Full Transcription
[Introduction] – 00:00
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to episode 104 of the TWIMshow. This is your host Sajid Islam, today, I’ll be going over the notable news and update from the week of April 11, 2022.
[Update 1 – TikTok Launches ‘Effect House’ AR Creation Platform] – 00:11
So today First off, we Have an update from TikTok. TikTok has launched effect house augmented reality creation platform. This is something that was launched actually last November. As a closed beta wherein only select few developers were invited but now TikTok has opened it up to everyone on the TikTok universe and what this allows you to do is it allows you to create vibrant effects for your TikTok and TikTok already has says that over the 450 effect creators have published. More than 1.5 billion videos or and they have garnered over 600 billion views globally. So again, this is something TikTok is moving, pushing forward, similar to what Facebook is doing with augmented reality and probably with Snapchat as well. So TikTok is someone who doesn’t want to be left behind. And you know what? It’s there so. And I would say if you are not on TikTok then you should be on TikTok. You need to figure out an angle to be on TikTok. I know in our on our podcast I’ve talked about us being on TikTok and obviously, our initial effort on being on TikTok has actually didn’t really play out this summer starting. June, we’re going to again focus, refocus back on TikTok and try our new strategy and hopefully this will get us some results that we’ve been looking for. OK, with that, let’s move on to Snapchat ’cause, we just talked about snap a little bit about when we talked about augmented reality…
[Update 2 – Snapchat Introduces ‘Dynamic Stories’] – 01:45
Snapchat has introduced dynamic stories, dynamic stories, basically the partner Snapchat Partners with their publishers. They have the list of approved publishers and their updates are going to. Coming into Snapchat as a dynamic story feed, so this allows you know Snapchat audiences or Snapchat users, snappers or snapchatters to be more in tune with the news and happening in the world. Now. Keep in mind this is something very similar to what you do Google has with. Google discover. As I was reading this announcement, I realized man, this is exactly Google discover and actually it’s a brilliant move from Snapchat if you ask me. Because when I go to my Google app, even though I’m on iOS, I have an iPad and as well as on my mobile I have a Google app and when I go there, all these cards show up with updates, latest news and things from Google partner. And that changes from time to time. So it creates this effect where if I don’t click on it now it’s going to go away. I do not know what it is. I click on it and Snapchat is bringing that in. So Snapchat has over 319 million daily active users. So it’s a way for Snapchat to keep their active users on the platform and inform them through trusted content partners. And also you know, engage in things like that. So this is a good move from Snapchat. In fact, if I were to mention, I would say my gut feeling is that this is something other platforms are going to copy. Definitely hopefully face. I think Facebook is going to copy this, whether it’s for the Instagram or whether it’s for the Facebook rules, they’re gonna copy it. If not, they’re gonna lose out. OK with that. Let’s move on to the next update. The next update is from Pinterest.
[Update 3 – Pinterest Launches an Extension for WooCommerce eCommerce Platform] – 03:27
Pinterest has partnered with WooCommerce, have launched an extension WooCommerce. There are like over 3 million businesses out there who uses who commerce as their shop and now people who are using WooCommerce, they can actually through this extension they will be able to publish all their products into Pinterest. Shoppable beam. This is big, like key member back a few months ago, a couple of months ago, Google did a partnership with WooCommerce where WooCommerce merchants can basically push directly into Google. Then Microsoft did the same partnership with WooCommerce theme. Here is that focuses on ecommerce. And it’s not gonna be and I believe Shopify also did a partnership with WooCommerce or something like that. If not, you know some some Shopify would have to figure out, you know how can they bring margins in Shopify even though Shopify WooCommerce kind of compete head-to-head though WooCommerce is kind of a free plugin coming back. This is big because if you are March and. I have a shop owner who has a platform who has WooCommerce. This is good. Now you can push it out into Pinterest and you get more likes visibility, things like that. If you get a one extra cell by just plugging into this plugin, why not. OK. With that, let’s move into Facebook World.
[Update 4 – Meta Introduces New Creator Funding Programs To Grow The Metaverse] – 04:50
Meta has introduced a create funding programs to grow the metaverse. First of all, there is a 10 million expansion on its Horizon Worlds Creator funding program. This is something that began last year. Horizontal world is met as virtual reality sandbox where users can create their own immersive worlds. And now you know Google is sorry. Why am I saying Google? Facebook is giving people who are doing fantastic work in horizon bonuses as typical with meta slash Facebook. It’s very unclear what the criterias are to get this. You know a portion of this $10 million what? How much you can get, how much you may not get things like that. All in all, is a good move ’cause Facebook is realizing on Meta is realizing. Look, there’s only so much heavy lifting I can do all this platform that are going out there that are doing things are actually because of user generated content. This is the era of user generated content. So let’s bring them in, bring their creativity in and we will incentivize them. We will give them. The dollar amount and they’re going to be happy. Now the problem challenge with this is like as I was reading this announcement is like it’s half picked was the criteria, what is this one of the set of things that I need to do to be able to get this thing whether it’s view likes, downloads, things like that, it’s very unclear, maybe it’s there, I just didn’t get it but anyway. Also, meta is obviously creating a test program which will allow some creators to sell virtual products and effects within the virtual world. You know I am of two minds with that number one is yes, NFT has picked up as well as there is going to be people who are going to purchase things online. So imagine you work. Hard in a physical world, right? You go to job, I go to job or I go to my office. I work hard and I make money. Now for me to take that money, converting to digital stuff, buying it in the middle verse, which is an alternative reality of virtual reality. And using that money to buy things. I think that doesn’t work. What will work is. Yeah, I can take a little bit off that portion of that money and convert it into whatever things I buy in the virtual world, but I should be able to have a way to make money in the virtual world so that I’m not converting my physical, real-world money to virtual world money and vice versa. Because there are a lot of other options of things that are happening right again, at one point they need to either come collide and they need to come together. If not, where is the drop off point? And for example, my children, they like to buy, they play Roblox and they like to buy like, you know, the children, right. They like to buy things on Roblox, which is a virtual. The world now, when they ask, I’m like you are telling me that I need to take $10 of my physical money converted into this digital coins so that you can buy things on virtual world. Makes no sense. Now obviously we have tried to. We have explained to them the value of hard work and the money and everything. That money is something you don’t invest and do things in the virtual world. ’cause. What happens? You delete your Roblox or what happens? You know we lose it. We do not know. So those are things our meter has to figure out. As well as all this virtual reality platform. But for now, you know there is this option for you to make money in the Metaverse. If you are going to be willing to pay, play that game. OK, that’s enough of meta. Let’s end virtual reality. Let’s move on to the real world, which is Google World
[Update 5 – Google: Updating Images Can Backfire] – 08:16
And the one that dominates 90% of the search market. So Google has Google, John Mueller during end recent office hour have mentioned you know that you know if you have a few updating lots of image with thousands of images at the same time that’s going to probably backfire. Please do not do that now if you are making like you know five 10-15 images you’re in the clear but he’s talking about thousands. Over 100 to thousand images at the same time, and if he’s saying, if you do find yourself in a situation like that, for example if you are a cooking or recipe website. Then he’s saying rather than doing that, make sure you can redirect your old email image URLs to a new URL. That’s better. Or you can actually create have a very, very fast response server so that Google does not have to wait for a response. ’cause image is very. Bandwidth and intensive ’cause it takes time to transfer an image and image is usually like, you know, a bigger size than a text, things like that. Now my advice to you on this show is that if you do find yourself in the in this unfortunate situation where you need to, you know, update a lots of image. Just redirect. That’s easier, faster and you can keep track.
[Update 6 – Google: No Shortcut To Rank In The Featured Snippets Section Of The Google Search Results] – 09:29
OK, Next up is Google There is no shortcut to rank in the features section of the Google search results. This was again a question that was asked to John r, and John Mueller was saying someone was asking hey, my client wants us to basically do something so that we can show up in this feature section of the Google search results and feature sections are those when you search for something Google gives you like four or five different. Options with the drop down and gives you the answer like you know. Here’s the probably most common questions John Mueller says, hey, there is no shortcut. There is no sideways. All you have to do is basically right, proper blogs, proper web content and helpful content. And eventually Google is going to pick up. That’s all it actually goes directly into world. is all about. SEO, SEO is all about, you know creating content that and creating content that will answer people’s questions, period. If you’re writing anything else doesn’t make any sense. OK, so hope this helps you because this is something very important because it’s a very it touches everything about SUV and organic traffic. So you need to pay attention.
[Update 7 – Register for Google Marketing Live: May 24, 2022] – 10:33
Next up. Remember to register for Google marketing Life, which is going to be happening on May 24, 2022 high we have of registered, so if you don’t catch it, that’s fine. We’re going to bring you the latest and greatest on what’s happening over there to you this show. So if you just follow us, if you’re listening to this show, you are already covered, you don’t have to go take out the time and spend the day consuming all this content. We’re going to bring it to you. OK.
[Update 8 – YouTube’s ‘Search Insights’ Feature Is Now Available To All Creators] – 10:55
Next up, which is the last update was that YouTube search Insights feature is now. Available to all creators this one it’s something we covered in November 2021. However, it was only to select creators. Now it’s open to everyone. This will allow you to understand what people are searching for in regards to your channel and content, as well as more broad search queries. So how is this going to help you? It’s going to help you to create. Better YouTube content. So folks, if you do not have a YouTube channel, it is absolutely high time you have a YouTube channel and if you have a YouTube channel you need to look into search insights which is something you will find out from the desktop. You go to analytics which are research section of the YouTube studio and it will provide information on the most popular topics. Among your viewers, as well as overall search volume for each of the, each, and the amount of traffic your channel has received as a result of each query. They will also tell you some content content gap searches which are search phrases that don’t generate a lot of results. YouTube will show up marker. The idea is that by displaying this queries, content creators will be able to focus on. Developing content that corresponds with searches that are currently being provided by the video in the app, perhaps opening up new opportunities for your efforts.
[Closing] – 12:13
So folks, that’s it for this week In marketing. Thank you for tuning in until next week. Take care. Bye bye.
Thank you for tuning in this week, it was a pleasure to serve you all. Hit the subscribe button so that you remember to sign on next week. Same place, same time for another round of This Week In Marketing.
1. TikTok Launches ‘Effect House’ AR Creation Platform (00:11) – Creative effects are part of what makes it, so fun to create on TikTok. Whether you’re teleporting into new worlds with Green Screen or freeze-framing with Time Warp Scan, creative effects empower creators to express themselves, entertain, and share stories through a wide array of engaging and immersive formats.
Thanks to the ‘Effect House’ AR Creation Platform, now anyone can create vibrant effects on TikTok. Effect House has been in closed beta since last fall. This week, they have opened the beta to all creators, designers, and developers from around the world, inviting them to imagine new frontiers for TikTok’s effects universe.
To date, more than 450 effect creators have published effects on TikTok, inspiring the creation of more than 1.5 billion videos and garnering over 600 billion views globally.
You can access TikTok’s new Effect House effects workshop here.
Source: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/effect-house
2. Snapchat Introduces ‘Dynamic Stories’ (01:45) – Snapchat Introduces ‘Dynamic Stories,’ a new feature that allows news publishers to present up-to-date content on the app.
With the launch of a new Dynamic Stories feature, Snapchat hopes to keep 319 million daily active users up to date on the latest news and information in the app. The feature essentially allows partner publishers to link their content feed into the platform, ensuring that the latest updates or big stories are reflected via the app.
Rather than requiring the publisher to manually curate and update their Discover feed, Dynamic Stories will adapt to updates as they come in, ensuring that the app is always up to date.
Source: https://newsroom.snap.com/discover-dynamic-stories
3. Pinterest Launches an Extension for WooCommerce eCommerce Platform (03:27) – Selling your products on Pinterest just got easier. If you are one of the three million WooCommerce merchants, there’s now a Pinterest extension that turns your entire product catalog into shoppable Product Pins.
It’s one more way that Pinterest is becoming easier for merchants to use to build their audience and drive more sales.
Announcement here. Download the extension here.
4. Meta Introduces New Creator Funding Programs To Grow The Metaverse (04:50) – Meta’s launched two new creator funding options designed to better incentivize user contributions to its digital worlds – Metaverse.
The first is a $10 million expansion of its Horizon Worlds Creator Funding program, which began in October of last year. Horizon Worlds is Meta’s virtual reality sandbox, where users can create their immersive worlds. They’ll be able to monetize their efforts in new ways now.
According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the goal is to “thank the people who are doing fantastic work in Horizon,” though the bonuses will target specific aspects of the VR experience that Meta wants to improve. So, if Meta notices that users are interested in a certain aspect of its virtual experience, it may make it an incentive objective for others, or it can get creative with ‘the most interactive’ worlds or ‘the most innovative uses.’
The second piece is probably the most interesting: Meta is starting a test program that will allow some creators to sell virtual products and effects within their virtual worlds. “For instance, someone may create and sell attachable fashion accessories or provide paid access to a new region of the world.”
It’s a reasonable move from Meta to develop from the ground up with collaboration in mind, which will considerably increase its creative potential and allow new trends to emerge organically, generating interest and attracting new users.
5. Google: Updating Images Can Backfire (08:16) – John Mueller mentioned in a recent Google Office Hours that Google indexes images slowly, which might be a problem if you make large modifications to thousands of images. Two workarounds to this problem are:
- Redirect old image URLs to the URLs of the new images.
- A fast server response.
Source: https://youtu.be/lMc456P2fLs?t=3047
6. Google: No Shortcut To Rank In The Featured Snippets Section Of The Google Search Results (09:29) – John Mueller of Google was asked for guidance on ‘how to rank’ in the highlighted snippets section of Google Search results.
In response, John stated that “no technical means for achieving that” exists.
“Given that there’s no technical manner of doing that, this seems fairly pointless as a major objective,” he stated on Twitter. “I’d propose concentrating on other things that are more linked to what’s genuinely valuable for the site/business,” he continued.
In other words, John is claiming that there is no specific meta tag or technique to tell Google that you want this particular piece of information to be a featured snippet.
7. Register for Google Marketing Live: May 24, 2022 (10:33) – It’s almost time for Google Marketing Live, Google’s annual event where they showcase the most cutting-edge product developments to help your company grow.
The virtual event will take place on Tuesday, May 24th, beginning with a keynote from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. PT, live-streamed across the world.
Following the keynote, you’ll have the option to participate in a selection of on-demand breakout sessions aimed at helping you achieve your business objectives.
Click here to register.
8. YouTube’s ‘Search Insights’ Feature Is Now Available To All Creators (10:55) – In November of last year, YouTube released an overview of Search Insights, which will feature data on what people are searching for in the app, both in regards to your channel and content and for more broad search queries.
YouTube announced this week that all creators would get access to its new Search Insights feature, which will provide a slew of new data points to help you fine-tune your YouTube approach.
On desktop, Search Insights will be available in the ‘Analytics’>’Research’ section of YouTube Studio and will provide information on the most popular topics among your viewers, as well as the overall search volume for each and the amount of traffic your channel has received as a result of each query.
For ‘Content Gap’ searches, which are search phrases that don’t generate a lot of results, YouTube will show a marker. The idea is that by displaying these queries, content creators will be able to focus on developing content that corresponds with searches that aren’t currently being provided by the videos in the app, perhaps opening up new opportunities for your efforts.
There’s also a feature called ‘Searches Across YouTube,’ which will show you the most popular search queries for any keyword.
You may use ‘how to’ as a search phrase to see the most prevalent ‘how to’ queries on the platform.
YouTube added that the data used to power its search trends information would initially only include search activity from users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India. YouTube is trying to add more countries in the near future, but even if you don’t live in one of these markets, the data could indicate greater interest in the app.
Search Insights is available in the desktop version of the YouTube Studio software, which is now available to all users (YouTube says that the full rollout will be complete by the end of April).