🗞️ Digital Marketing Must-Knows

Hello, Marketers.

TikTok has already transformed how we consume media. But there’s much more to come (assuming they satisfy regulators).

Recently TikTok has been positioning the app to consumers as a Google & YouTube alternative for finding information.

"Search it, learn it, do it with TikTok" was the tagline for a recent TV campaign.

And that’s leading up to something potentially very big for our industry:

TikTok’s Search Ads launch.

- Kole

Round-Up

1. TikTok is readying the launch of Search ads. TikTok is stepping up their efforts to create a Search advertising solution for brands. (Business Insider ↗️)

• TikTok has been beta-testing Search ads for the last 12+ months.

• The ads appear as thumbnails for videos. So advertisers will need to produce video content relevant to the keyword. The ads are not text-only like on Google Search.

• TikTok also has job posts looking for Search Ads Engineers to develop a "large-scale ads system". A wider roll-out is predicted to come before the holidays later this year.

• TikTok confirmed they passed a billion users about 18 months ago. And last summer, a Google exec described how "almost 40% of young people, when looking for a place for lunch, don’t go to Google Maps or Search...They go to TikTok or Instagram.”

2. TikTok enables creators to paywall certain content. Creators can post up to 80 videos, each up to 20 minutes long, and select how much their content should cost. The feature is currently available to select creators and applications to join will open in the coming months. (Social Media Today ↗️)

3. Spotify to launch TikTok-inspired home screen redesign. Making it easier to discover new music, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos. The new design has a vertical scroll that feels more like TikTok and Instagram. There’s machine learning to personalize the content to each user. Spotify crossed 500 million listeners. And their CEO claimed it is the biggest update to the app since it launched. (The Verge ↗️)

4. Meta confirmed they are “exploring a decentralized, text-based social network” - a Twitter alternative. Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram, is leading the project. Meta could therefore add more competition. After Twitter’s Co-Founder, Jack Dorsey backed Bluesky. Which was released in the app store in February. (Platformer ↗️)

5. Bing now has 100 million daily active users 30 days after integrating ChatGPT. Around a third of Bing’s users are new. They added: "As more people come to use the new Bing and Edge, we’re seeing trial and adoption of new capabilities that prove out the value of an integrated Search and Chat experience". (Mashable ↗️)

^{Sponsor: Hubspot Podcast Network: Marketing Against the Grain}

There is a debate about whether AI is a “Google killer”.

Essentially asking: Will Google Search be replaced by Chatbots? I think that’s the wrong question.

I doubt Search Engines are going away. But, the current Google Search experience has remained largely the same for 20+ years. Is a vertical list of 10 organic links plus text ads already the perfect Search experience?

With AI Google, and Bing have the opportunity to completely reimagine and reinvent Search. And create a new and improved way of how we retrieve information and connect with other websites. If they don’t another company will.

If you find debates like this as fascinating as I do, check out the ‘Bing A.I. Search is Way More Advanced Than We Realized…’ episode of the Marketing Against the Grain Podcast.

And hear the CMOs of Hubspot (Kipp) and Zapier (Kieran) riff on the future of Search. I rely on Podcasts to broaden my perspectives on Marketing. And this Podcast is my go-to 👇

(Listen to Marketing Against the Grain ↗️)

^{Apply to be a future sponsor here}

More Headlines

• Facebook & Instagram pause creator payouts for Reels

• Google Trends now shows you real-time search trends

• YouTube’s overlay banner ads will be discontinued

• Best Buy is releasing a self-serve ad platform

• TikTok has a new keyword insights tool

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^_✍🏽 written by Kole Ogundipe