Industry Focus for Friday, November 18, 2022
With the holiday season upon us, the iFocus Marketing team is full steam ahead as we help our clients meet their last-minute business goals through seriously sharp digital marketing strategy.
One way we ensure a dynamic approach to advertising is by continuous optimization in every omnichannel campaign – but also by reviewing the latest in digital marketing trends twice every week.
This week, we went straight to the source for new features from Google, Meta, and Mastodon, plus read some hard data for manufacturing industry content strategy. Keep reading to learn along with us.
“Google’s New Ad Insights Feature & 7 Tips for Competitive Ad Research,” by Ilya Cherepakhin in Search Engine Journal
Marketers can now perform competitive ads text research directly within the Google Ads platform, rather than relying on third-party platforms. You don’t even need to sign into your campaign to use the new features. When you see a paid search ad, hover over the “hamburger” icon to the right of the ad, then click “See more ads by this advertiser.” You can then filter results by time range, location, and format. Be sure to read the full article, like we did, to glean important insights into best practices for auditing your competition.
-Submitted by William White, Account Operations Coordinator
“Introduction to Ads Data Hub,” by Google
Google released Ads Data Hub for Marketers, which allows you to access ad data while maintaining end-user privacy. You can use your own data, plus event-level data from your ad campaigns to improve advertising efficiency and achieve business goals. And the queries you run are added to a Cloud project only you have access to. Could this be Google’s paid ad solution for a cookie-less world? Stay tuned for more information.
-Submitted by Jaron Thompson, Senior Account Operations Manager
“Introducing the ‘Instagram Explore Home’ Ads Placements Via the Instagram Marketing API,” by Huan Wang for Meta
This week, Meta announced they’ll allow for ads in Instagram Explore home via the Instagram Marketing API, and it’ll be available without an upgrade. The addition allows marketers to enable their clients to create and preview ads in Instagram Explore Home, allowing for ad creation, ad insights, and ads preview, all in one location. Our social media team is excited for this handy new tool for paid ads on Instagram.
-Submitted by Kelsey Whittle, Digital Marketing Strategist
“Mastodon: The New Way to Connect With Other SEO Pros,” by Fili Wiese in Search Engine Land
Have you heard about Mastodon? It’s been around since 2016 and describes itself as a “free, open-source, decentralized social media platform,” that feels like the old web. It offers microblogging features on an infrastructure called the fediverse (short for federated universe). And although it’s not just for SEO pros, Mastodon is a great place for tech-savvy folks to gather and discuss on the no-ad platform. We predict it’ll either fizzle out – or become a great place to make B2B connections – but we don’t have a crystal ball.
-Submitted by Peter Mishler, Senior Digital Copywriter
“3 Top Content Marketing Challenges in Manufacturing,” by Lisa Murton Beets in the Content Marketing Institute blog
The latest research is out on challenges for manufacturing content marketers. The top three most frequently cited challenges were aligning sales and marketing, breaking down communication silos, and creating content for different stages of the buyer’s journey.The research also suggests the manufacturing industry should invest heavily in video to tell their story as part of their content marketing strategy. Don’t forget that search engine optimization should also play a key role; learn more by partnering with an SEO agency like iFocus Marketing.
-Submitted by Leon Edwards, Digital Copywriter
It’s Not Too Late for a Q4 Discovery Call and Digital Marketing Audit
Just because we’re nearing the end of November doesn’t mean you don’t have time to snag insights about your business’s marketing efforts before 2023 arrives. At iFocus Marketing, we make time for you. That’s part of our promise of a boutique, data-driven service.
To find out how you can evolve your marketing strategy, send us a message online, and one of our business development experts will get back to you.
