There has been a significant shift for how social media and marketing platform want us to use them. Meta continues to focus on their TikTok-like features as they expand access to Reels, while Google has been rolling out new updates to ensure a better experience for users.
In this week’s business and marketing news, we saw:
- The end of Facebook Jobs category.
- New Top 3 Priorities for Google Ads.
- YouTube now notifies users when a channel is going live.
- New short title option in Google Merchant Center.
- Google slowly rolls out Desktop Page Experience Update.
- Meta launches Reels on Facebook globally.
- Daily limit reminder changes on Instagram.
- Google’s Dark mode now has a pitch black option.
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This Week’s Marketing & Business News Highlights — 21 February 2022 to 25 February 2022
Facebook Jobs is Shutting Down on the 22 February 2022
Facebook Groups with a job category will have found last week their category converted to a general group.
This means the option of publishing jobs with templates will also disappear.
Since Facebook Jobs category ends, you will notice free job posting on company profiles using the API will be unavailable.
However, users will still be able to use general groups and some of the other group categories that will remain on the portal.
Google Ads Announces Top 3 Priorities for 2022
Automation, measurement and privacy have been announced as the top 3 priorities for improvement in the Google Ads platform in 2022.
Automation
Vice President and General Manager of Google Ads Jerry Dischler said, “Over 80% of Google advertisers are now using automated bidding to free up time and improve ad performance”.
Google recommends users single channel campaigns should lean into automation with responsive search ads and broad match keywords.
Measurement
New approaches to measurement will be critical for success to counteract the challenges around the iOS 14 update, the future removal of third-party cookies and more.
Google is rolling out new solutions to privacy and measurement including enhanced conversions, consent mode and more.
Privacy
Updates to Google’s privacy playbook have been made to protect data and maintain the level of anonymity.
Search Engine Journal states the three main highlights of this playbook include:
- Building direct relationships with customers
- Ensuring measurement remains accurate and actionable
- Keeping your ads relevant
YouTube Adds New Feature to Show When a Channel is Live Streaming
Finding live content has just been made easier! YouTube has altered a channel’s profile picture to have a ring with the word “Live” around it when a channel is streaming.
As many popular platforms have adopted the live ring user interface (UI), it seems like it was a matter of time that YouTube was going to add the trending feature.
A Short Title Option is Now Available in Google Merchant Center
Online retailers can add the [short_title] attribute to their ads, allowing for a ‘browsy experience‘ and potentially improving their click-through rates.
Google recommends limiting short titles to 65 characters or less, while highlighting your most important details towards the front.
Adding a brand name is a good idea if it helps differentiate the product, especially if you are selling products similar to other brands.
Google Confirms Desktop Page Experience Update is Rolling Out “Slowly”
The Google Page Experience algorithm update for desktop search results is now rolling out, to be completed by the end of March 2022. This means it’s time to check your website’s core web vitals!
The algorithm updates can mean factors typically not assessed for your website in desktop search results will now be taken into consideration by Google.
It’s important to remember, even if your website typically scores well for those factors on mobile, they might not score the same on desktop.
Mark Zuckerberg last week announced Reels will now be available on Facebook in more than 150 countries, following its popularity on Instagram.
Meta has been showing more focus on getting users to create more bite-size content as creators can also monetise the Facebook Reels feature.
As more creators are able to make money of Reels, providing opportunities for businesses to potentially capitalise on the the feature.
Instagram has Limited its ‘Daily Time Limit’ Option Without Warning
Instagram has quietly increased the minimum daily time limit reminder from 15 minutes to a minimum of 30 minutes, potentially increasing the average time people are spending on the app.
If you already have your daily limit reminder set to 15 minutes, it will now automatically bump to 30 minutes. However, you might be prompted to change your limit down the track.
Google has Announced Their Dark Mode is Going Darker
Google is slowly releasing updates to their dark mode to have a darker setting called pitch-black dark mode to be available on all devices.
The previous dark mode was a grey that was not as harsh to see. However, Google has now switched to a true black (#000000) which stands out on OLED and AMOLED displays.
To update your Google search to dark theme:
- Select the gear icon in the top right corner to open the quick settings.
- Select dark mode.