eCommerce / Retail Archives - acronym

From Imports to Impressions: Navigating the Tariff Turbulence

John Peter Spear — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 17:42:09 +0000

CPCs, ROAS, and Tariffs – Oh My!

Quick Summary

President Trump’s announcement of a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico has jolted markets and caused significant concern across industries. Although the tariffs have been delayed for 30 days to allow for negotiations, the potential impact is substantial.

Advertisers need to prepare for consumer reactions to possible price hikes and disrupted supply chains. The economic ripple effects from these tariffs and shifting consumer behavior can directly impact your advertising strategy. Higher costs overall could lead to increased CPC and CPM, making it crucial for brands to get smarter with their targeting and budget planning. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Learn how to stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions in the latest Acronym Fast 5:

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‘Tis the Season for Holiday Advertising

John Peter Spear — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:42:45 +0000

Leveraging Social Media for Holiday Success

POV by Gellena Lukats, Director, Paid Social and Kate McNee, Associate Director, Paid Social

Are you ready to engage Holiday Shoppers? Read on to learn more about top market factors, tips on polishing up your campaigns, and how to ensure your best holiday season yet.

The current digital landscape

If the digital holiday landscape could be summarized in one word, it would be: clutter. With the average individual exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 ads daily during the holidays, standout creative and razor-sharp media tactics are critical. In 2023, social commerce alone generated $75.6 billion in the US, a +38% growth YoY. With more consumers turning to short form videos through channels like TikTok, we anticipate this number to be even higher in 2024, especially since social commerce is forecasted at $2 trillion by 2025.

So how are we advising you get ready for this season, and make yourself heard in a time of limitless ad fatigue?

Listen to your users

With 60% of the global population on social media, social platforms are an unparalleled resource for gathering customer feedback and insights. Start to develop your holiday marketing strategy by tapping into this data, specifically by analyzing mentions of your brand across channels, messages you receive directly from consumers, and general trends/discussion topics that over-index with your audience. Tap into what consumers are talking about, including what factors are influencing their holiday shopping choices and what consumers like/dislike about your products. Consumers will create their own path to purchase; social provides unparalleled insight into how this journey unfolds.

Social Listening tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite can help you search for common keywords, monitor trends, and develop content that can be used for the holiday season and beyond. For example, if keyword analyses may show sustainability and consumer responsibility over-indexing for your brand, this can be tested and impact brand messaging in the long term.

Know where Social is in your media mix

64% of digital buyers buy products from social, with 91% of consumers using TikTok for product discovery and 40% of people in the US making a holiday purchase after seeing a social commerce ad.

Many of these purchases are completed directly via social, after consumers click into a social ad and purchase on site or on apps via Checkout technology. However, many other purchases are offline, completed after a user was shown (and inspired by) an ad from weeks or even months before.

As such, it’s important to think about the full user journey, remembering that social is a key digital space for nurturing users and is often the first touchpoint. Get creative with tactics such as filters, immersive shopping experiences, or influencer campaigns, all of which can help you stand out amongst the competition and drive brand loyalty.

It’s also important to think about how which tactics work together during which time. Ahead of the shopping season – which now begins as early as late August/early September – we recommend focusing on prospecting/consideration tactics if your budget/strategy allows. Specifically, plan to spend more on awareness and consideration campaigns to help build retargeting pools and generate awareness ahead of the busy season.

Integrate holiday messaging in early October, if possible, and continue scaling with awareness/consideration. After several weeks of ramping up with awareness/consideration holiday messaging, begin shifting more funds to conversion-driving tactics to nurture that relationship and compete in the marketplace as CPMs/CPCs continue to rise. Create specific ads for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, leaning fully into conversion-driving tactics as the competition is the thickest on these days.

Make it also easy to make a purchase, with a one-click solution. A lot of impulse purchases are made from ads, so make the user feel like they have to have it. Limited time promos/availability and urgency messaging always makes a splash.

With data deprecation, first-party data and customer personalization are key to customer success in a cluttered landscape. You need to define your key audience, use contextual marketing insights, and use top-performing segments to drive retention, re-engagement, and brand loyalty. Be sure to store the data in a compliant way and ensure you are targeting the correct user on the right platform.

Make your creative an immersive experience

Don’t forget about tapping into the magic of the holiday season, and ensure you are reflecting the mood of consumers. As advertisers, we want to inspire meaningful experiences with our brand during this time, and this means focusing on family, stories, and imagery with human elements versus just product shots. Work with your creative team to develop standout creative, ensuring you have a clean brand guidelines/lookbook ready to go. We have found that ads that have consistent branding across channels and match the targeted landing page have a higher CTR.

In addition to infusing holiday messaging and consistent branding into your creative, make sure you are speaking to key consumer priorities and benefits. More than half of consumers (56%) reported that “value” was the most important factor when purchasing holiday gifts this year, according to a survey from InMarket (ranking above “quality,” “price,” “product reviews,” “coupon/sale/promotion/rebate” and more).

Whenever possible, discounts and sales should be front and center in creative during the competitive shopping season. Moreover, make sure content speaks to the benefits consumers will gain from purchasing products in different ways. Examples include leaning into how your product’s top-notch quality will help it last longer and drive savings in the long run; or how your product will help consumers save time (the most valuable commodity of all).

Focus on creative diversity with format, messaging, and aesthetic style. With static content able to offset high CPMs, we recommend continuing to integrate, but prioritize video and Story/Reels content, given platforms are prioritizing this ad inventory. Since we can create retargeting audiences from specific video content, which we can then sequentially message, this makes videos particularly valuable.

As always, ensure your ads are designed for mobile viewing (vertical and sound enabled but not required). 60% of global shoppers are interested in AI, with 57% of TikTok users prioritizing AI tools that simplify the process, from makeup filters to styling outfits.

Use historical data

Analyze data from prior years, reviewing personas/behavior especially with cookie-less futures looming. While every year doesn’t look like the last, there are some wins from prior years- some questions to consider: What formats performed best? Did you ramp up the first two weeks? What messaging performed best?

Experiment and run your split test/AI tools and brand lift studies before the holiday season – the time to test is not when bids/competition are higher, especially with this year being an election cycle. Simplify your strategy and campaign setup to ensure you are out of the learning phase and can scale when your customers are ready to purchase. This can be integrating creative with the catalog or ASC, or simply only running purchase objective leaning into the last few weeks of the holiday.

Ensure you are active in Q1 as we see cost dips and a lot of scale/potential in that time period; in fact 41% of holiday shoppers keep buying past the holiday season.

Platform capabilities are growing, Make sure you know the platform to use

There have been some platform changes right in time for the holidays that should be helpful in improving performance. These changes are designed to help brands maximize their end-of-year sales and enhance personalized engagement with their audiences. Let’s dive into the key feature enhancements:

For META, Advertisers can now utilize platform to showcase discount codes on ad overlays, explore testing personalized discounts/first purchases offers and have reminder ads with text overlays and increased frequency of these ads during the hectic holiday season. You can also, test multiple landing pages and META is adding a way to target tourists who are considering holiday options (i.e., if someone is planning a trip and engaging with NYC content, they will receive ads from that area). Additionally, META is adding an ad format to drive in-store purchases with an option to target people most likely to shop in-store based on location/META historical data. Don’t forget about META’s tried and true ASC campaign tools/AI, which does help with costs/dynamic targeting. META has reported that still 54% of holiday shoppers discover brands or products on META with 77% of Black Friday/Cyber Monday shoppers saying META helped them make a key decision. Live Commerce is particularly enticing, with 40% of shoppers interested in the real-time nature of these ad units, particularly on TikTok and Instagram.

TikTok has decided to stand out this year, launching Search Ad Campaigns with Keyword Targeting. In fact, according to the platform, “23% of users search for something within 30 seconds” of opening the app.” This is just the beginning and we anticipate this growing. This is important because 57% of users use the search function, so this could be a key tool for holiday product discovery, and instrumental for product success, especially if you have a younger demo.”⁽¹⁾According to TikTok’s internal data they are the #1 platform for platform discover.

(Source: TikTok Marketing Science US 2024 Holiday Survey via AYTM, June 2024. Base: TikTok Monthly Users 18+ who celebrate Q4 holidays (n=1000)

LinkedIn is a great platform for niche audiences, especially in verticals like education. The first-party data and self-identification for member groups help reach a professional audience, which can be used for e-commerce. For instance, if you are selling software to teachers, you can schedule an appointment with lead gen or start conversations. This is a great place to nurture those relationships.

Reddit is another nuanced platform, and this platform focuses on real reviews of products/brands. In fact, an average of 16 requests for gift giving and 69% go to the platform for reviews on the products, higher than other social platforms, with 85% of people who used Reddit for holiday gifting ending up making a purchase. These loyal users and Reddit ads should be a part of your mix if you’ve seen success with your evergreen ads. If you have serious funds, consider takeovers

Pinterest is an excellent discovery tool, especially for significant moments and events. In fact, 71% of weekly pinners say they found new brands and products while planning holidays on the platform, making it incredibly helpful for holiday planning. Start building brand awareness now and help users discover your products. A lot of engagements also happen during the holiday season, making this a good time to also show up for those users’ life events. If your media mix allows it, test in dynamic catalog feeds and shopping ads as “Brands that ran shopping campaigns in Q4 2023 saw a 60% higher growth in ROAS compared to brands that didn’t run shopping campaigns.” ⁽²⁾

X, albeit unpopular for its political undertones, still has over 250 million in the app daily. X users are 32% more likely to test new products and 24% more likely to share product recommendations. If you are over indexing in the sports category or live events, there is still a place for this medium in your marketing mix, especially at the holiday time when they see a +20% increase of impressions and 49% of last-minute shopping mentions. It is not the most crucial platform, but still has its seat at the marketing mix table.

As you can see, most of the platforms use similar features. For a good e-commerce strategy, it is important to have good creative assets, with a particular preference for video/short form, to measure audience impact on each channel, and focus on multi-media measurement through another partner. If you can see where in the user journey, and for what purpose the social channel is, the impact from social on e-commerce is unparalleled.

Make sure you are aware of key holiday moments, particularly for Cyber Week. Small Business Saturday, Boxing Day, last minute shopping, and Thanksgiving/New Year’s.

Quick Check Out:

Influencer Marketing is Key

With privacy at key focus, it is more important than ever to show engaging, authentic, and personalized content, especially for the awareness and consideration funnels. TikTok is impacted largely by the influencer market with 55% of users likely to buy a product for holidays they see in platform.

While users are likely to ad block/opt out of traditional ads, this is not the case for influencer content, making this impactful during cookie deprecation.

Additionally, there is more clout when it comes to influencers – 67% of social media users consider a brand if it’s promoted by their followed influencer and 41% of shoppers will go on to purchase products from these influencers. There is a wide range of micro versus macro influencers, but there is certainly an engaged market by content type available for the taking.

This form of paid media continues to grow, and we anticipate this becoming an important phase of e-commerce for social, especially seeing growth trajectory.

Align your team

Each brand and stakeholder needs to work with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring clarity on KPIs and gauging campaign success \while ensuring they are keeping the consumer in mind and maintaining privacy compliance. This is integral to the entire digital journey. Make sure you are clear with your goals and driving purchase intent on each platform.

Be certain to work specifically with your analytics team on measurement, ensuring you have all the CAPI/media mix models in place.

The Journey

Customers are looking to brands for experiences, but each brand needs to do its own deep dive into what success means to them. Ensure you use performing assets at different touchpoints (prospecting versus remarketing) and across channels. A strategy for different verticals will require a bird’s-eye view. Remember to build the brand for long-term retention.

By leveraging social media insights, creative diversity, and strategic planning, you can maximize your holiday advertising impact. For more personalized assistance, contact our Paid Social Media experts.

Sources:

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Conquering the Digital Aisle

John Peter Spear — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:57:24 +0000

Your Guide to Understanding Retail Media Networks & Their Place in Your Marketing Mix

Introduction

In the past few years, retailers have been capitalizing on the high-growth, high-margin retail media sector to strategically fund initiatives that enhance their priorities and competitive edge. These efforts are not limited to just Amazon and Walmart – many retail titans have been taking these steps forward, including Target and The Home Depot.

Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, including both manufacturers and primary distributors of widely sold products, recognize this moment of continued transformation and rapid growth but remain confused about how best to integrate retail media network advertising into their marketing mix.

We developed this guide to cut through the noise and help you learn more about where to focus and help your brand effectively position itself to grow its retail media business.

Retail Media Networks: What they are & Why it matters

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are platforms established by retailers that enable brands to advertise directly to consumers within the retailer’s ecosystem. These networks utilize the retailer’s customer data and digital properties, such as websites and mobile apps, to deliver targeted advertisements. By leveraging this data, RMNs can provide personalized product recommendations and promotions to shoppers, enhancing their overall shopping experience.

The significance of RMNs lies in their ability to disrupt traditional digital advertising models. By offering brands a direct line to consumers at the point of purchase, RMNs can drive higher engagement and conversion rates. For retailers, this means increased profitability and a stronger competitive position.

What You Should Focus On

Given the growth of online marketplaces by behemoths like Amazon and Walmart, the retail sector has experienced a seismic shift. Marketers know the days of hoping customers stumble upon your product in a crowded brick-and-mortar store are long gone. Consumers spend more time on the digital shelf of the big players, and the competition for your brand in that space is fierce.

Some of the largest RMNs include large general merchandise retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target and home improvement giant, The Home Depot, as well as more specialized retailers like Best Buy (electronics), Chewy (pet supplies), Kroger (grocery) and Ulta (beauty supplies).1 However, as the sector grows other smaller RMNs are rapidly growing, and niche players are in the market as well.

How can you stand out? One of the best bets for your brand is to leverage the power of sponsored ads and learn how best to approach integrating RMN placement in your strategic plans.

Why Sponsored Ads Reign Supreme

Sponsored ads are the targeted product placements of the digital age. Within retail media marketplaces, these ads allow you to strategically position your offerings in front of a highly relevant audience. Here is why optimized sponsored ads are essential for success:

Essential Exposure: Millions of products vie for attention on Amazon and Walmart. Sponsored ads propel your product to the top of search results or onto prominent display placements, ensuring shoppers see it when they are actively searching for similar items and are most receptive to your product offering.
Targeted Reach: It’s not enough to focus on traditional reach that prioritizes sheer volume over precision. Sponsored ads empower you to target specific demographics, interests, and even past purchase behaviors. This laser focus ensures your ad reaches the customers most likely to convert.
Measurable Results: Unlike traditional advertising, sponsored ads provide a wealth of data and insights. You can track clicks, conversions, and return on ad spend (ROAS), allowing you to refine your campaigns for maximum efficiency.
Competitive Edge: In a saturated marketplace, differentiation is key. Optimized sponsored ads allow you to showcase unique product features and highlight competitive advantages, swaying shoppers in your favor.

Optimizing for Success: It’s All in the Details

While sponsored ads offer immense potential, simply launching a campaign isn’t enough. To truly reap the benefits, focus on optimization rather than just launching a campaign. Start with thorough keyword research to identify the terms shoppers use to find products like yours and integrate these keywords strategically into your ad copy to ensure relevant placements. Craft concise and captivating ad copy that highlights key product features, benefits, and any exclusive offers to entice clicks. High-quality images and videos are crucial in the digital world, so use professional media to showcase your products effectively.

Your bidding strategy should align with your budget and goals, so experiment with different options to find the optimal balance between cost and ad visibility. Regular monitoring is vital; avoid a “set it and forget it” approach. Continuously analyze campaign performance, refine your strategy, and A/B test different ad variations, keywords, and bids to identify the most effective combinations. By paying attention to these details, you can maximize the success of your sponsored ad campaigns.

Embrace the Power of Optimization

The world of retail media marketplaces is dynamic and ever evolving. By embracing optimized sponsored ads, brands can carve out or retain a winning position and connect meaningfully with their target audience. Remember, it’s not just about getting your product seen; it’s about presenting it in the most compelling light possible to drive conversions and build brand loyalty. Re-evaluate your strategy to include sponsored ads and consider which, or both, of the two largest RMNs might align with your goals. By following the guidelines above, you can test the power of optimization in the digital aisles of Amazon, Walmart, and beyond.

Keep the Customer Journey in Mind

Even with the strong potential of RMN-optimized sponsored ads, it is imperative to consider the overall customer journey. As the challenge of targeting audiences and optimizing paid ad budgets continues to increase, marketers must think holistically about customers’ and prospects’ total journey through the buying process. Additionally, marketers need to be clear about audience definition and data sources.

Understand the Entire Picture

Are you going beyond performance data and lookalike audiences? It’s essential to consider whether you target shoppers with the right message based on their behavior at every stage of the journey, from awareness to after-purchase retention.

For too long, agencies, retailers, and manufacturers have been treating channels as separate entities. There is a lot of buzz about the holistic consumer experience, but how do you actually support it? Building an effective strategy requires more than just a unified message across platforms; it means having a well-developed response ready to guide each shopper to the next stage of their journey, regardless of where or when they are on the journey.

For example, do you have a plan that addresses the college graduate and mother of two, who watches Hulu, then uses Amazon reviews for research, and, ultimately, purchases on Walmart’s shopping app? How are you targeting this cohort, and are you differentiating both targeting and messaging to maximize your visibility? It’s key to focus on the people shopping in commerce, rather than solely on the channels where placements are available.

Question the Questions You’re Asking

While we all recognize that insights are only as valuable as they are actionable, it is crucial to understand how to apply data to the correct pressure points in the hyper-competitive retail media landscape.

Information strategy through data clean rooms and cross-channel targeting/audiences has grown tremendously over the past five years. Players in retail media must embrace data in an organized and actionable approach.

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) serves two core purposes: providing actionable insights and enabling proprietary audience procurement using first-party data. AI-accelerated and experience-vetted connections now offer strategies a faster leading edge than ever before. With democratized access to its data and insights, AMC is now empowering a wider range of users to leverage its data, bringing better strategy and execution to the table.

We challenge you to question the questions you’re asking: What value do they bring? Are there better questions to ask? Are there simpler alternatives that can yield the same results?

To effectively navigate the competitive retail media landscape, marketers must adopt a holistic approach that considers the entire customer journey, leverages actionable data insights, and continuously questions and refines strategies, including targeting the right audiences with the right messages at every stage, optimizing and adapting to the path to purchase, capitalizing on tentpoles, and so much more.

Don’t Wander the Aisles Alone- Partner with the Right Digital Agency

In the rapidly evolving landscape of retail media, data-driven insights and optimized media are the keys to success. Brands must move beyond stockpiling data and focus on actionable insights that drive meaningful connections with their target audience. Whether it’s Amazon, Walmart, or other marketplaces, the power of optimization lies in understanding the entire customer journey, asking the right questions, and leveraging AI-accelerated strategies.

Remember, it’s not just about getting your product seen; it’s about presenting it in the most compelling light possible to drive conversions and build brand loyalty.

You don’t have to tackle it all alone – partnering with an agency like Acronym can help you best shape your strategy. We will assist you in embracing the challenge and refining your approach to see your brand flourish in the digital aisles of the future. Contact us today.

Sources:

https://sensortower.com/blog/q1-2024-digital-market-index-walmart-leads-retail-media-with-more-than-11

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The Importance of Quality Creative in Paid Social Campaigns

John Peter Spear — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 17:18:14 +0000

By Anne Christensen, Manager, Paid Social

With social media user audiences and ad investments expanding worldwide, the quality of creative content in social media campaigns is more crucial than ever. Given the rise of AI-driven targeting and increasingly visual platforms, the creative elements of your ads can make or break your campaigns.

Social media platforms and their audiences continue to grow, with 4.9 billion people globally and growth projections expected to hit 5.85 billion users by 2027.⁽¹⁾ With such a hub of activity, social media marketing is growing accordingly- with a projected rate of spend of $247.30 billion by 2027⁽²⁾.

Marketers must continually refine their strategies and tactics to compete, and ensuring creative standards is critical. High-quality creative not only captures attention but also drives engagement, builds brand reputation, and ultimately leads to higher conversion rates. According to recent studies, ads with high-quality creative can see up to a 30% increase in engagement compared to those with lower quality ⁽³⁾.

In this article, we will cover the importance of quality creative in paid social campaigns and provide actionable tips to help you optimize your ad content for maximum impact.

Maximizing the Impact of your Paid Social

To capture audience interest, stand out and drive conversions, make sure your creative is top notch. Here’s tips and key areas to focus on to do that:

Ad Copy Best Practices

Use a Call to Action (CTA): The ad should prompt the audience to complete the desired action of your ad. While social platforms provide a CTA Button, you will want to tell your user what to do with crisp, descriptive text on the button/CTA area: “Click now for the best rates”, “Book now and save 20%”, “Buy 3 get 1 free” and “Order a free sample today” for example.
Storytelling: This is the heart of social media marketing. You want to create engaging content that will make people want to engage with your organic post or paid social ad. It consists not only of your brand voice but also of your brand images.
Know Your Target: Understand what they need, their challenges, and what interests them. Use their kind of language and stay away from confusing jargon.
Keep It Simple: Keep ad copy short and simple. The average user scrolls quickly through social media, so grabbing their attention without clicking on a prompt like “See More” is important.
Images: Since images tell a story about your brand, product or service you will want to make sure images are of the highest quality, lifelike, not ‘staged’ and be file format of either JPEG or PNG. Ensure you know who owns the image and have the legal right to use it.
Brand Voice: The unique personality that sets your brand apart from others. It needs to be consistent throughout all communications, including email marketing, websites, blogs, PR releases, and ads, no matter what channels you are on.

Quick Checklist for Ad Copy

After you have built your ads, be sure to check them against this list:

Ensure your copy is catered to end user (prospecting vs. remarketing.) Ensure the prospecting message speaks to broader messaging (what is the product?) and remarketing speaks to specifics (product features, more info on R&B, offers, activities, etc.)
Character counts are crucial and each social media platform has its set limits. Keep these in mind as you create your ads, and consider the kind of ad display- mobile versus desktop.
Copy should be no longer than:

- Headline/Link Description: (We generally suggest the first letter be capitalized on a headline in a sentence.)
  - Single Image Ads – 30 characters
  - For carousels, ideally 20 characters or less
- Body text – 125 characters for remarketing; for prospecting, less than 280.

Visual Elements

Beyond securing the correct visual for your ad copy, message and goal, be sure your visual elements tell a story at a glance- seconds determine whether your audience’s attention will be captured, or they keep moving on.

Choosing Images
When selecting an image for your organic or paid social ad, it’s important to consider factors such as quality, size, relevance, target audience, and alignment with your brand. Given that a 1:1 aspect ratio is optimal for both desktop and mobile viewing, this should be a key consideration in your image selection process.

Consider two images, both featuring a resort pool with lounging chairs and an ocean backdrop. One of these images will be ideally suited for cropping into a 1:1 aspect ratio. Can you identify which one?

If you picked the image with the palm trees centrally located, you’re right! The placement of the palm trees draws the viewer’s attention directly to the center of the image. On the other hand, the image with the umbrella crops somewhat awkwardly on the left, leaving the umbrella seemingly suspended in mid-air.

Image Files and Aspect Ratios
Again, each social media channel will have guidelines and requirements on image files and their aspect ratios, depending on how you set them up. One best practice to keep in mind as you build is to start with the channel, create a base image at one set aspect ratio, then plan for resizing and creating a secondary dimension- this will give you options at setup.

Video Creative Best Practices

Video is increasing in popularity and performance, especially on Facebook (Meta). Make the most of this creative following these tips:

Ensure branding is in the first three seconds, as the average view time is short for most viewers, and many users scroll quickly.
Ensure videos are generally around 15 seconds but 30 seconds at most. Please note that there is a maximum of 15 seconds per story.
Ensure your video is made for vertical use so it’s mobile-friendly. Consider using a 1:1 (square) or 9:16 (vertical) ratio to frame your story and make the most of mobile real estate. Use close-in shots, easily legible text, bright colors, and faces for small screen use.
Capture attention quickly: Be sure to put the most compelling part in the first few seconds. Feature product or brand message early.
Best practice is to use sound and captions. There are large audiences who stay on mute, but also those that have sound on, so you want to ensure it’s a good experience for both.
Use an eye-catching thumbnail and tailor the story/text to your audience.

QA and Review your Work

Finally, after building your ads and to ensure you are ready to schedule and run, use this handy checklist to double-check your ads:

✓ Did I follow the project/campaign objectives?

✓ Does the creative copy cohesively reflect the images?

✓ Is there a clear call to action? Does the CTA make sense for the ad?

✓ Have I followed the brand guidelines/voice?

✓ Is the ad copy reflective of the target audience/type? Demographics? Location?

✓ Have I stayed within character counts?

Conclusion

The quality of your creative content is crucial to the success of your paid social media campaigns. High-quality ad copy, compelling visuals, and engaging video content can significantly enhance your campaign’s performance, driving higher engagement and conversion rates. Continuous optimization and adherence to best practices are essential.

Feeling overwhelmed? You don’t have to navigate this complex terrain alone. Acronym specializes in crafting top-notch creative content tailored to your brand’s unique needs. Contact us today to elevate your paid social media campaigns to the next level.

Sources:

1 – DemandSage
2 – Forbes Advisor https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics
3- Ipsos https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/can-award-winning-ads-be-effective

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OpenAI Launches Prototype of SearchGPT Search Engine

John Peter Spear — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:13:47 +0000

Guess Who's Taking on Google?
OpenAI’s SearchGPT Enters Search Fray

POV by Mike Morris, VP, Paid Search

Big news out of Silicon Valley has everyone buzzing about Open AI’s entry into the search market with their SearchGPT engine. Their vision is to evolve from the historical Google layout, to one where it’s AI-powered model summarizes its findings and displays short descriptions enhanced with links to its sources of information should the user choose to visit those specific pages.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has been very critical of Google and their blue links with the belief that the future of the optimal search engine allows users to “search in a more intuitive and natural way.”(1)

SearchGPT will be in a limited-release testing phase of 10,000 users before it becomes available to the public. Everyone else will have to wait on the edge of their seats before attaining hands-on experience.

What We Are Likely to See

Engage with extended results in the sidebar Ability to ask follow-up questions
Linkouts and source material availability
Using direct content feeds with 3rd party partners to build its search results
Publishers’ ability to manage how they appear in featured content
Utilization of the GPT-4o mini model, an offshoot of GPT-4o – this is their fastest model to date
The goal is to eventually integrate the search features directly into ChatGPT

SearchGPT Results opens a question box to create a more natural conversational environment

Glimpses Into How Search Might Change

We have already entered the next generation phase of Search Engines and how users utilize them, but this step intensifies the already heated race for future search market share (and we haven’t even mentioned social platforms). The exorbitant speed at which this technology is progressing and making these significant changes possible is creating an extremely exciting time to be in marketing. While OpenAI is backed by Microsoft, it’s in need of cashflow as its on pace to lose about $5 billion this year. It will be interesting to see if business operations play a role in this space moving forward and if an acquisition of Perplexity AI occurs, which offers functionality extremely similar.

Our Recommendation

Its unclear at this point what the advertiser opportunity is post prototype phase, and when an eventual full rollout of SearchGPT will take place. We are engaging in early conversations with the platform to discover alpha and beta opportunities for clients.

Not to be discounted is Google’s actions in this race and their approach with their tool, Gemini.

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/25/openai-announces-a-search-engine-called-searchgpt.html

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Winning Strategies for Optimizing Your Ads on Retail Media Networks

John Peter Spear — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 20:54:22 +0000

By Calum Ferguson, Manager, Retail Media in Paid Search

Introduction

In the competitive and rapidly changing world of retail media networks, simply launching a sponsored ad campaign isn’t enough to guarantee success. To truly reap the benefits and maximize your return on investment, it’s essential to focus on optimization. This article will guide you through key strategies to enhance your ad performance and achieve your marketing goals. By mastering these techniques, you can ensure your ads stand out, attract the right audience, and drive meaningful results.

Keyword Mastery

The foundation of any successful ad campaign lies in keyword mastery. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the terms shoppers use to find products like yours. Utilize tools that the retail media networks offer, like Walmart keyword planner and Amazon Brand Analytics, and those built for their business, such as Helium 10 and Jungle Scout, to uncover high-volume, relevant keywords. Integrate these keywords strategically into your ad copy to ensure your ads are triggered by relevant searches. This not only increases visibility but also attracts the right audience to your products. Additionally, consider using long-tail keywords, which are more specific and often less competitive, to capture niche markets and drive highly targeted traffic.

Compelling Ad Copy

Crafting compelling ad copy is crucial to entice clicks and drive conversions. Your ad copy should be concise yet captivating, highlighting key product features, benefits, and any special offers. Use persuasive language to create a sense of urgency and encourage potential customers to take action. For example, phrases like “limited time offer” or “exclusive deal” can prompt immediate responses. Additionally, ensure your ad copy aligns with the search intent of your target audience. If shoppers are looking for solutions to a problem, emphasize how your product addresses their needs. A/B testing different versions of your ad copy can help you determine which messages resonate most with your audience.

High-Quality Images

In digital advertising, visuals play a significant role in capturing attention. Use high-quality, professional product photos that showcase your offering in the best light. Clear, attractive images can make a substantial difference in how your ad is perceived and can significantly impact click-through rates. Invest in professional photography or use high-resolution images that highlight the unique features of your product. Additionally, consider using lifestyle images that show your product in use, as these can help potential customers envision how the product fits into and enhances their lives. Consistency in image quality and style across your ads also helps to build brand recognition and audience trust.

Bidding Strategies

Determining an optimal bidding strategy is essential for balancing cost and ad visibility. Experiment with different bidding options based on your budget and goals. For instance, you might start with manual bidding to gain control over your ad spend and then transition to automated bidding once you have enough data to inform your strategy. Finding the sweet spot between cost and visibility can help you achieve better results without overspending. Additionally, consider using bid adjustments to increase your bids for high-performing keywords or during peak shopping times. Regularly review your bidding strategy and make adjustments based on performance data to ensure you are maximizing your return on investment.

Constant Monitoring

One of the most critical aspects of ad optimization is constant monitoring. Don’t treat your campaigns with a “set it and forget it” mentality. Instead, employ a methodic process over the life of the campaign:

Regularly monitor performance, analyze data, and refine your approach.
Use analytics tools to track key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend.
A/B test different ad variations, keywords, and bids to identify the most effective combinations.
Continually adjust and update actions to reflect the success metrics identified through your optimization process.

This ongoing process of optimization ensures that your ads remain competitive and effective. Additionally, stay informed about changes in the retail media landscape and adjust your strategies accordingly. By staying proactive and responsive, you can continuously improve your ad performance and achieve your marketing goals.

Conclusion

Optimizing your ads on retail media networks is a continuous process that requires attention to detail and a strategic approach. By mastering keywords, crafting compelling ad copy, using high-quality images, implementing effective bidding strategies, and constantly monitoring performance, you can significantly enhance your ad success.

Are you ready to take your retail media network ads to the next level? Our team of experts is here to help you optimize your campaigns for maximum success. Whether you need assistance with keyword research, crafting copy, or fine-tuning your bidding strategies, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today for expert guidance and support tailored to your needs.

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Google 3rd Party Cookie Deprecation Gets Delayed Again

John Peter Spear — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:52:50 +0000

Cookie Deprecation gets Delayed…Again

POV by Mike Morris, VP, Paid Search & Edwin Aragon, Director, PPC

Google has once again pushed the goal post for when it plans to sunset 3rd party Cookies. The following chronicles the changes Google has announced over the last three years. You can explore and read more detail on the timeline by clicking the boxes.

2020

Google announces its plans to phase out cookies by 2022 and introduces its “Privacy Sandbox” alternative

2021

Google pushes cookie deprecation back another year – to 2023

2022

Google delays Cookie deprecation once again – to 2024

2024 - JAN

Google rolls out deprecation of Cookies to Chrome Browser for 1% of users

2024 - APRIL

Google pushes Cookie deprecation date for remainder of users to 2025

"We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem…"

– Google, April 23, 2024

LOOKING FORWARD

Preparing for Cookie Deprecation

There’s still time to prepare for the inevitable changes. Marketers can implement new tracking strategies by shifting focus in some key areas. Let’s explore more about how best to prepare for the end of cookies:

1st Party

Utilize first-party data and consent management platforms to collect and store user information in a compliant, transparent manner.

Contextual

Contextual advertising leverages context clues from web content to deliver targeted ads, enhancing engagement.

Cohorts

The third-party cookie ban will limit your ability to target specific audience members. However, you can use first-party data and other digital insights to target entire audience segments.

Customer-Centric

Embrace a customer-centric and value-driven approach to marketing that focuses on building trust and loyalty with users, rather than relying on intrusive and irrelevant ads.

LOOKING FORWARD

1st Party Data

Shifting toward a thorough first-party data strategy is integral to preparing for the deprecation of third-party cookies. Along with investing in a central customer data platform and prioritizing consent-based data collection, you should also consider using customer match lists and using first-party data for audience signaling within Google. Enhanced Conversions enables more accurate conversion tags to capture hashed customer data advertisers collect on their conversion page (e.g., email addresses) and then matches it against Google logged in data. Here’s how that process works:

Google signed-in user views your ad

The user converts on your website

The conversion tag captures a field you specify (eg. email address), hashes the data (unless already hashed) and securely sends it to Google

We match this against Google’s hashed user data and a conversion is reported in your account.

LOOKING FORWARD

Contextual Advertising

APPLICATION

Contextual advertising involves placing ads on a webpage based on its content. For instance, contextual advertising is performed by segmenting and targeting ad space based on website topic, keyword, or similar parameters.

When you target context, you choose where to display your ads based on the consumer’s browsing environment. The topic and keyword targeting focuses on the webpage and its content, not the user’s browsing activity.

LIMITATIONS

The downside to contextual advertising is that it isn’t as precise as behavioral targeting. On the bright side, it also doesn’t require third-party cookies, which makes it a viable replacement in the cookieless future of digital marketing.

LOOKING FORWARD

Cohort Advertising

APPLICATION

The third-party cookie ban will limit your ability to target specific audience members. However, you can use first-party data and other digital insights to target entire audience segments. A cohort is a set of users who have been grouped together based on a shared attribute or identifier.

You can create cohorts based on virtually any criteria — including users’ geographic locations and when they last made a purchase.

Once you’ve divided users into cohorts, you can target them with marketing content and get a holistic view of which actions are yielding desirable results and which channels are delivering a strong return on investment.

LIMITATIONS

Since the cohort-based approach to user behavior tracking is less precise than third-party cookie methods, mastering this technique will require some trial and error. However, it can help fill the void in your analytics strategy and provide actionable insights about consumers.

Alternative Tracking Methods

In addition to first-party data, consider implementing alternative tracking methods to further obtain valuable insights. Explore more about each by clicking on the boxes:

IP Addresses

You can use IP addresses to track users and gather information on households. By tracking IP addresses, you can determine how many unique devices are present within a home, gather browsing data, and obtain valuable insights about audience members.

Mac Addresses

A MAC address is a 12-digit number that’s assigned to every device connected to a network. Since MAC addresses are usually assigned by
manufacturers, they’re permanent identifiers that are unique to each device

Advertising IDs

An advertising ID is a tool for identifying mobile devices and gathering user data. It can be shared with other third parties or sold to advertisers. Advertising IDs are a viable replacement for third-party cookies because of their shareability and tracking capabilities.

Device Fingerprints

Device fingerprints are created using a combination of attributes, including how the device is used and its particular configuration. A few attributes that may be included in a device fingerprint are IP addresses, time zone settings, language settings, and operating system.

ACRONYM POV

Key Take-Aways

IT’S NOT ALL GOOGLE’S FAULT

Though it’s normal to feel frustrated with Google constantly moving the goal posts, we must recognize that Google (and others) need to contend with constantly changing laws that dictate user privacy, and ensure its replacement for 3rd party cookies is in-line with these regulations.

BE PREPARED

We don’t want to sound like a broken record, however, as in the beginning of the cookieless-scare, Brands need to be prepared for the eventual demise of the 3rd party cookie. If anything, now you have more time to stock up on data that might not be available in the future.

1ST PARTY DATA IS KING

As always, investing in your own first-party data remains crucial to the long-term success of your brand, advertising, and targeting capabilities.

We Can Help

Although it is still unknown when exactly Google will roll out these changes, the end of cookies as we know them is inevitable. This means that planning ahead is critical, and here at Acronym, we have already begun consulting with our clients on what actions are needed for them to ensure minimal disruption. If you need assistance, please contact us today. We’re here to help.

Sources:

Victoria Stapleton. (2024, April 19): Adapting to a Cookie-Less Future: How Marketers Can Pivot and Prosper.

Ryan Joe. (2024, April 23): Google Delays Cookie Deprecation for the Third Time.

Catherine Perloff. (2024, January 30): Why Testing Google’s Cookie-Alternative Privacy Sandbox Is Still Minimal.

Adobe Experience Cloud Team. (2023, August 18): Get ready for the cookieless future and the end of third-party cookies.

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Exploring the Future of SEO: Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE)

John Peter Spear — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 18:15:41 +0000

POV by Winston Burton, SVP, SEO

Overview

Over the years, there have been various updates to Google’s search engine algorithms that have significantly impacted the SEO industry. These updates often aim to improve the relevance and quality of search results, but they can also disrupt existing SEO strategies.

Some of the most notable updates include the Florida Update which had a huge impact on the SEO industry back in 2003 and changed the way searches worked overnight.

Other noticeable updates include Google Panda in 2011, which focused on reducing the prevalence of low-quality or thin content in search results. Websites with poor content, excessive ads, or content farming saw a significant drop in rankings. Additionally, Google Penguin in 2012 targeted webspam tactics, particularly those involving backlink strategies. Sites that had engaged in link schemes or had a high volume of low-quality backlinks experienced a drop in rankings.

The Biggest Change Has Yet to Come

Fast forward to 2024, with the rise of AI and AI powering Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE), SEO could potentially go through one of the biggest changes that ever happened to the industry.

Despite what you’ve been hearing about Gen Z going to TikTok, Google is still the King and takes a large bulk of search engine market share all over the world, except for some countries. With the eventual integration of SGE’s new layouts and formats in the search results, it may up end the way we search and how digital marketers optimize for organic search.

Examples of SGE:

Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE) and Its Potential Impact on SEO

Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE) launched in May 2023 and is currently in Beta but could potentially represent a huge shift in how search results are presented and optimized. For the first time, search engines are not just organizing but generating content, affecting how brands and products are perceived online. This AI-driven model is expected to roll out sometime in early 2024 and will potentially revolutionize the way users interact with search engines.

Our POV

While SGE is still in beta, it’s too early to predict the impact, however Acronym anticipates that SGE may have some impact on the amount of SEO traffic that was remarkably similar to ‘zero-click’ results. To a certain extent, SGE feels like the evolution of Featured Snippets. 

Since the SGE will take up prime real estate on the search result pages, SGE could satisfy user queries directly on the search results page, which might cause a reduction of users clicking through to a web page. However, it depends on their query and response from SGE.  

How Can I optimize for SGE?

At the moment, in terms of earning SGE results, SEO best practices still should be followed. Here are some key strategies you can implement to potentially improve your chances.

Content

Content Quality and Topical Authority: having high-quality, unique content is very important. Google SGE prioritizes content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Instead of relying solely on keyword optimization, always focus on creating content that establishes topical authority in your niche and provides value to users. Think users first and not search engines. This includes using a conversational tone and addressing questions directly within the text.

Target relevant keywords, but don’t keyword stuff. Aim for natural language within your content that reflects the user’s search intent.
Consider adding concise summaries at the beginning of your content, especially for longer pieces. This helps SGE quickly grasp the main points.
Go beyond just factual information. Offer unique insights, opinions, and perspectives to stand out from the competition.
Optimize for Long-Tail Queries: SGE is expected to excel at answering complex, long-tail queries, making these an important focus area. Creating content that comprehensively answers user queries will be beneficial.

Technical SEO Will Still Be Important:

Ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. SGE prioritizes user experience. BrightEdge, a leading SEO platform, found in their analysis that top ranking pages are now loading faster than ever before. This is an element of SEO that you can control so always make sure your pages are optimized to load as quickly as possible, especially on mobile.

Source: BrightEdge

Structured Data is Key

Implement schema markup. This helps Google understand the structure and meaning of your content, potentially making it more eligible for SGE snippets. In BrightEdge’s study they also found that though schema tags are not a ranking factor, those sites that are marked up with structured data tend to be ranking higher.
Optimize your on-page elements, i.e., meta descriptions and title tags. Make them compelling and relevant to your target keywords, but also ensure they accurately reflect your content.

Other Factors:

Build a strong online reputation. SGE favors content from trustworthy sources, so positive reviews and active social media presence can be beneficial.
Become a thought leader in your niche. By consistently creating valuable content and establishing yourself as an authority, you increase your chances of being referenced in SGE results.
Links are still important as they help Google determine trustworthy sources. A strong link-building strategy, coupled with robust internal linking, can help in gaining visibility in SGE responses.
Make your site mobile friendly.  Ensure your website and content are optimized for mobile devices, as many users access search results from their phones and Google uses a mobile first index.

Continue to Stay Informed and Prepare

Be prepared for a potential decrease in organic traffic as SGE results may take up more SERP real estate, pushing organic listings down. However, SGE also presents new opportunities for visibility within the generative results panel. Monitor your keywords that have questions and answer intent and could generate an SGE response.
Monitor SGE developments and stay updated. The landscape is constantly changing, so keeping an eye on the latest news and best practices will help you adapt your strategies accordingly.

Wrapping Up

SGE is reshaping the SEO landscape, necessitating a shift in strategies. SEOs need to adopt a nuanced, context-aware approach, focusing on user experience and leveraging data for informed decision-making.

Remember:

While these tips can help, there’s no guaranteed formula for SGE success. The algorithm is still under development, and its inner workings are not fully transparent.
Focus on creating the best possible content and user experience for your site. That’s always a sound SEO strategy, and it will likely hold true for SGE as well.

Need Help?

Contact the SEO experts at Acronym for help with assessing your current search engine optimization and to learn more about how you can win the war of the SERPS in an AI world.

Sources:

https://www.brightedge.com/blog/seo-trends-2024-websites-are-getting-faster-smarter-and-more-user-friendly

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Looking Back to Leap Forward: Unveiling 2023’s Holiday Insights to Transform 2024 Strategy

John Peter Spear — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 19:14:20 +0000

2023 Holiday Season Review and Tips for Future Social Commerce Efforts

By Gellena Lukats, Director, Paid Social

As we enter Q1, it’s crucial for marketers to gauge the effectiveness of 2023 social holiday campaigns and use these learnings both in this quarter and to plan next year’s social commerce program. This article covers the importance of social commerce, the industry and state of affairs as a whole, so you can make this year one for the books.

State of Affairs:

The U.S. economy grew by 5.2% in Q3. Despite the slight growth, GDI shows “income is lagging” and “MacQuarrie Group said this gap hasn’t been this big since the 2007-08 Great Recession”. While there is improvement in the economy, there is still a small decline, “with a low-single digit-rate expected for 2024″ according to Finch Ratings. That said, due to low unemployment rates and easing inflation, it offsets some poor trajectories. Because of all these factors and COVID affecting projections, it is hard to gauge and project 2024 impact overall. We will continue to monitor this and industry trends, but overall can still see a small increase, with 2025/2026 projected to normalize, and by 2026, 24% of all retail purchases are expected to happen online.

Amazon has 37.8% of sales, so the push in Q4 for the META/Snap integration, shows more social ecommerce capabilities in 2024, although due to walled gardens there is still not enough data shared by Amazon to see impact of this or the Snapchat partnership.

More consumer behaviors to consider going into 2024:

As we are seeing a lot more online activity, we want to make the user experience as seamless as possible, especially on mobile experiences. Ensure that extra costs are limited if possible and user experience is easy to navigate. Shipping deadlines, checkout process and poor landing page experiences are clear deterrents, so ensure a step such as requiring an account to complete checkout isn’t a barrier to entry as 24% will abandon their cart due to this. If you saw these issues this holiday season, tweak this in Q5 and be ready for the next holiday period.

Social Ecommerce

Social ecommerce is expected to reach 2.9 trillion by 2026 and 969 million people in the US shop on social, with millennials shopping the most – showcasing effectiveness with the younger demo. This projected impact extends to global reach; for example, in China, 50% have purchased from social channels. As we can see platform matters, with Facebook and Instagram driving the purchases. Although you do want to ensure you are running an effective media mix. If you have limited funds, and you need to run on solely one social platform, META would be the place to start.

Influencer marketing is also key with 49% of shoppers saying influencers have impact; this is particularly high among teens (70%) with 40% in general saying social gives them influence. Depending on your demo/target audience and goals, consider these platforms, while ensuring you work on your analytics/fraud protections to prioritize preventing e-commerce fraud. In fact, by 2025, fraud is estimated to reach over $69 billion, so ensure you have checks/balances in place, especially with larger reach campaigns.

Key insights for social ecommerce:

Shopper mindset: Inflation isn’t deterring consumers – but they are buying on credit.
Consumer sentiment has remained positive despite inflation. More shoppers say they’re feeling optimistic this year, and fewer report feeling frustrated. (5)
Shoppers opting for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options saw sizable growth over Cyber weekend.

Holiday Overall Trends

Google has compiled some Holiday Retail Insights for us, specifically for the Cyber Period.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS/Recommendations:

Record-breaking online weekend: Black Friday: $9.8B (+7.5% y/y), Cyber Monday: $12.4B (+9.7% y/y). Recommendation for next year: Focus more funds on Cyber Monday, as we see this day peak for performance and for many clients, shoppers spend more on this day versus the entire three days of Cyber Weekend.
In-store sees slight decline: Store foot traffic dipped slightly (-3.4% y/y), and online sales outpaced brick-and-mortar. Recommendation for next year: Test store locator ads/more integration capabilities.
We saw early performance in October/November. Recommendation for next year: Scale performance leading into holiday week, specifically for prospecting, while saving some for December promotions. Decrease budgets after the promotional periods/shipping deadlines to ensure you are in market when it matters, especially during peak holiday bids.

Mobile played a significant role, with over half of online sales occurring through smartphones (54%, +12.7% y/y).(4)

Recommendation for next year:

Ensure your mobile user experience/destination URL is user friendly to drive more purchases.

CATEGORIES THAT COUNTED: Consumer spending prevails amid tighter inventory

Cyber steals: best-selling categories online on Black Friday included Electronics, Apparel, Appliances, Toys and Jewelry.(4)
Right-sizing retail: Shoppers were holding out for discounts, reporting they were looking to see 30% discounts before they began spending.(9) After last year’s excess inventory challenges, retailers pivoted to more focused inventory this holiday. According to Salesforce, SKUs per catalog were down -3% while average price per item was +4% y/y, and in most categories, the greater the SKU reduction, the higher the price.(10)
Shopping small, buying global: Smaller merchants are benefiting from international sales, with 15% of all Shopify orders on Black Friday crossing borders. Top selling countries were the US, UK, and Canada, and hottest categories globally were clothing, personal care, and jewelry.(16)

Recommendation for next year: Ensure you have offers for top categories as available, ensure you have timely offers early especially with inventory concerns, and monitor performance of small businesses/global categories.

Besides the overall look, there are nuances to each platform, specifically on X (formerly known as Twitter), i.e., on X, engaging with hashtags like #holiday, helps you join the conversation and launch new products with user sentiment and feedback. i.e., Cyber Monday/Black Friday, but also Giving Tuesday and Small Business Saturday can be considered. Look at what’s driven the higher YoY growth and specifically verticals like fashion and beauty, travel and pets are over-indexing, but we still see an 18% growth in ecommerce trending topics on X. X is a great discovery tool with 51% on platform to discover brands, 49% for shopping ideas and 42% to find deals. While not at the same purchase rate as META, this is the platform to launch/start that initial conversation. While platforms like Pinterest are for large life events such as weddings, new houses and life moments.

Going into the next year, we do know that post-holiday in Q5, is where we see peak performance for a lot of brands without a lot of the competitive bids of Q3/Q4. To scale in this time is still valuable as 41% of shoppers continue to shop past the holiday period, and we see much more efficient costs (below is an example from META showcasing that in Jan CPM was 15% more efficient and conversion rate was only down 8%), making this a good time to start strong in the New Year, especially coupled with New Year’s messaging. As an advertiser, you still want to offer sales and discounts, and help consumers make returns as well as spend any gift cards they may have received as part of the holiday season.

Looking for a resolution? Ensure you are:

Still using best practices of the platform – avoid too many changes to avoid re-entering learning phase.
Use tools like Advantage+ Shopping for automated solutions while using AI to reach consumers likely to purchase.
Diversify your creative and messaging in the platform, partner with creators and ensure you are resonating with your end user.
Looking at social listening while looking at metrics this year and last, to forecast Q5 and be ready for the next holiday season.

There is never a better time to take the lessons learned from Holiday Season ‘23 and begin adjusting your 2024 than right now. Be ready in August to jump right into your planning. Acronym can help you ramp up – contact us.

Sources:

Adobe 2023 Holiday Shopping Trends, Dashboard results for Cyber 5, 2023
Mastercard SpendingPulse. Nov. 2023.
Placer.ai Black Friday Performance, Nov 2023.
Adobe, via Digital Commerce 360, “Cyber weekend sales top $10 billion as retailers gear up for Cyber Monday”, Nov 27 2023
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Shopping Study” Week of November 16-22, 2023. Online survey, US, n=3669, Online US 18+ who shopped for the holidays in the past 2 days; Positive indicated by shoppers who reported feeling “Excited, Relaxed, Enthusiastic, Happy, Generous
Mastercard SpendingPulse, Aggregate analysis of consumer spending in available gifting categories (Apparel, Department Stores, Jewelry, Home Furniture, Home Furnishings, Home Improvement), Oct – Dec 2022 data
Google/BCG. Holiday Spending Analysis. Analysis of US Mastercard Credit Card Data December 26-January 8, 2022. Retail Categories included were: Apparel, Department Store, Electronics, Home Furniture & Furnishings, Home Improvement, Jewelry. Weekday and Weekend Analysis excludes Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, and December 25th
Google Internal Data, Black Friday demand. Nov. 2023.
Morgan Stanley US Equity Research, November 9, 2023
Salesforce. Shopping Insights HQ. November 27, 2023.
YT Internal Data. Nov 2023.
Sensormatic. 2023 Global Top Busiest Days. Oct 2023
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Shopping Study” Week of Nov 16-22 vs. Week of Nov 9-15, Online survey, US, n=436-494, Online US 18+ who shopped for the holidays in the past 2 days
Data.ai, top apps across iOS and Google Play, Nov 24-26
Data.ai, custom analysis of cross-mobile app usage in Oct 2023 (most recent data available), iOS apps for Amazon, Walmart, Target, Shein, Best Buy, and Nike. Temu cross-usage not available; TikTok comparison reflects average across retailers/brands listed.
Shopify. “They did it again! Shopify merchants break Black Friday record with $4.1 billion in sales”. Nov. 2023.

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Harnessing Social Commerce in the Final Stretch of Your Q4 Holiday Campaigns

John Peter Spear — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:28:35 +0000

Harnessing Social Commerce in the Final Stretch of Your Q4 Holiday Campaigns

By Gellena Lukats, Lisette Epstein and Rachael Wiebelhaus

As we enter the final sprint of Q4, it’s crucial for marketers to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to strategizing their holiday campaigns. A key strategy that can provide a competitive edge is leveraging Social Commerce– a fusion of social media and e-commerce. This article covers the importance of social commerce in your holiday campaigns, offers insights on various platforms, and recommends tactical shifts for immediate implementation. There is also some significant industry news about major developments that could redefine your commerce strategy.

Understanding Social Commerce
Social commerce has revolutionized the e-commerce landscape by offering a seamless shopping experience. Unlike traditional e-commerce which requires navigating between different websites, social commerce consolidates the entire customer experience within a single platform. The entire purchase journey, from discovery to checkout, happens within the same digital space, enhancing the user experience and making the process more efficient. At Acronym, we help with industry best practices, including but not limited to:

Increasing prospecting segments, so we can monetize on users that are hyper-qualified and have previously shown interest, with offers and specialized messaging.
We recommend increasing the budget on peak days for your business (Cyber Monday and Black Friday) and highlighting special promos/seasonal ads during this time frame.
Use video inventory as it creates brand loyalty and sequential message opportunities.
Consider testing Store Locator/Other integrations to create synergy between in-store/online activity
Use social listening for consumer feedback/brand SOV. This is a great way to get learnings/insights from customers as it is self-reported, increasing authenticity of the data. By keeping open communication/transparency, social provides an avenue to get direct product feedback and improve e-commerce features.
Consider brand and conversion lift to look at impact of campaigns.
Consider influencer marketing. 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, and 40% have purchased after seeing influencer content. There is a wide range of micro vs. macro influencers, but there is certainly an engaged market by content type available for the taking.

Insights on Social Commerce Platforms
Facebook and Instagram are currently leading the social commerce scene. In the U.S. particularly, Facebook and Instagram yielded $65.7 million and $43 million in 2023 respectively. Facebook Shop possesses a very low barrier to entry with free shop installations and easy accessibility within your Facebook business profile (Sprout). This can be viewed as both positive and negative. On the downside, Facebook Marketplace is overly saturated with online stores featuring similar products.

The rising star TikTok Shop has gained considerable traction, primarily among Gen Z audiences.

TikTok Shop is becoming an increasingly significant social commerce platform for many e-commerce. According to Retail Dive, 45% of Gen Z relies on TikTok (and Instagram) for input before purchasing.

However, recent fraud has caused some volatility, and its longevity is still uncertain. TikTok’s in-stream product sales are the main revenue generator of the Chinese version of the app, although the app’s in-stream commerce elements are unimpressive. Instead of product sales contributing to TikTok’s increased income, the newest spending trend on the platform involves gifting/donating to creators via livestreams. To combat the lack of product sales, the U.K. and China are aiming to improve TikTok’s shopping experiences for users by incorporating fast delivery. In the U.S., reluctance to use TikTok as a retail outlet with increased scams remains an obstacle for the platform’s ecommerce goals. With a lack of trust in the platform, social commerce sales on TikTok shop may take a dive.

TikTok offers unique features like shoppable videos and the ability to shop directly from TikTok LIVE broadcasts. TikTok is a huge discovery tool rivaling Google and needs to be an important stage of discovery for the GenZ audience. However, it’s crucial to continue prioritizing Facebook Marketplace and Instagram ads given their proven success in driving sales.

The Importance of Social Commerce in Your Holiday Campaigns
As the holiday season kicks into high gear, it’s essential to leverage social commerce to its fullest potential. Social commerce platforms enable you to reach a wider audience and drive additional revenue, making them indispensable tools during this crucial sales period. By integrating social commerce strategies into your existing campaigns, you can boost sales and ensure a satisfying shopping experience for your customers. Ensure you are targeting your audience in the right markets (i.e., Pinterest for new homebuyers, Snapchat for the EMEA market, TikTok for Gen Z, and META for purchase success metrics).

Rapid Tactical Shifts for Immediate Implementation
With the clock ticking on Q4, consider these swift tactical shifts to maximize your holiday campaign success:

If your target audience includes Gen Z, ramp up your TikTok Shop ads. The platform’s popularity among this demographic could provide a substantial boost to your campaigns for discovery.
Regardless of your target demographic, continue to prioritize Facebook Marketplace and Instagram ads. These platforms have consistently demonstrated their ability to drive sales with the least risk.
Monitor new developments this holiday season like the Snapchat and META partnership with Amazon that should impact this Q4.

Hot News / Recent Developments in Social Commerce
Significant developments have taken place in the world of social commerce recently. Amazon has partnered with Meta (formerly Facebook) to offer a closed-loop shopping experience where users purchase products on Amazon directly within Meta’s platforms. When a user clicks an Amazon ad on Instagram or Facebook, they are taken directly to a Shops-like experience where they can complete their purchase using their Amazon credentials, all without leaving the Meta app. This frictionless shopping experience breaks down the barriers of the walled garden, enabling major stakeholders to collaborate in the digital arena. This allows users to complete purchases directly with their Amazon Prime accounts, providing better targeting and optimization opportunities for advertisers.

Snapchat has also announced a similar partnership with Amazon, expanding the reach of social commerce even further.

For brands these partnerships offer an opportunity to better personalize messaging, provide a better customer experience, and further refine and adjust strategies.

While this is still early days, in a Beta test mode to the US market only, this is a significant development and likely the biggest advertising product announcement of the year. Stay tuned to Acronym’s updates, as we monitor the rollout of such programs. We can help you address, adjust and optimize your ecommerce programs in light of these new developments.

Conclusion
Social commerce is rapidly becoming the future of e-commerce. By embracing it in the final stretch of your Q4 campaigns, you can gain a competitive edge and maximize your holiday campaign success. Stay updated on the latest developments in social commerce and consider implementing these strategies immediately. Contact us today to stay ahead of the curve and make the most of the holiday shopping frenzy.

The post Harnessing Social Commerce in the Final Stretch of Your Q4 Holiday Campaigns appeared first on acronym.

eCommerce / Retail Archives - acronym

From Imports to Impressions: Navigating the Tariff Turbulence

CPCs, ROAS, and Tariffs – Oh My!

Quick Summary

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Advertising

Leveraging Social Media for Holiday Success

Conquering the Digital Aisle

Your Guide to Understanding Retail Media Networks & Their Place in Your Marketing Mix

Introduction

Retail Media Networks: What they are & Why it matters

What You Should Focus On

Why Sponsored Ads Reign Supreme

Optimizing for Success: It’s All in the Details

Keep the Customer Journey in Mind

Don’t Wander the Aisles Alone- Partner with the Right Digital Agency

The Importance of Quality Creative in Paid Social Campaigns

Maximizing the Impact of your Paid Social

QA and Review your Work

Conclusion

OpenAI Launches Prototype of SearchGPT Search Engine ​

Guess Who's Taking on Google? OpenAI’s SearchGPT Enters Search Fray

What We Are Likely to See

Glimpses Into How Search Might Change

​Our Recommendation

Winning Strategies for Optimizing Your Ads on Retail Media Networks

Introduction

Keyword Mastery

Compelling Ad Copy

High-Quality Images

Bidding Strategies

Constant Monitoring

Conclusion

Google 3rd Party Cookie Deprecation Gets Delayed Again

Cookie Deprecation gets Delayed…Again

2020

2021

2022

2024 - JAN

2024 - APRIL

"We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem…"

– Google, April 23, 2024

LOOKING FORWARD

Preparing for Cookie Deprecation

1st Party

Contextual

Cohorts

Customer-Centric

LOOKING FORWARD

1st Party Data

LOOKING FORWARD

Contextual Advertising

LOOKING FORWARD

Cohort Advertising

Alternative Tracking Methods

IP Addresses

Mac Addresses

Advertising IDs

Device Fingerprints

ACRONYM POV

Key Take-Aways

We Can Help

Exploring the Future of SEO: Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE)

Overview

The Biggest Change Has Yet to Come

Examples of SGE:

Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE) and Its Potential Impact on SEO

Our POV

How Can I optimize for SGE?

Content

Technical SEO Will Still Be Important:

Structured Data is Key

Other Factors:

Continue to Stay Informed and Prepare

Wrapping Up

Remember:

Need Help?

Looking Back to Leap Forward: Unveiling 2023’s Holiday Insights to Transform 2024 Strategy

2023 Holiday Season Review and Tips for Future Social Commerce Efforts

State of Affairs:

More consumer behaviors to consider going into 2024:

OpenAI Launches Prototype of SearchGPT Search Engine

Guess Who's Taking on Google?
OpenAI’s SearchGPT Enters Search Fray

Our Recommendation