In the latest WDA Marketing Pit Stop, we look at the most important digital marketing news and updates from the last week, 5th October – 11th, including Amazon Sponsored Display ads now customisable, Google My Business updates, more automation features coming to Google Ads, Twitter Quote Tweets and more.

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

Amazon Sponsored Display Ads Now Customisable Globally

An exciting update for e-commerce automotive businesses, Amazon has made its Sponsored Display ads customisable, globally. The new customisation functionality enables advertisers to add their logo or update the ad headline. Sponsored Display ads can show on product pages, customer reviews, shopping results pages and under the Featured Offer.

Google My Business Call History Tested in the US

Google is testing “Call History” in the US. It’s a section within Google My Business displaying a missed call log from the last 45 days with calls from both Google Search and Maps.

Web Stories Coming To Discover

Google Web Stories and coming to Discover on Android and iOS. The feature is already available in the US, India and Brazil and will roll out to other countries.

Here’s what Google had to say…

“Today we are bringing visual and immersive Web Stories to Discover which is part of the Google app on Android and iOS. The Stories carousel, now available in the United States, India and Brazil at the top of Discover, helps you find some of the best visual content from around the web. In the future, we intend to expand Web Stories to more countries and Google surfaces.”

Google Ads Get More Automation Features

Google’s focus on machine learning and automation continues introducing additional features and campaign types. The updates include:

• A new insights page, first to roll out in the UK and US over the next few months. This will show trending searches, auction insights, and interest predictions relevant to the ad account.
• A new campaign type called Performance Max. This is a new automated campaign option that will display ads across all Google Inventory.
• YouTube video action campaigns being made available to all advertisers soon.

Microsoft Digital Marketing Center Beta Launched

Microsoft’s Digital Marketing Center Beta has now launched in the US. The free tool was announced earlier on this year and will enable small to medium-sized automotive businesses to manage automated search and social campaigns. Besides launching the Beta, they’ve added some additional features – search term control, on-site analytics and ad reviews.

Instagram Reels Updates

Instagram continues to improve its TikTok competitor, Reels, with another set of updates. The latest updates to Reels will allow users to:

• Save sounds to use on clips
• Share collections of Reels
• Search their new Audio Browser

Snapchat ‘First Commercial’ Ad Option Launched

Snapchat’s ‘First Commercial’ ad option is now available to all UK and US advertisers. ‘First Commercial’ is something that Snapchat started testing earlier this year, and it ensures ads are first shown when a prospect watches a Snap Original. Whilst Snapchat isn’t used by many of our automotive clients for advertising, this feature is definitely worth testing if your target demographic is younger than 30.

Twitter Quote Tweets

Twitter is working on making their new quote tweets the default option for retweeting – according to reverse engineering expert, Jane Wong. However, retweets without quotes is still possible in the version they’re testing.

Suggested Follows

Twitter’s Support Account has recently announced a new update to suggested followers. Android users will now be able to follow all suggested accounts immediately when they appear on a recently followed account.

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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