The Funnel

Our roundup of the top PPC news headlines this week.

PPC News Roundup is a weekly roundup of all news related to the major PPC and digital advertising platforms. Published on Tuesdays, “PPC News Roundup” will help you stay up-to-date on all the important PPC ads news you need to know.

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PPC Videos This Week

Facebook needs to be broken up - Co-founder
In an op-ed for the New York Times, Facebook Co-founder Chris Hughes argues Facebook has gotten too big and needs to be broken up for the sake of democracy.

Google reveals several new features at I/0 Developer Conference

A summary of all the updates at Google's I/0 Developer Conference. Watch this video to see where Google plans to take the platform.

Facebook Ads News

Facebook Co-founder says Facebook should be broken up

In an Op-Ed for the New York Times, Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes argues that Facebook has grown too powerful and should be broken up. He claims Facebook has become a threat to democracy and that the FTC should enforce antitrust laws by spinning off Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies and banning future acquisitions.

Facebook updates ad policies on financial services, goes easy on cryptocurrencies

Facebook is easing regulations from last June regarding advertising policies for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Facebook will no longer require pre-approval for ads related to blockchain technology, industry news, or education related to cryptocurrency. However, ads for a specific cryptocurrency will still require approval.

Facebook to update video metrics

New Facebook video metrics are soon coming to help content creators and media companies rank better on Facebook. Their goal is to connect the right content with the right audience.

The metrics will focus on three areas:

• 1. Loyalty and Intent: Videos with repeat views and return visitors will be ranked higher.
• 2. Viewing Duration: Videos that are viewed longer will be ranked higher.
• 3. Originality: The more original the content, the better.

Google Ads News

Google will soon Allow you to get a Captivating AR Experience through Search

Google will soon be bringing augmented reality to search. For example, if you look up a muscle on the human body like the hip flexor, you will have the option of seeing the an interactive image and video of a hip flexor in the search results on your phone.

Google releases sneak peak for new Google Ads features

In the runup to Google's premier Google Ads event, Google Marketing Live, the company has released a sneak preview of some of the new features the company will roll out in the coming year. They include the ability to create and edit Responsive Search Ads directly in the Google Ads app. Local campaigns will also be updated with added features, like ads being shown when somebody creates a route and looks for directions.

Google to restrict ad tracking in Chrome

Google has announced new ways to limit how much advertisers can track you online. The company is releasing a new set of controls that will allow users to see all the cookies currently stored by the browser and give them the option of blocking any trackers they don't like. It could affect advertising if users massively begin to use the feature.

Google's Ad API more comprehensive than Facebook's

In a follow-up to their analysis of Facebook's Ad Archive, Mozilla conducted an analysis of Google's Ad API and found it to be overall better than Facebook's, but still to be incomplete. In particular, Mozilla said Google provides ad data in a format that is easier for researchers to use. However, it does not provide data on the targeting criteria advertisers use. Both Google and Facebook have come under pressure to release more data about how they show ads to users because of privacy concerns.

Instagram Ads News

Instagram launches @shop account for small businesses

Instagram has created a new account called Shop with the goal of inspiring small businesses and creators for how they can display their products, and also showcasing emerging brands. Every product featured on @shop will include product tags so users can easily tap to shop.

Microsoft Ads News

Microsoft Advertising Partner Virtual Summit announced

Microsoft has announced it will hold the very first Microsoft Advertising Partner Summit on May 20th. The 2.5 hour event will feature speeches directly from Microsoft Executives who will provide the latest industry insights and future Microsoft Advertising offerings.

Pinterest Ads News

Why retailers should pay attention to Pinterest’s IPO

Pinterest’s new features and the goals it has outlined as it prepared to go public reveal it's plans to become a more effective advertising platform for retailers, particularly by developing visual search. Pinterest is embracing artificial intelligence and empowering retailers to run campaigns for each part of the purchase funnel.

Snapchat Ads News

Snapchat announces new features and different approach to ads

Snap CEO has announced a host of new updates about how he plans to develop the platform. They include:

• Snap AR: designed to challenged Google's and Apple's shift toward AR that use the camera lens on your phone.
• Scan: a new visual search option where users take a picture of an item and are taken to a purchase link on Amazon for whatever they took a picture of.
• Snapchat Lens Studio: A new template called Landmarkers allowing users to transform world landmarks into AR creations.
• Snap Games: The goal here is to increase the amount of time users spend within the app, hopefully offering monetization oppoertunities in the future. - - Snapchat 3rd party partners: Users will now be able to embed their Snapchat Stories into Tinder and other apps.

Twitter Ads News

Crypto Ads could boost Twitter stock price

One way Twitter could boost ad revenue is by allowing crypto ads, which the company banned. Adding crypto ads would generate excitement not just from the crypto community but also from other investors looking to enter the crypto field.

PPC PDFs this week

2019 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Social Media Examiner released a new report surveying over 4,800 marketers on how they use social media channels to grow their businesses. The following findings stood out:

• Facebook declining: Facebook lost share as the most important platform for marketers, falling from 67% in 2018 to 61% in 2019. One in 10 marketers said they will be decreasing their organic marketing on Facebook, and only 51% plan on increasing their marketing activities on the platform.
• Messenger Bots still suck: Only 14% of marketers are using Messenger bots and only 32% plan on increasing their bot activities in 2019.
• Instagram rising: 73% of marketers use Instagram, up from 66% in 2018. Around 69% of marketers plan on increasing their Instagram organic activities in 2019.
• YouTube also rising: 71% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube video and 75% want to learn more about marketing on the platform.

Sprout Social Index 2019

Another report by Sprout Social released outlines how brand marketers use social media. The report reveals that very few consumers follow their favorite companies on Twitter and instead do so on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

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