Stores and restaurants are slowly opening back up in Ontario as part of Stage 3 coronavirus safety measures, people are enjoying their summers, and there are new updates in the digital marketing world that you should know about. The big players are TikTok, Instagram, and Google as we could’ve expected! Let’s get started:
Back to school with TikTok
Marketing to parents for back-to-school campaigns doesn’t feel great right now due to the uncertainty many feel with sending kids back to school. So some marketers are going right to the source and targeting the children. Instead of convincing parents that their offspring need all the new clothes and stationery, even if it’s to sit in the kitchen attending a virtual lesson, marketers are using TikTok to create videos seen by millions of children and young adults online.
Fundraise with Instagram
Looks like Instagram’s development team is working hard on new things all the time! At the beginning of the pandemic, they released helpful Instagram Story features allowing people to order take-out directly from restaurants. Now, they added “DM me” stickers for easy Q&A for virtual events or business questions. And to support people struggling with finances in the midst of the pandemic, the newest feature is the ability to crowdfund money right on the platform! With this sticker, you can donate right within the Story. It’s a great way to make donating as easy as possible.
Google + e-commerce + small businesses = <3
According to Search Engine Journal, “Google is permanently waiving commission fees on products sold via the €˜Buy on Google’ checkout option.” Retailers now don’t need to pay any commission fees to Google on products listed. “Buy on Google” lets customers check out without leaving Search Results! So if you search for a new coffee maker and fall in love with one when still searching, you can buy it right then and there. Great for people who are fast decision-makers and don’t spend hours researching their next purchase (guilty).
Google Ads not interested in Coronavirus conspiracies
While Reddit threads go crazy analyzing the pandemic and coming up with conspiracy theories every day, Google does not want any part in it. Along with Facebook, Google also struggled with quality checking their ads, resulting in misinformation and possible spread of harmful information.
To curb misinformation about coronavirus, Google announced a new Google Ads policy that will ban any ads that promote conspiracies around the virus. The policy goes into effect on August 18th.
The policy states that it will: “prohibit content that relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.”
If your ads fall into this category, you will receive a warning and are urged to take your ads down before August 18 to avoid penalties. Hopefully, this will help keep the focus on scientific research and proven information.
Google Ads will now “prohibit content that relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.”
This will likely bring up the discussion again on whether or not Google can programmatically tell when content is contradicting consensus. https://t.co/GUNgJdcfvK
— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) July 20, 2020
In conclusion, keep supporting local businesses, keep an eye on new updates, and take advantage of them! Curious about any update in particular? Let us know.
