Weekly Marketing Rundown - March 1st, 2024
Weekly Marketing Rundown - March 1st, 2024
Hi everyone,
In this week's edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown, we'll talk about new Meta updates, changes to the LinkedIn algorithm, and more. Let's dive in.
New Meta Updates
As usual, Meta has introduced a few new updates to their platforms. Here are a few of the most notable:
- Meta is sunsetting the chat plugin for websites on May 9th of this year. The m.me links will still work for those of you who use them.
- Some detailed targeting options are being discontinued on March 18th, 2024. This may include interests, demographics, and behaviors.
You will see a notice in Ads Manager if your ad sets still use these options.
For more on this, click the links below:
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1661027437357021
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7168871200520134656/
LinkedIn is Making Changes to its Algorithm
LinkedIn has recently announced updates to its content distribution algorithm, emphasizing a shift towards more valuable, evergreen content and a move away from clickbait strategies. These changes are aimed at enhancing the user experience and content relevancy on the platform. The new focus is on maximizing the value of posts rather than their timeliness, potentially allowing content to remain relevant and visible for longer periods. For example, a detailed post on a niche topic like beverage marketing could now stay active in users' feeds for months or even years, especially when it aligns with their interests. This strategic shift aligns with LinkedIn's mission to connect professionals to economic opportunities by facilitating the sharing of niche, valuable content that aids in professional growth.
LinkedIn members are advised to concentrate on sharing unique insights and knowledge, rather than following posting trends like optimal times or post lengths. The platform is also moving away from the style of posting with spaced-out sentences designed to trigger the "Read more" prompt, which used to be interpreted as positive engagement by the algorithm. LinkedIn has adjusted its algorithm to no longer consider these 'read more' clicks as a valuable engagement metric. New Call-To-Action (CTA) button options for user profiles were introduced as well, including a "Subscribe to My Newsletter" button and the expansion of the newsletter product. This expansion of features and shift in focus towards evergreen, value-driven content provides a framework for users and companies to strategize their LinkedIn content for more effective engagement and longer-term results.
For more on this, click to read the link below:
Meta's 'Consent or Pay' Model in the EU Faces New Criticism
Meta's controversial decision to charge users in the European Union for an ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram unless they consent to data tracking has triggered a wave of complaints from consumer rights groups. Meta, which charges €9.99 per month on web and €12.99 per month on mobile, presents EU users with a stark choice: pay for privacy or "pay" with their privacy by agreeing to tracking. This move has led to eight consumer rights groups across the EU filing complaints under the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These groups, coordinated by the European consumer organization BEUC, argue that Meta's 'consent or pay' choice fails to provide valid consent as required by law, which should be free, specific, informed, and unambiguous. They claim Meta keeps consumers in the dark about its data processing, rendering the choice between payment and consent meaningless.
The complaints accuse Meta of violating GDPR principles like purpose limitation, data minimization, fair processing, and transparency. They assert that Meta has no valid legal basis for processing personal data for ad targeting and that its business model is fundamentally incompatible with European data protection law. BEUC's deputy director general, Ursula Pachl, criticizes Meta for its "unfair" model that amounts to commercial surveillance, urging data protection authorities to intervene. The complaints also question the legality of Meta's content personalization and profiling for advertising purposes, highlighting issues like a lack of transparency and the misuse of dominant positions to force consent. The GDPR allows for significant penalties, including orders to stop unlawful processing, which could potentially lead to a reform of Meta's privacy-hostile business models. This controversy comes amid broader concerns about Meta's compliance with other EU regulations like the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which have stringent rules for processing personal data and consent.
For more on this, click to read the link below:
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/28/meta-consent-or-pay-consumer-gdpr-complaints/
YouTube Expands 'Create' App to More Locations
YouTube is broadening the reach of its 'Create' app, a standalone mobile application designed for content creators, to over a dozen new countries, including Brazil, Spain, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and others. This expansion follows the app's initial beta launch last fall and brings the total number of markets with access to Create to 21. Originally available on Android in the U.S. and selected markets, Create aims to provide creators with an easy-to-use suite of free tools for on-the-go video production. Announced at YouTube’s Create event, the app addresses challenges such as video editing and the use of creative tools like stickers, GIFs, and effects, directly competing with TikTok's built-in creative tools and AI filters.
Create's features are tailored to meet the needs of both novice and experienced creators. Users can upload clips, split and trim videos, apply various effects, and use royalty-free music that syncs with their video clips, similar to TikTok's functionality. Another innovative feature, Audio Cleanup, uses a denoising model to enhance audio quality by reducing background noise in clips recorded on smartphones. The app also includes a voiceover tool with automatic and editable captions, offering various styling options for the text. This expansion of YouTube's toolkit aims to capture a larger share of creators who prefer standalone editing tools. For example, although TikTok offers a range of built-in effects, many creators use ByteDance’s CapCut app for preparing their TikTok videos. Similarly, Create offers a streamlined process for those focusing on publishing content on YouTube. The app's availability now extends to new markets including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, in addition to its initial launch locations. Youtube Create is still not available on iOS.
For more on this, click to read the link below:
Thanks for reading this edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown! For more up-to-date insights in digital marketing, make sure to follow us on our social media channels using the link below.
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Author: Sean Ralls
Article Published: March 1st, 2024
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