In the latest WDA Marketing Pit Stop, we take a look at the most important automotive digital marketing news and updates from the last week, 18th – 24th Jan. News includes – TikTok’s new Q and A feature, Automated Alt Text on Facebook getting enhanced, LinkedIn post reply options and much more.

Let’s take a pit stop and get into it.

TikTok Gets Q and A

TikTok has added a new Q and A option for creators to further help prompt user engagement on the platform. With the new feature, creators can be asked questions and can then use these as prompts for future videos. Visitors to creator profiles will also be able to see the questions that have been asked and vote for ones they’d like to see answered in an upcoming video. If your automotive brand is utilising TikTok then this is a great opportunity to generate engagement and to educate your audience further.

Google’s Gmail Ads Set to Merge into Discovery Ads

As of the 1st of July, Gmail Ads will no longer be available within Google AdWords as a standalone product. The only way that automotive brands will be able to take advantage of this format after this date is through Discovery Ads. However, within Discovery Campaigns, it won’t be possible to target Gmail individually. If you’re currently using Google AdWords then you should have received an email to warn you of the upcoming change.

Automated Alt Text on Facebook Enhanced

Facebook’s Automated Alt Text process has been enhanced to deliver a better experience for visually-impaired users. Facebook said…

“First and foremost, we’ve expanded the number of concepts that AAT can reliably detect and identify in a photo by more than 10x, which in turn means fewer photos without a description. Descriptions are also more detailed, with the ability to identify activities, landmarks, types of animals, and so forth – for example, “May be a selfie of 2 people, outdoors, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”

Price Drop Appearance Structured Data

Price Drop search appearance has been added to Google’s Product Structured Data. The aim of this is to help searchers to understand the lowest price for products by displaying price drops in search rich results. If you operate within automotive retail then we’d recommend becoming eligible for this. Simply use the “offer” structured data and make sure your price is static and not a range.

Pinterest Story Pins Test

Pinterest Story Pins are still in beta and were first launched in September last year. They’re now testing a new Story Pins section that displays on the home screen, giving Stories a more dynamic look. If you’ve not tested Pinterest for your automotive business then it might be worth exploring as an additional social media channel – particularly if you’re a retail brand with a US audience base.

Google’s Mobile Search Results Getting Improved

Google is rolling out an all-new and improved mobile search results design to provide a better user experience for mobile searchers (which only continue to grow). With the new and improved mobile search results page, they’re making the content easier to read with bolder text, larger sections, increased white space and an edge-to-edge design.

YouTube Counts Views of Shorts as Standard

YouTube is counting views for Shorts just like regular videos. You can see view counts for these 60-second clips inside YouTube Analytics. Additionally, Shorts views will also contribute to a channel’s total view count. In case you missed our latest automotive trends article, we discuss content on the go and the rise of short-form video in more detail. Learn more here.

Crawl Stats Report Coverage Increased

Google’s crawl stats report coverage has been increased to show additional crawl types. This will likely increase your crawl rate so don’t be alarmed if you notice this while monitoring the search performance of your website.

Facebook ‘Account Quality’ Dashboard Update

Facebook’s Account Quality dashboard is getting updated within Facebook Ads to make it easier for admins to get a clear overview of potential issues and concerns such as policy violations, ad issues and more. A welcome update for paid media managers in the industry.

Pinterest Dynamic Creative Ad Process

Automated ad setup is now possible in Pinterest thanks to its new ‘Dynamic Creative’ ad process. Here are more details on this from Pinterest…

“Advertisers can now generate multiple versions of new Pins from uploaded assets or a product feed where they can automatically import product data (price, location, availability, etc.). Parts of the Pins will dynamically display creative elements like product images, copy, pricing, etc. which will only be shown to the advertiser’s assigned audiences.”

LinkedIn Adds Post Reply Control Tools

LinkedIn has added new post reply control options that enable users to restrict comments on posts. They’ve stated that this new feature aims to provide more options for discussion on the platform. This could be used by your team members on their personal accounts to spark conversation just from specific automotive groups for example.

That wraps up the latest Marketing Pit Stop. Subscribe to our blog and follow us on social media so you don’t miss the next one!

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