping campaigns.

While the Insights tab in Google Ads shows audience insights, search term insights and general performance, it does not include the breakout of spend or impressions by campaign type.

If you see high impressions on a campaign or asset group with similar clicks to other campaigns or asset groups, you can only assume that video or display campaigns (awareness-based campaigns with high impressions) were shown over search or Shopping ads.

A script to monitor performance

Mike Rhodes was kind enough to create and share a script with the digital marketing community through GitHub. The most recent version is the 24th, released in April 2023.

Instructions on installing the script begin with copying this template in Google Sheets.

Now grab the URL of your sheet and enter it below in the line that starts with let ss =. Put the URL between the single quotes.

Next name your script: “YOUR CLIENT”: pMax Charts

Name your sheet: “YOUR CLIENT” – pMax charts v24 (updates daily)

Google will then ask you to authorize the script to access your Google Ads account. Please note that this won’t change or update your ads in any way. It will only extract the data to send to Google Sheets.

Once authorized, save and run your script!

You want to set up your script to run daily. I recommend running it early morning when you won’t be in the Google Ads system.

Insights from the report

Now that you have your report running, you can pull insights from the report. The report shows only the past 30 days.

One great thing is to see how Google prioritizes campaign types.

In the example below, you will see that consistently for the past 30 days, this campaign has allocated 100% of its cost toward Shopping ads. Please note that “Other” is predominantly search ads.

This can signal that the products in this category consistently show Shopping ads as the top-of-page results on the SERP.

In the example below, on the same account, you will see that the campaign shows a majority of Shopping ads with the budget, but it also shows search and video.

Try making test searches to see if these searches for the products in this particular campaign show consistent Shopping results at the top of the SERP or if the results are often search ads. This can explain the lower Shopping distribution.

Another thing that may signal this is the ROAS. If you are using tROAS on the campaign and are consistently below the target, Google may try different campaign types to hit that tROAS if it recognizes that Shopping ads will not accomplish that.

Optimizations from insights

Use these insights and predictions to run tests!

In the first example, where all spend went to Shopping, try pushing the limits of what ROAS you can achieve by incrementally increasing your Target ROAS bid.

In the second example above, try decreasing your Target ROAS bid to see if the Shopping ad spend distribution increases.

I recommend only increasing in increments of 25-50% to avoid causing a sudden drop in performance.

In the example below, you will see that the week of May 7, we increased our ROAS target too drastically.

It caused our performance to plummet, signaled by a sharp increase in impressions due to Video ads being shown.

Using this tool, we were able to track the allocation daily and return our ROAS target to its original goal.

The report also has tabs with table views of data by campaign and asset groups.

Beyond that, there are tabs with charts showing asset group performance by:

• Impressions
• Cost
• Conversion Value

Below is an Asset Group report by Impressions from a campaign with four asset groups. The In Market / Affinity audience receives many more impressions than its counterparts.

You’ll want to investigate the first chart again. Does this campaign have high video or display spend allocation? Could that explain the high impressions on that particular asset group?

You’ll also want to check the chart report by asset group. You will see the high impressions on In Market/ Affinity, but we also see the lowest cost per acquisition of any asset group in that campaign!

Now use this information to update audience signals across other campaigns that match this asset group, and do the same with your assets.

Filling the data gaps through scripts

Try other available scripts based on your clients’ needs and learn Google Apps Script to build your own.

As Google pulls back data and control from marketers, there are ways we can fill the gaps in data by using scripts shared throughout the digital marketing community.

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10 ways to revolutionize your PPC game with GPT

Tuesday, July 11th, 2023

Writing compelling, must-click ads was, until recently, one of the last aspects of PPC that couldn’t be automated. But with the introduction of ChatGPT and the rise of other large language models (LLMs), automation in PPC is now on a whole new level. 

Automation has had a game-changing impact on PPC marketing over the last six months, according to Frederick Vallaeys, co-founder & CEO of digital marketing agency Optmyzr, who spoke at SMX Advanced. So how can you use GPT to your advantage in PPC?

Here’s a recap of Vallaeys’ top tips and tricks that he believes can help you get the best PPC results, from having played with GPT.

1. Building a campaign using just GPT

Advertisers can create campaigns on platforms such as Google’s Performance Max with a generative build experience. Marketers simply need to have a conversation with the Google system to build it out using prompts.

This can be used not just for PMax, but also traditional search and shopping campaigns.

To give instructions via prompts, make sure you are as clear as possible. Try following a similar setup to what we’ve listed below:

• Create prompts: Enter the specified URL, ad text, keyword that you would like to be the focus of the prompt.
• Give simple instructions: Ask Google a clear question such as “Find some keywords to advertise the landing page.”
• Results: AI should instantaneously provide you with an answer to help you on your way to building your campaign.

Vallaeys said he has tested GPT 3.5 and 4.0. There are differences between the two – both work – but he advised running the OpenAI in chat mode rather than completion as it “maintains context.”

2. Using GPT for keyword classification

GPT is an excellent tool when it comes to keyword classification because “it figures everything out for you” at a much faster pace, Vallaeys said:

• “For keywords to be classified, they have to be turned into a mathematical model – which is basically vectors. The AI system is really good at that.”
• “So if you say here’s a list of keywords, put it into categories, you don’t even have to specify what categorization means – like what kind of high level categories you need. GPT does it for you.”
• “You can then go one further and say ‘Well, actually, GPT, can you give me that output in a table format and the second column should be the classification and the first column should be the keyword suggestion – then it become much more usable.”
• “Then you have everything in a sheet that you can copy and paste into either Excel or Google Sheets.”

3. Finding keywords for existing ad groups

GPT is a great tool for finding keyword for existing ad groups. Simply, create a prompt with a simple direction, such as “Find me keywords similar to existing keywords in that ad group.”

During his presentation, Vallaeys shared that he used this exact technique himself and that the results GPT served were “quite good.”

4. Creating ad text using GPT

Using GPT to create ad content has recently been a huge talking point amongst marketers. One aspect of the tool that seems to have really impressed the industry is that the bot remembers your previous instructions and the results it served.

This means that if you have just asked GPT to find keywords, you won’t need to remind the bot of these results before going on to create your ad as it still has this context.

• “It’ll just say ‘here’s a couple of ad texts related to the thing you were asking’ – it still knows what you’re talking about,” Vallaeys said.

Although Vallaeys was impressed with GPT’s ability to create ad content, he did note that it still needs more development (e.g., the bot isn’t great with character counts and the results aren’t always usable).

5. Optimizing landing pages

GPT can help ensure landing pages are as effective as possible.

For example, if you come across a website that you like and think the style of writing is of particularly high quality, GPT can help emulate that same writing style for your campaigns. Vallaeys explained:

• “I found a website I liked, so I then went to GPT and asked what the style was of the text on that page. GPT told me the writing style was business-oriented, customer-focused – along with a number of other bullet points.
• “So I then asked GPT to take a certain piece of text from my landing page and rewrite it in a style more similar to the other website. It took those stylist points and rewrote the text for me – which made my landing page better.

6. Enhancing product pages

If you’re a shopping advertiser and want to create great headlines and product descriptions, GPT can help you.

“This is what it’s good at,” Vallaeys said. “It’s really good at writing.” He added:

• “You can literally say, here’s a URL – what is the product category for this page? Then you can put the product category down in the Google Merchant Center feed.
• “[If you’re not happy with your content] you can say give me a better title description and it’ll give you new title. These are great quick ways to try to do optimization if you’re a shopping advertiser.”

7. Translating using GPT

Vallaeys and his team have tried and tested GPT’s translating capabilities and were very happy with the results. “GPT is really good at translations,” he added. If you’re in regions such as Europe, you will find this tool particularly helpful because of the huge variety of languages spoken there.

Sharing the results from his own experiments, Vallaeys said:

• “We took a sentence from one of our headlines – and I don’t speak Finnish, so I couldn’t even pronounce the words!”
• “But the Finnish colleagues on my team said [GPT provided a] very, very good translation.”
• “So it’s a nice way to do translations. And again, you can do them at scale through a spreadsheet with GPT.”

8. Creating unique Imagery

You can also use AI to create unique pictures – whether that be creating completely new images or overlaying existing graphics.

• Simply, upload a product image you would like to use.
• Tell the AI to remove the background in the photo.
• Then you can layer the remaining image on top of another picture.

“AI generated images don’t always look fantastic,” warned Vallaeys. However, it can still prove to be a very handy and time-saving tool.

9. Developing audiences

Audiences are becoming increasingly important in PPC. This is another area where AI can help.

“You can have a conversation with AI and ask what characteristics or attributes would a budget-conscious traveler have, for example. And it’ll give you a list,” Vallaeys said. He added:

• “Now, I can copy those keywords and I can make custom audience segments in Google.”
• “You can put in keywords – and this is a really cool way to use GPT to build audiences from scratch.”
• “It is basically like your intern who gives you new suggestions, new ideas about who might be looking for the types of things that you sell.”
• “GPT can give you that insight. They can open up your perspective and give you some insights that you may have otherwise completely missed.”

10. Reviewing performance

Once a campaign is up and running, marketers can use GPT to check that it’s not running alongside poor search terms.

• “You want to make sure you’re not wasting your money,” Vallaeys said.

You can do this by feeding GPT a list of keywords and asking AI to rank them from most to least relevant. GPT then decides by itself how it’s going to group and score keywords.

Vallaeys added:

• “For me, the key point is that there’s always the bottom of the list – the least relevant stuff.”
• “I can look at that and I can quickly get some pretty good ideas for negative keywords, and I don’t have to look through a list of hundreds of potential search terms to figure out what is least relevant to the thing that my website is about.”
• “So this is another way that GPT is quite helpful.”

As the capabilities of AI continue to grow, some marketers have grown increasingly concerned about job security. However, the truth of the matter is that AI is not coming for your job.

• “You’re competing against other advertisers for your job – not AI. And it’s the advertisers who have figured out how to use AI to their advantage that will win,” Vallaeys said.

The post 10 ways to revolutionize your PPC game with GPT appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Threads FAQ: Everything marketers need to know

Tuesday, July 11th, 2023

Threads has become the fastest-growing social media platform in history since it launched on July 5.

Within the first hour alone, it received a whopping five million sign ups – just three months after Meta confirmed it was working on an alternative to Twitter.

The buzz around Threads is huge news for marketers as many have been taking a step back from Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover last year, resulting in a 59% drop in ad spend in the US. Marketers are now understandably exploring new platforms to host their campaigns without compromising reach or quality.

Is Threads the best alternative for advertisers? Here’s everything you need to know…

What is Threads?

Threads is a new social networking app, operated by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms, which is closely integrated with instagram and currently only available on iOS or Android devices. Meta has described Threads as “Instagram’s text-based conversation app”.

It gives its users the opportunity to post updates, share text, images, videos, and interact with other users’ posts via likes, reposts and replies. On the app store, Threads is described as:

• “[A place] where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.”
• “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

Although the app is very similar to Twitter in several ways, Zuckerberg has stressed that one of the key differences is the focus on “kindness” and being “friendly”. He wrote on his Threads account:

• “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success.”
• “That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”
• “We are definitely focusing on kindness and making this a friendly place.”

It’s worth noting that Threads is very closely integrated with instagram. So much so, users can’t sign up to Threads without an Instagram account.

How many people have joined Threads?

More than 100 million people have signed up for Threads since its launch.

Taking to his own Threads account, Zuckerbeg commented on the success of his app so far, writing:

• “Threads reached 100 million sign ups over the weekend.”
  “That’s mostly organic demand and we haven’t even turned on many promotions yet.”
• “Can’t believe it’s only been five days!”

To give some context into how significant this number is, when Instagram launched back in 2010 as an independent platform, it took a week to just reach 100,000.

What brands have signed up to Threads so far?

Nine of the top ten retailers, including Walmart and Kroger, have now activated their accounts on Threads, according to the National Retail Federation. The only chain not to so far is Costco

When it comes to the top five biggest consumer brands, only Reese’s has activated their account. And of the top ten most popular fashion brands, only Nike has signed up. It’s believed this is because advertisers are being cautious and want to see how Threads develops before making any commitments.

However, other huge names have been quicker with signing up and already have active accounts, such as Calvin Klein, Kith, Allbirds, Shein and Uniqlo.

Which celebrities have signed up to Threads?

A number of famous faces have signed up to Threads including Oprah, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, Shakira and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Sex And The City star Parker announced she had joined Threads on her Instagram account. She wrote:

• “I am giddy with the hope that @threadsapp will be a new opportunity to continue to share book titles, images of my day in NYC and elsewhere, support for our libraries, a divinely cooked thin cut pork chop on the bone or anything else I think deserving of your time.
• “I hope that @threadsapp might prove to be a platform where folks are kind, thoughtful, don’t feel encouraged to be mean, aggressive or hostile… this could be a new day.”

Will Threads have ads?

Marketers don’t currently have the option to purchase ad space on Threads. However, a source told Axios that the Instagram team are working on making their branded content tools available in the not too distant future, with ads expected to be introduced when Threads reaches a critical mass. Until then, marketers are advised to clearly disclose paid partnerships by using hashtags or text.

It’s worth noting that Meta’s other brands, such as Instagram, launched without ads. Now, advertising is one of Instagram’s biggest sources of revenue.

Why isn’t Threads available in the EU?

Threads is available in more than 100 countries – however, it’s not currently available in the European Union. This is due to concerns its data privacy operations don’t comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

Carissa Veliz, an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, told the Guardian:

• “Meta has not only not changed its business model, it continues to want to do targeted ads, essentially surveillance advertising.”
• “To that end, the company is trying to collect as much data as possible and trying to continue in the same direction as it has from the very start despite all the scandals, despite the public backlash, despite warnings from regulators, despite fines. It’s not reimagining its business model to make it a more respectful business model towards users.”
• “It can include sexual orientation, race and and ethnicity, biometric data, trade union membership, pregnancy status, politics, religious beliefs. And all these data can potentially be sent to third parties.”

Currently, there are no plans to roll out Threads in EU countries. However, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Meta is awaiting further guidance regarding the Digital Marketing Act to see if an EU launch will be possible at a later stage.

The European Commission is expected to provide more details but not until September. So a Threads launch date in EU countries is yet to be confirmed.

How will Threads track its users?

Threads will collect a vast amount of information about its users, in the same way Meta’s other platforms Facebook and Instagrams do. Meta’s apps gather and store all the details users enter, including sensitive information such as:

• Health and fitness information
• Financial information
• Location
• Browsing history
• Search history
• Home address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Cameras
• Photos
• IP information
• Type of device being used
• Device signals (such as Bluetooth signals, nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers)

In addition to the above, Threads also stores data on how its users interact with posts and who they are following.

This in-depth level of detail Threads stores about its user is why EU officials are concerned about data privacy.

Is Threads safe?

Threads is enforcing Instagram’s Community Guidelines on content and interactions. Under these terms, users must be at least 13 years or older, and users under 16 years (or 18 in some countries) will automatically get a private account by default. However, parents are still advised to monitor their children’s activities online.

Users will have the option to filter their settings, meaning they have control over who can reply to them in texts. In addition, users will be able to block unwanted accounts and any accounts that they may have blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads too.

Meta has invested more than $16 billion into protecting people that use its platforms since 2016, and has stated that safety remains a top priority on Threads.

What can you search for on Threads?

Threads is different to Twitter in the sense you currently cannot search for hashtags or topics. At the moment, users can only use the search tool to look up other users – both those they already follow and those they don’t follow.

When profiles are presented in the Threads search results that a user doesn’t already follow, they will have the option to instantly follow them or to view their full profile.

Why do you need an Instagram account to join Threads?

Meta announced on its Instagram blog that Threads would be linked to people’s Instagram accounts. Explaining the reasoning behind this decision, it said:

• “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.”
• “Just like on Instagram, with Threads you can follow and connect with friends and creators who share your interests – including the people you follow on Instagram and beyond.”
• ‘The benefits of open social networking protocols go well beyond the ways people can follow each other. Developers can build new types of features and user experiences that can easily plug into other open social networks, accelerating the pace of innovation and experimentation. Each compatible app can set its own community standards and content moderation policies, meaning people have the freedom to choose spaces that align with their values.
• “We believe this decentralized approach, similar to the protocols governing email and the web itself, will play an important role in the future of online platforms.”
• “Threads is Meta’s first app envisioned to be compatible with an open social networking protocol – we hope that by joining this fast-growing ecosystem of interoperable services, Threads will help people find their community, no matter what app they use.”

How can you change your username on Threads?

As your Threads profile is connected to your Instagram account, certain details are transferred between the two including your name and username. So in order to change your username on Threads, you need to change your Instagram user name. To do this, you need to take the following steps:

• Tap the profile icon in the bottom righthand corner to load your profile.
• Select the ‘Editor Profile’ button which is located underneath your bio.
• Users can then enter a new Instagram username in the Username field.
• Once the new username has been entered, select the checkmark in the top righthand corner to save your new settings.

Are there any posting limitations on Threads?

There are limitations on posts and videos:

• Posts – Users are restricted to sharing posts with a maximum of 500 characters. However, they can include links, photos and videos.
• Videos – Videos can be no longer than five minutes.

How does Threads work?

Threads is a pretty straight-forward app to use that operates in a similar way to Twitter. Here’s how you get started:

• Make sure you have an Instagram account. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to sign up.
• Download the Threads app and sign in using your Instagram log in details.
• Once you’re logged in, the app will ask if you’d like to follow the same accounts that you follow on Instagram.
• The app will then suggest other profiles to follow that it thinks may be of interest to you.
• You can then start using the app. Your feed will serve a combination of posts from people you follow as well as recommended content. You can engage with these posts by either liking them, replying, reposting, or quoting the posts.
• As with Twitter, you also have the option to share posts, videos and pictures on your own profile too.

How do you delete your Threads account?

To deactivate an account, users will need to go to their profile tab, access the settings menu in the top right-hand corner, and then press the ‘Account’ button. Users will then be asked if they would like to deactivate their profile.

After deactivating a profile, a user’s previous posts and interactions will no longer be visible on Threads. Deactivating a profile will not impact the data the platform has collected or affect the linked Instagram account.

If a user deactivates their Instagram account, their Threads account will also be deactivated. If a user would like to reactivate their profile, they can do so by simply logging back into the app.

If a user wishes to delete their account rather than temporarily deactivate it, they will need to delete their Instagram account.

Is Threads replacing Twitter?

Meta CEO Zuckerberg said he believes Threads will be bigger than Twitter but it will take time.

• “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” he said. “Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

Since its launch, Threads has certainly been a success so far. During its first two days of operation, Twitter traffic was down 5% in comparison to the same period a week earlier. It was also 11% down compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the web analytics company SimilarWeb.

Deep dive. Read the Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy for more information on how Meta shares your data and how to deleting a Threads account.

The post Threads FAQ: Everything marketers need to know appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing