It’s almost a New Year, can you believe it?!
Yah, yah, I know that it happens every year – but it’s still surprising!
2015 brought new toys to PPC-lovers like advanced features for Shopping campaigns, affinity audience targeting, and app advertising.
No doubt that 2016 will bring even more innovations and ideas; here are a few that I think will stand out:
Growth of Social Commerce and Buy Buttons
While the creation of Facebook and subsequent social channels have blown-up in the last decade, it’s only been in the last year or so that we’ve seen a shift from intangible “word-of-mouth” marketing to actual, indisputable, revenue driven from social.
Investing in real-time engagement has always been key, but it’s becoming even more important for brands to be available to grab a sale, no matter what moment that happens. So Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest have each rolled out their own versions of direct “buy-now” buttons to drive in-app sales.
Twitter began including the “buy now” button in sponsored Tweets about a year ago, and just recently announced that it will show ads to users who are logged out; finally making money off people who don’t have Twitter accounts.
In-app purchasing and buy-now buttons will be a must in social during 2016, and especially so for networks with IPOs.
Smart Use of Native Ads
Speaking of companies with IPO’s, native advertising from platforms like Yahoo Gemini have grown in both popularity and controversy.
While the concept of native ads isn’t new, the regulations from the FTC are, and are expected to be announced in January.
The guidelines shouldn’t affect marketers that play by the “don’t be spammy” rule, but it will add another layer of reviews and enforcement, and, most importantly, will cause marketers to find smart ways to connect with consumers in-context.
More Features for Shopping Campaigns
Thanks to Google, a wide range of new functionality has been added to Shopping campaigns in AdWords and it’s rolling in to other platforms.
From local inventory availability and RLSA, to automated extensions and easy-to-access product reviews, AdWords has stepped up the Shopping game. Bing added Shopping this year, and Yahoo Products Ads will be soon be available to more advertisers; expect that each will advance in their functionality and all-around market share.
What do you think is going to be big in 2016? We would love to know!
Cheers!
