Hey, what’s crackin?? You look great today. Here’s what we’ve got for ya:

• The industry news (cause we’re dependable as all get out)
• Adam Alter’s advice for marketers
• A punch in the face from yourself

THIS WEEK’S MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING NEWS  

​GOOGLE ORGANIC RESULTS NOW INCLUDE A SHOPS SECTION FOR CERTAIN QUERIES

The section shows 3-10 shopping-related results* that are ranked organically on mobile. And traditional pages** still appear outside of that section.

This encourages e-commerce sites to optimize product pages and traditional pages for search.

* Shopping-related ~ ex: a product page for a lawn pesticide
** Traditional page ~ ex: a blog post about how to care for your lawn

​SPOTIFY RELEASES A CLICKABLE AD FORMAT FOR PODCASTS​

Call-to-action cards, or CTA cards for short, are visual ads that can appear in the Spotify app while the audio ad plays. As an advertiser, you can customize CTA cards with images, copy, and most importantly, CTA buttons like “Shop now.” The ad will also be available on the podcast’s show and episode pages for up to 7 days after the ad plays.

​INSTAGRAM IS PREPPING TO LAUNCH CHRONOLOGICAL FEED OPTIONS​

The current Instagram feed uses an algorithm to choose posts and order them. Now, Instagram is testing (and planning to soon release) three feed options you can toggle between.

1. They’ll keep the algorithm feed, and call it Home. This will be the default feed (and you can’t change which option is the default). Instagram also mentioned that the Home feed will recommend more and more content, which means it will show more from accounts you haven’t opted to follow.
2. The Favorites feed will show you posts from a list of people you label as your favorites, in order of most recent to oldest.
3. The Following feed shows posts from everyone you follow, also in order of most recent to oldest.

Marketers care because if people choose chronological feeds, then posting more often could become more important. Also, if Instagram starts recommending more content in the Home feed, then it could reward you for creating great content that they would push there.

​GOOGLE ADS HAS BEEN SHOWING AN ERRONEOUS MESSAGE THAT SAYS EXACT MATCH KEYWORDS WILL ONLY SAVE AS BROAD MATCH​

The message makes it seem like Google has switched your exact match keywords to broad match. But it really doesn’t, and Google is working on turning off the message.

​THE YOAST SEO APP IS COMING TO SHOPIFY​

Yoast SEO is an industry-favorite for helping you optimize a WordPress site. On Jan 18 you can get those same perks on Shopify. But the WordPress option is free and Yoast SEO for Shopify is about $30/month.

LET’S NOT TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE DARK SIDE OF TECHNOLOGY

An Interview with Adam Alter

Adam Alter has done extensive research and writing about the addictive nature of tech, which has made him a New York Times bestselling author.

As digital marketers we can’t turn a blind eye to this darker side of technology. And as a marketing professor at NYU Stern School of Business, Adam has a unique perspective. He has a passion for marketing, but also understands how the digital world can be used to create destructive habits and remove us from reality.

So here’s what Adam had to say about getting the good out of it all.
(Remember that Adam spent his youth in South Africa and Australia, so account for that accent when you read his quotes. It adds to the effect of it all.)

The unexpected effects from blurring the lines between our work and personal life

As we’ve worked from home during The Great and Terrible Era of COVID, the lines between our work and personal lives have blurred. And these lines often get really unclear when it comes to our phones and computers.

Surprisingly, Adam is hopeful about people using their devices more for work. He explains, “For many people that makes [the devices] less appealing. That remains to be seen, but the optimistic side of me hopes we’ll clamor for offline activities and time spent face to face with others once the pandemic is completely behind us.”

The idea that these changes might draw us away from technology is encouraging. But we still need to develop healthy habits to avoid being consumed by the online world.

The issue is, a lot of people have purposefully optimized technology to create unhealthy habits for us.

Adam’s recommendations for healthy device habits

Adam says, “Tech firms have done a great job of removing friction from every imaginable screen activity, and removing friction rather than adding sweeteners and rewards is often the best way to get people to behave a certain way. Make actions easier and people will do them more often and for longer periods.”

The tech firms have removed barriers between you and the technology, making it as seamless as possible for you to use it often. So Adam recommends adding your own barriers between you and technology to break unhealthy habits and create those good ones. Specifically, he recommends:

• putting your phone in a box during dinner time,
• putting your phone on airplane mode on the weekends, or
• removing your email app from your phone.

Use your marketing powers to help your audience become their best selves

Some organizations have removed friction from their platforms to make it difficult for people to tear themselves away from scrolling or develop other unhealthy habits and addictions. But Adam points out that “those same tools [tools that eliminate friction] can be used for the good—to encourage healthy eating, wiser consumption of products, saving for the future, education, etc.”

Let’s not forget in our personal and professional lives the power technology has for forming habits. Let’s make it work for our good and the good of our customers!

LET’S GET VISUAL

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO 🔮

Jan 25 Edition: Lesson on visual storytelling from Jeffrey Allred, a photojournalist freelancer for the NY Times and USA Today
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​Feb 8 Edition: Understanding inclusive YouTube advertising