Your Online Ad Updates 22nd October 2019

This month finds Quora adding new targeting options, Google and Microsoft unveiling new metric functionality on their family of social media products whilst Twitter is in hot water over using the wrong emails for marketing campaigns … and more …

Quora adds new targeting ‘options’ for platform advertisers

Three new options – which include keyword history targeting relating to your keyword research retargeting analysis – have been included in Quora’s latest platform update.

Announced via a Q&A Event, Quora announced new targeting options to help drive platform marketing success.

Keyword history targeting is a blended new variant of keyword targeting and question retargeting services for Quora marketers. Gender targeting will help pinpoint new audiences with greater accuracy and browser targeting will help pinpoint mobile and PC platform browser activity.

According to Search Engine Land:

“In the two years since Quora launched its self-service ad platform, it has been steadily adding new features, formats and capabilities. The platform claims more than 300 million monthly users, putting it in the realm of Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest.

On the design front, the company made images full-width including for image ads, last month. Quora also recently switched to using san serif fonts, and word has it the improvements in click-through rates from that change alone were eye-popping.”

Facebook Stories Now Available in Facebook Messenger

Marketers’ abilities to use Facebook’s wider technological platform for their own unique marketing endeavours has this month seen Facebook allow its Stories Ads platform to be deployed on its Messenger service.

Big or small brands can now drive Facebook, Messenger and Instagram Stories Ads traffic into new avenues for conversation and brand building through the Messenger platform.

How does it all work? Users on Messenger can ‘swipe up’ on Stories ads and a new option will pop up asking if you want to “Send Message” in order to start a conversation with that brand – but without leaving the Facebook ecosystem.

According to Search Engine Land:

“This integration adds another engagement mechanism for Facebook advertisers and could be particularly appealing for businesses with longer conversion cycles.

There are 40 million businesses active on Messenger, which has a user base of more than 1.3 billion, according to Facebook.

This feature is now available to businesses with Messenger templates set up in their Facebook Ads accounts.”

Twitter In Trouble Over Using Emails Connected to Two-Factor Authentication

Twitter was left red-faced this month when it became apparent the social networking giant was using two-factor authentication security emails stored in its systems for the purposes of sending out marketing materials.

The way the company has been trying to get new customers advertising on the platform has been under scrutiny thanks the company’s data protection practices – a near decade old deal with the FTC ordered the company to safeguard personal information and this latest breach showcases the work the company still needs to do.

According to Search Engine Land:

“Twitter’s Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences allow advertisers to target users based on marketing lists they upload to upload to Twitter. The company admits that in some cases it matched that data to emails and phone numbers intended for security purposes — a practice Twitter has said in the past it does not do. It said it is unsure how many users may have been impacted.

“When an advertiser uploaded their marketing list, we may have matched people on Twitter to their list based on the email or phone number the Twitter account holder provided for safety and security purposes” said Twitter.

The company called it an error and apologised for misusing user data to target ads. It also said no user data was shared externally with marketing partners or other third-parties.”

New Metrics Available In LinkedIn Campaign Manager

LinkedIn, the business-focused social networking platform has announced that it is adding a host of new metrics – covering targeting, logic and demographic forecasting – to help marketers get more out of LinkedIn as a marketing platform.

The new announcement by the Microsoft-owned platform showcased new audience ‘forecasting’ metrics that connect directly with the Campaign Manager and the metrics dashboard. These new options include Boolean targeting for logic to demographic reporting metrics on ads by breakdown.

According to Search Engine Land:

“LinkedIn has been focused on building out its Campaign Manager to attract advertisers managing high volume campaigns for more than a year now. By expanding its audience forecasting features, adding Boolean logic to targeting queries and ramping up metrics, LinkedIn is giving advertisers with sizeable budgets the type of tools they expect when creating and managing social campaigns.”

YouTube Ad Buying Tool Gives 120 Day Prior-To-Campaign Reserve Function

Google has unveiled a new ‘beta’ function called Instant Reserve – it is being given to political advertisers first but will be rolled out to consumer goods, media and other sectors accordingly.

YouTube’s latest testing experience surrounds Instant Reserve in Google Ads and it is about being able to ‘reserve’ ad space 120-days beforehand without minimum spend confirmation. The platform will be tested across a multitude of different platforms.

Advertisers are now free to book in advance without paying in advance – which should help marketers on low-cap projects succeed.

According to Search Engine Land:

“YouTube’s Instant Reserve tool takes pages from upfront TV ad buys and programmatic guaranteed, giving advertisers the ability to reserve ad space in advance with all of the available targeting capabilities but without having to book campaigns through a sales representative. The tool will be particularly helpful for advertisers that want to plan ahead and run campaigns tied to major events — such as the upcoming U.S. presidential election. YouTube did not release an announcement when the tool was launched, but the Wall Street Journal reports political advertisers, and hundreds of other advertisers, were given access to it on September 3.”