[Ep49/22Mar21] - Updates to Facebook's Brand Safety and other updates from LinkedIn, WhatsApp, GMB, Microsoft Bing, & Google during the week of Mar 22, 21

#TWIMshow - This Week in Marketing

1. Read Receipts and Typing Indicators Expanding To LinkedIn Messages and InMails
Let’s welcome LinkedIn to the club, no matter how late. Users will now be able to see read receipts and typing indicators for messages and InMails. You can always choose to have this feature ON or OFF, and you can adjust your preferences from the settings.

2. WhatsApp Making Lives Easier: Using WhatsApp Web Without a Connected Mobile Will Soon Be Available

You won’t need to have your mobile phone connected anymore, to be able to use WhatsApp Web, making lives so much easier.

3. Microsoft's Annual Ad Quality Review Reports An Increase in Ad Fraud
Did you know how strict Microsoft is when it comes to advertising? If not, look at the facts - 1.6 billion ads removed, 21 million ads rejected and 270,000 sites deleted. Only in 2020, they have received about 50,000 complaints related to ads not being compliant with advertising policies, and Microsoft found that 65% of these reports were indeed in violation of their policies, most of which were related to trademark infringements.

4. Auto-Apply Ad Suggestions for Microsoft
Microsoft has a great new way to boost ad group performance and save time, through their auto-apply ad suggestions. Starting this month, advertisers will receive an email notification from Microsoft Advertising and will have 14 days to review, with suggestions for new ads, depending on email preference setting.

5. An Expanded Partnership That Integrates Google My Business (GMB) Directly Within Wix.

For Wix users, you can now integrate Google My Business (GMB) into your website, thanks to the expanded partnership between Google and Wix. Businesses will be able to access GMB data, customer interactions and manage their profile directly from Wix. They will also be able to update their business information and hours, add photos, update their website, respond to reviews, and more.

6. Google VS SparkToro: Are 65% of all searches in Google not leading to a click on a website?
This ongoing debate between Google and SparkToro is the highlight of this week’s episode. SparkToro has made accusations that 65% of Google searches do not lead to a website click, while Google contradicted those assertions. ”...we’ve seen that as we’ve introduced more of these features over the last two decades, the traffic we’re driving to the web has also grown — showing that this is helpful for both consumers and businesses.” said Google. What about you, whose side are you on?

7. Google Launches Promotion Ads for Hotels and Adds Free Property to Dataset Structured Data Docs
Google has launched property promotion which is "an ad format that helps advertisers reach users who have not yet identified the exact hotel they would like to book." It aims to drive incremental outbound clicks, while retaining the booking value and expected conversion rates. This is valuable information for travel-related industries during the post-COVID19 period, since it will show a spike in traveling, both personal and business related. Moreover, Google has added a free property to dataset structured data, which tells Google Search if the dataset is accessible for free or if you need to pay to access the data.

8. Updates to Facebook's Brand Safety
Facebook is serious about brand safety - it has announced that content right holders can claim profit from their content even when it’s published by another page, but not when it’s simply re-shared. Pages can only monetize content if they are either the main creator or they have been involved in the creation of it. Additionally, Facebook has an update on its Commerce and Ads IP Tool, which will help businesses identify products being sold on Facebook that infringe on their intellectual copyright. The Tool is designed to help businesses identify and report infringing content.