October 16, 2017 – By Aaron Hockel
In a closed test, LinkedIn is testing auto-play video ads in the mobile newsfeed. The videos will carry the typical “promoted” label and companies in the initial test include Microsoft Canada and Prudential Financial. The ads will be executed using LinkedIn Ad Manager and feature all the targeting features offered by other LinkedIn ad formats. For more on this story, click here for a brief write up from Recode.
Stories on Facebook, which function the same as Snapchat and Instagram stories, are coming to Pages. The stories feed on Facebook is generally pretty empty, as the feature has not been well received or adopted. Facebook is hoping brands and businesses will take advantage of this opportunity to position content at the top of users mobile newsfeed. For more on this story, click here for detailed coverage from Search Engine Land.
The newest version of Apple’s Safari will make it harder to Facebook to collect and track users web activity on third party sites. Safari’s new ad blocking features will prevent data from flowing to Facebook when users visit pages with “like” and “share” buttons, but have not visited Facebook in the last 24 hours. These buttons, embedded on millions of websites, transmit data to Facebook about users web activity every time they load on a page. It remains to be seen how big of an impact this will have, but it will absolutely have an impact. Click here for a detailed break down of this story on Search Engine Land.
With the new contest cards feature, pictured below, users can learn more about the content of Snaps from advertisers and brands. A Snapchat ad for a restaurant could have a context card with customer reviews,business hours, phone numbers, a reservation button, and even an option to call a ride from Uber. Information on context cards comes from Snapchat partners including TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and Michelin. Click here to read more on Snapchat’s new context cards.
Aaron Hockel is a Partner and the VP of Digital Marketing at AltaVista Strategic Partners. A University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) alumnus, Aaron expertly crafts digital marketing strategies that drive success for clients, leveraging his deep industry knowledge and innovative approach.