Click Through Reads #56: Bing, Twitter Launch Ad Updates

Hello lovely Click Through Readers,

We’re rolling into February, and cupid is already taking aim at us advertisers! Watch out for arrows, because this Click Through Read is shooting you updates that you’re going to love, love, LOVE. 

I’ll be sending Microsoft a Valentine’s Day card this week because they really pulled on my heart strings with their roll out of a Google Tag Manager integration. Microsoft also dropped some insightful findings on consumer attitudes. You can use these insights to reach the perfect audiences, or maybe even to reach the perfect valentine–always go with your heart. 

Twitter released three new ad products to help optimize website traffic, much like how Instagram helps people optimize their dating traffic–it’s okay, we’ve all been there… 

If you are dating online, trying to find your next heartache, you probably know it’s important to make sure people are who they advertise they are. Google’s on your side with this one, announcing their new advertiser verification program. Advertisers will have to fill out their “About your business” sections, and if they fail to respond or provide false information their account will be paused. My mom always told me honesty is the best policy… smart woman. 

Alright, open your box of chocolates and let’s dive in! 

Microsoft Rolls Out Portfolio Bid Strategies and Google Tag Manager Integration

For their February update, Microsoft announced several exciting features and enhancements to improve and streamline Bing advertising efforts. At the top of the list: Portfolio bid strategies. Now globally available, the automated bid strategy manages bidding across multiple campaigns. Bing will automatically adjust bids based on your strategy goal, and which campaigns are underperforming or overperforming. Portfolio bid strategy options include:

• Maximize clicks
• Maximize conversions
• Target CPA
• Target ROAS
• Target Impression Share

Other notable updates include a Google tag manager integration, allowing you to log in to your Google Account from within the Microsoft ad platform.  

4 New Consumer Attitudes Are Emerging and Growing

The last two years have been filled with monumental changes to our everyday life. Many won’t soon forget what it was like to hunker down and work from home all while binge-watching Tiger King. 

While some of these surprising trends came and left, others took root and became part of our "new normal." Microsoft Advertising has identified and drawn specific attention towards four groups of people that have grown exponentially throughout the pandemic:

Digital Nomads

With the recent explosion of great remote job opportunities (Hello, join the JDM fam! We’re hiring!), we’ve seen an increase in people leaving home with their laptop in hand. There are an estimated 10.9 million "Digital Nomads" in the United States. Microsoft presented a case study on a company called RVshare and how they’ve leveraged the zeitgeist of our time to rent out R.V.s for mobile adventures.

Empowered Activists

Microsoft has seen a noticeable increase in people purchasing from companies based on values and beliefs. 

These browsers are also more protective of their data, with 48% of that demographic citing “how companies use their data” as a concern. In this case study, they follow “The Motley Fool” (an online investment magazine) and their journey toward bringing social awareness to the investment world.

Luxury Shoppers & Self-Care Enthusiasts

The pandemic has certainly changed our shopping and fitness habits. Self-care Enthusiasts are 38% more likely to have bought exercise equipment online. This audience segment also commonly researches health issues. 

As far as luxury shoppers, Microsoft/Bing shopping has gotten its share of the online retail explosion as shopping malls have lessened in popularity. According to Microsoft, they have over 52 million ‘luxury shoppers’ browsing for their next big-buy.

The research on these new consumer attitudes will definitely help advertisers reach the right people in our evolving, virtually-dependent environment.  

Twitter Launches New Ad Products

Twitter has announced three new ad products on their platform to help improve campaigns optimizing for website traffic.

Site Visits Optimization

Advertisers will now be able to optimize for site visits under the Website Traffic objective. This goal will serve ads to users who are most likely to visit your site. Initial testing has shown an “average lower cost-per-site-visit of 31%.”

Aggregated Measurement

To improve attribution, Twitter Ads Manager will now include an aggregated view of site metrics and conversion events. This will include users who have opted out of the iOS tracking.

Events Manager

Advertisers will now be able to manage any website tags and conversion events within the platform.

Google’s Advertiser Verification Program

In March, Google Ads plans on merging its advertising identity and business operation verification programs into a unified advertising verification program. Aside from their consolidation and deadlines, not much has changed. 

Advertisers will need to provide their legal name or business name, along with supporting documentation and account information. Google said it will ask advertisers questions related to their Google Ads and account, which will be shown in a new section, “About your business.” Google wants to understand whether you are a direct or indirect provider of the products or services being advertised. 

Advertisers will have 30 days to complete the “About your business” answers, and 30 days to complete requested verifications, which could be identity, business operations, or both. Failure to do so results in your account being paused. 

Six reasons why Google may pause your account:

1. You fail to answer the questions about your Google Ads account and business
2. Fail to complete or meet the identity or business operations verification requirements
3. Google suspects your ads violates Google Ads policies
4. Google suspects your advertising may cause physical or monetary harm to users
5. Google suspects you are attempting to circumvent the verification process
6. If your identity or advertising behavior has been identified as “unclear”

These changes are all meant to provide searchers with information regarding who is behind the ads they’re seeing and potentially clicking on. The hope is to make for a safer user experience and improve the Google Ads ecosystem. 

Say Goodbye to Gmail Campaigns

On January 18, Google notified advertisers that Gmail campaigns will no longer run starting on June 28, 2022. 

This depreciation date follows their change in July, 2021, where Gmail campaigns became “read-only.” ​​Since then, advertisers haven’t been able to create new or edit existing standalone Gmail ads or campaigns. 

If you’re an advertiser running standalone Gmail campaigns, now is the time to begin finding new alternatives to minimize performance impacts.